Is there Gluten in Whiskey? Sept trip: 9 days, 3 boys, 1 urgent care visit NEWx2 11/7 [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

kokotg

09-25-2011, 04:39 PM

Hi everyone! I'm home from our trip with a notebook full o' notes and 1500 photos, so there's nothing left to do except (unpack, do laundry, go grocery shopping, mentally prepare myself to dive back into real life tomorrow, and) write my trip report!

For all the gritty details of the planning process, you can refer to my pre-trip report:

Our COMPLETELY New and TOTALLY Different 6th September Disney trip: A pre-trip report (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2789095)

For the quick and dirty synopsis, you can stay right here.

Here is my family:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%202011%20Trip%20Report/8829998700103.jpg

There's me, Gretchen; my husband, Dave; and our three boys: Ari is 10, Milo is 8, and Gus is 5 ½.

The trip, in a nutshell: we stayed at Pop, in two connecting room, for 8 nights (September 16-24). Free dining, upgraded to the plus plan. We were all gluten-free for the first time for this trip, which made things more interesting (more on that when I get to the restaurant reviews. Also, an answer to the question posed in my title).

A bit of background: This was our 6th September Disney trip in a row (although 2 years ago we went to Disneyland instead of WDW). Our kids are homeschooled, but Dave is a high school teacher, so we're still tied to the school calendar. Fortunately, our county has a funky September break every year that falls conveniently during free dining and when crowds are low (not so perfectly timed as far as weather, but you can't have everything). So that's when we go. Along with most of the rest of our county. Dave pretty much always spots at least one or two co-workers or students while we're there, and we make a game out of how many license plates from our county we can spot in a single row in the parking lots (usually at least 5 or 6).

Dave likes Disney World a lot, but he's not quite as passionate about it as I am. In fact, he would be perfectly content to (gasp!) skip a year from time to time. In the months leading up to this year's trip, he grumbled a lot about how he was afraid it was going to be the same old thing as every other year.

Of course, we all know that there's always something new to do at Disney World, but my task was to convince my husband of this. Hence the title of my pre-trip report and hence....my gimmick for this trip report. Every trip report needs a gimmick, right?

At the end of every day, I'll list at least one thing we did that was COMPLETELY new and TOTALLY different from any of our previous trips. Even I don't know yet what these things are (well, I have an idea what some of them are); we'll all be surprised together!

So there you have it: all the essential information. And now I must begin sifting through pictures and trip report notes before I can proceed. Here is my little notebook for trip report notes:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1386.jpg

Isn't it cute? I guess that's the Tower of London. There were three, in a set, from Target. Ari snatched the Eiffel Tower one right away. ETA: oops. I guess it's actually Big Ben

Next up: the drive down (and then gets more exciting from there, I promise)

kokotg

09-25-2011, 07:22 PM

Chapter 1: Thursday, 9/15: Travel day (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42752474&postcount=3)
Chapter 2: Friday, 9/16: Arrival (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42760700&postcount=11)
Chapter 3: Friday 9/16 Part 2: Magic Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42765796&postcount=15)
Chapter 4: Gluten-free intro and Columbia Harbor House (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42773779&postcount=21)
Chapter 5: Friday, 9/16 Part 4: More Magic Kingdom and Pop (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42782352&postcount=24)
Chapter 6: Wolfgang Puck Express (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42786855&postcount=29)
Chapter 7: Babycakes (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42796969&postcount=34)
Chapter 9: Saturday 9/17 Part 1: Animal Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42806873&postcount=43)
Chapter 10: Saturday, 9/16, Part 3: more Animal Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42814124&postcount=49)
Chapter 11: Sunday, 9/17 Part 1: Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42821679&postcount=55)
Chapter 12: Sunday, 9/17 part 2: Sunshine Seasons (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42822677&postcount=58)
Chapter 13: Sunday, 9/17 part 3: more Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42831983&postcount=67)
Chapter 14: Sunday 9/17 part 4: even MORE Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42836646&postcount=71)
Chapter 15: Le Cellier (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42843198&postcount=79)
Chapter 17: Monday 9/18 part 1: Animal Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42852217&postcount=86)
Chapter 18: Flame Tree Barbecue (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42859650&postcount=94)
Chapter 19: Monday 9/18: More Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42874154&postcount=102)
Chapter 20: Boma (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42887847&postcount=119)
Chapter 21: Monday wrap-up and new things (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42888203&postcount=120)
Chapter 22: Tuesday, 9/20: Hollywood Studios (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42888491&postcount=122)
Chapter 23: Pizza Planet (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42893823&postcount=128)
Chapter 24: Tuesday, 9/20: More Hollywood Studios (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42902715&postcount=134)
Chapter 24 continued (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42902729&postcount=135)
Chapter 25: Mama Melrose (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42916644&postcount=147)
Chapter 26: Still Tuesday, still Hollywood Studios! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42923886&postcount=156)
Chapter 27: Intermission (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42929442&postcount=167)
Chapter 29: Wednesday 9/21: Magic Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42938357&postcount=180)
Chapter 30: Crystal Palace (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42938562&postcount=181)
Chapter 31: More Magic Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42952963&postcount=192)
Chapter 32: Still at the Magic Kingdom! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42953043&postcount=193)
Chapter 32: A little more MK (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42954992&postcount=194)
Chapter 33: 'Ohana (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42965252&postcount=202)
Chapter 34: Wednesday's New Things (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42983368&postcount=209)
Chapter 35: Thursday 9/22: Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42988093&postcount=215)
Chapter 36: Epcot some more (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42992597&postcount=222)
Chapter 37: Garden Grill (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43010057&postcount=236)
Chapter 38: Epcot evening (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43031254&postcount=247)
Chapter 39: Friday, 9/23: Checking out Port Orleans (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43105596&postcount=255)
Chapter 40: Planet Hollywood (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43105614&postcount=256)
Chapter 41: Downtown Disney (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43149442&postcount=262)
Chapter 42: MNSSHP, part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43149492&postcount=263)
Chapter 43: MNSSHP part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43181449&postcount=270)
Chapter 44: MNSSHP, part 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43182200&postcount=274)

kokotg

09-25-2011, 07:30 PM

Chapter 1: Thursday, 9/15: Travel day

Originally, we'd planned to leave on Friday after Dave got home from work, but he checked with his principal to see if he could take a personal day on Friday so that we could leave early and got the go-ahead. So...extra day! Dave was very pleased because this meant we could drive most of the way down on Thursday night, stay at a hotel, and drive the rest of the way Friday morning. Our last couple of trips we've driven the whole way Friday night and gotten there VERY late with VERY tired (read: OVERtired and therefore completely insane) kids.

We had packed up the car the night before, so we were pretty much ready to go as soon as Dave got home, and we were on the road around 4:45:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0158.jpg

We hit surprisingly little traffic, given that we were driving through Atlanta right at rush hour. The kids entertained themselves with their itouches for much of the trip, and we all listened to an audiobook of 100 Cupboards, which I'd borrowed from the library online and downloaded to my iphone before we left.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0164.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0169.jpg
That's Mickey, on our dashboard. I had big plans to pull Mickey out and take pictures of him everywhere (so whimsical!), but mostly he just sat in the bottom of our backpack, forgotten. Sorry Mickey.

In Macon, around an hour south of Atlanta, we stopped for dinner at an Outback, because we know they have a good gluten-free menu. The Outback near us is famous for being especially great and doing not-on-the-menu things like gluten-free chicken fingers and bloomin' onions. But the regular gluten-free menu is good, too. Dave ordered a pork chop with asparagus and mashed potatoes. I had a strip steak with mashed potatoes. Ari ordered the half rack of ribs, and Milo and Gus both had grilled chicken.

Then we got back on the road and drove uneventfully (kids slept much of the way) to our hotel: the Comfort Suites in Lake City, FL. We picked it because it's the NEWEST!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0179.jpg

Not really, I didn't even know it was so NEW when I made the reservation. I picked it because it had 2 queens plus a sleeper sofa and was pretty cheap and looked nice on the website.

Even with our grand plan to drive only partway the first night, it was still around midnight by the time we got to the hotel. We were very glad that we weren't driving any further that night.

The room was very nice; everything did indeed look brand new. Of course, we crashed as soon as we got there and left first thing the next morning, so we didn't get to spend much time enjoying it.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0174.jpg

(okay, so again, as with my pre-trip, I'm having this problem with photobucket where I resize the pictures to make them smaller...only they don't really resize. But then I think later they do. There seems to be a mysterious lag. So if my pictures are too huge, and you hate it, come back later and try again please!)

Up next: a little more driving and then our first day!

BerrysGirl

09-25-2011, 07:31 PM

I'm here! Can't wait to read more :)

kokotg

09-25-2011, 07:40 PM

I'm here! Can't wait to read more :)

Yay! My first transfer from my pre-trip :) ...and I need to go get caught up on your pre-trip now; see what you've been up to while I was away!

kokotg

09-25-2011, 10:29 PM

Oops...very first day, and I already forgot to list the completely new and totally different things we did. So: new things for Thursday:

1. left on a Thursday
2. stayed in Lake City, FL

beebeeryan

09-26-2011, 07:56 AM

WOW that looks like a really nice Comfort Inn, yay for leaving early! Can't wait to hear more!

kokotg

09-26-2011, 11:40 AM

WOW that looks like a really nice Comfort Inn, yay for leaving early! Can't wait to hear more!

:welcome:

Doesn't it look nice? I was surprised when I saw the pictures on the website, and then even more surprised that it looked as good in person as on the website :laughing:. It was kind of a shame we were just passing through and didn't spend more time there.

15isto2

09-26-2011, 01:28 PM

Ahh Whiskey, that got my attention!

kokotg

09-26-2011, 01:45 PM

Ahh Whiskey, that got my attention!

:rotfl:

Stick around; there'll be wine and hard cider later, too!

kokotg

09-26-2011, 02:40 PM

Chapter 2: Friday, 9/16: Arrival

Up until about 11:30 Thursday night, I was all, “we should leave the hotel at SEVEN Friday morning!” Really, we left at 8:45.

We had some issues with the whole gluten-free thing and breakfasts on this trip. I had packed applesauce, peanut butter, and string cheese, and was hoping the kids would be happy snacking on those to hold them over until early lunch. Protein, you see! But they weren't, for the most part. I'll have to work on my breakfast plan before next year. Although next year, as you'll see, we'll likely have a refrigerator, so it won't be as big of an issue. Cinnamon chex and milk make the kids very happy.

Anyway, the hotel had free breakfast, but there wasn't a lot for us. Dave picked up some yogurt for Milo and Gus, but Ari doesn't like yogurt. I can't remember what everyone wound up eating, but it was...something.

And then we got in the car. Backing up: Milo had had a bad cold about two weeks before we left...snotty, coughing, fever, misery...it dragged on for a good 5 days, but was long gone by the time we left.

Except for the coughing. Oh, the coughing. So much coughing. I really try to avoid giving the kids cough medicine, but he sounded so bad that I broke down. I was worried not just about the cough bothering Milo, but about it keeping him and his brothers awake when they were all sleeping in one hotel room and really needed their rest. As you'll see, medicating the kids far more than we normally would became something of a theme for the trip. So we stopped at Target:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0181.jpg

….where there was a tiny palm tree:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0182.jpg

And picked up a few things, including cough medicine.

And then there was nothing standing between us and:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0186.jpg
Well, there was a dirty windshield standing between us and Disney World

The plan was to check in at Pop and pick up our Key to the World cards then head over to the Magic Kingdom. There was a Halloween party that night, so it was closing at 7, but we figured that would give us a few good hours there.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0191.jpg
The side window was dirty, too. Sorry.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0193.jpg
We're here; we're here! And the sun is really bright! And did I mention this was Mickey themed matching t-shirt day?

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0196.jpg

I had, after considerable fretting, decided not to do online check-in this year, hoping that would give us a better chance of getting at least one of our room requests. Our main request, of course, and the one that was guaranteed, was the connecting rooms. We'd also requested a king bed in one of the rooms and the '70's (in that order).

This was our third year at Pop. The first year we'd only requested the king bed and had gotten it. The second time (last year), we'd requested the king bed again and been given rooms in the '50's with all double beds. BUT! One of the rooms smelled really bad, and the second night there we finally discovered an ashtray with cigarette butts in it hidden up on the shelf in the closet. Yuck! Who does that? So we called and asked to be moved to non-stinky rooms and reiterated that if a king was available, that'd be great. We wound up in the 70's, in refurbed rooms (this was back when they were in the middle of redoing the rooms; our first ones had not been done), with our king bed, overlooking the courtyard with the foosball guys. I LOVED those rooms. The location was great, and it made me happy every time I opened the door and saw the courtyard with the foosball guys and the big Mickey across the way. Our king room was a handicapped accessible room, too, so we had a refrigerator as a nice bonus. I was really hoping to get a similar location this year.

I'm guessing a Magical Express bus had gotten there just before us or something, because there was a pretty long line when we got to Classic Hall:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0197.jpg

….which had all but disappeared by the time we got to the front of it.

Dave got in line while the kids and I checked out Classic Hall.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0198.jpg
First I checked out the bathroom, and lucky I had my camera with me, because look! A broken lock! At Disney! They're letting the place crumble to the ground! :laughing:

All the kids, but especially Ari, were very into finding hidden Mickeys this year. Ari has an app on his Itouch (that, miraculously, doesn't require an internet connection) that gives hints on finding them and then lets you check off the ones you find and get points. It's by the same guy who writes the Hidden Mickeys book, and Ari is now on a first name basis with him: “Steve says a classic hidden Mickey always looks like this.” “Garden Grill has one of Steve's FAVORITE hidden Mickeys.” He had the app last year, but was much more interested in it this trip.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0201.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0200.jpg
Is it really bad form to post pictures of the hidden Mickeys? I won't do it very often. This one wasn't very hard to find.

Another new fixation (that was in its infancy last year) for the kids was pin collecting—along with a little bit of pin trading. So we went to Everything Pop to do some shopping.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0204.jpg

Each kid had $30 in spending money (Ari and Milo also had non-Disney money saved that they could dip into if they wanted to), and Gus wasted no time making his first purchase: a pin with the MK castle on it. Dave had all the souvenir money, so I left Ari and Milo looking at pins, while Gus and I went over to check on Dave and hit him up for some cash.

He was up at the counter now, but things were going very slowly. For some reason, throughout the whole process of making reservations and all the way up through check-in, the fact that we had two rooms was terribly confusing for everyone. Every time we called reservations to check on or change something, it took forever to figure things out, and it was always blamed on the second room. Same thing was happening now.

We left Dave to sort all that out and headed back over to buy the pin. We looked around a little more, found another Mickey or two, and then went back to see how things were progressing with check-in.

Dave was STILL talking to the CM. Rooms were ready for us, she said, but not with a king bed, so she got on the phone to talk to someone and see if any would be opening up later. Dave told her we were heading for the Magic Kingdom and didn't mind waiting for the rooms. But after a very long time, she told us that there would be no king rooms later, either, but that we could check the next day. I suspect that checking in on a Friday might be worse for room requests than Saturday or Sunday, as I'm guessing more people leave on those days.

So now suddenly, I guess because Dave told her we were in no rush for the rooms, there weren't any rooms ready for us after all. She told us we'd be in the 80's and that they'd text us when the rooms were ready. So no king bed and no foosball guys :(. Oh well.

There was also some kind of problem with our cards...I think the only cards there were the ones for one of the rooms so they had to print up the ones that went with the other room. I'm nearly certain that last year all of our cards listed everyone on the reservation....i.e. said “2 adult, 3 child.” So I don't know if it's because they had to print up the cards for one room at the last minute or what, but each card only listed the people for THAT room. One card listed 1 adult, 1 child, and the other listed the rest of us. But the actual dining credits were still pooled...they were all on all the cards. This caused no end of confusion at many of the table service restaurants; we would assure the server that the credits were all together, but a few times they insisted on running two different cards, one from each room.

We're constantly amused by how archaic Disney's computer systems can seem sometimes. For all the crazy, cutting-edge technology they have in the theme parks, they're totally flummoxed by something as seemingly simple as connecting rooms at one of their resorts. Or, as we'd find out, canceling dining reservations over the phone.

But! Finally! We were all checked in and ready to go!

Up next: Magic Kingdom! And my first restaurant review.

BerrysGirl

09-26-2011, 04:58 PM

kokotg

09-26-2011, 09:22 PM

You're completely forgiven for a dirty windshield. Driving to Disney in LoveBug season? I'd be concerned if it wasn't a little soiled ;)

I LOVE that Hidden Mickey App... I hope they have it for the Droid!

Hope all your room drama got sorted out... it's starting to make me happy Pop was full... hopefully we'll have a less eventful check-in at CBR!

I'm sure you won't have any trouble! I think it really was all about the two rooms...everyone else who was in that long line was all checked in and long gone by the time we were done. I'm guessing that maybe it was hard to find two connecting rooms at all, since the resort was so full?

Now how long can I be forgiven for STILL having lovebugs all over the car now that the trip is over? :laughing: I really need to get to a car wash!

RooRach0906

09-26-2011, 10:10 PM

Joining In, cant wait to hear all about your trip.:goodvibes

kokotg

09-26-2011, 10:19 PM

Chapter 3: Friday 9/16 Part 2: Magic Kingdom

One of the big reasons I wanted to add this Friday onto our trip is that, in my original schedule, we wouldn't make it to the Magic Kingdom until Wednesday—the fifth day of our trip. This seemed way too late. Starting off the trip with the Magic Kingdom was a much better plan.

We drove over to the Magic Kingdom and took the monorail from the TTC:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0212.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0213.jpg

I spent a lot of time on this trip forcing all three boys to pose together, and they were very good sports about it. Often, they even smiled for me:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0215.jpg

First view of the castle!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0219.jpg

This is what Main Street looked like at, according to that clock in the picture, 1:15.

Every single year I read threads saying that this September is way more crowded than last year AND threads about how totally empty the parks are this September...I'll say that our experience was that things seemed a little less crowded this year than the past few years. That may be luck—or because I obsessed a bit more about picking the right park for each day—but that was how it seemed to us. Pretty much everything was a walk-on the first couple hours the parks were open, and we did fine using fastpasses aside from that. I don't remember waiting for anything longer than 10 or 15 minutes, though I may be forgetting something. And when we did wait even that long it was always something that we could have avoided if we'd put much effort into it. The parks also just felt less crowded this year—more room on the walkways and that sort of thing.

We'd spent a lot of time in the days leading up to the trip discussing which ride we should do first. There had been some votes for Space Mountain and some for Small World (which was closed last year). We ended up doing Space Mountain first, with plans to follow it up immediately with Small World.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0223.jpg

The sign at Space Mountain claimed the wait would be 10 minutes, but we actually walked right on. When we got off, I commented, “the older I get, the bumpier Space Mountain gets.” But then later in the trip when we went on it, I loved it. The first couple of times—when there was all the bumpy—we went to the left side. The last few times, we went to the right. I actually googled when we were in line at one point, and it seems like the consensus is that the left side is smoother, but I swear it was the opposite for us. I would have sworn the track layout was completely different, in fact, but google insists that I'm wrong about that. And google never lies.

There actually WAS a wait for “it's a small world” (it kind of cracks me up that the name of the ride includes quotation marks. Haven't they ever read the blog of unnecessary quotation marks?) The sign said 10 minutes, and I think that was pretty accurate.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0224.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0226.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0230.jpg
I think Ari was excited

Two rides under our belts and now it was getting to be pretty late...past time for lunch!

So I think, after much internal debate, that I'm going to separate out my dining reviews. I'll put them in here, but as separate entries, so that I can also post them on the dining review board. I spent many, many hours pouring over gluten-free dining reviews before my trip, so I want to make sure my own gluten-free reviews are easy to find for anyone else who's looking for them. So:

Up next: Columbia Harbor House and some rambling about gluten

kokotg

09-26-2011, 10:23 PM

Joining In, cant wait to hear all about your trip.:goodvibes

Yay--good to see you here!

and I'm looking forward to hearing all about your trip, too--hope you get a chance to do a TR soon :)

okw19

09-27-2011, 08:25 AM

I'm joining in! Great report so far, and I can't wait to read more! My bff of 8 years has celiac disease so I know all about finding gluten-free meals and I'm so interested to learn about how Disney handles it and what choices are there!

kokotg

09-27-2011, 04:02 PM

Chelley00

09-27-2011, 04:13 PM

Following along. Our first gluten free trip will be next October so I'm starting to research restaurant ideas now.

kokotg

09-27-2011, 04:44 PM

Following along. Our first gluten free trip will be next October so I'm starting to research restaurant ideas now.

:welcome:

Finally finished writing my first, extremely long, dining review, and I'm about to put it up now!

kokotg

09-27-2011, 04:55 PM

Chapter 4: Gluten-free intro and Columbia Harbor House

The background information: Way back in the beginning of July, we decided to do a trial of gluten-free eating...for a few reasons. The primary one was that Dave has psoriasis and has tried approximately 387 different things for it with little to no luck. Cutting out gluten seemed like a relatively easy one to try, so we figured we should at least cross it off the list. He had a celiac panel done before we started, and it came back completely negative, but it still seemed worth a try. The thing about psoriasis is that everyone has something completely different as the thing that worked for them, so it's really hard to find that thing for yourself.

Toss in some behavioral issues and Gus' asthma and allergies, and it seemed like it couldn't hurt for the whole family to give it a try. I was already doing a low carb thing and was 99% gluten-free by default, so it seemed less daunting to me than it might have otherwise.

I thought that by starting in July, we'd have PLENTY of time to get the whole thing figured out before the Disney trip. We'd do a one month trial and see what happened.

Only...figuring the whole thing out has proved more complicated than I expected it to be. Within a few days of going off gluten, things seemed a lot....calmer around our house. Fewer tantrums, less yelling, more reasonable children. Dave's psoriasis, on the other hand, didn't seem to be improving at all. When we've experimented with letting the kids have gluten, Gus usually reacts physically almost immediately, with a bad headache and/or stomachache, and we notice really unpleasant behavioral changes with all of the kids over the next day or two. It's happened often enough now that I'm reasonably sure it's not all in my head.

So...what to do? On one hand, I didn't want to be the person with no diagnosis who won't eat gluten because it's all trendy and Oprah did it. On the other hand...I think there might be some good reasons why it's trendy to not eat gluten, and the overstimulation of a Disney trip can provoke enough meltdowns on its own without adding in First Time Eating Gluten in a Month meltdowns.

That's where we are. I don't think anyone in the family has celiac (I do have an order for labs for Gus, since he has definite physical reactions, but my understanding is that in order for it to be accurate he'd first have to go back to eating gluten for several weeks...and, you know, that makes him feel bad). But I do think it's not good for my kids and negatively affects their behavior. And I also think it's worth giving it a longer trial for Dave's psoriasis. And if all of them are going to be gluten-free, I'd kind of feel like a jerk sitting there eating yummy bread all by myself.

So that was that. I added a notation to all of our dining reservations that we couldn't have gluten, and I spent a whole lot of time reading dining reviews of gluten-free experiences at Disney.

Ari, incidentally, was not happy about any of this, as you'll see later on. Pretty much the only thing he DID have meltdowns about on the trip was not being able to eat gluten. Ironically. In fact, I bet just reading this part of my trip report is going to make him grumpy (hi, Ari!)

I've never done detailed dining reviews before, but I decided to try to do them this year since I found other people's gluten-free reviews so helpful when making my plans.

Keep in mind that we probably weren't as cautious as most people with celiac would be about things like cross contamination (and, as you'll see, there was at least one time when we screwed up completely). For example, sometimes at quick service places when I knew from my research that something on the regular menu was gluten-free, we just ordered that without doing the whole talking to a manager thing. But for the most part we did talk to chefs and managers and made sure everything was safe.

Phew! That's a lot of introduction there. On to the actual food!

Columbia Harbor House

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0246.jpg

We got here around 2:00, and there were still surprisingly long lines. I'd read enough beforehand that I knew the basic drill, so we asked the first CM we saw about a gluten-free menu. She told us to go ahead and get in line, and when we got to the cashier, he or she would get the manager for us. So Dave got in line while I took the kids upstairs to find seats.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0236.jpg

Kids were pretty hungry and therefore pretty grumpy at this point. And pretty much any time we go out to eat or go grocery shopping Ari gets a little grumpy because it makes him think about not eating gluten. I distributed ipods and we settled in for the wait. And a long wait it was.

I knew to expect this, but I was kind of dreading it, mostly because of the kids. Thank goodness for ipods. The way it usually works at quick service places, with any kind of food allergy, is that you wait in the regular line then tell the cashier about your food allergy. The cashier then calls the manager, and you can't order until you talk to the manager, even if you know exactly what you want (which we always did, owing to my obsessive research and the gluten-free Disney app I bought for my iphone). And then they have to make your food for you, so that takes extra time, too. What it boiled down to was that we usually got our food faster at table service places than at quick service places on this trip.

Dave turned up 30 minutes later...with one meal still missing. He looked kind of miffed. “I told you it was going to take longer,” I said. “You told me it would take longer; you didn't tell me they wouldn't be able to count to five,” he responded. He'd ordered 5 meals, but somehow they'd forgotten to make one of them. The kids had food at least, though, so they started eating while we waited on the last meal.

A note about my food pictures: they are not the best, because I'm incredibly self-conscious about taking pictures of food. So I kind of did it really quick and didn't focus so much on quality. Maybe next time I'll be braver. But I did remember to take pictures of most things, so you can at least get an idea.

Columbia Harbor House is, as far as we can tell, the only place (or at least the only quick service) in the Magic Kingdom that serves allergen-free chicken tenders. Ari, you have to understand, LOVES chicken tenders. Back before the grand gluten-free experiment began, he actually contemplated starting a blog specifically to review chicken tenders from different restaurants. So I was beyond thrilled to learn that we could get gluten free chicken tenders at Disney World.

We all ordered them:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0239.jpg

2 of these were kids plates, and 3 were adults, but I think they gave us all 4 chicken tenders and similar looking amounts of fries. It was a ton of food. The chicken tenders are really good! Much better than the chicken nuggets they serve to people without food allergies. I hope the secret doesn't get out! Although maybe if it does, Disney will have to bring back the real chicken tenders they used to have. The kids all loved them too, and we breathed a sigh of relief. We didn't really have a plan B if they weren't going to be able to order chicken fingers 50 times during the trip. My understanding is that the fries themselves are gluten free everywhere, but there are issues with cross contamination in a lot of places because of the shared fryers. I asked on the boards about this before the trip and was told that we should be able to order fries anywhere they serve the chicken tenders, since they already have to have a dedicated fryer, and we found this to be the case, in our experience. Some places we were also given baked fries.

I believe Columbia Harbor House offered either French Meadow brownies or cookies for dessert. We'd bought some of the brownies at home before the trip so we'd know whether the kids liked them or not. They love them. The ones we can buy at the grocery store are tiny compared to the ones they give you at Disney. These suckers were HUGE, and we got five of them with a lot of our meals, so I was pretty thoroughly sick of them by the time we left. Not the kids, though. We all got brownies with this meal. The French Meadow brownies are pretty good....the texture is good—more fudgy than cakey—they're on the VERY sweet side for my tastes...I prefer a more dark chocolately taste. But I don't really need to be eating a brownie with every meal anyway, so it's just as well I didn't love them.

Alrighty—there's my very long first dining review. The others won't require quite so much exposition!

jemimabean

09-27-2011, 10:23 PM

kokotg

09-28-2011, 11:37 AM

*waves at Kokotg*

I'm following along too!

When we were in Disneyland earlier this month, my first stop was to City Hall, where they gave me a print out with all of the gluten-free foods for the parks (down to salad dressing, etc.). I was really helpful, and probably the best gluten-free dining out experience that I've had.

Type faster! I want to read more.

Hey! I didn't even know you were on here! I see you've been hiding over on the DL board :)

I know WDW has the same kinds of lists that you can pick up when you're there or have e-mailed before your trip...I wound up not getting them; I think the app I have has most of the same information, though.

kokotg

09-28-2011, 12:08 PM

Chapter 5: Friday, 9/16 Part 4: More Magic Kingdom and Pop

Before we left, I took a self-portrait in the Columbia Harbor House bathroom. For all I knew, this could wind up being the only photographic evidence that I was on the trip, too:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0244.jpg

The Haunted Mansion was right there, so we went there next:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0247.jpg

This was our first time checking out the new queue:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0248.jpg
Cemetery, of course!

We really enjoyed it. There was no line at all, so we went through it pretty quickly, but the kids stopped to check out a few things:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0250.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0251.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0254.jpg

We hadn't seen Hall of Presidents since our second trip, so we decided we were overdue for a visit. The kids are actually pretty into presidents lately; we came up with a grand plan over the summer to try to visit a house that each president has lived in (so far we've knocked out George Washington, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams). And this seemed like as good a time as any to see it, since it was hot and we had no particular agenda for the day anyway.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0267.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0262.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0266.jpg
Ari kept wandering off while we were waiting, and I thought it was because he was so riveted by all the presidential history...until I noticed he was just checking the app for hidden Mickeys

I wish the presidents got to talk more instead of that long movie at the beginning.

Next we went over to Splash Mountain. My Lines app had told me that just a little while earlier the line had been 50 minutes long, but when we got there it was only 10.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0273.jpg

I was a little nervous that the drop was going to freak Gus out, since it'd been awhile since he'd done it, but I stopped worrying when he put his arms up as we were going up the last hill.

Then Big Thunder Mountain, with a 10 minute wait. It seemed that everything in the park had a 10 minute wait that day:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0274.jpg

Next we went over to Pirates, again with no wait:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0278.jpg

Ever since our Disneyland trip, I get a little bummed out about how relatively lame our Pirates is. But I guess that just gives me a reason to go back to Disneyland someday!

After this, we were all feeling pretty much done, and we'd gotten our text about how our rooms were ready, so we decided to head back to Pop and take a break. But first, we needed a snack. Can you believe we've never had Dole Whips before? I still haven't had one, actually, because I don't much care for pineapple. I did try it, and it was really sweet! The kids and Dave loved them, though.

At first we were actually just going to get ice waters, but then we just had to go back for Dole Whips:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0291.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0283.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0304.jpg
On the way out we happened across the end of the afternoon parade

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0307.jpg
Back on the monorail....

We drove back to Pop and went to check out our rooms:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0312.jpg

...second floor overlooking...umm, this:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1229.jpg
Look--we can see all the little carts they use for maintenance and mousekeeping and all!

It was actually kind of nice how close we were to the parking lot, given that we drove most places...but we did feel kind of cut off from the rest of the resort. Dave decided to make a last ditch effort to get us moved to different rooms. He called up the front desk, and they told us they'd call us back after they checked...and then they never did. Oh well. We ended up not calling them the next day....it didn't really seem worth the hassle of moving anymore.

We hung out in the rooms a bit and rested, then decided we'd better head out to Downtown Disney for dinner, as it was getting pretty late. We'd originally had reservations for Kona Friday night, but then I managed to grab a dinner reservation at Le Cellier at the last minute, which left us with one meal too many. Kona had to go.

We'd never been to Wolfgang Puck Express before (well, not the one at DTD, anyway), and I'd read that it's a great use of a quick service credit AND that the rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes meal is gluten free.

We drove over to DTD and....waited about 20 minutes in the turn lane trying to get into the parking lot. We counted...the turn signal at entrance 5 lets in exactly four cars before it turns red. This was not enough. Once we got in, it took forever to find a parking place, but we finally did it. I'm not so sure we'll be going to Downtown Disney on a Friday night again anytime soon.

Up next: Wolfgang Puck Express

okw19

09-28-2011, 03:07 PM

Great updates! You sure knocked out several rides quickly that afternoon.
I can't stand trying to park at DTD. It's ridiculous!

kokotg

09-28-2011, 05:25 PM

Great updates! You sure knocked out several rides quickly that afternoon.
I can't stand trying to park at DTD. It's ridiculous!

The lines were really great that day...I'm guessing it's because of the Halloween party that night; a lot of people went to different parks that weren't closing early. But then everyone who WAS in the Magic Kingdom that day went right over to DTD when it closed :laughing:

DisneyTiger

09-28-2011, 05:45 PM

Hello!!! Hopping over here from my TR. Loving yours so far! I'm jealous of your Haunted Mansion pics. We didn't even get to do it this time. Don't know why exactly. It just never happened. And I agree, I felt like the crowds were lighter this time too! We've been in September a few times but I'm telling you, this was by far the HOTTEST!!!!!

kokotg

09-28-2011, 07:01 PM

kokotg

09-28-2011, 07:14 PM

Chapter 6: Wolfgang Puck Express

We made our way through a very packed Downtown Disney and finally found WPE...we'd never been there before, and, it turned out, we hadn't parked very close.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0314.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0322.jpg

I can't remember exactly what time we got here, but I'm thinking, based on my memory of how light it was when we went in and came out, that it was around 8 or 8:30. It was packed! We waited in a long line to order, but it was moving pretty quickly.

My app and various reviews I'd read before leaving told me that the rosemary chicken and mashed potatoes were gluten-free, so we decided to all order and skip the talking to the manager part (if they even would have done that. My understanding is that the only other thing on the menu that's gluten free is some of the salads, with modifications). Everything on the kids menu sounded chock full o'gluten. I had thought about either asking to make sure they didn't keep any gluten-free substitutes on hand or asking if we could use our child credits for adult meals since there was nothing on the kid's menu Milo or Gus could eat (Ari was a Disney adult this year). But then I thought that there was no way we were going to need five half chickens, and we should be able to easily split three adult meals between us. So this is what we ordered: 3 of the half rotisserie chicken and mashed potato meals. We did pay out of pocket for an extra side order of potatoes, but the meals came with huge servings of potatoes, so it turned out we would have been fine without it.

You order at the counter, but then they bring out your food out to your table, refill your drinks, bring your dessert when you're ready, etc. We were able to snag the lone unoccupied inside table and sat down to wait for our food. It came about 30 seconds later. Literally—it was really, really fast.

When the server found out we were sharing, he immediately went back to get us some extra plates, so that was nice. I wish I'd taken a picture before we started hacking stuff up, but here's a shot of one of our makeshift kid meals:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0315.jpg

This was a great meal! These weren't tiny little chickens like you sometimes get with rotisserie chicken meals—there were nice, big, meaty pieces. The flavor was really good, too. And yummy mashed potatoes...as you can see, with giant puddles of melted butter on top. Fairly thick mashed potatoes—not particularly creamy.

Allears.net lists the meal as $15, and we had MORE than enough chicken to share between the 5 of us in the three meals (and my kids are fairly big eaters, especially Ari). So this was definitely a great way to use a quick service credit.

After dinner we headed over to Babycakes to pick up some stuff for breakfast the next day, so I'll talk about that next.

okw19

09-29-2011, 07:58 AM

Yum! That looks so good! I'm drooling over here. :rotfl:

jcano

09-29-2011, 09:16 AM

Following along...taking our gluten-free girls back to WDW in December. We've already made reservations and been obsessing over gf menus.

TanzUnited99

09-29-2011, 02:46 PM

I'm joining in! Loved the Pop pictures - bringing back fond memories of that place! :thumbsup2

Wow the Classic Hall looks crazy when you guys arrived! King rooms are hard to get so hope you managed to get one later on in the trip.

Great MK pics and WPE is such a good CS place - loved it!

kokotg

09-29-2011, 03:33 PM

Following along...taking our gluten-free girls back to WDW in December. We've already made reservations and been obsessing over gf menus.

:welcome:

My not so secret thought about our first gluten free trip was that at least it gave me an excuse to do even MORE obsessive planning than usual :laughing:

I'm joining in! Loved the Pop pictures - bringing back fond memories of that place! :thumbsup2

Wow the Classic Hall looks crazy when you guys arrived! King rooms are hard to get so hope you managed to get one later on in the trip.

Great MK pics and WPE is such a good CS place - loved it!

yay--welcome!

we actually decided not to make another attempt at a king room...I'm guessing we probably would have gotten one eventually if we kept hassling them, but it didn't seem worth packing everything back up again once we'd let our stuff explode all over the room :laughing:

kokotg

09-29-2011, 05:37 PM

Chapter 7: Babycakes

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0323.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1451.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0324.jpg

For those who don't know, Babycakes is a gluten-free, vegan bakery, tucked away in the corner of the building that houses Pollo Campero in Downtown Disney. I believe it opened sometime last winter. You can't go far wading through gluten-free Disney reviews without coming across someone raving about Babycakes.

I'll admit I was something of a Babycakes skeptic going in. My approach to gluten-free baking involves lots and lots of eggs and butter, so I had my doubts as to how successful they could be cutting out gluten AND eggs and dairy while keeping the yummy.

I was really impressed! (I didn't manage to build up the suspense for very long there, did I?)

We wound up making three separate trips to Babycakes, but I'll go ahead and review everything we ate here...just be aware that we didn't really eat cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, and doughnuts all in one sitting.

First up we all tried the “Wonder Buns.” I'm not sure why they don't just call them cinnamon rolls, since that's what they are. These were $3.50 apiece and you could use snack credits for them (I'm pretty sure you could use snack credits for any single item there, and the majority of them were in the $3-4 range, which, after a few months of shopping for gluten free products and a few days of paying Disney prices, seemed very reasonable to me).

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0330.jpg

These were my favorite thing that we tried. You could get them either with or without raisins, and all of us except Dave opted for without. I'm trying to think how to describe the texture without making it sound bad...these were pretty dense, definitely not a cakey, fluffy texture. But good! The cinnamon filling and the icing were both delicious. The rolls had a little bit of a tendency to fall apart when you picked them up (crumbliness is a common problem with gluten-free baking), but nothing we couldn't handle! They were good sized buns, too, and very filling.

Dave and I ate them with wine that night while Mickey watched.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0334.jpg

On our next trip, we tried out the doughnuts. Dave got the coconut one, the kids took the last three chocolate iced with cookie crumbles (great idea, right?), leaving me with the plain chocolate iced (but I managed to sneak a few bites of the cookie ones, don't worry).

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0719.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0721.jpg

I'm pretty sure these were baked, not fried, so they were very dense and cakey. There wasn't a whole lot of difference in texture between these and the wonder rolls, and the effect kind of worked better on the wonder rolls than here. They were still very good, but they left me missing the cinnamon yumminess of the wonder rolls.

Finally we decided we had to give the cupcakes a try. Ari actually opted for another wonder roll instead, and I thought that sounded so good that I bought one, too, to split with Dave. For cupcakes, Milo picked a brownie cupcake with chocolate frosting, Gus picked lemon, Dave got brownie with mocha (at the CM's suggestion), and I got brownie with mint. The CM was very concerned about the frosting, because it's made with coconut oil and will melt if it gets above a certain temperature, and we were planning on saving these for the next day. But I have coconut oil at home, and the label says it's a solid at 76 or below, so we just made sure we didn't let the temperature go higher than that in our hotel room and they were fine.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1458.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1455.jpg

The cake part of these was great...a little denser than most cupcakes and perhaps a little drier than ideal (a problem I find with cupcakes in general, not just gluten free ones), but overall really nice flavor and texture. I have to say that the coconut oil frosting really didn't do it for me, though. It was...okay, but, well...there's just no substitute for real buttercream. I had the mint, and I tried Dave's mocha, and the flavors in those were really strong. I don't drink coffee, but I'm normally okay with a little coffee flavor, but this was overwhelming to me. I think they probably make the flavors strong on purpose to distract from the oiliness in the frosting. I don't want to make it sound terrible—it wasn't—it was better than, say, the crisco-y icing on your typical grocery store cake. But it didn't tempt me to ditch butter in favor of coconut oil for frosting stuff at home. They don't slather the frosting on too thick, so, in conjunction with the yummy cake part, it worked pretty well.

So there you have it....overall we really liked Babycakes (and the kids, often our family's toughest critics, all loved it) and we'll definitely be back. I wish they had locations in the parks, too, so that we didn't have to keep making the Downtown Disney trek. I had read before we left that they were working on a system so that you could order desserts from Babycakes to have with your table service meals, but we called while we were there, and they don't have anything like that yet.

In my dream Disney World, Disney would have an onsite bakery much like Babycakes— avoiding major allergens—that made breads and pizza crusts and desserts in a safe facility and then delivered them all over to the different restaurants every day. The restaurants were all great about offering gluten free desserts and breads from outside vendors, but it would be really nice to be able to get a bigger variety of fresher stuff, and it seems like it would ultimately be cheaper for Disney to make things themselves.

Up Next: wrapping up our first day and then onto Animal Kingdom

kokotg

09-29-2011, 08:44 PM

nadira36

09-29-2011, 10:42 PM

Rachaelt

09-30-2011, 04:54 AM

Most king rooms cannot connect, the ones that do are handicapped rooms. It is extremely difficult and a very lengthy process to modify a reservation with 2 rooms on it. It doesn't always play well even when we do all of the steps correctly.

kokotg

09-30-2011, 07:42 AM

I'm excited to read about your trip - last trip was very much similar to yours. Sept at Pop.

We're also gluten-free, I recall our first GF trip and remember how stressed I was about it, now we know how easy it is (and how to protect ourselves) so it's pretty relaxed. Though, call me rude, for CS we usually just send someone to the front of the line and ask for a manager right away, rather than stand in line basically 3 times.

We're also planning to HS - our oldest would be in K this year - and DH used to be a HS teacher.

if you want some good recipes for GF desserts, let me know - I have several I've developed on my blog.

cheers

:welcome:

sounds like we have a lot in common!

DH was mostly in charge of the ordering; I think he may have developed some tricks for shortening our waits by the end; I'll have to ask him when I get to that part! Mostly we tried to eat at off times when there weren't long lines, but with free dining sometimes off times are pretty hard to come by.

I'd love to see your recipes! maybe you could PM me some links if you get a chance?

It is extremely difficult and a very lengthy process to modify a reservation with 2 rooms on it. It doesn't always play well even when we do all of the steps correctly.

So I gathered :laughing:. I certainly don't fault any of the reservation or check-in people....it does seem like something could be done on the programming side to make things run more smoothly, but then I'm no programmer, so what do I know? And I understand that the king rooms are hard to come by; we weren't upset not to get one....just hopeful!

okw19

09-30-2011, 08:19 AM

transientsoul

09-30-2011, 09:08 AM

Chapter 8: Friday 9/16 wrap-up and NEW things

Those who read my pre-trip report will perhaps recall that I bought two pairs of shoes specifically for this trip...a pair of Danskos and a pair of Athens Croc flip flops. I wore the flip flops on this, the first day, and ….wound up with blisters between my toes. Alas. The Danskos mostly worked out better, but I was kind of scared to wear them when I knew it was going to be a long day...and the one time I did wear them all day they finally started to rub raw spots on my heels. So mostly I wound up wearing ugly old black Crocs, sometimes even with socks, as this was the only way I could keep my poor feet from suffering. It made me really sad, though. At one point we were at Epcot and I looked around for a few minutes and then wailed to Dave, “no one else's shoes are as ugly as mine!”

So...the first new and different thing for Friday?

1. I got blisters between my toes...for the first time EVER anywhere

also...

2. ordered a gluten-free meal at Disney World (at least this was the first time we'd done that on purpose)
3. ate at Wolfgang Puck Express
4. bought stuff at Babycakes

Up next: More rides finally: Animal Kingdom

Two years ago, I freaked out about what kind of shoes to wear to Disney - especially since I was going to be wearing shorts!:scared1: I HATE sneakers (and crocs). My closet is more of a heels, boots, and skate shoe haven. I figured it was too hot to wear combat boots and my chuck taylors are horrible for standing. So, after a lot of researching and talking around and even trying New Balance X-trainers and some Dansko MJs (both too bulky), I ended up with: http://www.skechers.com/style/21159/bikers-hot-ticket/wht#Color=GYPK
Everyone said (and still says) I was insane, especially since I wasn't wearing socks. But, I was the one whose feet didn't hurt every night and only had to use 1 band aid. And, they happen to be what I've been wearing the past two months as I train for the Race for the Cure 5k. (just now getting a new pair due to the insoles having no bounceback).
Ok, so point to my rambling? These skechers are super cute and lightweight and you may want to check them out in the future. Then again, nobody knows your feet but you. :)

TanzUnited99

09-30-2011, 12:43 PM

Love the babycakes review! :thumbsup2 We never made it there but your pictures are making me drool! :laughing:

Oh no on the shoes not working out and you getting blisters.

kokotg

09-30-2011, 03:53 PM

Great info about Babycakes! I hate the gluten is the glue holding everything together in baked good because it makes everything so messy and crumbly! How long did the cinnamon rolls keep? I would love to bring one back with me for BFF. :)

How did they keep? Hmm...we didn't wait long enough to find out :laughing:. Really, the cinnamon rolls did stick around a little while...we bought them Friday night and they were still fine when we finished them up Sunday morning. I wouldn't try to make them last much longer than that, though...although maybe if you could keep them refrigerated...

Two years ago, I freaked out about what kind of shoes to wear to Disney - especially since I was going to be wearing shorts!:scared1: I HATE sneakers (and crocs). My closet is more of a heels, boots, and skate shoe haven. I figured it was too hot to wear combat boots and my chuck taylors are horrible for standing. So, after a lot of researching and talking around and even trying New Balance X-trainers and some Dansko MJs (both too bulky), I ended up with: http://www.skechers.com/style/21159/bikers-hot-ticket/wht#Color=GYPK
Everyone said (and still says) I was insane, especially since I wasn't wearing socks. But, I was the one whose feet didn't hurt every night and only had to use 1 band aid. And, they happen to be what I've been wearing the past two months as I train for the Race for the Cure 5k. (just now getting a new pair due to the insoles having no bounceback).
Ok, so point to my rambling? These skechers are super cute and lightweight and you may want to check them out in the future. Then again, nobody knows your feet but you. :)

thanks for the tip! Those are cute...and I'm impressed that they didn't give you blisters even with no socks!

Love the babycakes review! :thumbsup2 We never made it there but your pictures are making me drool! :laughing:

Something to look forward to next time! :)

kokotg

09-30-2011, 04:40 PM

Chapter 9: Saturday 9/17 Part 1: Animal Kingdom

Ari woke up early Saturday morning feeling sick to his stomach. He was very eager to blame it on Wolfgang Puck's, but we'd all eaten exactly the same thing the night before, and the rest of us felt fine. He did eat an awful lot of that extra mashed potatoes we ordered, though. At any rate, he seemed okay by the time we were ready to go, so we assumed it was a random, passing thing and headed out.

At some point the day before I had realized that Monday, our second planned Animal Kingdom day, was an extra magic hour day. So while I'd originally thought we'd get there for rope drop on Saturday and then make Monday a late morning, we decided it made more sense to do it the other way around.

In this case, our “late morning” meant we got there within 5 or 10 minutes after the 9 o' clock opening.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0336.jpg

The kids were more excited (by a mile) about Everest than anything else, so we headed there right away.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0340.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0341.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0344.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0343.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0347.jpg

I think Asia in Animal Kingdom has my favorite theming of any part of any of the parks. I love walking around and looking at everything there.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0339.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0338.jpg

But there was no time for lingering at the moment, as we needed to get to Dinoland.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0350.jpg

Gus was just a hair past 47 inches barefoot at home the last time I measured him (a couple of weeks before the trip), so he was very anxious to find out if time and new Crocs would help him squeak past the 48 inch mark. Rock n' Roller Coaster was the real prize he was thinking of, but he was eager to try Primeval Whirl, too, and that would be the first 48” ride we'd encounter.

Primeval Whirl had been scheduled to reopen after rehab a couple of days earlier, but I'd read on the boards that said opening had been delayed, so we weren't sure if it would be open or not. But...it was! And we were the only people who wanted to ride it, it seemed. No one else was even in the area.

The CM doing the measuring decided to draw out the excitement by spending a very long time considering whether or not Gus was tall enough, and then calling over two other CMs for second and third opinions. It was pretty clear, though, that there was no air between Gus' head and the 48” mark, and he was in! He was SO excited. Thank goodness he's a tall kid; I don't know how he'd handle it if he had to wait ANOTHER year to be tall enough to do all the rides his brothers can do.

The CM at the boarding area measured Gus one more time, and he was still tall enough, so we were off! The more I ride Primeval Whirl, the less I care for it, but all of my kids love it. Including Gus, it turns out. He declared it his second favorite ride (after Everest) and immediately started plotting to ride it again.

But not yet! First, Dinosaur!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0352.jpg

We walked right into the pre-show room. You know, Dinosaur was a lot scarier back before I knew exactly where everything was. I still kind of like it, though. Dave and I always like to watch the video they show afterwards, with the Iguanodon wandering the hallways.

Okay, so I've never, ever done this before (remember, I feel incredibly sheepish just taking pictures of my food), but there was no CM in the vicinity, and I liked this picture, so I took a picture of the screen:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0356.jpg

Towards the end of our trip, I started noticing that they were putting words across the preview screen for most of the on-ride photos (like, “hey—you can give us a lot of money and take this picture home with you!” --that sort of thing). I swear that wasn't there at the beginning of our trip. I think it was all my fault for taking that picture after Dinosaur.

Dave has, or had, an ugly blue hat that he really, really loves. At the beginning of this trip, he commented that the hat was getting sort of stinky. And then at Animal Kingdom, he realized the stinky hat was missing! I swear I had nothing to do with the disappearance of the stinky, ugly hat. I even packed the hat for him before the trip. He thinks he must have somehow managed to lose it between our hotel room and the car that morning, based on his careful reconstruction of events. I suggested we look for a hat for him at Animal Kingdom, maybe one that was less stinky and ugly than his old one, even.

And here, in the Disosaur gift shop, we found Dave's new hat. Here it is:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0358.jpg

The nice thing about the hat is that it came with six pins. The hat cost $36.95, I think, so it was pretty much like you were buying the pins and getting the hat for free. And the kids could use the pins for pin trading! Best deal at Disney World! Gus also wanted an autograph book, so he bought that with his money and we chipped in to buy him the fat, character-friendly pen to go with it. At that point we were within a couple of dollars of hitting $50 and getting a discount with our Disney Visa, so we just had to throw in a book for storing pressed pennies to get the total over the top.

But the joy of finding a good deal on a hat was short lived. For some strange reason, after riding Everest, Primeval Whirl, and Dinosaur in quick succession, Ari's stomachache had returned. Go figure.
Now, I've promised a couple of germaphobic friends that I will leave out all the gory details of Ari's stomach trouble, but the truth is there's not a whole lot to conceal. For the most part, he just felt bad if he was out in the sun, walking around and riding stuff, and felt more or less okay when he stayed in the hotel. It's the sort of thing I wouldn't have thought much of at all if we'd been home and he'd been able to rest for a day or two without missing half his vacation. He never ran a fever at all, so it's entirely possible it WAS just something he ate not sitting well with him.

But whatever it was, he was definitely not feeling up for more rides or for several more hours walking around in the weather. Gus still wanted to ride Primeval Whirl again, and we were in a nice, shady spot right outside of Dinosaur still, so we decided that Dave would take Milo and Gus over there while I waited with a resting Ari. It turned out Primeval Whirl was shut down (lucky we went there early!) so they rode Triceratop Spin instead. Ari did this:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0368.jpg

When Dave and the kids got back, it was only 10:30, but we thought maybe an air conditioned break would be good for Ari, so we went over to Restaurantosaurus. And here we encountered perhaps the most helpful CM EVER! She was so very nice. But I'll get to her later, for it's time for yet another dining review, and she belongs there.

kokotg

09-30-2011, 08:37 PM

Chapter 10: Restaurantosaurus

We'd never been in Restaurantosaurus before. In fact, before this trip, the only restaurants we'd eaten at in Animal Kingdom were Pizzafari and Tusker House one time, back when it was still a counter service. Dave's lunch request for Animal Kingdom was “not Pizzafari.” My Disney gluten-free app told me that Restaurantosaurus was a good choice, so we picked it for our first AK day.

We got there right around 10:30, and the CMs were all bustling around getting ready to open. Someone came over to meet us and told us that they should be ready for us at 10:45, which, she said, was about 15 minutes earlier than they were scheduled to open. We were really just looking for a place to sit down out of the heat at this point, so we assured her we were in no rush.

After sitting for a few minutes, Ari was still feeling terrible and wanted to go back to the hotel. He most definitely did not want lunch. So Dave left with him, and it was just me, Milo, and Gus left for lunch. A CM came out again, bearing menus for us to look at. I told her that we needed to order gluten-free food, and she immediately went off to find the manager.

The manager came out right away with her big book of allergy information. Having already consulted my app and talked to the kids, I knew exactly what we wanted. They have gluten-free hamburger and hot dog buns at Restaurantosaurus, but Gus wanted a hot dog with no bun. Milo and I both wanted chicken fingers. So at this point we're hanging out in the seating area of the restaurant with the manager, and the registers still aren't open, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen with the ordering process. Was the manager going to go away and then someone would need to go find her AGAIN when the restaurant opened so we could order?

But no. Because she was the most helpful quick service manager ever! She told us that she would go ahead and start our food now, before the restaurant opened, so that we wouldn't have to wait so long, and then she walked us over to the registers, found someone who was all set up already, and walked her through putting our order in. Then she got drink cups for the kids and a bottle of water for me and told us we could sit down and she would bring our food out for us when it was ready.

And she did! Just a few minutes later!

The kids meals at Restaurantosaurus come in little plastic buckets. Which is cute, but, honestly, I kind of wish they'd ask before they just give them to you. We had a backpack with us and didn't mind carrying them around with us (though I'm not sure they'll ever get used by my kids; they'll probably wind up at Goodwill)...but I'm sure a TON of these get thrown out by people who don't want to haul them all over AK.

Anyway, here are the meals:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0377.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0376.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0374.jpg

Gus' meal doesn't look very appetizing, I realize. Picture it with a delicious gluten-free hot dog bun. I'm not sure there actually is any such thing, but, then, regular hot dog buns are usually nothing to write home about, either.

This time we got the Enjoy Life cookies instead of the French Meadow brownies (I'm nearly certain they offered us a choice of either). We got these a few more times just to have a break from the brownies, but, really, the brownies are much better. Enjoy Life has the advantage of being free from all major allergens, whereas French Meadow just bills itself as gluten free. The Enjoy Life cookies aren't terrible, but they have a strong fruit juicy flavor to them that I don't like. They're also TINY compared to the French Meadow brownies.

Up Next: More Animal Kingdom

shan23877

10-01-2011, 12:08 AM

Joining in! The title hooked me :lmao:

shan23877

10-01-2011, 12:25 AM

Chapter 3: Friday 9/16 Part 2: Magic Kingdom

One of the big reasons I wanted to add this Friday onto our trip is that, in my original schedule, we wouldn't make it to the Magic Kingdom until Wednesday—the fifth day of our trip. This seemed way too late. Starting off the trip with the Magic Kingdom was a much better plan.

We drove over to the Magic Kingdom and took the monorail from the TTC:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0212.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0213.jpg

I spent a lot of time on this trip forcing all three boys to pose together, and they were very good sports about it. Often, they even smiled for me:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0215.jpg

First view of the castle!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0219.jpg

This is what Main Street looked like at, according to that clock in the picture, 1:15.

Every single year I read threads saying that this September is way more crowded than last year AND threads about how totally empty the parks are this September...I'll say that our experience was that things seemed a little less crowded this year than the past few years. That may be luck—or because I obsessed a bit more about picking the right park for each day—but that was how it seemed to us. Pretty much everything was a walk-on the first couple hours the parks were open, and we did fine using fastpasses aside from that. I don't remember waiting for anything longer than 10 or 15 minutes, though I may be forgetting something. And when we did wait even that long it was always something that we could have avoided if we'd put much effort into it. The parks also just felt less crowded this year—more room on the walkways and that sort of thing.

We'd spent a lot of time in the days leading up to the trip discussing which ride we should do first. There had been some votes for Space Mountain and some for Small World (which was closed last year). We ended up doing Space Mountain first, with plans to follow it up immediately with Small World.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0223.jpg

The sign at Space Mountain claimed the wait would be 10 minutes, but we actually walked right on. When we got off, I commented, “the older I get, the bumpier Space Mountain gets.” But then later in the trip when we went on it, I loved it. The first couple of times—when there was all the bumpy—we went to the left side. The last few times, we went to the right. I actually googled when we were in line at one point, and it seems like the consensus is that the left side is smoother, but I swear it was the opposite for us. I would have sworn the track layout was completely different, in fact, but google insists that I'm wrong about that. And google never lies.

:rotfl: and neither does Wikipedia.

There actually WAS a wait for “it's a small world” (it kind of cracks me up that the name of the ride includes quotation marks. Haven't they ever read the blog of unnecessary quotation marks?) The sign said 10 minutes, and I think that was pretty accurate.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0224.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0226.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0230.jpg
I think Ari was excited

Two rides under our belts and now it was getting to be pretty late...past time for lunch!

So I think, after much internal debate, that I'm going to separate out my dining reviews. I'll put them in here, but as separate entries, so that I can also post them on the dining review board. I spent many, many hours pouring over gluten-free dining reviews before my trip, so I want to make sure my own gluten-free reviews are easy to find for anyone else who's looking for them. So:

Up next: Columbia Harbor House and some rambling about gluten

Really enjoying the report so far!

TanzUnited99

10-01-2011, 07:25 AM

Great AK day! I saw that with the photos having writing on them as well - guess Disney wants to try and stop people from taking red neck photos.

Wow at the service you all got at Restaurantosaurus! That is amazing! :thumbsup2

kokotg

10-01-2011, 10:06 AM

Really enjoying the report so far!

Thank you! and

:welcome:

Great AK day! I saw that with the photos having writing on them as well - guess Disney wants to try and stop people from taking red neck photos.

Wow at the service you all got at Restaurantosaurus! That is amazing! :thumbsup2

right? I guess it was inevitable that Disney would eventually figure out a way to get people to stop without having to actually ASK them to stop :laughing:

kokotg

10-01-2011, 01:36 PM

Chapter 10: Saturday, 9/16, Part 3: more Animal Kingdom

There was a lot of calling back and forth for me and Dave during the rest of the day, but I will sum up all the stuff they were doing back at Pop for the first part of the day here. They went back to the room, and Ari felt much better once he was lying down and resting. Dave went out to the food court and picked up some food, and Ari ate a little of it.

Milo, Gus, and I finished lunch and decided to head back over toward Everest to see what the line was like there. I think I'm going to have trouble remembering exactly what order we did things in next, despite all my pictures and notes, because my memory of the rest of the day is that we spent hours walking back and forth between Asia and Africa over and over again.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0409.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0382.jpg

The Everest line was 20 minutes, so we decided to keep walking and check out the safari. I think maybe we had fastpasses for the safari that Dave had run to get after Everest. Either that or the line was short, because I know we didn't wait long.

We had a pretty good safari driver. And we saw animals:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0396.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0389.jpg

Then we went on the Pangani Trail and saw MORE animals:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0404.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0400.jpg
And listened to, umm...monkey ultrasounds or something? I don't remember. I was mostly interested in the naked mole rats.

Now the kids wanted to go on Everest again, so we began our trek back to Africa. We saw Devine on the way:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0406.jpg

I don't know why we hadn't done this on the way to the safari, but we decided to pick up fast passes for it and come back in a bit.

While we waited for our fastpass time, we drank the first of three rounds of ice water (all that walking between Africa and Asia will make you thirsty). And we watched Flights of Wonder:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0410.jpg

Gus had been very against the Flights of Wonder plan, but in the end he loved it. “That was AWESOME!” he declared.

We sat about three rows from the front, over to the side, in Flights of Wonder. There was a family sitting a bit down the bench from us and then a couple of backpacks on the bench next to them. So I thought that family was saving seats for someone, but it eventually became apparent that no one was going to show up. I finally realized that what was going on was that the people in the row behind us had put their stuff on the row in front of them so that no one would sit in front of them and block their view. They didn't even have little kids who'd have an especially hard time seeing or anything; this was two grown-ups. And the show was fairly full. This annoyed me more than it probably should have. What if everyone did that!? Do they think they're the most important people in the world?! I thought about saying, when they picked up their bags at the end, “I'm sorry your friends never showed up,” but of course I didn't really do it. I also thought about taking their picture and posting it here with the caption, “The Most Important People In the World,” but I was afraid they would catch me doing it and it would be awkward. So I'm just passive aggressively complaining about them here instead.

I think it was while we were in Flights of Wonder that Dave called to say that Ari was feeling better and they were coming back to meet us. We rode Everest again and got a call from Dave saying that they were here....and that Ari was feeling sick again and wanted to go right back to the hotel. Poor Ari. We decided they'd go into the Rainforest Cafe gift shop to wait for us and we'd meet them there and all go back to Pop together.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0412.jpg
Mousekeeping was not especially creative with our stuffed animals this year. They were always sitting in a precarious pile on top of the pillow.

So that is what we did. We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging out at Pop. Dave and I took naps, and the kids played with their ipods and watched Kick Buttowski. We were supposed to eat dinner at Tusker House that night, but Ari wasn't up for it, so we called and canceled. Dave took the younger kids to the food court for dinner and brought stuff back for me and Ari (Ari ate a whole chicken finger dinner no problem, despite his stomach problems). I won't do a full scale review; they have a pretty good, if pretty basic, selection of gluten-free options at Pop. They could do rice pasta, the chicken fingers, fries, a burger or a hot dog with a gluten-free bun....probably a few other things I don't remember. Dave says they were very helpful there. I had a cheeseburger and fries, and it was....okay. I'm not a big fan of fast food hamburgers, and I ended up wishing I'd gotten it without the cheese-like substance on top.

Oh, and this is the time we completely screwed up with the gluten thing! Well, Dave did. He came back with some chocolate chip cookies. Milo and Gus had already had one each, and I opened up another package and took a bite. It was really yummy, so I looked at the package to see what the brand was. And saw “wheat” listed clear as day in the allergen information under the ingredients list. Oops. These were cookies that were safe for people with nut allergies, I believe, so they were displayed at Pop right next to the French Meadow stuff, and Dave had grabbed them without examining them closely. Gus got a little bit of a headache that evening, but other than that we didn't notice any particular ill effects, so that was good.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0415.jpg
This is what Dave did in the evenings while I worked on my trip report notes: he's making a spreadsheet to record all the money we spent on stuff. We are two different kinds of geeky.

New things for Saturday:

1. sick kid at Disney World: we've been very lucky, but I can't remember anything like that happening before this year.
2. Eating at Restaurantosaurus
3. Gus rides Primeval Whirl!

Up Next: Will Ari ever feel better? And Epcot

Fantasyland Mom

10-01-2011, 01:40 PM

I'm here and all caught up!
I agree that your lack of king bed has to be attributed to checking in on Friday! We did that whole Friday check-in last year and got absolutely nothing that we'd requested. That's the whole reason we stayed at Comfort Inn on Friday night and went to Pop on Saturday. (I swear, they GAVE us the king room, and we didn't even ask for it:lmao:!) Your crowd for check-in looked just like ours, pretty much.
I agree with your crowds analysis--no waits early, barely any waits late, and FP made things a whole lot easier. There was really only one bad crowd moment, and that's coming up soon in my TR. Honestly, though, it was poor planning on our part and could have been avoided. I love September at WDW (as does our entire county!).
We kept meaning to go to Babycakes for some good dairy-free dessert options for Brynn, but we just never made it. Next trip I'm going there for sure! And wine with your cinnamon rolls? Best pairing ever!

kokotg

10-01-2011, 11:47 PM

TanzUnited99

10-02-2011, 07:47 AM

Fantasyland Mom

10-02-2011, 09:30 AM

Our mousekeepers weren't too creative, either. I swear that every single day they put a pair of mouse ears in the middle of our bed and stuck a towel animal somewhere in the vicinity. At least that's better than last year when we got one towel animal upon entering, and then they never fully made our beds the rest of the week even when we called to complain (they pulled the bedspreads off and laid them in the floor, but made up the sheet and blanket:confused: ).

The chefs at Pop were really helpful to us. They always asked me what Brynn wanted to eat, and then they found a way to make it even if it wasn't a menu item. Sorry you ate those cookies, though--I wish things were always clearly marked, but it just isn't so. On the plus side, you got cookies:rotfl2:!

kokotg

10-02-2011, 10:47 AM

Lol you guys sure did a lot walking to and from places in AK! :laughing:

Love the animal pics and can't believe 2 adults would do that at the Flights of Wonder show :confused3 Oh no on Ari not feeling well - hope he felt better later.

Mousekeeping were not that creative in our room either.

We do have a couple of somewhat interesting encounters with mousekeeping coming up! But one year our mousekeeper always left the kids' stuffed animals doing something hilarious, like gathered around a book opened on the bed. Or one day she left the TV on and had them all watching it. We're hoping for another mousekeeper like that someday!

Our mousekeepers weren't too creative, either. I swear that every single day they put a pair of mouse ears in the middle of our bed and stuck a towel animal somewhere in the vicinity. At least that's better than last year when we got one towel animal upon entering, and then they never fully made our beds the rest of the week even when we called to complain (they pulled the bedspreads off and laid them in the floor, but made up the sheet and blanket:confused: ).

The chefs at Pop were really helpful to us. They always asked me what Brynn wanted to eat, and then they found a way to make it even if it wasn't a menu item. Sorry you ate those cookies, though--I wish things were always clearly marked, but it just isn't so. On the plus side, you got cookies:rotfl2:!

Ugh, I can't believe that about your bedspreads! How strange!

kokotg

10-02-2011, 11:09 AM

Chapter 11: Sunday, 9/17 Part 1: Epcot

I was really hoping that Ari was having a 24 hour kind of tummy bug, and he'd wake up Sunday completely fine...but no such luck. He still felt sick and didn't want to attempt Epcot. There was some brief discussion about which of us would stay at Pop with him. “You care more about going than I do,” Dave said. I could not argue with that. And, he pointed out, a chance for a nap in a quiet hotel room was really pretty vacation-like for him, too.

I don't drive at Disney. It scares me. So Milo, Gus, and I set off for the bus. We didn't exactly mean to, but we took the scenic route. We'd find out later in the trip that the bus stop really wasn't nearly as far away from our room as we thought it was, if we didn't mind views of parking lots instead of this stuff:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0416.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0418.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0421.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0423.jpg
Oh foosball guys....how I've missed you!

It was remarkably cool and pleasant when we left, and I felt bad for Ari and Dave that they weren't getting to enjoy some very rare comfortable September weather. The early part of the trip wasn't bad, weather-wise. By the end of the week, we were broiling. This is our fifth September in Orlando, though (and the year we went to Disneyland in September there was a record-breaking heatwave, and it was 102 one day), so we're always prepared for the worst.

There was a bus right there waiting for us when we got to the bus stop. We took buses more this year than last year, and usually had good luck with them. I don't remember what time we got to Epcot, but it must have been early, as it was pretty empty for the first little while:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0424.jpg
Hello, one other family who's joined us at Epcot this morning!

We went right over to Test Track and walked right into and through the preshow room without even watching the movie.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0426.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0429.jpg

We grabbed fastpasses for later and then went over to Mission Space. Dave and I rode the orange side with the kids twice last year, and I had no intention of doing it again this year, lest I wind up stuck in a hotel like Ari for the rest of the trip. Green all the way!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0430.jpg

Then Spaceship Earth:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0431.jpg

Then we went over to Soarin' to pick up fastpasses. I was hoping we could grab lunch at Sunshine Seasons while we waited for our fastpass return time, but they were still only serving breakfast. So we decided to pass the time with the other Land exhibits.

First up Living With the Land. I really love Living With Land. It's kind of boring, but I find it comforting somehow. Also, I like how lots of trip reports make it seem like all anyone does is ride Living With the Land and Kilimanjaro Safari because the light is good and it's easy to get pictures that turn out on them:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0438.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0440.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0445.jpg

We'd NEVER seen that Circle of Life movie before. But, hey, it was right there, so we decided to check it out. We may NEVER see that Circle of Life movie again. Really, it was fine, I guess. I did feel a little sheepish watching this environmental tale about how I needed to get back to the land and use fewer resources when I was sitting in the middle of Disney World, though. I mean, it takes a lot of resources to run Disney World, I'm thinking. All the oil that goes into those plastic buckets they put the kid meals in at Restaurantosaurus, for example. And the air conditioning to cool down the Land pavilion where we were watching the movie. I felt like maybe I should just go across the park to the Universe of Energy where I could hear about how great fossil fuels are instead.

While all this was going on, I was making regular calls to Dave to see how things were going with Ari. I think it was while we were waiting on Circle of Life that he told me they'd decided to take a trip to a nearby urgent care place. A stomach ache isn't something we'd normally rush to the doctor for, but we're not normally at Disney World.

But now it was lunch time! And Sunshine Seasons was right there! So we went there, and I will talk about that in my dining review. Up next!

nadira36

10-02-2011, 11:40 AM

Chapter 11: Sunday, 9/17 Part 1: Epcot

I don't drive at Disney.

First up Living With the Land. I really love Living With Land. It's kind of boring, but I find it comforting somehow.

I don't drive at Disney either - but we fly into MCO (there's no way I'll drive from central Alberta to Florida with 3 small children that don't enjoy the car!) :) Maybe it's because I grew up in FL, or maybe it's the number of times I've been, but driving at Disney just seems so relaxing to me - compared to anywhere else I've driven. But I'm perfectly happy to let Disney do the driving while we're there. I like to snooze on the bus ride - or at least not pay attention.

There is something about the land that's calming. I've always loved that ride. And so far the girls love it too.

You certainly have me hanging on my seat about Ari!

kokotg

10-02-2011, 01:13 PM

I don't drive at Disney either - but we fly into MCO (there's no way I'll drive from central Alberta to Florida with 3 small children that don't enjoy the car!) :) Maybe it's because I grew up in FL, or maybe it's the number of times I've been, but driving at Disney just seems so relaxing to me - compared to anywhere else I've driven. But I'm perfectly happy to let Disney do the driving while we're there. I like to snooze on the bus ride - or at least not pay attention.

There is something about the land that's calming. I've always loved that ride. And so far the girls love it too.

You certainly have me hanging on my seat about Ari!

Mostly I just hate driving anywhere I'm not familiar with; I get really stressed out about taking wrong turns and that sort of thing, and I don't want to be stressed out on vacation! I never have any clue where we are when DH is driving; after all these trips, my sense of WDW geography is still absolutely terrible. It turned out to be very lucky I didn't drive that day, though, or DH would have had to take a cab to urgent care.

kokotg

10-02-2011, 01:16 PM

Chapter 12: Sunday, 9/17 part 2: Sunshine Seasons

We've eaten at Sunshine Seasons several times before, but I think every other time I've taken the kids over to find seats while Dave ordered. I find all the different stations a little bit intimidating. But I faced my fears and waded in!

This is another place where I knew there were things we could eat on the regular menu, so I didn't ask for a manager. Somehow I never realized you could get a pork chop at Sunshine Seasons! I don't know if it's fairly new, or if I just always overlooked it before. But, at any rate, I was excited to try something different from the rotisserie chicken. The kids both got chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes. Gus picked carrot sticks as his other side, and Milo picked apple sauce. I didn't realize until a later visit that the gluten-free desserts are sitting in one of the displays; I assumed a manager would need to bring them out, so I just didn't get any (the kids meals aren't supposed to come with dessert anyway, but I think you can sub dessert for one of the sides). The CM at the register really didn't want to let me leave without getting everything I was entitled to, though, so I finally grabbed a bag of chips for the kids to snack on later to make him happy. One thing about Sunshine Seasons that made the kids a little sad was that Power Ade was a drink option for the grown-up meals, but not the kid meals.

Disclaimer: my gluten-free app actually doesn't list the mashed potatoes as gluten-free at Sunshine Seasons. But I had read elsewhere that they are, so I went ahead and got them. IME, mashed potatoes are nearly always gluten free, though I'm sure there are places that manage to get gluten into them somehow.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0449.jpg

We all really enjoyed this meal. The pork chop was a nice change from chicken...it was a little dry (it's supposed to come with barbecue sauce, but I didn't get that) and kind of awkward to cut with a plastic knife, but I still really liked it. It was also huge!

Next up: More Epcot! And the (not so) exciting conclusion to Ari's urgent care saga

Anya22

10-02-2011, 03:41 PM

TanzUnited99

10-02-2011, 04:27 PM

Oh no on Ari still not feeling better and from the ending of your latest post it looks like things are about to take a turn for the worse - I sure hope that is not the case.

I love your pics of Pop and seeing things that we never got to see during this trip.

I love Epcot and wish I was still wondering around WS! :laughing: Living with the land sure is a nice comforting ride. We skipped Circle of life so it was nice to read a review of this attraction.

Sunshine Seasons...mmmmm :cloud9:! My favourite CS meal hands down! That's a shame about the Power Ade not being a drink option for kids.

kokotg

10-02-2011, 05:06 PM

I am so glad I stumbled on your trip report. I am enjoying it thoroughly, especially all the detail about the GF dining. I can't wait to try babycakes and I will definitely get a cinnamon roll based on your review! It will be so nice to order something allergy-free at a bakery! Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

:welcome:

Yeah, the kids were so excited that EVERYTHING there is gluten free and they could order anything that looked good!

Oh no on Ari still not feeling better and from the ending of your latest post it looks like things are about to take a turn for the worse - I sure hope that is not the case.

I love your pics of Pop and seeing things that we never got to see during this trip.

I love Epcot and wish I was still wondering around WS! :laughing: Living with the land sure is a nice comforting ride. We skipped Circle of life so it was nice to read a review of this attraction.

Sunshine Seasons...mmmmm :cloud9:! My favourite CS meal hands down! That's a shame about the Power Ade not being a drink option for kids.

Oh, no--I didn't mean to make it sound so bad about the next Ari update...it's unexciting in a good way!

I like looking at your Pop pictures, too, because we never get over to that side of Classic Hall...other than our first two nights last year (when we had the smoky room and then moved), we've always been in either the 70's or 80's.

janabananas

10-02-2011, 05:11 PM

kokotg

10-02-2011, 05:52 PM

Subbing!

We just found out that DS8, Joey, has an unknown food allergy? He woke up friday morning completely covered in hives. We gave him benadryl (cause we didn't know what was going on). He had much less hives after that, until he wanted scrambled eggs and chocolate milk for a snack b4 his dr appt. Within an hour and a half, he was covered in hives again. So dr is thinking either dairy or egg allergy?? Either way ugh!

Oh no! I hope you get it figured out soon! It's so strange that these things can suddenly pop up, seemingly out of nowhere....DS5 never had any problems at all with allergies or asthma until last winter--I can't believe how fast they hit him.

Bethmsu

10-02-2011, 05:52 PM

I am enjoying your report! You have a lovely family and I can't wait to read more!

HilJoy14

10-03-2011, 07:49 AM

I followed you over here from another report - your title grabbed my attention, as I am gluten-free also (but not my family). I'm not big on researching food (easy, when it's just me), so I didn't know you could get gluten-free chicken fingers at Disney! Mostly, I just get a burger without a bun. (I did try the GF bun once but found it inedible.)

I'm taking in all of your food reports for our next trip - hopefully this month, since we just moved to Florida!

It sounds like a good time so far, minus the one sickie. I look forward to reading more!

kokotg

10-03-2011, 09:24 AM

I am enjoying your report! You have a lovely family and I can't wait to read more!

Thank you! :welcome:

I followed you over here from another report - your title grabbed my attention, as I am gluten-free also (but not my family). I'm not big on researching food (easy, when it's just me), so I didn't know you could get gluten-free chicken fingers at Disney! Mostly, I just get a burger without a bun. (I did try the GF bun once but found it inedible.)

I'm taking in all of your food reports for our next trip - hopefully this month, since we just moved to Florida!

It sounds like a good time so far, minus the one sickie. I look forward to reading more!

Thanks! And I'm glad I've introduced you to the wonders of the Disney allergy free chicken tender :laughing:. Much better than a bunless burger, IMO!

kokotg

10-03-2011, 11:49 AM

Chapter 13: Sunday, 9/17 part 3: more Epcot

After lunch we finally rode Soarin'. We got in the front row, which I thought was great, but Milo and Gus were disappointed because they wanted to see feet while they rode. Okay, then.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0450.jpg

I suggested that maybe we should go ride Nemo after that, but neither kid was interested. “It's fun!” I said. “It's not fun,” Gus insisted, “it's for people who want to relax, and I want to ride roller coasters.”

But there aren't any roller coasters at Epcot, so we went and saw Figment instead:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0452.jpg

Shocker! There was no wait!

Last year they had a lot of the area after the ride blocked off. Now we finally got to see what they'd been working on. As far as I could tell, it's a whole bunch of computer screens that all do the same thing: let you design your own Figment:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0455.jpg

Not the most exciting new development in Disney's history, but it kept the kids entertained for a few minutes. While they designed Figments, I talked to Dave. He and Ari were back at Pop!

The urgent care doctor hadn't been able to find anything in particular wrong with Ari...no fever, no appendicitis (I had suddenly gotten paranoid the day before that maybe he had appendicitis and would have to have surgery at a strange hospital, hours from home. I tend to worry a lot)...could be something he ate, could be a random stomach bug. They gave him some anti nausea medicine that is usually used for cancer patients on chemo....and, you know, kids who can't miss any more of their Disney vacations. So he was feeling a lot better now (whether this was because of the medicine or because the thing had just run its course, we'll never know). We decided he'd rest at Pop awhile longer and then, assuming he was still feeling good, we'd all come back out later for a couple of rides and our dinner at Le Cellier. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to cancel that reservation!

It was around this time that we altered our original plan a bit and decided to stay later in the day on Saturday before driving home. We'd originally thought we'd take off first thing Saturday morning, but, since Ari had missed so much, we decided we'd stay until afternoon instead and let Ari pick which park we went to that day.

Weird thing: I'd never even SEEN Club Cool before this trip. I don't know how. I knew, sort of, where it, from reading about it in books and trip reports, but I'd never sought it out and never happened across it. But now I mentioned to Gus and Milo that there was a place where one could sample coke products from around the world. Gus was all over that. Milo was a bit skeptical, but said he'd like to try Coke from Japan, at least. So we took a look where I knew Club Cool was supposed to be and, hey, there is was! I didn't realize it was so big and...obvious. I can't believe I'd never noticed it before.

Anyway, as you'll see, we made up for lost time on this trip. Milo tried the Japanese drink and liked it very much. Gus tried...a lot of things. I can't remember what all (no Beverly, not yet). I only tried the Ginger Ale. It was fine.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0460.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0472.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0462.jpg

After Club Cool, the kids and I walked back over to Test Track. We had 3 fastpasses for it already (since I just had our three cards with us that day), and we got 2 more so that we could all ride it together before dinner that night if Ari felt up to it.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0473.jpg
Common sight on this trip: a squirrel, surrounded by a mob of tourists taking pictures of said squirrel. And when I see people taking pictures of something, I immediately feel like they must KNOW something and I copy them. I hope those flowers weren't poisonous.

Now it was time for....the first Mickey bars of the trip!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0476.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0490.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0492.jpg

Milo, interestingly, declared these “too messy” and opted not to have any more during the trip.

We walked through Innoventions after this.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0486.jpg

The kids tried to play this game outside of Storm Struck:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0497.jpg

But they were playing against a much older girl (actually, it's possible she was an adult; I can't remember now) who actually understood what to do, so it wasn't much of a competition.

Then we went into Storm Struck. Gus has been quoting back the safety information from Storm Struck ever since: “look! They have the wrong kind of roof!”

And with that, we headed for the buses and back to Pop to take a break with Ari and Dave before (we hoped) coming back later for dinner at Le Cellier.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0502.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0504.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0506.jpg

The sky was looking very ominous at this point, but the temperature was still amazingly comfortable. I almost didn't want to leave, it was SO nice out. But it's good that we did leave when we did, because by the time the bus got to Pop, it was pouring! And this was back before I realized how much longer the scenic route was than it needed to be, so we took it back to the room, only without the leisurely stops for taking pictures. We dashed from building to building, staying under cover as much as we could.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0509.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0513.jpg

We finally made it back, though, and spent some time hanging out in the rooms. Ari was feeling fine. The kids watched Spy Kids for awhile while Dave and I dozed and read and worked on trip report notes and....booked our bounceback trip!

I had heard before we left that some people were getting bounceback offers with quick service dining with the moderates, which would have completely destroyed my whole plan for next September. So I was pleased to see that our offer was quick service with values and plus dining with moderates. I'd run the numbers before we left and realized it would be many hundreds of dollars more for us to stay at Pop in two rooms with upgraded dining again than to do one room at Port Orleans Riverside (where, word is, there will be 2 queen beds and a murphy bed in some rooms by next year). The choice seemed pretty clear, much as we like Pop.

Dave has not completely committed to another trip next year, but we do have one booked now, just in case :). Right now we have 8 nights at Port Orleans with free dining booked. But! I'm working on a grand plan that involves changing that to 4 nights, but with deluxe dining, and then 4 nights at a condo off site where we can cook most of our own meals. I love the idea of trying Port Orleans, but I'm very nervous about all of us stuffing into one room for a whole week. And I love the idea of trying deluxe dining (and avoiding so many 30 minute waits for counter service meals), but I'm worried that it would get old after a few days and take up too much park time. So I'm thinking that by splitting the week, we'll save enough money on the offsite part of the week to afford the dining upgrade, AND if we're all driving each other insane in one room at POR, it will only be for a few nights and then we'll move to a condo with tons of space! Best of all worlds? We'll see. And I'm sure the plan will change 37 times before we actually make it there anyway.

Up Next: more Epcot and then on to Le Cellier

Fantasyland Mom

10-03-2011, 02:23 PM

I STILL haven't been to Club Cool. And I also have never had a Mickey Bar...so, yeah...reasons for another trip, right?;)

Glad Ari was feeling better! Hope he stays better!

I love that I'm not the only one who has plans for next year even though this year's trip just happened!!

nadira36

10-03-2011, 03:53 PM

We've always loved club cool - though I think it was called something else when it first opened. And there had been a huge pile of 'snow' just inside the door - we loved that!

When we go we do deluxe dinning - upgrading from free usually - after pricing out the difference between what's included in regular dinning and figuring the extra snacks and counter service meals it still comes out cheaper than if we stuck with regular dinning. But we don't drive while there - and I won't cook or clean on vacation. In the past we've done mostly sit downs - first time it was easiest with the newly gluten-free, last time we did mostly sit-down, but some counter service - with young children we find the sit downs a nice break front eh hustle and bustle. This time we've only made ADRs for 1 or 2 meals a day - and will wing the rest.

We also love mickey bars and drink lots of bottled water (I can't stand the tap water taste at Disney - or most places for that matter). so deluxe dining is usually best for us.

You could always look at renting DVC points for next trip - and adding dinning. It can work out to being pretty closet to eh same price as a moderate (depending on where you rent/size of accommodation). Plus if you get a 1bdrm with kitchenette you can do some of your own cooking too.

We haven't even gone on our trip yet, and we've already planned next one - as far as dates and where we're staying (12 days in Sept at BC with deluxe dinning) this is our ultimate trip - we have everything figured out as far as what we HOPE to do while we're there - but we will have 3 children under 5 so who knows how that'll go :rotfl:

I'e enjoyed reading about your trip - and LOVED the pictures. It makes the wait for our trip easier :)

kokotg

10-03-2011, 05:19 PM

I love that I'm not the only one who has plans for next year even though this year's trip just happened!!

Disney really enables the obsessiveness by putting those bounceback offers in our rooms :laughing:

We've always loved club cool - though I think it was called something else when it first opened. And there had been a huge pile of 'snow' just inside the door - we loved that!

When we go we do deluxe dinning - upgrading from free usually - after pricing out the difference between what's included in regular dinning and figuring the extra snacks and counter service meals it still comes out cheaper than if we stuck with regular dinning. But we don't drive while there - and I won't cook or clean on vacation. In the past we've done mostly sit downs - first time it was easiest with the newly gluten-free, last time we did mostly sit-down, but some counter service - with young children we find the sit downs a nice break front eh hustle and bustle. This time we've only made ADRs for 1 or 2 meals a day - and will wing the rest.

We also love mickey bars and drink lots of bottled water (I can't stand the tap water taste at Disney - or most places for that matter). so deluxe dining is usually best for us.

You could always look at renting DVC points for next trip - and adding dinning. It can work out to being pretty closet to eh same price as a moderate (depending on where you rent/size of accommodation). Plus if you get a 1bdrm with kitchenette you can do some of your own cooking too.

We haven't even gone on our trip yet, and we've already planned next one - as far as dates and where we're staying (12 days in Sept at BC with deluxe dinning) this is our ultimate trip - we have everything figured out as far as what we HOPE to do while we're there - but we will have 3 children under 5 so who knows how that'll go :rotfl:

I'e enjoyed reading about your trip - and LOVED the pictures. It makes the wait for our trip easier :)

I always price out renting points, but I can never justify it when I compare it to free dining. Especially now that Ari is an "adult" it really is the best discount for us. If some extra money falls in our laps, though, that's totally the first thing I'll look at--renting points instead of an off property condo!

Your trip sounds great! (well, both of them do :)) We had 3 five and under our first trip; at the time it seemed like we were doing SO MUCH, but then I look back and compare what we do now to what we did then...it's incredible how much more efficient we are with bigger kids. But it was still so much fun having little kids at Disney--I miss it!

kokotg

10-03-2011, 07:10 PM

Chapter 14: Sunday 9/17 part 4: even MORE Epcot

Okay, so now that the planning for next year interlude is over....back to Epcot! From here on out, Ari felt completely fine. He kept being nervous that was going to start feeling bad, but he never actually did. We finally had to tell him that if his stomach DID start hurting again, it was going to be from anxiety because he was worrying so much rather than from an actual ailment.

We drove to Epcot this time. Our Le Cellier reservation wasn't until 7:05, and we had time to ride Spaceship Earth (a nice starter ride for Ari):

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0514.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0523.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0515.jpg
Feeling good!

...Test Track, with our fastpasses:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0531.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0533.jpg
Still okay!

In the shop after Test Track, we got the first of our pressed pennies. Things got a little confusing here, and Dave and I realized we really should have thought the pressed penny thing through a little more carefully before we got to this point. Who knew pressed pennies required so much forethought?

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0540.jpg

What happened was: Milo started to make a penny and Gus was protesting that HE wanted to do it. Dave told him that he could do one next. I was horrified. "What? We're going to let each of them make a penny at every machine?!" I asked, "we'll run out of pennies and quarters!" We had one roll of quarters with us and a small handful of pre 1982 (or 1983 or whenever they were still almost all copper) pennies. "Nah--we have plenty," Dave insisted.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0543.jpg

I pointed to the machine and read aloud, "HUNDREDS of different designs [emphasis added]." Dave pointed to the line under that one, "Collect them ALL," he said. I decided I guessed I'd just need to relax about the penny thing. Until Gus started his turn and, before anyone could stop him, picked the SAME design Milo had just made! Doh! "Okay, rookie mistake," I said. We're NEVER going to manage to collect all hundreds of the designs at this rate, though, I'm telling you.

Then we walked through Innoventions again. Gus had seen this paper making exhibit before and wanted to try it, but there'd be a line then. This time there was no wait, so we stopped while he made some paper.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0527.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0528.jpg

Dave asked the CM where the raw material came from (it seemed like there was kind of a step missing in the whole educational where paper comes from thing...basically it seemed to teach kids that you can use paper to make....slightly different paper), and she said, “it comes from trees....tree products.” Realizing her answer was pretty lame, she added apologetically, “they don't really tell us where it comes from.”

And then we had to back to Club Cool, because Dave and Ari had STILL never been! This time, I got the obligatory pictures of people after tasting Beverly:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0548.jpg
First Dave

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0550.jpg
Then Gus. And that's it. No one else would try it.

...and then Living with the Land again (Ari and Dave hadn't ridden it!) before walking over to World Showcase:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0555.jpg
I took a picture of this because another name for Sorghum is Milo

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0556.jpg

Next up: Le Cellier and an explanation for my TR's title

bumbershoot

10-03-2011, 10:37 PM

Hi!

On one hand, I didn't want to be the person with no diagnosis who won't eat gluten because it's all trendy and Oprah did it. On the other hand...I think there might be some good reasons why it's trendy to not eat gluten, and the overstimulation of a Disney trip can provoke enough meltdowns on its own without adding in First Time Eating Gluten in a Month meltdowns.

I totally get that! Since we have to avoid corn syrup products, and of course some people don't want to believe that there can be problems with it. And there are nasty passive aggressive ADS about how corn syrup is just sugar, blah blah blah. There would be no diagnosis for us (that might not be true, since I think it's a blood sugar spike thing, but who needs some weird blood sugar diagnosis when I can just avoid the stuff and not encounter the problems?), but avoiding the stuff works, so...we just avoid it. So I totally understand.

Columbia Harbor House is, as far as we can tell, the only place (or at least the only quick service) in the Magic Kingdom that serves allergen-free chicken tenders. ....Much better than the chicken nuggets they serve to people without food allergies.

Makes ya wonder what they are putting in the "allergic" chicken things! :3dglasses

....My understanding is that the fries themselves are gluten free everywhere, but there are issues with cross contamination in a lot of places because of the shared fryers.

OK, as a vegetarian, ew! I haven't had a long convo with a WDW chef, but my talk with Chef Chris at Disneyland taught me that they want to make as many people happy as possible with any step they take. So they aren't going to share fryers for fries with ANYTHING meat, because then they've destroyed the vegetarian/vegans, and some religious diets as well, and of course gluten-free depending on what they are also cooking. Hoping your manager misunderstood, or else I'll have to rethink the french fry thing at WDW.

...and a pair of Athens Croc flip flops. I wore the flip flops on this, the first day, and ….wound up with blisters between my toes.

When I first bought my Athens, I had the same problem. However, I was at Disneyland and my feet were already in incredible amounts of pain, so the blisters were nothing compared to how bad my feet had already been feeling. The blisters got covered with adhesive bandages, and my bones breathed a sigh of relief thanks to the squishy Crocs. :)

Sorry it didn't work out the same for you. :hug:

...I ended up with: http://www.skechers.com/style/21159/bikers-hot-ticket/wht#Color=GYPK

Ooh, those are cute. And they come in wide widths. Not sure I could rock the no-sock look, but I might have to try those in the future!

...because my memory of the rest of the day is that we spent hours walking back and forth between Asia and Africa over and over again.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0415.jpg
This is what Dave did in the evenings while I worked on my trip report notes: he's making a spreadsheet to record all the money we spent on stuff. We are two different kinds of geeky.

Funny, my memory of many WDW parks involve walking back and forth from point A to point B repeatedly, too! :rotfl:

Oh I wish I'd had a solid chance to really track our spending during the trip. I've GOT to get a spreadsheet program for my Mac (though my Mac seems to get heatstroke at WDW, b/c it died entirely while there, but now back at home is up and running just fine). Notes weren't enough! (jealous of you guys, obviously)

I did feel a little sheepish watching this environmental tale about how I needed to get back to the land and use fewer resources when I was sitting in the middle of Disney World, though. I mean, it takes a lot of resources to run Disney World, I'm thinking. All the oil that goes into those plastic buckets they put the kid meals in at Restaurantosaurus, for example. And the air conditioning to cool down the Land pavilion where we were watching the movie. I felt like maybe I should just go across the park to the Universe of Energy where I could hear about how great fossil fuels are instead.

:rotfl: Good point!

Mostly I just hate driving anywhere I'm not familiar with; I get really stressed out about taking wrong turns and that sort of thing, and I don't want to be stressed out on vacation! I never have any clue where we are when DH is driving; after all these trips, my sense of WDW geography is still absolutely terrible. It turned out to be very lucky I didn't drive that day, though, or DH would have had to take a cab to urgent care.

Remember, as long as you keep track of the *area* you're trying to get to, you'll eventually get there. (and CentraCare has a shuttle for free, I hear)

Dave asked the CM where the raw material came from (it seemed like there was kind of a step missing in the whole educational where paper comes from thing...basically it seemed to teach kids that you can use paper to make....slightly different paper), and she said, “it comes from trees....tree products.” Realizing her answer was pretty lame, she added apologetically, “they don't really tell us where it comes from.”

Love that!

When I was in practice (I was a chiropractor) I had some patients make homemade paper for me. Making paper at home involves ripping up other pieces of paper, turning it into pulp, adding flowers and whatnot, and pressing it into paper (that you can barely write on). So, yeah...you make paper with other paper! :3dglasses

I do want you to know something I found out near Rock 'n Roller Coaster. There's a bead kiosk there, and it seems that Disney takes all of those discarded maps and Times Guides, renders it down somehow, then sends it to Uganda, where women there make beads out of them, then ship them back to Disney to be sold at kiosks. Recycling! :)

shan23877

10-03-2011, 11:43 PM

Great updates! I'm glad that Ari was feeling better. I LOVE your Beverly pictures-especially of DH!:rotfl2:

okw19

10-04-2011, 08:14 AM

Great updates! Lunch at Sunshine Seasons looks so yummy! I'm so glad that everyone got to go back to Epcot together. :) Congrats on making the bounceback reservations! :)

kokotg

10-04-2011, 08:39 AM

OK, as a vegetarian, ew! I haven't had a long convo with a WDW chef, but my talk with Chef Chris at Disneyland taught me that they want to make as many people happy as possible with any step they take. So they aren't going to share fryers for fries with ANYTHING meat, because then they've destroyed the vegetarian/vegans, and some religious diets as well, and of course gluten-free depending on what they are also cooking. Hoping your manager misunderstood, or else I'll have to rethink the french fry thing at WDW.

oh, wow (as a non-vegetarian) I hadn't even thought of that! To clarify, I didn't hear about shared fryers from a manager; I just remember reading it SOMEWHERE in all the gluten-free WDW reading I did before the trip. So I have no idea what the original source is or how accurate it is. Although we WERE given baked fries at at least one place, so I'm not sure what other reason there would be for that....

I do want you to know something I found out near Rock 'n Roller Coaster. There's a bead kiosk there, and it seems that Disney takes all of those discarded maps and Times Guides, renders it down somehow, then sends it to Uganda, where women there make beads out of them, then ship them back to Disney to be sold at kiosks. Recycling! :)

I heard about that! (they talked about it on the Dis Unplugged podcast awhile back) It sounded cool, but I forgot to look for it while I was there!

kokotg

10-04-2011, 08:40 AM

Great updates! I'm glad that Ari was feeling better. I LOVE your Beverly pictures-especially of DH!:rotfl2:

Thanks :). Funny thing was, immediately after the first sip, he didn't think it was too bad. Then it hit him!

Great updates! Lunch at Sunshine Seasons looks so yummy! I'm so glad that everyone got to go back to Epcot together. :) Congrats on making the bounceback reservations! :)

Thanks! Now I just need to pay for the bounceback, and I'll be all set :laughing:

TanzUnited99

10-04-2011, 09:27 AM

Lol, I don't think I know anyone that would prefer to see feet on Soarin than sit on the front row! :lmao:

We loved Club Cool - think it is a great place to cool down and spend some time! Yay on getting the Beverly pics!

We never had a single Mickey bar but it just means we have to try one next time! ;)

Love the pics of the boys at Epcot!

:woohoo: on booking Port Orleans for a possible trip next year! Think that is where I would like to stay on my next trip as well.

kokotg

10-04-2011, 11:20 AM

Lol, I don't think I know anyone that would prefer to see feet on Soarin than sit on the front row! :lmao:

right? My kids are kinda weird :laughing:. I like them that way, though :)

kokotg

10-04-2011, 11:44 AM

Chapter 15: Le Cellier

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0562.jpg

We'd never been to Le Cellier before, and, honestly, I'd never been all that interested in it. Maybe they sucked me in when they changed it to a two credit meal, or maybe it just seemed more appealing now that the kids are older, but, for whatever reason, I snatched it up when I happened to come across an opening a few weeks before the trip.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0561.jpg
Very excited about all the Canada

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0560.jpg
I see they've imported Canadian rabbits to add to the atmoshphere here. Aside: did you know North American rabbits are the only ones who don't live in burrows? That's what Wikipedia told me anyway. I'm reading Watership Down to Ari and Milo right now. We like bunnies.

We got to the restaurant maybe 10 or 15 minutes before our (7:05) reservation and were seated within about 10 minutes. Our waitress was really nice; she told us that her friend had just been diagnosed with celiac disease, so she was fairly knowledgeable about gluten. This was the only table service restaurant where the chef didn't come out to talk to us (which I vaguely remembered reading had happened to other people in some reviews, so I was halfway expecting it), but the waitress either could tell us or went back to check about whether things had gluten in them.

First up—drinks! I ordered a Merlot, and then Dave tried to order a sampler of three different types of whiskey. Our waitress paused. “I think whiskey has gluten in it,” she said. This was when she told us about her friend with celiac, who, apparently, has been saddened by having to forgo whiskey herself. Dave is a big beer connoisseur (he even brews his own beer), so that's been a tough adjustment for him, but he doesn't regularly drink whiskey at home...he just thought it sounded good when he saw it on the menu. What I'm getting at is that this isn't something we'd ever had reason to look into before. “I thought whiskey was made with corn,” Dave said. She offered to go check with someone in the back and report back with her findings.

A few minutes later, she came back, telling us that half the kitchen had been hard at work searching the internet to find out whether Dave could have his whiskey and that, sadly, he couldn't. “They're all blends,” she explained. Of different kinds of grains. So no whiskey for Dave. He ordered a merlot, to match mine, but he was kind of bummed about it.

Curious, I did a bit more research when we got back home, and it turns out the answer to “is there gluten in whiskey?” isn't particularly clear-cut. Apparently, all the gluten is whiskey should be removed in the distilling process, and it probably would have been fine. BUT some people with celiac still have problems with it (Dave, of course, doesn't have celiac) AND some kinds of whiskey might have gluten added back in AFTER the distilling process. So. Probably Dave should have gotten to drink his whiskey. But it's good that they're so careful, too, I guess. And there you have it.

On to the food! I ordered the ribeye with parmesan crusted potatoes. It was supposed to also have a “maple-pink peppercorn butter,” but I didn't see anything like that on it. I don't know if it just wasn't very noticeable, or if they left it off because it had gluten in it. At any rate, my steak was good. I ordered it medium rare, and it seemed really rare to me. But that seems to be happening to me a lot lately, so I don't know if my tastes have changed or if the definition of medium-rare has, but maybe I should start ordering my steaks medium. The potatoes were really good. I was surprised by how impressed I was with him. It was also a deceptively large serving; they had them kind of hidden under the steak, and it looked like not much potato, but then I kept discovering more and more surprise wedges as I ate my steak.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0566.jpg
I'll explain why I turned the flash off and made this picture suck in a minute

Dave ordered the filet with wild mushroom risotto. When we first talked to our waitress about gluten, this was the entree she mentioned immediately, which I think means this is the only one that's totally gluten-free without any changes. Dave says it was very good.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0564.jpg

Ari ordered the free-range chicken, and we asked for it with the “smashed potatoes” the kids' meals come with instead of whatever was listed on the menu. He really enjoyed this and remembers Le Cellier as one of his favorite meals of the trip.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0563.jpg

Both younger kids ordered the kid steak and smashed potatoes and were quite pleased with it.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0565.jpg

I had noticed throughout the meal that the woman at the table next to us kept sneaking glances at us. I have no idea why, as, while I like to think we're good company once you get to know us, I don't think we do anything especially fascinating when we're just sitting around eating dinner. So then, when I took pictures of the food (subtly, I thought), she actually spoke up. “Are you a food blogger or something?” she asked. OMG. I was mortified. Remember: already self-conscious about taking the pictures, so this was kind of my worst nightmare. I tried to act casual and said something jokingly about how we wanted to remember the meal forever--ha ha. I think the picture quality for the food for the rest of the trip was adversely affected by our neighbor that night, who forced me to be even MORE stealthy about my food photography.

Dave and I are having a debate about whether Le Cellier was our first encounter with the Ener-G rolls or not. I don't have pictures of them, and there's nothing in my notes about them, but I could have sworn they brought them. Dave says no. I'll have to ask Ari....Ari says yes. He also immediately remembered that they came with maple butter, so I'm pretty sure Ari and I are right.

Okay, so this was our first encounter with the famous Ener-G rolls. The kids LOVED these things. Dave and I thought they were fine. Butter helped a lot; some places they just brought them out completely plain. It's funny—I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten regular old bread over the past six months, and for the most part I don't miss it. But at Disney I do. I kind of feel like there's no reason to eat bread unless it's awesome, and I have memories of the bread being one of the best parts of the meal a lot of times on past trips. I'm not one to speak glowingly about Disney restaurants in general—I think they range from passable to very good—but the bread is usually excellent. So that made me just a wee bit sad on this trip. But not the kids—give them a plateful of tapioca rolls and they were in heaven!

Dessert! The maple crème brulee is gluten-free, so Dave and I ordered that. The kids all ordered chocolate mousse. I wound up switching with Ari, though, because I wasn't a huge fan of the crème brulee. I felt it was missing something and that that something was chocolate. Ari LOVED it, though.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0567.jpg

So, overall? A very good experience. We'll definitely be back.

Up Next: Sunday wrap-up, complete with NEW things. And then another day at Animal Kingdom

Fantasyland Mom

10-04-2011, 02:58 PM

Oh, Le Cellier...sigh...:sad1:. Alas, I think we're never meant to be together.

Food looks pretty yummy! Sorry your neighbor made you feel awkward. I probably would have just said, "Yeah, something like that," and kept on flashin'!

I know what you mean about steaks changing (or us changing). I used to like my steak medium rare, as well, but now I always go with medium so that I feel like it at least grazed a grill! My odd husband likes his steaks practically charred. I have tried to convince him that well done does not equal done well, but he won't listen:confused3.

I could go for a steak right now. Hmmmm...

okw19

10-04-2011, 03:56 PM

Your review made me so hungry! I want steak for dinner!
If someone would have said something to me, I would have said something like what Jennifer mentioned above. "Yeah, something like that!" :rotfl: Obviously that woman doesn't DIS so she probably wouldn't have liked a full explanation.

kokotg

10-04-2011, 06:13 PM

Oh, Le Cellier...sigh...:sad1:. Alas, I think we're never meant to be together.

Food looks pretty yummy! Sorry your neighbor made you feel awkward. I probably would have just said, "Yeah, something like that," and kept on flashin'!

Your review made me so hungry! I want steak for dinner!
If someone would have said something to me, I would have said something like what Jennifer mentioned above. "Yeah, something like that!" :rotfl: Obviously that woman doesn't DIS so she probably wouldn't have liked a full explanation.

I'm going to have to get braver before next year! Maybe I should take pictures of my food all year, everywhere we go, so that it won't feel weird to me anymore by then :laughing:

kokotg

10-04-2011, 06:14 PM

Chapter 16: Sunday wrap-up

When we left Le Cellier, Illuminations was just starting. Dave wanted to stop and watch, but I thought this was a bad idea because 1. Ari was just getting over being sick and 2. we were supposed to be at Animal Kingdom at 8 the next morning for EMH. We were planning to come back on Thursday, and I assured him we could watch it then.

NEW things for Sunday:

1. Florida urgent care visit
2. Eating at Le Cellier
3. trying the pork chop at Sunshine Seasons
4. “making” paper at Innoventions
5. watching The Circle of Life
6. Club Cool

So many new things!

gallmcduck

10-05-2011, 07:44 AM

I'm a bit late in coming over now I am going back to catch up :)

kokotg

10-05-2011, 08:09 AM

I'm a bit late in coming over now I am going back to catch up :)

:welcome:

kokotg

10-05-2011, 08:45 AM

Chapter 17: Monday 9/18 part 1: Animal Kingdom

My notes for this day begin: “No one wanted to get up for EMH, but I made them.” Yep. Really, given the crowds we'd encountered thus far, it probably would have been fine to get there late, but I wasn't about to go to Animal Kingdom on an EMH day and NOT go to the EMH. That's for amateurs! And we had no park hoppers, you understand. We might make rookie mistakes with pressed pennies, but not with park hours.

The traffic light was out at the Pop Century exit, and there was a sad bus stranded there trying in vain to take a left. I hope it made it out eventually.

We made it to Animal Kingdom two minutes before rope drop—success!

We went right to the safari. This is the first time we'd ever gone straight to the safari at rope drop, and I was determined to see if all this hype about seeing the most animals early in the morning was true. There was a mob of people going into the safari line with us, and I was very impressed with how fast they can get everyone on a truck. We didn't wait at all.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0581.jpg

We did see lots of animals!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0584.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0587.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0589.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0591.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0595.jpg
You're not going to get a better view of the lions than this no matter HOW early you get up, though.

Next over to Everest, because the kids can't stay away from their beloved Everest for long when at Animal Kingdom:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0600.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0603.jpg

Everest was a walk-on (I've only ever walked through the Everest non-fastpass line slowly enough to actually look at stuff once, and it was last year). I think we picked up fastpasses for it at this point, too.

Next we headed back over to Dinoland, where Ari revealed that he was feeling terribly hungry. He also wasn't particularly interested in riding Primeval Whirl again (perhaps some PTSD from Saturday's stomach episode), and Dave is never really interested in Primeval Whirl (he does not so much like spinny rides), so Dave and Ari set off in search of food while Milo, Gus, and I rode PW.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0617.jpg

When we got off and found Dave and Ari, they reported that it's darn near impossible to eat in Animal Kingdom, or at least this part of Animal Kingdom, so early. We finally went over to the little store across from Triceratop Spin and used snack credits to get some chips.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0610.jpg

We sat at a picnic table outside and noticed:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0613.jpg

Huh? What's the Cretaceous Trail? Is there another exciting trail at Animal Kingdom with exotic animals, one that we'd somehow never seen or heard about before? No. It turns out the Cretaceous Trail features plants and animals that have “remained virtually unchanged since the late Cretaceous.” This might sound really exciting, but in practice it means lots of ferns. And a big dinosaur statue. But we had to walk down it to find this out.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0621.jpg
See that squirrel way up there? He's been hanging out there since the late Cretaceous!

It comes out near the Dinosaur exit.

Dave and I are fuzzy on what happened next, but I think I took Milo and Ari on Dinosaur while he took Gus on Primeval Whirl. Anyway, people rode stuff.

And then back to Everest! Because we love Everest!

Then we figured we had just enough time before the next Flights of Wonder show (Ari and Dave hadn't seen it yet, remember) to walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

Last year, there this was guy working in the bat house—we think his name was Louis—who we've been talking about all year. He would give this talk about bats, in a droning voice, all about what bats eat and all that sort of thing. And then he would stop. And then as soon as someone new walked in, he would start all over again in that nasal monotone. Dave does a great impression of Louis the Bat Guy. Okay, so you sort of had to be there. But we were really, really hoping that we would see him again so that we could record his bat talk with my iphone and then post it here so it would be like you WERE there. Alas, no such luck. Some completely personable, interactive CM was there this time, answering questions about bats.

There was some batfighting going on while we were there, and I heard one CM explain to another one that that would be happening a lot because it was bat mating season. So that was kind of exciting. But it was no Louis the Bat Guy.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0633.jpg
"These bats do not eat blood. They are fruit bats."

Dave is really scared of tigers (not me; tigers don't scare me at all—I could take half a dozen of them with one hand tied behind my back), so the Maharajah Jungle Trek is a little challenging for him.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0628.jpg
OMG! Tigers! But Dave is terrified of tigers! Maybe we should just turn around now...

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0638.jpg
Tigers?! Where?! (Gus is the only one who would cooperate with my funny picture taking idea here. I knew that drama class he's taking would pay off!)

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0641.jpg
Oh no! They must be close!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0643.jpg
Phew! That tiger's not scary--he's ASLEEP! And he's behind thick glass.

(I did this whole hilarious tiger captions thing in my pictures last year, but I didn't do a trip report, so hardly anyone got to see them).

Also! While we were on the Jungle Trek, the kids did their very first pin trading! Well, Gus did, at least:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0636.jpg

We had to rush through the last part of the Jungle Trek to get to Flights of Wonder in time. By the time we got there, the show was just starting. There were still some seats off to the sides near the front, but we decided to try out the still nearly empty bleacher section in back instead.

Wow! This is the place to sit in Flights of Wonder! Especially if you have kids or are short (raises hand). I wish I could track down The Most Important People In the World and tell them the secret that they don't need to resort to the kind of shenanigans that get them called out in strangers' trip reports to be able to see the show. We had a great view! And when they brought some of the birds out into the audience, they were right there next to us. The only disadvantage to the bleacher seats might be if you're trying to get picked as one of the volunteers, but our kids are too shy for that anyway.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0669.jpg
Look at all those suckers up in the front, while we look right over their heads like royalty!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0666.jpg
So close! We could've touched that bird!

Okay, so we love Flights of Wonder, and we've seen it a million times, and it's the exact same thing every time (except this year there's a new Angry Birds joke)...but this time some off-script hilarity ensued. You know the part where the rats are supposed to run across the little wall while the people on stage talk about the rat problem they used to have? Well, the rats weren't cooperating on this day and, apparently, refused to run across like they were supposed to. So Guano Joe and the bird lady engaged in some very funny banter, which was probably the funniest to those of us who had seen the show a million times and knew exactly what was supposed to be happening. “That rat problem lasted a LONG time,” ad libbed Guano Joe, “it seemed to go on FOREVER.” And then, finally, “I'm not even going to talk about this anymore!” Then he turned around to where the rats were supposed to be and yelled, “you just lost your union card!” I love Guano Joe. I want to be his friend.

And after this...lunch! Which I'll get to next.

shan23877

10-05-2011, 12:13 PM

Great update! I :lmao: several times! Good dramatic photo, and I especially enjoyed the photo captions. That's one hearty squirrel!

TanzUnited99

10-05-2011, 12:41 PM

Love the review of Le Cellier - it's a shame about the woman being concerned over your photography.

Wow you got a lot done at AK! Great safari pics and we loved Flights of Wonder.

BerrysGirl

10-05-2011, 01:00 PM

I've sat in those seats before too! They really are the best seats in the house :)

Mombits

10-05-2011, 01:15 PM

subbing!

fromscratchmom

10-05-2011, 02:18 PM

First up—drinks! I ordered a Merlot, and then Dave tried to order a sampler of three different types of whiskey. Our waitress paused. “I think whiskey has gluten in it,” she said. This was when she told us about her friend with celiac, who, apparently, has been saddened by having to forgo whiskey herself. Dave is a big beer connoisseur (he even brews his own beer), so that's been a tough adjustment for him, but he doesn't regularly drink whiskey at home...he just thought it sounded good when he saw it on the menu. What I'm getting at is that this isn't something we'd ever had reason to look into before. “I thought whiskey was made with corn,” Dave said. She offered to go check with someone in the back and report back with her findings.

A few minutes later, she came back, telling us that half the kitchen had been hard at work searching the internet to find out whether Dave could have his whiskey and that, sadly, he couldn't. “They're all blends,” she explained. Of different kinds of grains. So no whiskey for Dave. He ordered a merlot, to match mine, but he was kind of bummed about it.

Well, I'll tell you the one thing I KNOW about whiskey and gluten which is that after I went gluten free, and after I did the research and decided I might be fine to have whiskey since it is distilled ... I had a single serving of the one whiskey I have an interest in consuming once in a blue moon, Tullamore Dew. and I had a very unpleasant reaction. I did a little more research this time about my specific brand rather than about distilled spirits in general and I found out that it "may contain trace amounts of gluten". If I remember right it said that the trace gluten comes from the barrels its aged in. Go figure. I drink so rarely that it hardly matters, but I was pretty bummed at first, given its the one 'strong drink' that I've even had wanted a sip of in the last 10 years.

Maybe at some point I'll do some more specific research and pick a specific brand of cognac I can try, or maybe some other liquor. who knows. I just don't really drink hardly ever, especially right now while I've been focusing so hard on losing weight and getting healthier.

kokotg

10-05-2011, 07:20 PM

Great update! I :lmao: several times! Good dramatic photo, and I especially enjoyed the photo captions. That's one hearty squirrel!

thanks! Day 4; I'm think I'm hitting my stride with this trip report thing ;)

Love the review of Le Cellier - it's a shame about the woman being concerned over your photography.

Wow you got a lot done at AK! Great safari pics and we loved Flights of Wonder.

It's almost embarrassing how much we love Flights of Wonder. I realized this is the second year in a row we've watched it twice in one trip!

I've sat in those seats before too! They really are the best seats in the house :)

We should probably try to keep it quiet, lest word get out ;). We'll go there next time and everyone will be cramming into the awesome bleacher seats while the front is totally empty :laughing:

kokotg

10-05-2011, 07:23 PM

subbing!

:welcome:

Well, I'll tell you the one thing I KNOW about whiskey and gluten which is that after I went gluten free, and after I did the research and decided I might be fine to have whiskey since it is distilled ... I had a single serving of the one whiskey I have an interest in consuming once in a blue moon, Tullamore Dew. and I had a very unpleasant reaction. I did a little more research this time about my specific brand rather than about distilled spirits in general and I found out that it "may contain trace amounts of gluten". If I remember right it said that the trace gluten comes from the barrels its aged in. Go figure. I drink so rarely that it hardly matters, but I was pretty bummed at first, given its the one 'strong drink' that I've even had wanted a sip of in the last 10 years.

Maybe at some point I'll do some more specific research and pick a specific brand of cognac I can try, or maybe some other liquor. who knows. I just don't really drink hardly ever, especially right now while I've been focusing so hard on losing weight and getting healthier.

Oh no! Well, there you go, then--I guess it's good they tell people it's not safe at Le Cellier.

kokotg

10-05-2011, 08:18 PM

Chapter 18: Flame Tree Barbecue

Now it was time for lunch. Well, it was really early for lunch, but we'd been trying to eat really early, before the rush, to minimize the wait for special chicken tenders and such. My gluten free Disney app didn't even list the Yak and Yeti counter service place, but we decided to stop there and see what they could do anyway. The manager came out to talk to us right away, and told us the kids could have burgers with gluten free buns, and the adults could have Mandarin chicken salads. So not a lot of choice there. I am not so much a salad eater, and Ari is not a burger eater (or a salad eater unless it's a very specific salad involving romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, an Italian vinaigrette dressing, and nothing else). Ari has a...complicated ethical system that means he'll eat only humanely raised beef and pork and eggs, but he allows himself to violate his rule occasionally on vacation. But not all the time and only for things that look really yummy . So...he ate a lot of chicken on this trip and got pretty tired of it.

Our next choice was Flame Tree Barbecue. We'd never eaten here before. I think I've always been put off by the outside seating, but I have to say that the shady, covered pavilion stayed very comfortable while we ate, and it was certainly not a cool day. Ari was tired of chicken and suspicious of roasted chicken after getting sick so soon after Wolfgang Puck, so he wanted nothing to do with the chicken here. My app told me there was Amy's macaroni and cheese here, but the manager told us that there was not. We wound up ordering a fruit plate and a side of fries for Ari, the chicken leg meals for Milo and Gus, and the smoked half chicken meal for me. We susbstituted fries for the cole slaw for my meal, because I don't like cole slaw (I don't think they'll always do that. We were willing to pay extra for them, but she subbed for us). Dave got a pulled pork sandwich on a gluten-free bun and cole slaw. Looking over the menu, it seems like this is supposed to come with beans instead of cole slaw. Dave likes beans just fine, so I'm guessing the beans aren't gluten-free.

We waited the standard 30 minutes for the food. While waiting, we watched the ducks who hang out begging for food, and Ari spent some time on his strange mission to break into the Disney wifi. He likes to find networks and then try to guess the password. Shockingly, this is rarely successful. He's probably about the right age for Matthew Broderick's ode to teen geekdom, War Games, about now, though. Must put that on the movie night list. Speaking of passwords. A cautionary tale about breaking into computer systems. And nuclear war.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0674.jpg

Then the food arrived!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0676.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0678.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0679.jpg

There was a lot of food! Dave wished he had split my chicken with me instead of ordering his sandwich. Everyone seemed to like the food well enough. Milo and Gus each got 2 chicken drumsticks, so there was more than enough food there, too. The kids' meals came with the standard two sides or one side, one dessert, so we had grapes and carrots and Enjoy Life cookies between them. Ari had no complaints about his fruit platter and fries, though I was a little sad he wasn't getting any protein (the fruit platter came with yogurt, but he doesn't eat yogurt). The flavor on the chicken was good...nothing remarkable—a dry rub sort of barbecue rather than saucy. Dave wound up eating a lot of it, too, if I remember right.

All in all, a pretty decent meal and experience.

shan23877

10-05-2011, 11:30 PM

Lol at Ari trying to hack into the networks. I bet he'd LOVE War Games :)That's still one of my husband's favorites :thumbsup2

TanzUnited99

10-06-2011, 09:11 AM

I'm glad you managed to find somewhere to eat your lunch and it sure looks like you got a lot of food! :rotfl: We never ate here as there was not much we would be able to order.

Lol at Ari trying to hack into the computer networks!

kokotg

10-06-2011, 10:56 AM

Lol at Ari trying to hack into the networks. I bet he'd LOVE War Games :)That's still one of my husband's favorites :thumbsup2

I watched it so many times when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it in years now. I'm curious to see how it's aged...

I'm glad you managed to find somewhere to eat your lunch and it sure looks like you got a lot of food! :rotfl: We never ate here as there was not much we would be able to order.

Lol at Ari trying to hack into the computer networks!

It was a recurring thing on this trip that Dave would wish after we ordered food that we'd shared meals and saved credits. It's hard to figure out, since the kids are different ages and eat different amounts for every trip!

nadira36

10-06-2011, 02:58 PM

HilJoy14

10-06-2011, 04:21 PM

You pictures of food are making me so hungry! (Doesn't help that it's 5:20.) I'd have just said "yup" or something to the lady asking if you were a food blogger. Or just say you want to scrapbook the pics. Everyone may not do it, but it's not really weird or anything.

Glad everyone's feeling better and able to get back on track! I'm enjoying your report so far!

Fantasyland Mom

10-06-2011, 06:03 PM

Now I'm kicking myself that we didn't go to Flame Tree! And also that I'm not having Barbecue right this second. Mmmm.

I found it really amusing just how deceiving the Enjoy Life packaging was. It made it seem like those cookies were going to be of normal size, when they were really the size of half dollars!! Bite sized, for sure. But then again, I have a big mouth...does that shock you:rotfl:?

kokotg

10-06-2011, 10:05 PM

Oh how I miss Flame tree BBQ! We had awesome food there last time - Ryan also got the half chicken - I had this chicken salad that was so incredibly filling and so good : ) only 55 days until we're in AK.

I didn't even realize Y&Y had a counter service - we did table service there - and other than someone getting glutened (soy sauce on the table was very tempting for a little girl to grab and guzzle:s) the food was perfect.

Ryan always gets flights of scotch while in Disney. There might be some risk of gluten added in some, but wine is actually more of a risk. THough I suppose it might depend on where it comes from.

IT's funny in all my years going to Disney I've also never been to Flights of Wonder. Timings always been off for it, maybe this trip we'll go.

Really? Wine? Who knew? Well, I'm glad our Le Cellier server didn't try to stop us from ordering wine :laughing:

I'd like to try the Yak and Yeti table service sometime...it looks really nice in the pictures I've seen! the counter service is really small...I think there are just a few tables off to the side. There are only a few different options even if you CAN have gluten.

You pictures of food are making me so hungry! (Doesn't help that it's 5:20.) I'd have just said "yup" or something to the lady asking if you were a food blogger. Or just say you want to scrapbook the pics. Everyone may not do it, but it's not really weird or anything.

Glad everyone's feeling better and able to get back on track! I'm enjoying your report so far!

Thanks! Yeah, it's totally my issue about the food pictures...I know it's not a big deal; I just hate drawing attention to myself!

Now I'm kicking myself that we didn't go to Flame Tree! And also that I'm not having Barbecue right this second. Mmmm.

I found it really amusing just how deceiving the Enjoy Life packaging was. It made it seem like those cookies were going to be of normal size, when they were really the size of half dollars!! Bite sized, for sure. But then again, I have a big mouth...does that shock you:rotfl:?

the Enjoy Life cookies are kind of disappointing. The French Meadow stuff has dairy in it, I guess, so it won't work for Brynn? You'd think they'd be able to find a dairy free vendor that had something as good as French Meadow in quality and serving size! We've had the chocolate Enjoy Life cookies at home, and they're better than the chocolate chip, IMO...but still tiny and expensive!

kokotg

10-07-2011, 08:59 AM

Chapter 19: Monday 9/18: More Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney

Do you know what we love as much as Flights of Wonder? The Festival of the Lion King! So we went that way, and we cut it very, very close. In fact, the show had already started when we got there, but they were still letting people in. The Lion King sure is a long way from everything else.

After the Lion King, it had been like two whole hours since we'd ridden Everest, so we went back over there. And after Everest we had to buy Gus a new lanyard because we'd somehow lost his old one. Or he may have lost it. We couldn't be sure, but no one had seen it in a long time, so we bought him a new one. Luckily, we hadn't put his new castle pin on the old one, but it did have a couple of other pins that we'll never see again. It never turned up. Much like Dave's hat. There seems to have been some kind of strange vortex or something opened up at Pop this year, sucking in all our stuff.

The kids spent approximately three hours looking at pins at the Everest gift shop, and we somehow wound up making 3 separate purchases here, all pins and lanyards.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0682.jpg

Since we had two full days reserved for Animal Kingdom this year, we fully intended to spend some time at Conservation Station and finally see the Nemo show (we saw like half of it one year, when the kids were much younger, but they were all show-ed out and wanted to leave before it was over). But, well, we were tired and we wanted to go back to the hotel. A side note: we totally rocked the afternoon break this year. In years past, it never really worked out for us...mostly, I think, because the kids were beasts when we kept them out past their bedtimes, so we really needed to get things done during the day so they could crash early. Now their bedtimes are later and they can handle a little more schedule irregularity. So the afternoon breaks coupled with late nights was a much better fit this year.

So we headed for the exit. On the way out, we saw a CM with a pin trading lanyard and stopped to look at his pins. He only had about 4 pins, and none of them appealed to the kids, but he pointed across the entrance plaza and said, “over by the strollers, they have a whole bunch of pins.” Curious, we walked across to see. The CMs weren't wearing lanyards at all. What kind of trick was this?! But Dave asked, and one of the CMs went back to the back and brought out this stroller, covered with a gazillion pins! A secret pin trading stroller! This was very exciting.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0686.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0687.jpg
This CM seemed a little grumpy about going to get the stroller when we first asked about it, but either our kids won her over with their enthusiasm or she just remembered that it's her job to look happy.

The kids did some trading, and then we hopped on the tram and made our way back to Pop.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0692.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0688.jpg

We hung out in the room for awhile, and then Dave decided to take the kids to the pool for a bit while I took a nap (I was a little jealous of all the napping Dave had done while Ari was sick). Then I decided to take a shower while they were gone, totally forgetting that Dave hadn't taken a room key with him. Oops. I got out of the shower to the sounds of Dave pounding on the door. He and the kids were standing outside, dripping wet, and he already had talked to someone about coming to let him in, and had to go find whoever that was to tell them never mind. Sorry Dave!

Oh! This was also the day that we came back to our only two towel animals of the trip. I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of them. They seem to have been left in direct response to a note the kids left for our mousekeeper, inviting her to take the unopened package of gluten-y cookies from the other night. They'd left the cookies where we left the tip every day (along with the tip; we didn't leave cookies instead of a tip!), and Ari wrote a note that read, “Dear Rosa—please take these very good dairy free cookies. From, The ___ Family.” I was kind of hesitant about him leaving the note, because Ari's handwriting doesn't look like a kid's at all—he has this very tiny, very neat printing. I thought kids leaving cookies was cute and fun, but grown-ups leaving them would be...weird, and it wouldn't be at all clear that a kid wrote the note. But I guess she didn't think it was too weird, since she took the cookies AND left towel animals in their place (the towel animals were right where the note and cookies had been). Now I ran into Rosa later in the trip, and it was clear she spoke pretty much no English, so I'm not sure how she even figured out what the note said or that the kids were giving the cookies away. Maybe it was her day off on cookie day and someone else was there. Or maybe someone translated the note for her. Or maybe she can read English much better than she can speak it. Who knows. Anyway. Cookies—gone! They could tempt us no more!

We had a Boma reservation at around 6 that night, and we still had a good bit of time before that, so we decided to make another Downtown Disney stop on the way. We needed to look for a couple of friends' birthday presents, something for our housesitter, and we wanted to pick up some breakfast stuff for the next day at Babycakes.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0703.jpg
Dave had seen this building (the funny round one back there) on the way to urgent care and wanted me to take a picture of it because he thought it was the same building as in "Architecture Colors," this board book we used to read to the kids. I didn't think it was, but we checked when we got home, and it is!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51i%2BNQR8rCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
Exciting! Anyone know what that building is?

At Downtown Disney (where it was much easier to get in and park on a Monday afternoon than it had been on Friday night), we went through the World of Disney (where I always feel claustrophobic and sensory-overloaded) and then on to the Lego store. We were hoping to find a birthday present for one of the kids' friends here (his party was the day after we got back), but we had no luck. Milo and Gus decided to get some make your own minifigures, though.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0694.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0695.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0699.jpg

And we overheard a dad there talking to his kid who was also named Milo! Observation: 90% of the boys at Disney World are named Landon. Another 8% are named Aidan. So not many Milos. But this is actually the second trip that we've run into another Milo. The other one was at 'Ohana, on our second trip, I think.

Then we ran over to Babycakes for doughnuts, and by then it was getting close enough to our Boma reservation that Dave was getting nervous (because Dave was NOT going to risk missing our Boma reservation), so we headed back to the car.

Next up: Boma of course

BerrysGirl

10-07-2011, 09:57 AM

gallmcduck

10-07-2011, 11:44 AM

Your trip sounds great so far, good to hear that everyone was well again and you made your le celiier ADR, :love: that restaurant. Secret pin traders :thumbsup2 Looking forward to reading about boma :)

fromscratchmom

10-07-2011, 02:06 PM

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0703.jpg
Dave had seen this building (the funny round one back there) on the way to urgent care and wanted me to take a picture of it because he thought it was the same building as in "Architecture Colors," this board book we used to read to the kids. I didn't think it was, but we checked when we got home, and it is!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51i%2BNQR8rCL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
Exciting! Anyone know what that building is?

Oh! I'm totally jazzed to see that. We used to read that to our kids too! Tell your hubby I said thanks for sharing! :wizard:

Now I'm sitting here hoping someone knows what it is and speaks up. :rotfl:

kokotg

10-07-2011, 04:40 PM

I'll have to tell DBF about the secret pin trading stroller. That's a really neat idea and he's really gotten into pin trading recently!

I hope you get to see the rest of Finding Nemo someday... it's my favorite!

We meant to ask at the other parks' stroller rentals to see if they had the same kind of thing, but we never remembered at the right time.

We'll have to make sure to do Nemo next year!

Your trip sounds great so far, good to hear that everyone was well again and you made your le celiier ADR, :love: that restaurant. Secret pin traders :thumbsup2 Looking forward to reading about boma :)

I think Le Cellier made it onto our list of favorites now, too. It was so nice and relaxing in there.

Oh! I'm totally jazzed to see that. We used to read that to our kids to! Tell your hubby I said thanks for sharing! :wizard:

Now I'm sitting here hoping someone knows what it is and speaks up. :rotfl:

Ari's google powers are stronger than mine, because he found it! It's the "Team Disney" building, according to Wikipedia, "the administrative headquarters of the Walt Disney World Resort." It also claims to have the largest sundial in the world. Wow. who knew? And how funny that I'd run into another Architecture Colors fan on my trip report :laughing:.

fromscratchmom

10-07-2011, 07:30 PM

Ari's google powers are stronger than mine, because he found it! It's the "Team Disney" building, according to Wikipedia, "the administrative headquarters of the Walt Disney World Resort." It also claims to have the largest sundial in the world. Wow. who knew? And how funny that I'd run into another Architecture Colors fan on my trip report :laughing:.

haha. My DD13 is far more internet and computer savvy than me in general. And she remembered the book when I insisted on showing the kids your post.

I think there is a connection between us thinking-outside-the-box kind of parents and some really nice or cool results in the kids. DD13 was just telling me the other day how when she is at a home school camp-out or at her other big camp-out she gets to do each summer and an adult asks the kids what they want to do when they grow up they all have real answers and they are all different; architect, civil engineer, nutritionist, massage therapist, etc. And when she is hanging out with a certain set of cousins they all respond to the same question with, rich, rock star and famous. :lmao:

Fantasyland Mom

10-07-2011, 07:50 PM

That cracks me up about the cookies! Unless, of course, she didn't understand it at all, but was really hungry:laughing:.

I totally know what you mean about the names! We kept hearing Landon and anything with "ayden" in it--Cayden, Jayden, Brayden, Aiden, etc. But we DID hear two Brynns and a Sawyer! We've only ever met one person with Julia's name before, and none with our other kids' names. Another Disney first!

fromscratchmom

10-07-2011, 08:10 PM

That cracks me up about the cookies! Unless, of course, she didn't understand it at all, but was really hungry:laughing:.

:lmao:

I'd imagine she could recognize her name on it at least, plus anything that is clearly sitting with her tip... ;)

kokotg

10-07-2011, 08:13 PM

I'm picturing it now...Rosa eating our cookies before she could stop herself, because they looked SOOOO yummy, and then, realizing in horror what she'd done, quickly making a couple of towel animals in hopes we'd be so delighted by them we wouldn't even remember our cookies :rotfl:

shan23877

10-08-2011, 12:58 AM

Great update!

That's too funny about the names. When we were at our childbirth class for Maddie the woman teaching the class asked what everyone was having and what they planned to name it (seemed like a terrible idea to open up that can of worms in a room full of pregnant ladies). We were the only couple not having a boy, and 5 of 6 of them were planning to name the little boys Aiden! I realize that Madison is very unorigional, but she's named for my grandmother, so we were pretty set on that. :)

CathrynRose

10-08-2011, 01:45 AM

[COLOR="Indigo"] It never turned up. Much like Dave's hat. There seems to have been some kind of strange vortex or something opened up at Pop this year, sucking in all our stuff.

I'm enjoying your report.

Lemme ask you something - I saw from your "view" outside your POP room, you were in the 80's. And then I saw your above statement.... was your maid named "Rosa". We kept missing things, little things, every single day. By the 4th day (and we stayed 12!) I called Housekeeping and told them we didn't want any service.

And I had to drive to Wal Mart for basketball shorts, and plain t-shirts for my 16 y/o son. :rolleyes1

laura74

10-08-2011, 07:20 AM

TanzUnited99

10-08-2011, 08:26 AM

Yay on seeing the pin stroller! :thumbsup2

Lol at Dave and the kids being locked out of the room :laughing:

Also :woohoo: on getting towel animals - so that was the trick ;)

CathrynRose

10-08-2011, 02:59 PM

“Dear Rosa—please take these very good dairy free cookies. From, The ___ Family.” I was kind of hesitant about him leaving the note, because Ari's handwriting doesn't look like a kid's at all—he has this very tiny, very neat printing. I thought kids leaving cookies was cute and fun, but grown-ups leaving them would be...weird, and it wouldn't be at all clear that a kid wrote the note. But I guess she didn't think it was too weird, since she took the cookies AND left towel animals in their place (the towel animals were right where the note and cookies had been). Now I ran into Rosa later in the trip, and it was clear she spoke pretty much no English, so I'm not sure how she even figured out what the note said or that the kids were giving the cookies away.

I missed this, the first time around. It was Rosa. Hmph.

Strong perfume, older. Yeah. That was her.

ETA ~ I was in 7240, and my g/f was in 7239. We probably crossed paths. I was there from 9/18 - 9/29.

kokotg

10-08-2011, 03:31 PM

haha. My DD13 is far more internet and computer savvy than me in general. And she remembered the book when I insisted on showing the kids your post.

Our copy is still on a shelf in our living room; it's one of the few board books I haven't been able to part with. My youngest is five, though, so we're not TOO far out from board books yet. Maybe I'll read Architecture Colors to my grandchildren one day :)

That cracks me up about the cookies! Unless, of course, she didn't understand it at all, but was really hungry:laughing:.

I totally know what you mean about the names! We kept hearing Landon and anything with "ayden" in it--Cayden, Jayden, Brayden, Aiden, etc. But we DID hear two Brynns and a Sawyer! We've only ever met one person with Julia's name before, and none with our other kids' names. Another Disney first!

I know one other Julia about the same age--my cousin's little girl. No Brynns or Sawyers that I can think of, though!

Great update!

That's too funny about the names. When we were at our childbirth class for Maddie the woman teaching the class asked what everyone was having and what they planned to name it (seemed like a terrible idea to open up that can of worms in a room full of pregnant ladies). We were the only couple not having a boy, and 5 of 6 of them were planning to name the little boys Aiden! I realize that Madison is very unorigional, but she's named for my grandmother, so we were pretty set on that. :)

I think Aidan kind of snuck up on a lot of people; it wasn't popular until recently, so a lot of people having their first kids don't really realize how many other Aidans/Aidens/Aydens/etc. there are out there these days. And, of course, a lot of people just love the name and don't care if it's popular or not. I think it's a great name; it's just funny how it's exploded over the past decade or so.

I'm enjoying your report.

Lemme ask you something - I saw from your "view" outside your POP room, you were in the 80's. And then I saw your above statement.... was your maid named "Rosa". We kept missing things, little things, every single day. By the 4th day (and we stayed 12!) I called Housekeeping and told them we didn't want any service.

And I had to drive to Wal Mart for basketball shorts, and plain t-shirts for my 16 y/o son. :rolleyes1

oh no! That's not what you want to deal with on vacation! She was Rosa, or at least that's what the card in our room said. We don't have any evidence that our losing stuff was anyone's fault but our own, though. We're not really the best about keeping up with stuff (well, I am, of course, but not SOME people in my family. A certain other grown-up in my immediate family, for example, just lost his NEW ugly hat today, at Six Flags :laughing:)

kokotg

10-08-2011, 03:36 PM

I just discovered your TR and I'm enjoying the gluten free reviews. Several years ago I started breaking out in hives and the only thing that offered relief was skipping gluten. I've been ok for the last several years so I'm not sure what that was all about but I do know how difficult it is to avoid eating bread, especially at breakfast! At least they now have more options for you. I've noticed the gluten free aisles at the grocery store are a lot bigger now.

:welcome:

Glad the gluten reactions stopped for you! That makes things a lot easier. Yeah, breakfast was the toughest meal; at home we alternate chex cereal and protein shakes most of the time, but neither of those really works when you're traveling (or at least when you're traveling without a fridge).

Yay on seeing the pin stroller! :thumbsup2

Lol at Dave and the kids being locked out of the room :laughing:

Also :woohoo: on getting towel animals - so that was the trick ;)

I guess it's one trick, anyway :laughing: Really, I think we've only gotten a creative mousekeeper one year. It seems to be mostly luck of the draw!

I missed this, the first time around. It was Rosa. Hmph.

Strong perfume, older. Yeah. That was her.

ETA ~ I was in 7240, and my g/f was in 7239. We probably crossed paths. I was there from 9/18 - 9/29.

We probably did! We were 7247 and...the one next door (I had to ask the kids; I didn't remember either of the numbers)...I can't remember how the numbers work--if odds and evens are separate--sounds like you might have been just a few doors down from us!

CathrynRose

10-08-2011, 03:45 PM

A certain other grown-up in my immediate family, for example, just lost his NEW ugly hat today, at Six Flags :laughing:)

:laughing:

I wonder if Rosa was there.... ? :scratchin ;)

We didn't really have any evidence of it either. I even said to my son "You probably didn't bring (this shirt, that shirt, these shorts, those shorts)" but, no kidding, by the 4th day when we called he had the pair of shorts he had on, and one other pair....that's it.

And the shirt situation... I don't know what he had or didn't. But to prove me wrong, he stuffed all his clothes into his suit case, and it was just above half full.... a case that we struggled to close, on the way down.

That's why I called and just said no service. I figured we'd get towels, make the beds, no big deal. And I didn't wanna make accusations, when it didn't make any sense. KWIM?

Ugh. I hate to think that's what happened, but yuck. :sick:

Alright - back to your report. :dance3:

ETA ~ My son made light of it all, thankfully. At the end of the trip when I was concerned about luggage space with what we had bought, he goes "Oh, we'll have room since half my wardrobe was taken......" Funny, but not. LOL!

kokotg

10-08-2011, 07:26 PM

Chapter 20: Boma

Boma is Dave's favorite restaurant anywhere, not just at Disney World. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get away with planning a Disney trip that didn't include Boma even if I wanted to. But really I like Boma pretty well, too (I should mention here that I pretty much eat like a five year old much of the time. Actually, I'm a good bit pickier than my own five year old. So I am not wowed by Boma's selection of exotic soups and all that like Dave is. But I don't mind spices most of the time, so I can fill up on meat and potatoes and fruit just fine at Boma). The kids have inherited Dave's love of Boma...although, really, I think they just like buffets and have heard Dave talk about Boma so much that that's what they think of when they think of buffets.

Usually we get to Boma early enough that we have a few minutes to hang out looking at animals before our pager goes off. But this time we...got lost. I guess things are different this year than last, with the new villas and all...anyway, somehow we missed our turn off to the main building and wound up in a parking deck before we finally found someone to give us directions and get us pointed in the right direction again. Dave was freaking out. He hates being lost at all, and being lost AND late for his Boma reservation was the worst thing ever.

But, finally, we made it, only a few minutes late for our reservation:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0704.jpg
At last!

And then Ari started melting down. Milo and Gus pretty much never complain about not eating gluten. Ari...complains a lot. But sometimes he's perfectly okay with it and stays cheerful. And then sometimes he'll work himself into a frenzy of grumpiness, and it just spirals out of control and he can't seem to get over it. This was one of those times. Before the meal even started, we'd had stern talks and threats to take him back to the hotel. I was handling most of this because I didn't want anything to spoil Dave's special Boma lovefest. So Ari and I were both in bad moods by the time we sat down.

Our server came over to take our drink orders and told us the chef would be out to take us around and show us what we could eat at the buffet. The chef showed up very quickly and walked us around. Most of the stuff was already gluten-free...I'd say at least 70% of it. The chef would just point to each dish and say either “this is good,” or “this is not good.” There was meat, and potatoes, and fruit for me, so I was all good. Dave was disappointed about a few things he couldn't have, because he likes to try pretty much everything at Boma, but there was still plenty for him to eat. Milo and Gus had chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes from the kids' section, and tried a few things from other places in the buffet, and they were happy with that.

Ari was not happy. Not at all. He was tired of chicken. He didn't like the chicken they had in the adult buffet, which had some kind of spices on it. He grudgingly agreed to have some of the roast, but he wasn't happy with it, either. He mostly wound up eating mashed potatoes and fruit, I think. He had his (angry) eye on the pasta with red sauce and the macaroni and cheese in the kids' section.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0707.jpg
Example of unadventurous eater's plate

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0709.jpg
Somewhat more adventurous plate

He cheered up a bit when we got to dessert. The chef had told us they had gluten-free zebra domes in the back and that we just needed to ask our server for them when we were ready. Which we did, and got this:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0710.jpg
Pretty! Five zebra domes and, mysteriously, only four brownies

A couple of the regular desserts were also gluten-free. I had these little peanut butter things:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0713.jpg

And then some kind of fruity thing. I don't remember what it was. Everyone except me loved the zebra domes. Too much sweet, not enough chocolate for me. But the peanut butter thingies were really good.

I look back on this year's Boma meal as a really tiring experience. But of course we'll be back. For Dave. Maybe we'll leave Ari at the hotel next time.

Next up: Hollywood Studios

kokotg

10-08-2011, 08:06 PM

Chapter 21: Monday wrap-up and new things

We went back to Pop, hoping very much that Ari's mood would improve by the next day, because we had a very long day planned. Rope drop at Hollywood Studios and staying all the way through to Fantasmic at 8:30. Would we make it?!

New things:
1. First time eating at Flame Tree Barbecue
2. First time walking the Cretaceous Trail
3. First time seeing The Secret Pin Trading Stroller
4. First pin trading, period!

fromscratchmom

10-08-2011, 08:22 PM

... The chef showed up very quickly and walked us around. Most of the stuff was already gluten-free...I'd say at least 70% of it. The chef would just point to each dish and say either “this is good,” or “this is not good.” There was meat, and potatoes, and fruit for me, so I was all good...

Ari was not happy. Not at all. He was tired of chicken. He didn't like the chicken they had in the adult buffet, which had some kind of spices on it. He grudgingly agreed to have some of the roast, but he wasn't happy with it, either. He mostly wound up eating mashed potatoes and fruit, I think. He had his (angry) eye on the pasta with red sauce and the macaroni and cheese in the kids' section.

70% sounds amazing to me. I might have to start thinking of Boma as a must for us for our next trip! Thanks!

I'm so surprised that they didn't just let Ari have the kids foods. Seems as if that would have been easy peasy and no problem for their bottom line. :confused3 I'm so sorry... I'm sure dealing with that really was a black cloud over your dining experience. A think all the mom's will understand for sure.

About the "Architecture" book... sadly, ours was destroyed when we had a bit of flooding in our big downstairs room (broken sump pump). If I came across it again, I'd probably buy a copy and save it for my grandkids too! ;)
We actually have been boxing up a lot of books lately that my kids are too old for and putting them aside. I really ought to sell them all most likely. But I can't see getting such a fraction of the money out of it and then not having books to pass down when mine start having their own families.... urg... if I had the room for the storage... such hard decisions.

kokotg

10-08-2011, 08:40 PM

Chapter 22: Tuesday, 9/20: Hollywood Studios

This was our only Hollywood Studios day, and we were determined to make the most of it. We got off to an excellent start, arriving at HS around 8:25. We were second in line at one of the turnstiles!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0722.jpg
This is what it looked like when we got there...

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0723.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0724.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0725.jpg
...and this is what it looked like behind us a few minutes later.

They let us all through at maybe 8:45, and we were, again, second ones back from the rope. This had never happened to us before! We were going to have a great view of the opening ceremony! Usually the kids can't see a thing, and they just keep asking us what's happening.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0727.jpg
I could stick my camera right in between the people in front of us and take this!

Then they dropped the rope and let us in. Wha?! Where is that big truck that comes out and they do that little show and all that? We're ready for it; we have a great view!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0732.jpg
Hello Cast Members! What's up? Looks like you forgot your fun director's truck thing!

We'd been a little surprised not to have run across an opening ceremony at Animal Kingdom the day before, but we figured we'd just barely missed it. But, no. Apparently they've just done away with such things, except at the Magic Kingdom. Oh well.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0733.jpg
Apparently this is the new opening ceremony at Hollywood Studios. Minnie comes out, stands waaaaayyyy down the street, waves, and goes away. Then they drop the rope.

Our plan was that Dave would head over for Toy Story fastpasses and then meet the kids and me at Rock n' Roller Coaster. We were situated sort of right in the middle of the rope, so it was a little harrowing for me and the kids to get over to the right without getting trampled by the Toy Story mob. But we did it!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0734.jpg
A rare glimpse of the Toy Story stampede from off to the side.

No rush, so we stopped for pictures:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0737.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0738.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0741.jpg
A lizard!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0745.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0751.jpg
At this point, Gus had already decided that Rock n' Roller Coaster was probably going to be his new favorite ride, so he was pretty excited

Dave turned up eventually, and it was time to see if we could take our first ever whole family together ride on Rock n' Roller Coaster:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0756.jpg

He was on! And very excited. I think last year was Milo's first year to try Rock n' Roller Coaster, and he'd gotten scared at the last second and we'd had to leave. After that, he worked up his courage, tried again, and loved it...but I was still a little worried that Gus was going to freak out before we got on the ride. Milo had been 2 years older than Gus when he rode the first time. And I think Ari was seven his first time, too, because the ride was closed the year he was six (i.e. the first year he was tall enough).

Anyway, Gus was a little nervous when we got to the front of the line....but then he was fine! He loved it! It immediately became his new favorite ride—sorry Everest!

Now over to Tower of Terror.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0752.jpg

We all got in the line together, but Milo decided sometime around the preshow room that he didn't want to ride after all, so Dave took him out. Milo now, a few weeks later: “I regret not riding on Tower of Terror.” Yes, exactly like that he says it.

Tower of Terror is Ari's favorite ride, and probably mine, too, but everyone else can pretty much take it or leave it. So after our first ride, Ari wanted to go again, but no one else did. Since Dave hadn't ridden yet, he took Ari, and I took the other two back on Rock n' Roller Coaster.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0749.jpg

Before the trip, I kept reading stuff that seemed to indicated that lines were never really too bad over at Star Tours and that we didn't need to rush over there first thing in the morning or anything. But still I was skeptical. I mean, it's brand new! But it was all true. We rode Star Tours a whole mess of times throughout the day, never used a fastpass, and never waited more than five minutes or so. How do the lines stay so long at Toy Story all day? Do most people just keep getting in line for it over and over? Because it didn't seem like there was anyone anywhere else in the park.

The Jedi Training Academy was going on when we got over to Star Tours:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0764.jpg

Yep, no interest here from our kids whatsoever. And, honestly, I don't think it's that fun to watch someone else's kid fight Darth Vader, either. So, since my own kids won't do it....on to the ride!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0765.jpg
Judging from the terrible lighting in all of my pictures, it was really bright that day.

We all really enjoyed it! It was closed last year for the big redo, of course. Which means I doubt Gus remembers it at all (he rode the one in Disneyland when he was three). That was a cool thing about this trip...there were quite a few things that Gus either had never done before or hadn't done since he very young, so a lot of it seemed new to him even though he's been to WDW so many times. And, of course, THIS Star Tours was new to all of us. We approve of the changes. More on it later, because we rode it a hundred times, it seems like. Maybe just four.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0767.jpg
I think there was a threat involved in this picture. Something like, "I'm not going to let you move until you smile." Looks like only Ari believed me.

Next over to the Muppets. We hadn't seen this since our first trip, I believe, and Ari and Milo were both wearing Muppets shirts today, so it seemed like high time for another visit. I enjoyed it this time more than that first time. This may have a lot to do with not having a nine month old to keep entertained this time.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0771.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0772.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0773.jpg
I made Ari stand by this poster, because he was wearing a Kermit shirt.

And now it was eleven, and we wanted to make sure to eat lunch as early as we could because we had a Fantasmic package reservation at Mama Melrose at 3:40. So on to Pizza Planet!

kokotg

10-08-2011, 08:44 PM

70% sounds amazing to me. I might have to start thinking of Boma as a must for us for our next trip! Thanks!

I'm so surprised that they didn't just let Ari have the kids foods. Seems as if that would have been easy peasy and no problem for their bottom line. :confused3 I'm so sorry... I'm sure dealing with that really was a black cloud over your dining experience. A think all the mom's will understand for sure.

Oh--it wasn't that they wouldn't let Ari have the kids' stuff, it was that he wanted the gluteny pasta instead of the chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes. We actually all ate mashed potatoes from the kids' section :). I probably should have asked to see if they had any rice pasta that they could make up for him, but I didn't realize that pasta was SO important to him.

BerrysGirl

10-08-2011, 09:12 PM

kokotg

10-08-2011, 09:49 PM

I'm always curious about zebra domes but your verdict kinda confirms how I think I'll feel about them... too sweet. I really don't like truffles for that very reason and zebra domes look like... well... truffles. Have you ever tried the normal zebra domes with gluten?

I love Tower of Terror too! It doesn't give me a headache the way Rockin Roller Coaster or Expedition Everest can. DBF didn't want to ride it this trip though... no worries, I have every intention of dragging him on in December ;)

I tried a regular zebra dome last year and felt pretty much the same way, if I remember right. My tastes have shifted more toward dark chocolatey, less sweet stuff since last year....but I've always kind of felt like if a dessert doesn't have a lot of chocolate in it it's not worth it :laughing:. The gluten-free ones aren't much different from the regular ones I don't think...I think only the bottom is different? Not sure about that, though.

okw19

10-09-2011, 08:15 AM

kokotg

10-09-2011, 01:26 PM

I am caught up on updates! AK looked like fun, and that pin trading stroller is awesome!! Boma has never really appealed to me, and I'm glad to finally hear an honest review on Zebra domes!!
Your MGM morning sounds like a great one. I'm almost nervous to ride the new Star Tours. I loved the old one so much, I'm afraid I won't like it as well as the original.

We all really prefer the new Star Tours, but, then, I don't think any of us had much of an attachment to the old one...so who knows?

I'm the only one in my family who doesn't give the zebra domes a glowing review...the kids think I'm crazy for not liking them :laughing:

kokotg

10-09-2011, 01:41 PM

Chapter 23: Pizza Planet

I feel like I'm always writing another dining review. It's like every few hours we had to eat again or something! Just wait until next year if I follow through with this crazy deluxe dining idea!

But anyway...Pizza Planet! We had a Fantasmic dinner package reservation at Mama Melrose at 3:40 (it was officially a lunch reservation, though we were going to treat it as dinner, so we kept referring to it as “second lunch”), so we go to Pizza Planet pretty much as soon as they opened at 11.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0793.jpg

I had been thinking that today was going to be a pretty easy food day as far as Ari's moods, having looked over all the menus. I knew that Pizza Planet had Amy's pizza; we'd tried it at home, and Ari liked it just fine. I'd also heard that Pizza Planet has an Ener-G pizza crust available. Being such a big fan of the Ener-G rolls, Ari was eager to check out their pizza crusts. Dave got in line to start the allergy ordering process, and the kids and I went upstairs and grabbed a table. And Ari got grumpy again.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0777.jpg

I think a lot of the problem with Ari's moods re: the gluten stuff is that he's usually already hungry when we start talking about food. So more likely to get grumpy. Enter grumpiness death spiral.

Dave came back after awhile to report that he'd ordered the food. I asked if he'd gotten the Ener-G crust pizza for Ari, and he said that he'd asked about it, but they'd told him it was much smaller than the Amy's crust, so he'd gotten all Amy's crusts. Oops, wrong answer. Ari REALLY wanted the Ener-G crust, and he didn't care how small it was. Dave went back down to see if it was too late to change it, and came back to report all was good: Ener-G crust was on the way!

Dave took Milo and Gus downstairs to play a couple of video games while we waited, but Ari was too grumpy to go. According to my notes, we waited about 20 minutes on our food here, so a little quicker than at most of our quick service meals.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0787.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0789.jpg
Look how excited he is about his pizza!

Again: WAY too much food. The Energ-G crust was indeed a lot smaller, but that meant it was actually about the right size for one person. For everyone else, we had big old pizzas, plus salads with the adult meals, and desserts. I've read in some reviews that they weren't given salads with their gluten-free pizzas, but we were.

The Amy's pizzas look pretty good, but, well...they're not. They're okay. Pizza is one thing that's really hard to do well without gluten. Pizza's supposed to be chewy, and gluten is what makes baked stuff chewy. Best gluten-free pizza I've had, without a doubt, is Against the Grain. It has a tapioca starch based crust, with lots of eggs and cheese baked into it. But it's crazy expensive, so I'm not holding my breath that they'll start offering it at Disney anytime soon. So the flavor is fine on Amy's, but the texture is definitely off. At least Disney's regular pizza isn't very good, either, so you don't feel like you're missing out on TOO much.

Ari tried both and said he preferred his Ener-G crust, but I took a bite of it and didn't like it. I don't think it was cooked enough, though...it was just kind of doughy and white and bland. Needed eggs and cheese in the crust ;).

Milo and Gus didn't really complain about their pizza, but they didn't eat that much of it, either. We threw away a LOT of pizza :(.

Verdict: we probably won't do Pizza Planet again, at least not if we're not eating gluten still next year. We've never done it before, either, though, so it doesn't really feel like a great loss.

TanzUnited99

10-09-2011, 05:08 PM

Wow at how busy it got at DHS in a matter of minutes! :eek:

I never knew DHS had a rope drop but oh no on it being changed when one did use to take place.

Yay on getting on the two thrill rides so early! I have to say I am with the ToT crowd!

A shame that the pizzas didn't taste great but at least you had Mama Melrose coming up. Lol we also felt like we were always eating at Disney World but with all the walking it is needed ;)

kokotg

10-09-2011, 07:56 PM

Lol we also felt like we were always eating at Disney World but with all the walking it is needed ;)

Right? I feel like I eat so much there, and I'm always surprised I haven't gained 10 pounds when I come home. But between the walking and the sweating, I guess it all gets burned off :laughing:

teekathepony

10-10-2011, 08:12 AM

Hi! I'm joining in!

Before I go any further... oh my gosh, what was your room number, if you don't mind my asking? Was it by any chance 7251? That was where they put us starting the 24th and it was everything you described with exactly the same view! How ironic would that be.

Great TR so far! (Well, except for poor Ari's stomach, glad that cleared up!)

kokotg

10-10-2011, 11:37 AM

fireworks fan

10-10-2011, 11:58 AM

kokotg

10-10-2011, 12:00 PM

Chapter 24: Tuesday, 9/20: More Hollywood Studios

With first lunch behind us, we turned our attention to....Toy Story Midway Mania! The best ride in the whole universe, at least if you judge it by the lines. I do like Toy Story a lot, but not quite enough to go to the trouble of riding it more than once in a day. So we generally get our fastpasses in the morning and then enjoy our one ride later in the day.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0800.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0803.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0809.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0808.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0810.jpg
Gus and Milo both decided to wear two pairs of glasses

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0818.jpg
I'm always amazed when people post their scores in TRs, at how high they are. Mine is not so high. But here it is. Along with Ari's. Mine is higher. But, Ari points out, his accuracy is better.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0823.jpg
We made a Toy Story penny after riding

On the way over, we saw that Phineas and Ferb were out:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0794.jpg

Now, Gus had bought an autograph book way back on Saturday, but it was still just sitting in our backpack, unused. Gus kept saying he was saving it for our character meals. I was secretly glad he didn't want to spend a lot of time waiting in lines for characters, but I still felt an obligation to point out available opportunities to do so. When I asked if he wanted to get autographs from Phineas and Ferb (he is a big fan of the show), he was uninterested. “I only want autographs from more important characters,” he explained, “the ones who have films, not just episodes.” Alrighty then.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0824.jpg

I've been in One Man's Dream only one time before, our second trip when the kids were 6, 4, and not yet 2. These were not the best ages for One Man's Dream. So we kind of ran through it quickly while trying to keep small children from tearing it to the ground.

I was really looking forward to trying it again with older kids (I think it was closed last year? Is that right? Wow—a lot of stuff was closed last year!)

Success! Kids did great! I mean, I could have spent more time there than we did and still would like to do that sometime when they're older still, but they were very patient and spent a good bit of time looking at the exhibits, and they didn't break ANYTHING!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0830.jpg
Look at Ari, reading about Disney stuff. So grown up!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0826.jpg
Milo was going to be Oswald for the Halloween party, so we took this picture.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0828.jpg
And Gus with Mickey, for the same reason

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0832.jpg
Creepy!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0835.jpg
They are Epic Mickey fans.

Really, we couldn't have spent longer even if the kids' attention spans had held out, because we needed to get across the park for the Lights, Motor, Action show! We had to leave before the movie at the end of One Man's Dream, in fact.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0837.jpg

You have to walk a really long way to get to the seats for Lights, Motor, Action. We'd never seen this before. Last year we saw the Indiana Jones show for the first time, and....we liked that a lot better. At least I did. Let me take a poll of the kids. Kids, did you like the stunt show?

Gus: yeah
Ari: no
Milo: it was okay

There you have it. What about Dave? I have no idea. Let me ask. Hey Dave, did you like the stunt show? He says, “yes!” enthusiastically. But adds that he had a hard time understanding what the people were saying, which the kids all immediately agree with.

As for me...I was sort of bored out of my mind. I couldn't understand the incredibly rapid explanations about what was going on, either, but I didn't really care, because there are few things I'm less interested in than how they film car chase scenes in movies. One of those few things might be the actual car chase scenes in movies. Not my thing. At all. Also, it was hot. I took pictures to entertain myself:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0839.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0842.jpg
Don't worry; he's doing this on purpose. He's fine.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0843.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0845.jpg
That guy's fine, too. He's wearing, like, fire clothes or something.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0849.jpg
A bunch of cars doing stunt things.

Now back to Star Tours:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0851.jpg

This time Dave was the spy in our group! (for those who haven't ridden it yet, part of the story involves one person in your transport being a rebel spy). So they flash a fuzzy picture of the spy pretty quickly near the beginning, and I thought it was Dave, but I wasn't positive. Until the ride was over and it seemed the pretty much everyone else who'd been in there recognized Dave. A guy in front of me turned around and said something like, “I bet you didn't know you were married to a spy!” And then, in the gift shop, someone else saw him and said, “Hey—you're the spy! I'm going to turn you in!” Dave hadn't been sure whether it was him or not either until that happened. So, yeah, strangers can recognize Dave's face easier than I can or than he can himself!

They sell t-shirts that say something like, “I'm the rebel spy” in the shop. I don't regret not buying one of these for Dave, but I do regret not making him hold one up in front of him while I took a picture of it.

Oops! Hit my picture limit. More in a sec.

kokotg

10-10-2011, 12:01 PM

Chapter 24 continued

When we got out of Star Tours, it was raining. There was a big mob of people standing right at the entrance to the shop, with a CM telling them to please not block the doorway. We decided we'd rather be out in the rain than jammed in with all those people, especially since Dave had been outed as the spy, so we headed on out into the wet.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0854.jpg

We hadn't done the Great Movie Ride yet, and that was nice and long and inside, so went there:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0855.jpg

I like the Great Movie Ride, but I'm a little tired of it. And how come we never get the cowboy? Does anyone ever get the cowboy? This time it inspired Ari to beg us to be allowed to watch Alien, though. I've never seen it, but Dave says it is not for ten year olds.

When we came out, it had stopped raining, and we noticed that everyone was lined up for the parade. I've always wanted to see the Pixar parade but never managed it before, so I wanted to stop and watch. Strangely, nothing makes my children grumpier than a parade. Well, they like nighttime parades well enough, but they absolutely never want to watch the afternoon ones. It was now pretty close to time for second lunch, though, and it made sense to watch the parade and then head over to Mama Melrose. Poor kids. Stuck with mean old parents who force them to watch parades:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0859.jpg
"WHY is this happening to us?!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0857.jpg
How can they not love it?! It's fun! It says right there.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0862.jpg
A skeptical Gus tried watching the parade...

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0864.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0865.jpg
It's FUN! times three

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0866.jpg
Dave is convinced about the FUN!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0871.jpg
I wish I could remember what on earth was going on here, but I can't.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0880.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0878.jpg
Parade's over! We can smile again!

And, oh my goodness, it's time for us to eat AGAIN now. So next up: Mama Melrose.

BerrysGirl

10-10-2011, 12:23 PM

There are so many parades in the afternoon that I did not know existed / never have had the opportunity to watch. That may be my mission in December when DBF is working. I didn't even know there was a Pixar parade at DHS!

That one, the MK one, and Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade I really just need to take the time to watch... I wonder why there isn't one at Epcot? :confused3 I remember there use to be...

shan23877

10-10-2011, 01:27 PM

Great updates! I am also not a fan of LMA or car chases- so I can totally relate ;) I can't believe that you were mean enough to make those poor children watch a parade! That's horrible. :lmao:

TanzUnited99

10-10-2011, 02:31 PM

Yay! TSMM - loved this ride even though my scores were always rubbish! :lmao:

Lol did having 2 pairs of glasses result in a better score?

I'm glad you all enjoyed One Man's Dream and have to agree about LMA.

The Pixar parade is so much fun - we loved it!

Mombits

10-10-2011, 03:55 PM

I'm sorry the pizza was such a bust. I'm with Ari, I like my gluten. This summer I saw the gastroenterologist and he started making noise about a "gluten problem" and I just about bolted out of the room! I much prefer to stick my head in the sand and hope that the problem magically disappears! I hope you can get him so rice pasta at Mama Melrose!

My kids wouldn't watch the parade either. We stood there and waited for about 15 minutes and they both said they wanted to leave so we did. On the upside, that is a great time to do the character m&g because everyone is at the parade.

My ds sat and waited for an hour to do the Jedi training last time so I really hope he is willing to forego it this time. I think we'll all look forward to trying out the new and improved Star Tours. I hope the no line thing holds true for us too.

kokotg

10-10-2011, 05:11 PM

Hello! I just found your trip report and had to read it because of the title:thumbsup2 I have celiac and love reading about gluten free at Disney. Its my favorite place to eat!

Also wanted to say that I totally agree about the gluten free pizza at pizza planet-no good and way too long a wait for it. I use Annalise Roberts pizza crust recipe at home and my family will eat it.

And Babycakes is awesome! I wish they had the cinnamon rolls when I was there in February. I just had the cupcakes and doughnuts.

Can't wait to read the rest of the report. Thanks for sharing:goodvibes

:welcome:

Thanks for reading!

I'll have to look into that pizza recipe and give it a try!

There are so many parades in the afternoon that I did not know existed / never have had the opportunity to watch. That may be my mission in December when DBF is working. I didn't even know there was a Pixar parade at DHS!

That one, the MK one, and Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade I really just need to take the time to watch... I wonder why there isn't one at Epcot? :confused3 I remember there use to be...

We didn't have the best view, but I think we did see all of the Pixar parade, so at least I can cross one of the afternoon parades off my list! Hey--in a few years the kids will be old enough to go off on their own and ride stuff while I watch a parade...so at least I know I can see them eventually.

Great updates! I am also not a fan of LMA or car chases- so I can totally relate ;) I can't believe that you were mean enough to make those poor children watch a parade! That's horrible. :lmao:

Thanks!

I am pretty much the meanest mom in the whole world...I pride myself on it :laughing:

Yay! TSMM - loved this ride even though my scores were always rubbish! :lmao:

Lol did having 2 pairs of glasses result in a better score?

I'm glad you all enjoyed One Man's Dream and have to agree about LMA.

The Pixar parade is so much fun - we loved it!

I just asked Milo if the extra glasses gave him a better score and he said, after considering, "I didn't really notice them." So there you have it :laughing:

I'm sorry the pizza was such a bust. I'm with Ari, I like my gluten. This summer I saw the gastroenterologist and he started making noise about a "gluten problem" and I just about bolted out of the room! I much prefer to stick my head in the sand and hope that the problem magically disappears! I hope you can get him so rice pasta at Mama Melrose!

My kids wouldn't watch the parade either. We stood there and waited for about 15 minutes and they both said they wanted to leave so we did. On the upside, that is a great time to do the character m&g because everyone is at the parade.

My ds sat and waited for an hour to do the Jedi training last time so I really hope he is willing to forego it this time. I think we'll all look forward to trying out the new and improved Star Tours. I hope the no line thing holds true for us too.

Ha--Gus just tested positive for a million environmental allergies, and I think I really should get him tested for food allergies...but I'm doing the sticking my head in the sand thing myself; I've got a pretty good handle on the gluten thing, but I'm terrified we'll have to cut out something like dairy on top of it....don't want to know!

teekathepony

10-10-2011, 05:14 PM

:welcome:

We were in 7246 and 7247...very close! That would have been so funny if we'd had the same room!
Ohh so close!

I'm always amazed when people post their scores in TRs, at how high they are. Mine is not so high.
- I can hardly break 100,000! I'm terrible, but I have fun! :rotfl:

When I asked if he wanted to get autographs from Phineas and Ferb (he is a big fan of the show), he was uninterested. “I only want autographs from more important characters,” he explained, “the ones who have films, not just episodes.” Alrighty then.
-Hilarious, he sounds like quite a little character!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0830.jpg
Look at Ari, reading about Disney stuff. So grown up!
-THAT is an amazing shot! I love those candids.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0835.jpg
They are Epic Mickey fans.
-Me too!

As for me...I was sort of bored out of my mind. I couldn't understand the incredibly rapid explanations about what was going on, either, but I didn't really care, because there are few things I'm less interested in than how they film car chase scenes in movies. One of those few things might be the actual car chase scenes in movies. Not my thing. At all.
-I'm with you 100%!
I like the Great Movie Ride, but I'm a little tired of it. And how come we never get the cowboy? Does anyone ever get the cowboy?
-I've never seen the cowboy either :(

Great update! I love that you have lots of pictures of your boys. Every trip I say to myself that I'm going to get more pictures of the people on the trip but I never quite manage to do it.

kokotg

10-10-2011, 10:04 PM

Great update! I love that you have lots of pictures of your boys. Every trip I say to myself that I'm going to get more pictures of the people on the trip but I never quite manage to do it.

Thanks! they were pretty tired of me and my camera by the end of the trip! ah well--it's the price they have to pay for getting to go to Disney :laughing:

beebeeryan

10-11-2011, 06:51 AM

kokotg

10-11-2011, 11:27 AM

OH my goodness, so funny about the kids and the afternoon parades. I love your picture captions! My kids are not really into them either, we would never be able to stake out a spot and sit and wait, we catch them in passing if we are still even in the parks, by 3pm it's usually pool time. They could care less about parades. We haven't seen the DHS parade yet, never been there that late. We have seen the MK one in passing, stop to look while walking sort of thing. We did watch the AK one last year, but it was by accident, we were trying to leave and got blocked in by the parade. Had no choice. LOL I forced them to stake out a spot for the nighttime Electrical parade though. They did like that one.

I'm glad my kids have so much company in their parade dislike :laughing:. I suspect I could get them to watch more of them if we were there in cooler weather, but unless Dave wants to quit his pesky teaching job we're pretty well stuck with September. We missed the Electrical parade this year...it came down to that or the Halloween party, I think--next year I'm going to make it a priority.

PrincessCharlie

10-11-2011, 01:59 PM

kokotg

10-11-2011, 05:03 PM

All caught up, great trip report!

I've havn't even heard of Babycakes before but I'll have to try it now, those cinnamon buns looks yummy. Well done for trying to be gluten free! I'm doing low carb right now, and it is so hard not to eat bread! Theres nothing worse then seeing someone tucking into a nice piece of freshly baked white bread. I've gone to a bit of a food trance thinking about it :rotfl:

It does seem like a lot of food when your writing a report, but at the time your just so hungry. I've never been hungrier then when I'm at Disney!

My bf is the same with parades, he loathes them and especially dislikes the day time ones. He just about puts up with night time ones because he has to... there is no way I'm missing them!

Thanks for reading!

After a summer of potatoes, I'm trying to cut carbs way back again this week...I know I'll be fine in a couple of days, but right now I could really go for...anything with sugar or starch in it! A big bowl of plain rice sounds amazing at the moment :laughing:. Or maybe one of those cinnamon rolls from Babycakes. Mmmm.....

kokotg

10-11-2011, 05:42 PM

Chapter 25: Mama Melrose

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0882.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0885.jpg

We got to Mama Melrose to find the lobby completely packed with other people eager to eat dinner at 3:40. The CMs at the podium were a little...harried and clearly not in good moods. They seated a party of 23 right after we got there, though, and that cleared out the congestion a good bit.

We were seated after about 10 minutes. Mama Melrose was another new to us restaurant for this trip. Our server took our drink orders and the chef showed up to talk to us while she was doing that...so super quick. He asked us, “what do you feel like eating?” and told us that they could customize stuff for us because all the sauces and everything were made in house.

I ordered the strip steak. From reading the menu online earlier, I was expecting this to come with potatoes. But when we got there I found that macaroni and cheese had replaces the potatoes on the menu. The chef told me they could do a gluten free macaroni and cheese, but I asked to have rice pasta and marinara sauce subbed in for that. I was thinking a gluten-free mac and cheese thrown together right then might not be the greatest thing ever. Though who knows? It might have been awesome.

Dave ordered the tuna, and this was gluten free with no changes needed. The kids all ordered chicken parmesan.

The chef was telling us that they would grill the chicken for the chicken parmesan, and Dave said, “are you sure we have time for that? We have a show to get to later.” I had no idea what he was talking about. Was he really confused about when Fantasmic happened? Was he trying to make a joke?

“Are you joking?” I asked.

“Yeah, I am,” he assured me. The chef looked mildly confused, but recovered well. As soon as he left, I turned back to Dave. I thought maybe he'd been hit on the head recently when I wasn't watching or something. Or maybe I'd been overestimating his sense of humor all these years.

“What were you talking about?” I asked.

“You know—I was just making a joke...because he said they'd grow the chicken here....”

“GRILL the chicken!” I corrected him.

“Oh.” Dave felt very silly now. “That makes more sense,” he said. Too bad we couldn't explain the situation to the chef, so that he wouldn't need to go on feeling like there was something a little off about Dave for the rest of our meal.

Food!

We got appetizers, since they come with the Fantasmic package. Dave got the minestrone (I think it's supposed to have pasta in it, and they left it out of his), and Ari and I both ordered the mozzarella and tomatoes...and we both didn't care for it and gave it to Dave. Who did his best to eat a lot of it. And of course there were more Ener-G rolls. They brought out olive oil to dip these in, but I didn't like the flavor of this particular olive oil.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0895.jpg
Really terrible picture of the mozzarella and tomatoes. I guess it was just too much white for my camera to handle without some additional direction. Which I failed to provide.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0894.jpg

My steak was good. I had a lot of Disney steak this year, and I was invariably impressed with it, which has definitely NOT been my experience with Disney steaks in years past. The pasta was surprisingly good, too. Actually, oddly, I'm not sure I had ever had rice pasta before. The kids have it pretty much every week, but I try to keep carbs down, so I guess I've always had an alternative dinner. Anyway, it didn't taste much different from regular pasta, and I liked the sauce.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0900.jpg

Dave liked the tuna fine, but was not blown away by it. The kids all enjoyed the chicken parm. Unless I'm forgetting something, this meal was something of a turning point for Ari and his food-related grumpiness. I don't remember any more big meltdowns and, in fact, I think he stayed pretty positive after this for the most part.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0899.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0898.jpg

I don't have a picture of the desserts, but I believe we all ordered gelato and that it was yummy.

fromscratchmom

10-11-2011, 06:11 PM

hmm, I've been hearing a lot of good things about Disney steak lately and I do love a good steak. yum.

kokotg

10-11-2011, 07:01 PM

hmm, I've been hearing a lot of good things about Disney steak lately and I do love a good steak. yum.

I remember going to Concourse Steakhouse a few years ago (back when it still existed), having read some good reviews, and thinking the steak was like something you'd get at the Sizzler. So I don't know if I just got lucky this year or if the steaks have actually improved, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised a few times.

MegRose1107

10-11-2011, 08:17 PM

LOVING your trip report!! I've told my DBF that we have to try Babycakes when we go to WDW next month! You guys have inspired me to go gluten free too! :)

nadira36

10-11-2011, 10:36 PM

We enjoy the parades, however, we don't seek them out. If we happen to run into one, then we watch. The exemption being the MNSSHP & MVMCP parades - for those we stake out a space.

Their GF mac & cheese would have likely been pretty good. The sauce takes seconds to prepare and the pasta's no different from one GF to the next - that being said - I prefer marinara.

We love epic Mickey - and the kids costumes sound like they'll be awesome. Did they get the ideas from the game, or did they know Oswald and classic Mickey from other places?

In TGMR which cowboy are you talking about? I'm not sure if it's that I've never had the cowboy and didn't realize it - or if we've always had a cowboy and didn't realize he wasn't always there. But it's been a few years since I rode since next trip will be the first time since '07 that we'll be at HWS.

I'm getting really excited for our trip now! Thanks so much :)

jcano

10-11-2011, 10:59 PM

Waiting for a child's blood sugar to come back up and catching up on your report. :)

Feeling for Ari. GF can be a pain sometimes. :sad1:

That said...Disney is the only vacation that we have been on since going GF where my overwhelming concern WASN'T "What in the world are they going to eat??" Let's just say the beach with gf and fish and shellfish allergies is just no fun.:sad2: My idea of vacation is not going somewhere and having to cook for the week.

Headed back to Disney in December. The girls have been eagerly checking out menus, and Babycakes is one of the first places we are heading to. You're making my mouth water for cinnamon rolls...mmmm:thumbsup2

Good to know those gf chicken tenders pop up in a few different places. I have to agree on the Against the Grain pizza being much better than Amy's. My theory is that Disney has been carrying these gf brands for a long time...back when they were the only option. I'm hopeful that some of the newer, better tasting brands start showing up at Mickey's eventually. Udi's or Glutino's new Genius bread is SOOO much better than anything by Ener-G, but I am thankful for what they DO offer. They do a much better job at gf than most places.

kokotg

10-12-2011, 08:33 AM

LOVING your trip report!! I've told my DBF that we have to try Babycakes when we go to WDW next month! You guys have inspired me to go gluten free too! :)

:welcome:

thanks! Hope you love Babycakes...I've been wishing we had one down the street lately--yum!

We enjoy the parades, however, we don't seek them out. If we happen to run into one, then we watch. The exemption being the MNSSHP & MVMCP parades - for those we stake out a space.

Their GF mac & cheese would have likely been pretty good. The sauce takes seconds to prepare and the pasta's no different from one GF to the next - that being said - I prefer marinara.

We love epic Mickey - and the kids costumes sound like they'll be awesome. Did they get the ideas from the game, or did they know Oswald and classic Mickey from other places?

In TGMR which cowboy are you talking about? I'm not sure if it's that I've never had the cowboy and didn't realize it - or if we've always had a cowboy and didn't realize he wasn't always there. But it's been a few years since I rode since next trip will be the first time since '07 that we'll be at HWS.

I'm getting really excited for our trip now! Thanks so much :)

We have a DVD of old Mickey cartoons, so they were pretty familiar with him, but, no, I don't think they'd heard of Oswald (and I hadn't either!) before Epic Mickey.

In TGMR, we always have gotten the gangster as the guy who hijacks our vehicle...word is sometimes it's the gangster and sometimes it's a cowboy in the next scene instead. Maybe the cowboy used to be more common? It seems like these days I only hear about people getting the gangster :confused3

Waiting for a child's blood sugar to come back up and catching up on your report. :)

Feeling for Ari. GF can be a pain sometimes. :sad1:

That said...Disney is the only vacation that we have been on since going GF where my overwhelming concern WASN'T "What in the world are they going to eat??" Let's just say the beach with gf and fish and shellfish allergies is just no fun.:sad2: My idea of vacation is not going somewhere and having to cook for the week.

Headed back to Disney in December. The girls have been eagerly checking out menus, and Babycakes is one of the first places we are heading to. You're making my mouth water for cinnamon rolls...mmmm:thumbsup2

Good to know those gf chicken tenders pop up in a few different places. I have to agree on the Against the Grain pizza being much better than Amy's. My theory is that Disney has been carrying these gf brands for a long time...back when they were the only option. I'm hopeful that some of the newer, better tasting brands start showing up at Mickey's eventually. Udi's or Glutino's new Genius bread is SOOO much better than anything by Ener-G, but I am thankful for what they DO offer. They do a much better job at gf than most places.

That's a good point...they probably have good contracts with the vendors they use now, too, and it'd be a lot of trouble to change. My kids would LOVE it if they'd use Udi's pizza crusts, and those aren't too expensive (although since they eat them all the time at home, it wouldn't be very exciting, either :laughing:). But, yes, overall they were GREAT about the gluten stuff.

fromscratchmom

10-12-2011, 09:30 AM

I'm awfully glad to hear that Ari's attitude about the food improved. I'm sure that made things better overall for you. My kids have had a hard road of it to. I think more so because my husband wasn't on board 100% at first. Since I am the one who has been told by a doctor to avoid gluten he was on board with making our home gluten free to help me avoid cross-contamination but not with making him and the kids gluten free when not at home. I find it frustrating wondering if they would benefit or not, but even on a different level... so much of taste is totally about what you are used to and how you have trained your taste buds. It has been so long since I have had regular gluten-full foods that now more of the alternatives are appealing whereas he and the kids will indulge and keep themselves loving and craving those things. I really think the kids would be a more likely to be content and able to make wise food choices and evaluate things like that calmly if the kids had just gone gluten free with he and I both treating it as a matter of course for a year or two.

kokotg

10-12-2011, 11:24 AM

kokotg

10-12-2011, 11:37 AM

Chapter 26: Still Tuesday, still Hollywood Studios!

Two longish meals in the middle of the day were making our marathon Hollywood Studios trip pretty easy. Everyone was holding up fine.

More Star Tours! This was our best ride yet; we all thought so, though I don't really remember why. We got a Darth Vader intro, which was new and exciting. So we went on it again. Darth again! It wasn't as exciting this time; Darth was old news now.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0902.jpg

Now all the way to the other side of the park for Rock n' Roller Coaster. Last year, when Gus wasn't tall enough for it, the CM who measured him had given him a fast pass for our family to use whenever he finally hit 48”. We hadn't needed it that morning, so we still had it and were ready to redeem it (Dave had had it in his wallet for an entire year). They don't actually take it; they put a date on it to show you've used it then give you regular fastpasses and let you keep that one for a souvenir:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0909.jpg

Then Ari and I peeled off to go do Tower of Terror again while Dave and the other kids took one more Rock n' Roller Coaster ride. Ari and I actually encountered a line for Tower of Terror, albeit a short one (maybe 15 minutes?)...I don't know that I've ever waited in a real line for TOT before. We always go right into the area outside the pre-show room. Somewhere in here we picked up RnRC fastpasses to use later, if we had time. This was, it turns out, a mistake. More on that later.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0912.jpg
Finally! Ari cooperated with my funny picture requests!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0913.jpg
What are these other people doing here?

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0917.jpg

Next on the agenda (for we did have an agenda, if only a vague one) was the last show of American Idol. We saw American Idol once last year, but not the very last show of the day. We were very excited to see all the best talent of the whole day showcased for us.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0921.jpg

We got there maybe 5 minutes before they let people into the theater. Outside, there was a CM chatting amiably with some people by the doors closest to the back of the theater. When they opened up the doors, he turned into a bouncer whose job it was to tell everyone they couldn't use that door. Some of the people thought he was kidding. “No, I'm serious. That's why they make me stand here,” he said. Kind of a mean trick—making everyone think he's just there to be friendly, but then he's really a security force. Turns out, as far as we could tell, they didn't want anyone going in those doors because there weren't going to be enough people to fill up the whole theater, and they wanted the first rows all the way filled in. To look good for the cameras.

We sat down, and some women next to us started chatting with Gus about how to use the buttons on the arm rests—the one you use to cast your vote. Gus loved getting to be all knowledgeable because he vaguely remembered having pushed the buttons the year before.

It IS more exciting seeing the last show of the day...they make a really big deal out of the prize (an automatic in to see the judges at an American Idol audition), and the judges seem to take the whole thing a little more seriously than they do for the earlier shows (or at least the one we saw). We had a split vote in our family; the girl Ari and...someone else (Milo?) voted for won.

By the time we got out, we had determined that we did not, in fact, have time to go on Rock n' Roller Coaster before Fantasmic. We were supposed to be there at 8 (for the 8:30 show), and it was already around a quarter til, and we all needed to go to the bathroom still. This made Gus very sad. And by sad, I mean, full of rage. Long day, you'll remember.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0926.jpg
Can you tell which child was in a really bad mood about not getting to ride Rock n' Roller Coaster again?

But he got over it eventually, and we made our way to our super special dinner package entrance:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0930.jpg

We sat down in our special section, which was not very full when we got there, but filled in quickly after that, and then Dave took off to get some popcorns and drinks for everyone.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0931.jpg
This was at about 8:15...so those people way on the other side of the theater are showing up 15 minutes after us, without dinner package seating...and getting pretty much exactly the same view as us. Good to know!

We'd never seen Fantasmic before. First the kids had been too young to stay out so late, then last year it was only happening a couple of times a week, which made scheduling tricky. We almost didn't do it again this year, until they changed the schedule so that it was happening every night.

We really enjoyed it! Dave immediately decided that his new Disney dream job was the Mickey who gets to stand up on top of the mountain. “I thought you wanted to be a tumble monkey in the Lion King?” I said. But, no, Fantasia Mickey wins. I was a little worried about Gus during the scary parts, but he handled it all just fine.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0935.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0960.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0967.jpg

As were were walking back to our car, I spotted one of the women from the American Idol final standing at the bus stop! I'm glad she hasn't let the fame go to her head, and she can still wait for a bus like regular people.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0971.jpg

We were back to Pop AND had the kids in bed by 9:40! We rock! And it was a good thing, too, because I full intended to get us all up for rope drop at Magic Kingdom the next day.

Mombits

10-12-2011, 12:03 PM

Yay, Ari got his pasta!!!

okw19

10-12-2011, 12:30 PM

Wow, what a day! Great updates!

kokotg

10-12-2011, 01:00 PM

Yay, Ari got his pasta!!!

Mama Melrose to the rescue :laughing:

Wow, what a day! Great updates!

thanks! It was a very long day...I think it's good it came in the middle of the trip; by the end I doubt we could have handled it!

BerrysGirl

10-12-2011, 02:16 PM

TanzUnited99

10-12-2011, 02:35 PM

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Mama Melrose - I have not heard many good reviews of this place lately.

Love the funny pic of Ari in front of the Tower of Terror sign :rotfl:

Great pics of Fantasmic! Sadly we never got to watch that show on this trip.

teekathepony

10-12-2011, 02:49 PM

[...] those people way on the other side of the theater are showing up 15 minutes after us, without dinner package seating...and getting pretty much exactly the same view as us. Good to know!

Yep... same thing happened to us last year. We couldn't figure out what we had actually gotten from this Fantasmic! dinner package! :confused3
Love the TOT pic, too funny. And your shots of F! are awesome!

justakrazymom

10-12-2011, 02:59 PM

Here is my family:

There's me, Gretchen; my husband, Dave; and our three boys: Ari is 10, Milo is 8, and Gus is 5 ½.

The trip, in a nutshell: we stayed at Pop, in two connecting room, for 8 nights (September 16-24). Free dining, upgraded to the plus plan. We were all gluten-free for the first time for this trip, which made things more interesting (more on that when I get to the restaurant reviews. Also, an answer to the question posed in my title).

Just found this one.. I'm on to catching up! We also homeschool and I am gluten free..can't wait to read your report!

justakrazymom

10-12-2011, 03:16 PM

justakrazymom

10-12-2011, 04:12 PM

Ok all caught up! Great report..adorable kids!

kokotg

10-12-2011, 06:40 PM

I know it isn't everyone's favorite but I love Fantasmic! I use to think it was even better than Illuminations (but now Illuminations holds sentimental value as the first thing DBF and I ever did at WDW together). Whenever I need a little dose of pixie dust I watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-k6NeEjMpw&list=FLWYMBA6NLgGRgxuVPW4FXug&index=5) video. If Fantasmic's involved, I can cry at the drop of a hat!

There is a very (well, to Dave) sad story about Illuminations coming up later in my TR.

The kids came running when I clicked on the video. I thought they were feeling all nostalgic for our trip, but then Ari said, "we should have skipped the dinner package and just watched this Youtube video instead." Uh, I thought he liked it. "It was too bright, and loud, and crowded," he said. Oh well. I liked it.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Mama Melrose - I have not heard many good reviews of this place lately.

Love the funny pic of Ari in front of the Tower of Terror sign :rotfl:

Great pics of Fantasmic! Sadly we never got to watch that show on this trip.

It took us six years to get around to watching it, so don't feel too bad! :)

Yep... same thing happened to us last year. We couldn't figure out what we had actually gotten from this Fantasmic! dinner package! :confused3
Love the TOT pic, too funny. And your shots of F! are awesome!

Yeah, I guess maybe if it had been a really crowded time of year it would have been worthwhile...but I don't think it even wound up filling up all the way the night we were there. Oh well--we had to eat somewhere anyway!

Just found this one.. I'm on to catching up! We also homeschool and I am gluten free..can't wait to read your report!

I wish i had known about a gluten free app.. oh well.. for the most part i always alerted the CM's because of cross contamination. I am very sensitive to any gluten.. I even need my own butter etc when we had rolls at a sit down meal.

Ok all caught up! Great report..adorable kids!

:welcome:

and thanks!

We have a lot in common :). The app is called Gluten Free Passport. It cost $2.99...really, it's not the greatest thing ever--it just takes all the information Disney will e-mail you about gluten-free diets and puts them on an app...but it was kind of handy to have it on my phone and not have to carry it around. It'd be great if they'd add some things to it like letting people post dining reviews maybe. It was pretty good for the parks restaurants, but for the resort ones there wasn't always much information at all.

kokotg

10-12-2011, 09:38 PM

Chapter 27: Intermission

I've realized that I'm just a bit more than halfway through the trip now (which means I'm on track for....54 chapters! For nine days? How did that happen?)....so I thought I'd throw in this interlude with a few only tangentially related to Disney thoughts.

1. We went to Six Flags last weekend. We had season passes this year, because we wanted to stop at the SF in New Jersey when we drove up to Massachusetts over the summer, and they're good at all the locations. We'd only been to the Atlanta one one other time, late in the spring. So this is going to come as a shock to all of you, but....Six Flags is NOT AS GOOD as Disney World! The lines! The lines were terrible! We got there just a few minutes after opening, but by the time they'd been open an hour there were significant lines for just about every ride in the park. We were there five hours, and we split up some because of height restrictions and whatnot; Dave and Milo rode all of four rides in those five hours, while Ari, Gus, and I rode a whopping six. It really doesn't seem right that “shorter lines” should be an advantage Disney has over Six Flags.

And, I talked about this in one of my responses here already, but...Dave lost his hat from Animal Kingdom! It flew off while he was riding the Dahlonega, which is sort of hilarious because I think it's top speed is about 12 miles per hour. Okay, that's not Six Flags' fault, but, still, I think it's a sign we shouldn't buy season passes again anytime soon.

Also? We're getting too old for bumpy wooden roller coasters. Sad, but true. And Ari was born too old, it seems. He HATES jerky roller coasters. Gus thinks they're awesome. Milo thinks they're fine. And that's my children, summed up in three sentences.

2. We're going to Dollywood for Gus' birthday in December! It's a year of theme parks for us! I'm excited about this. I've never been, but I hear very good things. And I love Dolly! We're probably going to buy season passes (that are good for December and then all of next year) there, too, because it's the best deal if you want to go for more than one day (we're doing a long weekend). I have a feeling we'll decide that we'd rather drive nearly 4 hours and pay for a hotel to go to Dollywood than go back to Six Flags again. They're supposed to be good about food allergies and gluten intolerance, but I think “good” is a relative term. In Dollywood's case, it looks like it means there are two different restaurants we can eat at, each with two or three choices (like grilled chicken and mashed potatoes or pork chops and mashed potatoes). I guess we're pretty spoiled by Disney!

I'm worried that it will seem like it didn't really happen if I don't write a trip report about it, though :laughing:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/dolly-parton.jpg

3. And, finally....we found the same chicken tenders that they sell at Disney at a store near us! They aren't as good if you don't have your own deep fryer handy, though.

shan23877

10-13-2011, 12:49 AM

fromscratchmom

10-13-2011, 07:18 AM

I love Dolly too! princess:

3inthefamily

10-13-2011, 08:51 AM

Really enjoying your trip report...I have been GF for about a month now and we are headed down to WDW next month and I am looking forward to trying out some of your suggestions.

2 summers ago my family and I took a road trip from here in CT down and around parts of KY, TN, VA, etc. We went to Pigeon Forge and Dollywood and had such a blast! There is so much kooky, kitschy stuff going on down there. It poured when we went to Dollywood so we didn't enjoy it that much, but they were so wonderful that they gave us our $ back! We ended up going to Dolly's Dixie Stampede that night and had such a blast...and they were very accommodating for my vegetarian husband...and the meal seemed pretty GF friendly.. roasted chicken, potato, corn, etc. Totally recommend. It's like the Hillbilly Vegas down there! Enjoy!!!!

Fantasyland Mom

10-13-2011, 10:01 AM

1. I hate Six Flags. It's just so dirty. And not Disney. Are other Six Flags locations like this, or is it just Atlanta?

2. Jealous of the Dollywood trip! I wanted to do Dollywood/Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge last spring and nobody in my family would get on board:sad2:. Losers. Are you planning to go the The Dixie Stampede? I honestly don't remember much about it (or if they work with GF diets), but I know even as a kid I loved it and thought it was wonderfully hokey and amusing.

3. Where did you find those chicken tenders?

nadira36

10-13-2011, 11:52 AM

In TGMR, we always have gotten the gangster as the guy who hijacks our vehicle...word is sometimes it's the gangster and sometimes it's a cowboy in the next scene instead. Maybe the cowboy used to be more common? It seems like these days I only hear about people getting the gangster :confused3

That's what I was thinking - I'm not sure if we've ever had the gangster - we always have a cowboy! lol Come to think of it we've seen the gangster on other cars - but we get the cowboy. Heh.

I can hardly wait until the girls are tall enough (and brave enough) for ToT and RnRC Ryan's not a huge fan of big rides but he'll ride them if I insist. So it'll be fun when the girls can ride them with me. This year Ella will be on BTM and SM for the first time (I have little girls still).

TanzUnited99

10-13-2011, 12:44 PM

I think I am yet to read a good review of Six Flags - if I'm honest I didn't even know it existed until I came on these boards.

Yay on going to Dollywood! Of course we want to hear all the details! :laughing:

I'm glad you found the same chicken tenders that they sell at Disney to relive some of the magic ;)

kokotg

10-13-2011, 03:36 PM

Love the updates! We wanted to see both American Idol and Fantasmic this trip , but missed both. :confused: I don't hear about too many people who actually do AI, but we really wanted to--especially DD4--she walked around saying "This is American Idol" all afternoon :rotfl:

I LOVE Dolly! Hooray for you trip! Did you know that the tapping noise at the beginning 9 to 5 is Dolly's finger nails, and was her idea? That woman's a genius I tell you!

(I can almost see my DH's eyes rolling as I type this :rotfl2:)

It does seem like you don't hear about people watching AI very much...maybe it's not Disney enough? We all really enjoy it, though--I was worried the kids would get bored the first time we saw it, but they were really into it.

Dolly is a genius! I've got to pull out my greatest hits CD and get the kids indoctrinated before our trip :laughing:

I love Dolly too! princess:

Maybe she'll be there when we go, even! If she is, I'll say hello for you :)

Really enjoying your trip report...I have been GF for about a month now and we are headed down to WDW next month and I am looking forward to trying out some of your suggestions.

2 summers ago my family and I took a road trip from here in CT down and around parts of KY, TN, VA, etc. We went to Pigeon Forge and Dollywood and had such a blast! There is so much kooky, kitschy stuff going on down there. It poured when we went to Dollywood so we didn't enjoy it that much, but they were so wonderful that they gave us our $ back! We ended up going to Dolly's Dixie Stampede that night and had such a blast...and they were very accommodating for my vegetarian husband...and the meal seemed pretty GF friendly.. roasted chicken, potato, corn, etc. Totally recommend. It's like the Hillbilly Vegas down there! Enjoy!!!!

Thanks for reading! and thanks for the Pigeon Forge review...I was looking at Dixie Stampede and trying to decide if we should do it...sounds like fun!

1. I hate Six Flags. It's just so dirty. And not Disney. Are other Six Flags locations like this, or is it just Atlanta?

2. Jealous of the Dollywood trip! I wanted to do Dollywood/Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge last spring and nobody in my family would get on board:sad2:. Losers. Are you planning to go the The Dixie Stampede? I honestly don't remember much about it (or if they work with GF diets), but I know even as a kid I loved it and thought it was wonderfully hokey and amusing.

3. Where did you find those chicken tenders?

I went to the Six Flags in MA a LONG time ago, and I don't remember much about it. It was kind of a weird day when we went to the NJ one....we went the week before school got out up there, so it was just us and a few big school groups...as long as we stayed out of their way, it was like we had the park to ourselves for the first few hours. So we enjoyed it more than we expected. They have a really incredible roller coaster there called El Toro, and it was almost worth it just to ride that. But it was still Six Flags.

Aw...I hope you get to do your Pigeon Forge trip sometime! We haven't decided yet about Dixie Stampede...I might let birthday Gus decide. I think we're probably going to do Magiquest and Dollywood...not sure what else yet!

The chicken fingers are at Natural Foods Warehouse (I got them at the Crabapple one)...there are two different kinds; the ones that say tenderloins are the ones I'm pretty sure are exactly what Disney has.

That's what I was thinking - I'm not sure if we've ever had the gangster - we always have a cowboy! lol Come to think of it we've seen the gangster on other cars - but we get the cowboy. Heh.

I can hardly wait until the girls are tall enough (and brave enough) for ToT and RnRC Ryan's not a huge fan of big rides but he'll ride them if I insist. So it'll be fun when the girls can ride them with me. This year Ella will be on BTM and SM for the first time (I have little girls still).

I'm going to keep going on that ride every year until I see that cowboy!

It's so fun that first year when kids are tall enough for rides!

I think I am yet to read a good review of Six Flags - if I'm honest I didn't even know it existed until I came on these boards.

Yay on going to Dollywood! Of course we want to hear all the details! :laughing:

I'm glad you found the same chicken tenders that they sell at Disney to relive some of the magic ;)

Yes, I'm not surprised that news of Six Flags hasn't spread much internationally :laughing:--it's definitely not something you'd travel far to visit! For people who are just into big thrill rides, it's fine....I LOVED going to ours in middle/high school. But I think I've done enough visits this summer to hold me over for quite awhile!

kokotg

10-13-2011, 04:06 PM

Chapter 28: Tuesday wrap-up/new things

Lots of new things for today!

First off, since this was our super long day and the midpoint of the trip, seems like a good time to talk about a new thing for the trip: no stroller anywhere in the picture for Gus. We actually didn't have a stroller for him last year, either, but we were traveling with friends, and he occasionally hitched a ride on theirs. And last year we really WISHED he'd let us rent him a stroller, since he clearly needed one a lot of the time. But even the year he was three, it was a fight to get him to ride in a stroller for part of our Disneyland trip. So this year I didn't even bring it up. Nine days, no stroller.

How did he do?

Amazing! He NEVER complained about being tired. There was ONE time we wished we had a stroller for him, and it was when we left the Halloween party at midnight on Friday. Yay Gus!

Tuesday's new things:
1. Fantasmic!
2. New Star Tours
3. Gus' first Rock n' Roller Coaster ride
4. Mama Melrose
5. Pizza Planet
6. American Idol finale
7. Lights, Motors, Action

And now I'm off to work on a real update w/ Magic Kingdom and Crystal Palace action! Hope to get it up tonight!

kimmer1850

10-13-2011, 04:13 PM

Fantasyland Mom

10-13-2011, 05:23 PM

No strollers...it will be FOREVER before that happens for us! Julia's still wimpy at age 5:rolleyes:.

Yay for so many new things!

justakrazymom

10-13-2011, 05:26 PM

No strollers...it will be FOREVER before that happens for us! Julia's still wimpy at age 5:rolleyes:.

Yay for so many new things!

We had one for Taejan this trip and I am praying we don't have one next time.. he just has NO stamina though... if we do it will be renting..cus he's too big now!

kokotg

10-13-2011, 07:02 PM

And, I just finished reading all 12 pages. I love the way you write! Your family looks so very happy (and beautiful.) Bet you'll have your hands full when the boys are old enough to date. :lovestruc
I can"t believe how invested I've become in reading the next 27 chapters! DH is laughing at me because I'm so into it.:laughing:
As for the cowboy in TGMR we've actually asked to wait for his car. We did it last March when it was really slow and spent some time chatting with the CM at the turnstile. Did you know that TGMR is the only ride (as far as the CM knew) that doesn't have it's own pin?
Thanks! And, keep writing!

Aww, thank you so much! I'm having a lot of fun writing it :)

I don't even want to think about when they start dating...between that and the grocery bills, I doubt I'll survive :laughing:

That's a good idea--asking to wait for the cowboy. I'll bet I can convince the kids to do that next year! Did it take long? That makes me kinda sad about the pin...poor Movie Ride :(

No strollers...it will be FOREVER before that happens for us! Julia's still wimpy at age 5:rolleyes:.

Yay for so many new things!

For Gus, it was all about wanting to keep up with his big brothers. When Ari was 5, we rented a stroller for Milo and Gus, and Ari spent the whole time trying to sneak into it (Gus was in a carrier a lot of the time, so Ari wound up riding plenty).

We had one for Taejan this trip and I am praying we don't have one next time.. he just has NO stamina though... if we do it will be renting..cus he's too big now!

I really almost wanted him to ask for a stroller, because I knew he'd be tired...it's SO much walking for little kids (and big kids. And grown-ups), especially when you go in summer! He's too stubborn to admit when he's tired, though :laughing:

kokotg

10-13-2011, 07:22 PM

Chapter 29: Wednesday 9/21: Magic Kingdom

When Ari got sick and we had to cancel our Tusker House reservation Saturday night, it somehow set off a very complicated chain of events that involved approximately 472 changes to our dining reservations for the rest of the week. All because we found ourselves needing to make one more reservation to use up all our credits.

I couldn't have recreated the sequence of events while we were on the trip, so I certainly can't do it now....to sum up, the important thing to know for now is that we had grabbed a last minute 9:20 breakfast reservation at Crystal Palace for Wednesday morning.

The night before, feeling like a superhero after tackling Hollywood Studios open to close, I'd suggested a plan whereby we all run to Dumbo first thing and ride it before running back over to the Crystal Palace. In the light of day, however, this plan sounded...tiring.

We took the bus:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0974.jpg
Looks like we took the scenic route again

...and made it in time for rope drop. We were relieved to see they're still doing opening ceremonies somewhere anyway:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0977.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0981.jpg
Ooh! A picture with me in it! Looks like it was sunny again.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0992.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0994.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0995.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0997.jpg
I have to say, they do their best to make up for the lack of opening ceremonies at the other parks here. These guys are INTO it!

We had some dining reservations to cancel, and we'd found canceling them over the phone to be kind of a hassle (and canceling them using my iphone and the dining reservation website frustratingly impossible), so we stopped by Guest Services to do it there.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_0999.jpg
Note the outfit. Dave's sister and BIL picked it up--for Ari originally--when they went to Hawaii. We had an 'Ohana reservation that night, and I do like a thematically appropriate outfit!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1002.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1003.jpg
Best part about not rushing to Dumbo? Plenty of time for castle pictures!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1006.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1007.jpg
I don't know why they put that stupid crane there; don't they know it messes up our pictures?!

And then we went to Crystal Palace...so I'll put that in the next post!

kokotg

10-13-2011, 07:47 PM

Chapter 30: Crystal Palace

We checked in right around our reservation time of 9:20. I'd hesitated to take this reservation since it was going to eat up all the prime uncrowded touring time for the only morning we had planned at MK. But we'd already done a lot when we'd been there on Saturday, AND we still had the Halloween party ahead of us, so I decided it would be okay.

Another new restaurant for us this year (we did a lot of those. I'm pleased with all of our adventurous branching out). The place was completely mobbed, and we waited for about 15 minutes to be seated. It was, I should mention, very hot very early this day. For the second half of the week, I remember the afternoons as being more pleasant, weather-wise, than the mornings, because the clouds would come out then (sometimes with a shower) and give us a break from the sun. The heat plus the long day the day before were really catching up with Gus, and he was NOT HAPPY about having to wait outside.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1012.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1013.jpg
I think his allergies were getting to him then, too. Ragweed!

He cheered up as soon as we got inside, though, for this was the morning Gus had been waiting for—time to get some autographs for his autograph book! It took us three tries, but we finally got a kid who's at least sort of into characters!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1019.jpg
Hmm...looks like he didn't cheer up IMMEDIATELY. But soon.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1020.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1021.jpg
Looks like everyone was feeling a little grumpy at first.

Our server came by and offered us juice or coffee, and the chef came out quickly after that (I was always worried that we'd sit around forever waiting for the chef, but they were ALWAYS very quick). He walked the buffet line with us and told us what we could have. I made a list in my notes! There was fruit, cheese, salmon, bacon, potatoes, grits, a frittata (corn, beef, and veggie?), sausage, hardboiled eggs, and scrambled eggs. I might be leaving something out, but that's what I wrote down. He also offered to bring us gluten-free waffles or muffins, and Dave and the kids all wanted waffles.

Ari was, as usual, a bit grumpy at the beginning of the meal, but he brightened up very quickly once he had a giant plate of fruit and cheese and even more when the waffles came out later.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1023.jpg
First of two (or maybe even three?) fruit/cheese plates for Ari

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1024.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1027.jpg

The kids really liked Crystal Palace, largely, I think, because of the waffles. I wasn't thrilled with it. If I'm going to eat something that carby, it's not going to be frozen waffles and fake syrup, so I mostly ate, umm, bacon. I tried the eggs, but I guess they were powdered eggs? Anyway, I didn't like them. So I had bacon and some fruit. Which isn't really worth a dining credit (maybe if the bacon had been better!)

But, of course, the main attraction is the characters, and we had a child who was vaguely interested in them this year!

We had kind of bad timing with the characters for this meal. Eeyore came by while we were at the buffet, and we came back to find him already at the table past ours. Piglet was next; he got to the table next to ours, but then got called away for the little parade thing they do. He came back, though, and was followed pretty quickly by Tigger.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1028.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1033.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1031.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1035.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1036.jpg
Ari and Milo pretend not to be into the characters, but you can tell they secretly love them!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1037.jpg
I LOVE this picture of Gus showing off his first autograph

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1044.jpg
"Tigger's coming! Tigger's coming!"

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1049.jpg

At this point, though, we were all finished eating, and Pooh and Eeyore were way on the other side of the restaurant. We asked our waitress when she brought out the check, and she offered to take us over to see Pooh and Eeyore on our way out.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1051.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1053.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1055.jpg

So. A split vote on the food, depending on whether the party in question loved the waffles or not (I should note that I have frozen, gluten-free waffles, identical to the ones they serve at the Crystal Palace, in my freezer right now, and the kids are never interested when I offer to make them), but the characters were fun...even if it was a little stressful making sure we got to see them all. I don't know if we'll be back or not....if we do, I'll make sure to get a before the park opens reservation.

Postscript: Gus just walked in, and I asked him what he thought of Crystal Palace. His eyes lit up. “I LOVED it because of my autographs! And because of the sausage; that was SO good!” he told me. Maybe we have to go back...

shan23877

10-13-2011, 09:32 PM

Love that picture with the Piglet autograph! I hope you framed that one.

BerrysGirl

10-13-2011, 09:35 PM

The kids came running when I clicked on the video. I thought they were feeling all nostalgic for our trip, but then Ari said, "we should have skipped the dinner package and just watched this Youtube video instead." Uh, I thought he liked it. "It was too bright, and loud, and crowded," he said. Oh well. I liked it.

:scared1: Bu-bu-but the music... and feeling the mist on your face... and Sorcerer Mickey... and "some imagination, huh?"
Sigh... I do love me some Fantasmic.

And the look on Gus' face when he met Piglet... too cute!

We didn't go to Dollywood but Matt and I went to Gatlinburg this summer. There's a mini TR in my PTR if you want to check it out. We mostly stayed in Gatlinburg but we ate at several awesome restaurants... you could check to see what their gluten free options are?

The crane by the castle is hanging up the Christmas lights if that makes any more forgivable :cutie:

nadira36

10-13-2011, 11:22 PM

this will be my first trip in, well, forever, that I don't have a reservation at Crystal palace. Though if they've switched to frozen waffles, then I'm not too upset. I have an issue with paying huge chunks of money for something I can get for cheap at home. Most of the restaurants at least do a mix and make Mickey Waffles. If we don't get Mickey waffles this trip I think the girls will cry!

Love the photos - Cordelia (8 Mos) :love: Piglet She squealed and jumped all over the place when she saw the picture :laughing: We'll see how she is once we get there.

jcano

10-13-2011, 11:40 PM

We did Crystal Palace for lunch last visit, and I swore never to return. By the time the chef walked us through the buffet to go over the gf options, the line was a mile long...well...not THAT long, but you get the picture. Finally, time to get in line. I was starving. About the time we were able to see the front of the line, we looked over and realized the characters were almost to our table. The girls were not going to miss that, SO back to the table with no food we go. Did I mention that I was VERY hungry? Somewhere along the way we did get food, but combining gf with a buffet and characters was just WAY too stressful. No plans for Crystal Palace this time...although we do have ADRs for 1900 Park Fair...I never learn....

Sorry...I think your post brought out some repressed memories...:rolleyes1

teekathepony

10-14-2011, 10:45 AM

Looks like a good time at Crystal Palace! Again, great pictures of the kids and characters! I had an early pre-park-opening ADR at CP and it was great, I enjoyed it. Even with no kids, it's fun to meet the characters!

POLY1985

10-14-2011, 11:51 AM

Awwwwe! I loved the pics of your boys with the characters.

kokotg

10-14-2011, 12:59 PM

Love that picture with the Piglet autograph! I hope you framed that one.

I need to! I have a 3 or 4 year backlog on actually getting prints of pictures and framing them :laughing:

:scared1: Bu-bu-but the music... and feeling the mist on your face... and Sorcerer Mickey... and "some imagination, huh?"
Sigh... I do love me some Fantasmic.

And the look on Gus' face when he met Piglet... too cute!

We didn't go to Dollywood but Matt and I went to Gatlinburg this summer. There's a mini TR in my PTR if you want to check it out. We mostly stayed in Gatlinburg but we ate at several awesome restaurants... you could check to see what their gluten free options are?

The crane by the castle is hanging up the Christmas lights if that makes any more forgivable :cutie:

Hey, you don't have to tell ME that Fantasmic is awesome...talk to my kids! ;) Ari really hates crowds, so I think that was the main thing for him.

Just went back and read your Gatlinburg TR--thanks! It brings back memories...my family wasn't much for vacations when I was a kid, but we took two Disney trips (which I barely remember) and two Gatlinburg trips. Do they still have airbrushed t-shirt places all over? I think I need to get airbrushed t-shirts for the kids while we're there! They don't have enough kitsch in their lives.

this will be my first trip in, well, forever, that I don't have a reservation at Crystal palace. Though if they've switched to frozen waffles, then I'm not too upset. I have an issue with paying huge chunks of money for something I can get for cheap at home. Most of the restaurants at least do a mix and make Mickey Waffles. If we don't get Mickey waffles this trip I think the girls will cry!

Love the photos - Cordelia (8 Mos) :love: Piglet She squealed and jumped all over the place when she saw the picture :laughing: We'll see how she is once we get there.

I was bummed that we didn't get Mickey waffles! I was reading justakrazymom's report, and she got the GF Mickey waffles at Tusker House. So we might have to try there next time.

We did Crystal Palace for lunch last visit, and I swore never to return. By the time the chef walked us through the buffet to go over the gf options, the line was a mile long...well...not THAT long, but you get the picture. Finally, time to get in line. I was starving. About the time we were able to see the front of the line, we looked over and realized the characters were almost to our table. The girls were not going to miss that, SO back to the table with no food we go. Did I mention that I was VERY hungry? Somewhere along the way we did get food, but combining gf with a buffet and characters was just WAY too stressful. No plans for Crystal Palace this time...although we do have ADRs for 1900 Park Fair...I never learn....

Sorry...I think your post brought out some repressed memories...:rolleyes1

Aw, sorry you had such a bad experience! I've heard really mixed reviews of Crystal Palace w/ food allergies. I could see our experience having been much worse if things had been a little different...like if our server hadn't been great about making sure we got to see all the characters. It also wasn't super crowded by the time we got in there...I guess since we were past the really popular pre-opening time? But, yeah, I'd prefer a breakfast where we could order off the menu--but those are hard to find inside a park or with characters!

Looks like a good time at Crystal Palace! Again, great pictures of the kids and characters! I had an early pre-park-opening ADR at CP and it was great, I enjoyed it. Even with no kids, it's fun to meet the characters!

thanks! Yeah, I think the pre-opening ADR is definitely the way to go. Next time!

Awwwwe! I loved the pics of your boys with the characters.

Thank you!! :) I was surprised how many came out kind of blurry, given how much light there was in there...but I got some that I really love, too.

TanzUnited99

10-15-2011, 09:22 AM

Sounds like you all had a great time at CP in the end! I love the pics with Piglet - they turned out really well!

Fantasyland Mom

10-15-2011, 10:25 AM

I have to admit that I'm with them on the whole "could've watched it on YouTube" thing. I am ready to take a break from Fantasmic!

kokotg

10-15-2011, 11:29 AM

Sounds like you all had a great time at CP in the end! I love the pics with Piglet - they turned out really well!

Thank you!!! :)

I have to admit that I'm with them on the whole "could've watched it on YouTube" thing. I am ready to take a break from Fantasmic!

LOL! It won't be an every trip thing for us, I don't think...it is kind of more of a hassle to get to than the other nighttime stuff at the other parks, but I'm glad we finally saw it!

kokotg

10-15-2011, 11:43 AM

Chapter 31: More Magic Kingdom

After breakfast, we proceded to ride a bazillion rides. We went to Fantasyland first, but half of it was closed. Well, Winnie-the-Pooh and the teacups were both closed. The teacups would stay closed for much of the day, but Pooh opened back up soon after. We picked up some fastpasses for Peter Pan first, then headed over to Snow White. We had missed a lot of Fantasyland last year and wanted to make sure we saw it all this year. And this was probably our last chance for Snow White!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1058.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1059.jpg
Bye, Dopey! See you on ebay when your ride closes!

Next! On to Mickey's Philharmagic:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1060.jpg

And then Small World again.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1062.jpg

And then Peter Pan, a ride we'd missed last year:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1073.jpg

Then we picked up some Pooh fastpasses on our way out of Fantasyland.

On to Tomorrowland!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1077.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1084.jpg

We went on Carousel of Progress because we LOVE Carousel of Progress:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1088.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1092.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1094.jpg

Then Buzz. Later on, there will be a story about an Awkward Interaction with a Cast Member at Buzz Lightyear. But not today. It was just kind of a regular old Buzz Lightyear ride.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1100.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1104.jpg
Yes, I used the flash, but the ride hadn't started yet! Honest--we were just leaving the loading area.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1105.jpg

While all of this Tomorrowland stuff was going on, Dave and I were trying to arrange a big surprise for the kids. I had heard that Babycakes could deliver desserts to restaurants, and then they'd bring them out after your meal. I thought it would be really cool to surprise the kids with cupcakes that night at 'Ohana, but it was proving hard to find a convenient time for Dave to sneak off and make the call. And Ari had overheard us talking about it and figured the whole thing out more or less anyway, so my surprise was not going at all as planned.

When we got out of Buzz, we were about to go on the Peoplemover when we spotted Chip and Dale, dressed up in their space outfits, and with a very short line! Gus was still on an autograph high after breakfast and was more than willing to wait in line to meet them. This also seemed like the perfect opportunity for Dave to seek out an elusive quiet spot and make a call to Babycakes.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1107.jpg

Ari and Milo had no interest at all in meeting Chip and Dale and were kind of impatient about waiting in line, so I sent them off on a very important mission: fastpasses for Space Mountain! Kind of a big deal—the farthest away from a parent they'd ever been at Disney AND I was entrusting them with all of our KTTW cards. But they did fine!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1108.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1109.jpg

While they were gone, Chip and Dale LEFT! Before we could panic, though, a CM assured us they'd be back in just a few minutes. And they were!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1110.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1112.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1113.jpg
We are all waiting for Chip and Dale. Has Ari just spotted them?! Getting close to the picture limit, so I'll leave the big reveal for the next installment!

kokotg

10-15-2011, 11:53 AM

Chapter 32: Still at the Magic Kingdom!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1115.jpg
They're back!

I really love Chip and Dale, so I guess it's lucky for me that they show up pretty much everywhere you turn at WDW. And for some reason I find their space outfits unbearably adorable. So I was pretty excited to get these pictures, even though we were going to see them, sans space outfits, again the next day at Garden Grill.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1116.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1117.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1118.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1119.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1122.jpg
Ari was all done being in character pictures for the time being

Dave had mentioned the bathrooms near Space Mountain as a potential quiet spot, and we could use a bathroom break ourselves, or at least some of us could, so we headed that way in hopes of meeting up with Dave. No Dave. He had my phone, so I had no way to get in touch with him. We went back over to where Chip and Dale had been and found Dave looking for us. Apparently we'd just missed each other at the bathroom. No Babycakes! They are not set up to do deliveries yet. This would actually turn out to be a very lucky thing, because our non-Babycakes dessert that night at 'Ohana would be the best of our trip. But more on that later.

Peoplemover! The Peoplemover rocks! (albeit in a calm, serene sort of way). I sort of think of it as the Spaceship Earth of the Magic Kingdom. I could ride it all day long. Maybe one day I will.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1126.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1131.jpg
Also a nice place to take pictures. What else are you going to do on the Peoplemover?

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1132.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1141.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1149.jpg

It can't possibly have been time for our Space Mountain fastpasses yet, but we went there next, so I'm guessing the standby line was short. We never got to spend much time playing with the new games in the queue; we always either used fastpasses or the line didn't back up that far.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1157.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1159.jpg
Space Mountain penny!

Now back to Fantasyland (where the teacups were still down!) for a quick stop at Winnie-the-Pooh. We had the fastpasses, so we didn't get to see the new queue. Judging by what we saw from the fastpass line, it didn't seem like we were missing much, but I've since seen pictures of it in people's trip reports, and now I kind of wish we'd tried to go through it at some point. It looks really fun! Oh well. Next year.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1160.jpg

We stopped in the gift shop and bought a stuffed Goofy for a friend whose second birthday we were missing to go to Disney World (sorry Cormac!).

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1168.jpg

Dave wasn't feeling hungry at all because he ate a LOT at Crystal Palace (as he always does at buffets. But look how skinny! Not fair!) but the kids and I wanted to eat something, so we decided to stop by Columbia Harbor House and split a couple of the giant chicken finger meals. Only this time they weren't giant! They only gave us three chicken tenders for each meal. On the upside, it wasn't crowded at all, and we didn't wait long at all for the food. We felt like regular people! Regular people without enough chicken fingers.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1172.jpg
Oh yeah. Also, Gus wanted a Mickey Bar before lunch.

And then Haunted Mansion again. I mean, it's just right there when you come out of Columbia Harbor House, so how can you not?

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1177.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1174.jpg
Don't we look scared?!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1178.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1180.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1187.jpg
They were supposed to look scared here, too, but the results are...uneven.

Then we tried to get over to Adventure Land, but...what's this? Another bleepin' PARADE!? How can they keep doing this to us? Said the kids. So there was nothing else for it but to sit down and (sulk) watch the parade. I somehow missed getting a picture of the sulking this time, but it happened, believe me.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1190.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1192.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1193.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1194.jpg

...and I'll leave it there for now: our poor children TRAPPED, cut off from Adventureland by that nefarious parade!

kokotg

10-15-2011, 04:33 PM

Chapter 32: A little more MK

I am an updating fool today!

Next: Jungle Cruise. This was the moment when we knew that it really was less crowded than last year: middle of the afternoon and Jungle Cruise was pretty much a walk on. No deceptive line that looks short but then lasts forever!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1196.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1199.jpg
It still kind of LOOKED like one of those deceptive lines, but no! Those people were really the only people ahead of us. We all got right onto a boat!

We've only ever had one really funny Jungle Cruise skipper, and this wasn't him. Those lines are kind of hard to sell, I think. He was fine, though. We saw him again, two days later, working at one of the candy stops at the Halloween Party. They get around, those Jungle Cruise skippers.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1201.jpg
Dave loves even a poorly delivered cheesy Jungle Cruise joke, though!

We had never seen the Tiki Room before (so we missed our chance to see the “Under New Management” version. I hear that we should not be too mournful about this), and we were determined to cross it off the list this year. So we went over there right after Jungle Cruise, but the wait for the next show was fairly long. We wanted to cross it off the list, but we didn't to actually wait for it or anything, so we decided to hit Pirates first and then come back. I like how there's always another ride to do right next door to wherever you are in the Magic Kingdom.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1202.jpg

After Pirates, we checked again, and this time it was just a few minutes until the next show. A confusing thing happened, in which Dave walked past a bunch of people to an empty space in the line, pretty close to the doors. I was hanging back, unsure of the etiquette, and he was totally confused by my strange behavior. Turns out, he thought the show was outside in the queue area and that people should just find a place to watch wherever there was space. I'm still not exactly sure if we were really rude to pass a bunch of people...there WAS a big space left open, mysteriously. Maybe the guy next to the big space thought the show was going to be outside, too, and was trying to be near the middle. So confusing! Anyway, since the show is right in the middle of the all the seats and over your head when you get inside, I guess it doesn't make much difference, really, where you were in line outside.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1205.jpg
And then THIS guy started talking, so Dave thought he was totally right and this was the show

The Tiki Room was...interesting. Some of the songs are catchy. That is about all I have to say about that. You know what would be really cool? If the tiki bird show was shorter, and it was a pre-show for some really exciting ride. That's what they need to do.

Back to Pop for a break before dinner.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1212.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1220.jpg
Sleepy Gus

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1223.jpg
We finally found the shortcut!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1226.jpg
Ominous sky. I'm pretty sure it rained while we were taking our break, and then conveniently stopped by the time we left for dinner.

My notes here say, “unsuccessful afternoon break filled with tantrums, fighting, and restlessness. Blame it on the syrup!” I have blocked all memory of this unsuccessful break from my mind, but I guess that's what happened. We switched to real maple syrup at home years ago because I noted the fake stuff makes the kids insane. So, sure—we'll blame it on the syrup.

Up Next: 'Ohana. I talked a lot in my pre-trip about how we've had very mixed luck at 'Ohana...some years wonderful; some years not so much. How was it this year?! Find out soon!

TanzUnited99

10-15-2011, 06:42 PM

teekathepony

10-15-2011, 07:16 PM

Loving all this updating!!
I love all the pictures of you guys around the Haunted Mansion!
How dare those Disney people put ANOTHER parade on?
We had found the same Pop shortcut!
Can't wait for the next installment!

beebeeryan

10-16-2011, 07:33 AM

Oh that ominous sky, pretty much looked like that the whole time we were there too. We hit Haunted Mansion every time we came out of CHH too, or every time we walked in that general vicinity. We never had to wait either.

I love how your kids were "trapped" by the parade again. :rotfl:

okw19

10-16-2011, 07:53 AM

Someone was busy with updates!! What a great day at MK. I love the Haunted Mansion pics, and I agree that Chip and Dale are so cute in their space garb. Can't wait to hear how O'Hana went! :)

POLY1985

10-16-2011, 09:17 AM

I got a chuckle out of your two older boys first "alone" journey to get Fastpasses. I remember how nervous I was the first time I let my older son take the younger one to the bathroom. Baby steps.:goodvibes

BerrysGirl

10-16-2011, 11:34 AM

Just went back and read your Gatlinburg TR--thanks! It brings back memories...my family wasn't much for vacations when I was a kid, but we took two Disney trips (which I barely remember) and two Gatlinburg trips. Do they still have airbrushed t-shirt places all over? I think I need to get airbrushed t-shirts for the kids while we're there! They don't have enough kitsch in their lives.

Oh yes, the airbrushed shirts are still there... basically on every corner. There are lots of options too so you should have fun designing ones for your boys :)

I can't wait to hear about your O'Hana experience. I've never been and it just looks so tempting. I really hope I get the opportunity to experience it soon!

kokotg

10-16-2011, 04:48 PM

Sounds like a great MK day! :thumbsup2 Oh no on the surprise not going as planned - hope you still manage it.

Lol I think we did Haunted Mansion straight after our lunch at CHH as well - like you said it's there in front of you! :laughing:

Oh no on being unable to move due to the parade - am glad you managed to continue and enjoy the afternoon.

It was a really fun day, despite that awful parade ;) Maybe someday they'll actually enjoy the parades!

Loving all this updating!!
I love all the pictures of you guys around the Haunted Mansion!
How dare those Disney people put ANOTHER parade on?
We had found the same Pop shortcut!
Can't wait for the next installment!

thanks :) I think Dave knew about the shortcut way before I did--he's much more likely to study maps than I am--but we were apart so much early in the trip when Ari was sick that it took me a long time to catch on :laughing:

Oh that ominous sky, pretty much looked like that the whole time we were there too. We hit Haunted Mansion every time we came out of CHH too, or every time we walked in that general vicinity. We never had to wait either.

I love how your kids were "trapped" by the parade again. :rotfl:

We got lucky more often than not with the rain; it seemed to usually happen when we were in the room anyway...it looks like you guys had worse luck than we did with that!

Someone was busy with updates!! What a great day at MK. I love the Haunted Mansion pics, and I agree that Chip and Dale are so cute in their space garb. Can't wait to hear how O'Hana went! :)

Dave was gone all day to a math tournament yesterday, so I let the kids watch too much TV and spent a lot of time writing :). I should be able to get 'Ohana up tonight or tomorrow morning!

I got a chuckle out of your two older boys first "alone" journey to get Fastpasses. I remember how nervous I was the first time I let my older son take the younger one to the bathroom. Baby steps.:goodvibes

After this great success, maybe I'll just send them off to Epcot on the bus for the day next year :laughing: J/K!

Oh yes, the airbrushed shirts are still there... basically on every corner. There are lots of options too so you should have fun designing ones for your boys :)

I can't wait to hear about your O'Hana experience. I've never been and it just looks so tempting. I really hope I get the opportunity to experience it soon!

Yay--airbrushed shirts!

'Ohana gets such mixed reviews...I think everyone has to try it and see what they think. I would say it's great if you're a big meat eater...but then I have a vegetarian friend who thinks it's awesome...so who knows what it is that makes someone an 'Ohana lover or hater?!

kokotg

10-16-2011, 07:01 PM

Chapter 33: 'Ohana

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1242.jpg

Is there ever much of anywhere to park at the Polynesian? Well, there was ONE place to park at the Polynesian, but it took us a long time to find it. And we were STILL fifteen minutes early for our 8:30 reservation. I think there was a reason why I made this reservation so late. If I remember right, this was, in some incarnation of our itinerary, supposed to be our Hollywood Studios day. I envisioned us seeing the last American Idol show at 7:00 and then driving over to the Polynesian for this reservation. Of course, we ended up being at the Magic Kingdom on this day, so it was just a really late dinner for no particular reason. Except we were hoping we'd be able to watch Wishes while we ate. We checked in and got our pager, then set off for some pin shopping.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1231.jpg

Gus spotted a CM with a lanyard and whispered to me, “I think he has the best pin I've seen on a cast member's lanyard.” He went up to trade, and ended up with a very ordinary looking red Mickey head pin.

Our pager didn't go off until we'd already been there 30 minutes, but, of course, we'd been 15 minutes early. I don't think we've ever waited less than 20 or 30 minutes at 'Ohana. Our hostess took us in, tried to give us bread, which we had to reject, and did the thing where she asks if you've been there before and if you know what 'Ohana means. Now, we've been to 'Ohana four other times, so you'd think that Dave, at least, would remember what 'Ohana means. “I know what it means,” he said. Ah, good. But he gave the kids a chance to answer first.

“Cheese?” suggested Ari. This was an alternate trip report title, by the way: “'Ohana means Cheese.”

“It means cousin,” Dave corrected smugly. This was getting embarrassing.

“FAMILY,” I said finally, putting this sad conversation out of its misery.

We got to our table and were pleased to see it was close to the windows with a nice view of the castle. Our server came by, took drink orders, and told us the chef would be out soon to talk to us. He seemed to have no clue what gluten was, and went on excitedly about all the great stuff like noodles he was going to be bringing us. I thought it was a little odd that he'd never encountered anyone who couldn't eat gluten before, but we just smiled and nodded and waited for the chef.

Chef Jeff (it rhymes!) came out soon. He seemed...not annoyed, really, but sort of....disappointed in us for not eating gluten. “So no wheat? No soy sauce or anything?” he asked. Yep, we really mean it. Not even the gluten in soy sauce. Then he made it sound like we were about to eat the worst meal of our entire lives and he wasn't sure why we'd even bothered to show up. “There are only like three things on the menu you can eat,” he told us glumly. We could have, he said, salad, steak, and shrimp. That didn't sound very good. But I'd heard such good things about 'Ohana and allergies! I started to panic. Ari wasn't going to eat any of that.

But then he went on. “We can bring you out a plate of rice and vegetables,” he said. Okay. That sounded good. “And we'll get some wings out here.” We like wings.

I asked about the chicken and pork, as I'd seen reviews where people got gluten-free versions of those. He told me that all the meats were marinated, but added, “I can grill some chicken for you if you want.” I was very relieved. Ari could eat!

Okay, so....Chef Jeff WAY undersells 'Ohana. This was the best meal of our trip! We got more of the Ener-G rolls of course, and the kids devoured them as usual. Then a giant thing of wings with some kind of tasty rub on them. The steak was REALLY good—by far the best I've ever had at 'Ohana. I thought there was just going to be some plain grilled chicken, but they brought out SIX chicken breasts with a really yummy teriyaki sauce on them. And a big plate of rice and broccoli. Which was great for me, because I don't like the noodles they usually serve anyway, so I was thrilled to have the rice instead. I think we managed to eat all six of the chicken breasts. And Ari couldn't resist breaking his rule and having some of the steak.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1234.jpg
There were more. We ate some.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1237.jpg

AND then! These incredible lava cakes!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1238.jpg

The server put them down and told us that they'd made them just for us. We'd been told initially that we'd be getting GF brownies and ice cream, so I'd prepared myself for yet another French Meadow brownie. But no! These were awesome!

I was wondering how on earth Chef Jeff had found the time to whip up gluten-free chocolate cake for us out of nowhere and feeling very special. I pictured him starting out all grumpy about the gluten thing and then gradually getting inspired and rising triumphantly to the challenge. But when I got home, I was reading some dining reviews, and noticed some cakes in Kona reviews that looked suspiciously identical to the ones we were served . Hmm....so really I guess they just ran next door and grabbed some for us (the Kilauea Torte, which is always gluten-free), but it was still really nice of them. And it means I'll definitely be booking a Kona ADR next year so I can have that torte again!

Oh, and Wishes started a few minutes after we sat down, so that was really cool, too. They turn the lights down and play the music in the restaurant. There was a big beam outside our window blocking a good bit of our view, but it was still lovely.

I rank this as our top meal of the trip without a doubt. Dave won't quite go that far, but he does admit, with a bit of confusion and wonder in his voice, that it gave Boma a run for its money this year.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1244.jpg

nadira36

10-16-2011, 10:31 PM

shan23877

10-16-2011, 11:37 PM

Holy Updates Batman!

First, no one can ever have enough kitch/airbrush in their life. :cool1:

Second, next trip I WILL get 'Ohana reservations no matter what time I have to get them for! I gave up last trip b/c the earliest I could get was 9 pm.

Great updates as usual!

teekathepony

10-17-2011, 06:55 AM

How strange that they undersold their restaurant. :confused3 I'm glad that despite the pre-meal panic you did have a good meal!

kokotg

10-17-2011, 10:55 AM

oh that sounds so good! We've only got BF resizes there this year - in fact never eaten anything but BF there, but maybe next time we'll try! We're also excited to try Kona since we've never been there- so nice to know dessert is available!

...and I've only ever done dinner at 'Ohana. Is the breakfast good?

Holy Updates Batman!

First, no one can ever have enough kitch/airbrush in their life. :cool1:

Second, next trip I WILL get 'Ohana reservations no matter what time I have to get them for! I gave up last trip b/c the earliest I could get was 9 pm.

Great updates as usual!

It's funny, because the restaurant didn't even seem that crowded when we were there...by the time we left anyway there were a good many empty tables, but maybe they'd stopped seating by then. I kept wishing I could change to an earlier reservation, but nothing opened up no matter how many times I checked. But seeing Wishes was very nice, at least!

How strange that they undersold their restaurant. :confused3 I'm glad that despite the pre-meal panic you did have a good meal!

I don't know if maybe they don't get that many people who can't eat gluten since so many things on the regular menu are full of soy sauce? But I had read several glowing GF reviews before we left, so I know SOME GF people eat there. :confused3 Maybe Chef Jeff was just having a bad night.

HilJoy14

10-18-2011, 07:17 AM

kokotg

10-18-2011, 11:50 AM

I'm so glad to hear that Ohana has GF options! Last time we ate there, I just loved it, but I was not GF then. Between the noodles and the pot stickers (which I loved!), I couldn't imagine eating here again and missing them. But your food looked really good, too! Kind of odd that they'd make it sound like you were missing out - but at least you got a good meal out of it!

I probably never would have attempted it if I hadn't read some great GF reviews...Chef Jeff was right that nearly everything on the regular menu has gluten. But I would have been really sad to miss it; we've gone there every trip!

kokotg

10-18-2011, 11:54 AM

Chapter 34: Wednesday's New Things

I have a lot of Thursday written up, just need to upload the pictures to go with it. So probably tonight!

New things:
1. Crystal Palace
2. Enchanted Tiki Room
3. checking in at the new podium at 'Ohana (okay, I'm reaching here; there were not that many new things today!)

TanzUnited99

10-18-2011, 01:52 PM

Mombits

10-18-2011, 02:51 PM

Maybe Chef Jeff just felt really bad for you missing out on what he considers Yummy. Good thing there were a lot of things that you considered yummy!

transientsoul

10-18-2011, 04:22 PM

:worship: :worship: :worship: Your TR is cult worthy even for us non-GF people! You've almost got me wanting to go Vegetarian (sans Le Cellier) on our upcoming trip just to see how DW treats it. Not entirely out of the blue, I tend to do this for weeks at a time until I want a big fat steak/burger :) Just hadn't thought about taking it on vacation with me.

About Pin Trading...When did that start with your kids? Did they read up on it or was it just a "Here-have-a-lanyard-and-go-find-someone-else-with-one" approach. I was thinking of getting Kiddo into it, but am afraid I may be more interested in it than him!

And, thanks to your C&D Spacesuit pic, I now have yet another thing to add to the list of to-do's at Disney. Hope they show up when we are there!

popcorn:: (Im)patiently wating for more...

kokotg

10-18-2011, 06:46 PM

I'm really glad to read you had a good experience at O'hana - the meal looks soo yummy! You are right in that Chef Jeff undersold the meal. I was starting to think uh oh this doesn't sound good but was happy to read the meal turned out being great.

Also you are right in that the Torte was yummy-licious!

Yep, yours was one of the TRs where I saw the torte and thought, "hey--that looks just like our 'Ohana dessert!" :laughing:

Maybe Chef Jeff just felt really bad for you missing out on what he considers Yummy. Good thing there were a lot of things that you considered yummy!

I'm glad he felt bad enough for us to make that sauce for the chicken and go get us some torte anyway! Yeah, he did seem to feel like a world without soy sauce was really not worth living in :laughing:. Although they do make gluten free soy sauce....

:worship: :worship: :worship: Your TR is cult worthy even for us non-GF people! You've almost got me wanting to go Vegetarian (sans Le Cellier) on our upcoming trip just to see how DW treats it. Not entirely out of the blue, I tend to do this for weeks at a time until I want a big fat steak/burger :) Just hadn't thought about taking it on vacation with me.

About Pin Trading...When did that start with your kids? Did they read up on it or was it just a "Here-have-a-lanyard-and-go-find-someone-else-with-one" approach. I was thinking of getting Kiddo into it, but am afraid I may be more interested in it than him!

And, thanks to your C&D Spacesuit pic, I now have yet another thing to add to the list of to-do's at Disney. Hope they show up when we are there!

popcorn:: (Im)patiently wating for more...

ha! You should become a gluten free vegan before your trip and really give them a challenge :laughing:

The kids bought a few pins last year, but didn't do any trading, and I think I'm the one who told them that pin trading was possible. They really didn't do a whole lot of pin trading this year...I was a little surprised they weren't more into it. I'm planning on adding to their collections this year with bday and christmas presents, so maybe next trip it will be a bigger deal.

Getting ready to post the next installment now!

fromscratchmom

10-18-2011, 06:50 PM

Chef Jeff (it rhymes!) came out soon. He seemed...not annoyed, really, but sort of....disappointed in us for not eating gluten. “So no wheat? No soy sauce or anything?” he asked. Yep, we really mean it. Not even the gluten in soy sauce. Then he made it sound like we were about to eat the worst meal of our entire lives and he wasn't sure why we'd even bothered to show up. “There are only like three things on the menu you can eat,” he told us glumly. We could have, he said, salad, steak, and shrimp. That didn't sound very good. But I'd heard such good things about 'Ohana and allergies! I started to panic. Ari wasn't going to eat any of that.

But then he went on. “We can bring you out a plate of rice and vegetables,” he said. Okay. That sounded good. “And we'll get some wings out here.” We like wings.

I asked about the chicken and pork, as I'd seen reviews where people got gluten-free versions of those. He told me that all the meats were marinated, but added, “I can grill some chicken for you if you want.” I was very relieved. Ari could eat!

Okay, so....Chef Jeff WAY undersells 'Ohana. This was the best meal of our trip!

I'm always confused about the soy sauce thing. It just blows me away how many people and restaurants are just totally dependent on cheaper or adulterated versions of traditional foods that can be so good but are generally very sub-par in their cheaper versions. You can get amazing soy sauces and tamari from really good companies that make them in the traditional way and also make them wheat free and once you get used to those and you get some kikkoman its shocking how much less nice the kikkoman is. :rotfl2:

kokotg

10-18-2011, 07:08 PM

Chapter 35: Thursday 9/22: Epcot

We slept in all the way until 8:30 after our late night at 'Ohana. But we still managed to make it to Epcot by 9:30. Originally, this was supposed to be the day we mostly hung out in World Showcase doing Kim Possible missions and whatnot—a very relaxed day. But then Ari was sick and missed most of our first Epcot day, so we needed to make sure he got to do everything he'd missed that day.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1250.jpg
In this picture, you can see that it was really humid in the morning. You can also see that Dave is wearing the AWESOME Chip n' Dale shirt I found for him at Goodwill just before our trip. Conservation nut! Ha! Chip and Dale crack me up. Oh--get it?! CRACK. I didn't even mean to do that.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1251.jpg
Now I feel like I should attempt an amusing caption for every picture, but I got nothin' here. Look--it's Epcot.

So the day called for EXTRA efficiency. But, somehow, we couldn't really get it together for most of the day. The kids still really wanted to do the orange side of Mission Space, and Dave, because he is a better parent than I am, had agreed to take them on it. So they went off that way while I went to get Soarin' fastpasses. The plan was we'd meet back up at Test Track. So once I had the fastpasses, I headed back over that way. And waited for them for a very long time.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1253.jpg
I have no clue how I got this picture of Mission Space, since I had the camera with me, and I didn't go there. :confused3

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1255.jpg
This is what Test Track looks like while you're waiting for your family to show up and watching the line get longer and longer.

They finally turned up, and Dave said there hadn't been any particular delays or anything...it just takes awhile to ride Mission Space. The Test Track line was something like 15 minutes at that point, I think...we pretty much walked right into the waiting area for the pre-show room. But then, when we were nearly to the front of the line, the ride broke down. We waited a very long time, and then they finally told everyone to leave and gave us all fastpasses to come back later.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1256.jpg
This is what you see when you get to go out a secret exit because Test Track is broken.

By now it was after eleven, and we'd only managed one ride (well, I'd managed none, but by choice). We walked through Innoventions and picked up our Kim Possible tickets then went back to The Land to eat lunch and await our Soarin' return time.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1257.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1259.jpg
Ari got the chicken meal, and I haven't posted a picture of that one yet...so here it is.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1266.jpg
waiting for lunch...

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1274.jpg
Gus was feeling a little restless in line for Soarin'. Also, he was wearing his airplane shirt. For Soarin'! Thematically appropriate!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1275.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1276.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1277.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1279.jpg
...and Milo was cold.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1281.jpg
Nine pound lemon! I think maybe we should have done the Behind the Seeds tour. Next time!

After Soarin' we picked up more fastpasses for later and headed off for World Showcase.

The CM at the Kim Possible kiosk asked which countries we'd already done and gave us the UK. Last year the kids did France and Norway, and they were hoping to do ALL the countries this year. I won't keep you in suspense...they didn't make it. But they did a bunch.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1283.jpg

In the UK, the kids did the Kim Possible mission:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1284.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1296.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1301.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1306.jpg

And Dave had a cider:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1309.jpg
The CM selling the cider was from Edinburgh, and Dave has been to Edinburgh, so they talked about that for a minute

It was very hot. For the UK Kim Possible mission, they tease you a lot by having you go into a shop for about 14 seconds to enjoy the air conditioning, then sending you right back outside to burn in the sun.

Part of my vision of this Kim Possible-filled day was spending some time seeing things we haven't seen before in WS. Like the movie in Canada! We backtracked a bit so we could go see this once the kids finished up in the UK. This was nice and cool. I've got to say I think I'd prefer a less circular screen and some nice chairs in there, though. I don't remember that much about the movie, except that it wasn't as funny as I expected it to be. It did kind of make me wish I were Canadian, though, so I guess it did its job. Actually, I think it was supposed to make me want to VISIT Canada. They probably don't even want us to move there. Unless there's a big math teacher shortage in Canada. Anyway. It didn't really make me want to visit Canada. It's kind of far, and skiing scares me.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1314.jpg

Okay! So then we went over to do the Kim Possible mission in France. Because it's what's next! Even though the kids had done it last year. Word is, it's a little different every time. Dave and I had wine.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1319.jpg
First Dave held them, and I took his picture...

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1320.jpg
...then I held them, and he took my picture. We didn't each have two glasses of wine at once.

Then we bought tiny little overpriced chocolates.

A few weeks before the trip, I'd found a Garden Grill reservation for Thursday for 4:30 (it was 4 something anyway. I can't remember exactly, so I'm going to pretend 4:30). I was excited about this, as we'd never eaten there before, but it meant trekking all the way back over to Future World in the middle of Kim Possible day. But it was, again, VERY hot, so we were pretty ready for a break by then anyway. Oh! Wait! There's more!

I forgot. I also wanted to get our free character photo for Disney Visa cardholders in the super secret spot in Innoventions. And do a couple of other things in Future World before dinner, and then, we figured, we'd head back over to the relatively cool evening World Showcase to do some more Kim Possible before Illuminations.

So next up: our triumphant return to Future World! and then, eventually, Garden Grill.

kokotg

10-18-2011, 07:40 PM

I'm always confused about the soy sauce thing. It just blows me away how many people and restaurants are just totally dependent on cheaper or adulterated versions of traditional foods that can be so good but are generally very sub-par in their cheaper versions. You can get amazing soy sauces and tamari from really good companies that make them in the traditional way and also make them wheat free and once you get used to those and you get some kikkoman its shocking how much less nice the kikkoman is. :rotfl2:

What soy sauce do you like? I bought some tamari sauce awhile back, but I haven't cracked it open yet. Right now we're using a bottle of La Choy, but I'm guessing that's not the pinnacle of soy sauce quality :laughing:

fromscratchmom

10-18-2011, 07:53 PM

nadira36

10-18-2011, 09:31 PM

"When I look around me,
I can't believe what I see
It seems as if this country
Has lost its will to live
The economy is lousy,
We barely have an army
But we can still stand proudly
cause Canadas really big"

Arrogant Worms 'Canada's Really Big' ETA - I recommend finding the video on youtube - they're hilarious and this song is one of their best.

: ) I'm not much for skiing myself - but the drinks at the bottom of the mountain are really nice : )

We're hoping to try some Kimpossible this trip - though we're not sure if the girls will appreciate it or not.

I'm eagerly awaiting your Garden Grill review - this is our first time GF while eating there so we're not sure what to expect. But we love Chip & Dale so we have our ADRs.

teekathepony

10-19-2011, 08:04 AM

Great update! Too bad about test track breaking down :rolleyes: Some day I'm going to do the Kim Possible missions. They look fun!

shan23877

10-19-2011, 08:16 AM

Too bad Test Track was broken down! No judgement if you were double fisting the wine :lmao:. The Kim Possible missions look fun!

kokotg

10-19-2011, 08:42 AM

I always buy Eden brand. But you do still have to read the labels because they make several varieties and they aren't all wheat free. I love their stuff. There are other companies that are reputed to have great quality but I've been a devoted fan of the Eden brand since long before I found out about my gluten problem. ;)

I read a taste test thing about it in Cook's illustrated magazine a long time ago and that is when I started buying traditionally aged soy and tamari from Eden brand. I LOVE that magazine. :thumbsup2

Thanks--I'll be on the lookout for that one!

"When I look around me,
I can't believe what I see
It seems as if this country
Has lost its will to live
The economy is lousy,
We barely have an army
But we can still stand proudly
cause Canadas really big"

Arrogant Worms 'Canada's Really Big' ETA - I recommend finding the video on youtube - they're hilarious and this song is one of their best.

: ) I'm not much for skiing myself - but the drinks at the bottom of the mountain are really nice : )

We're hoping to try some Kimpossible this trip - though we're not sure if the girls will appreciate it or not.

I'm eagerly awaiting your Garden Grill review - this is our first time GF while eating there so we're not sure what to expect. But we love Chip & Dale so we have our ADRs.

Ha! Canada IS really big. They should talk about that more in the movie :laughing:

Great update! Too bad about test track breaking down :rolleyes: Some day I'm going to do the Kim Possible missions. They look fun!

The Kim Possible missions do look fun. I would say they ARE fun, except the kids hog the little phone thing the whole time, and run from place to place so fast, that I barely get to see what it's all about. I think I need my own next time :laughing:

Too bad Test Track was broken down! No judgement if you were double fisting the wine :lmao:. The Kim Possible missions look fun!

The wine glasses are so tiny we probably should have had two! But maybe not a good idea in the heat. We were looking forward to margaritas in Mexico when it got cooler....you'll see whether that happened or not later.

kokotg

10-19-2011, 08:46 AM

Chapter 36: Epcot some more

(I meant to get this up last night, right after the other one, but I got distracted somehow)

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1329.jpg

We took the boat, for it was, in case I've not mentioned, very hot, and we didn't feel like walking so far. We walked through Mouse Gear, where I thought about buying one of these:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1334.jpg
It's a wine bottle stopper

Some friends gave me a $50 Disney gift card for my birthday back in March. Originally I'd been thinking I'd wind up using it for something practical, like putting it toward our Mickey's Not So Scary tickets or something. But then I thought, “no! I should actually buy myself something with it!” So that was my plan. We're not usually big souvenir people; we give the kids a little spending money and, at least this year, they use it all on pins, and that's about it. I was thinking I would probably hold out for the department store in Japan, but I was keeping an eye out for stuff all week.

I also briefly considered the Mickey wine glasses at Mouse Gear, but wine glasses have a pretty short life expectancy at our house, and I figured I'd be too sad to see those break. We've broken two more wine glasses since we've been home, so I think this was probably a wise decision.

Ari bought a pack of mystery pins here. The kids were really obsessed with the original retail value of the pins while we were there. Like, instead of talking about trading for pins they liked they'd talk about how great it would be to trade a cheap pin for a more expensive one. So the mystery pin packs are a good deal, viewed from that perspective. We ended up with two packs, though, and they were both just plain Mickey head pins...so pretty boring from any other perspective. Good for trading, though!

We went to Innoventions next to find the secret Disney Visa photo place. I'd read lots of stuff from a couple of years ago about how this was a great place to get a character picture with almost no waiting...but either we went at a bad time or the secret's just out now, because there was quite a line when we got there:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1336.jpg

I was feeling kind of hesitant about waiting at all, but Dave convinced me that we had to get our FREE picture. He further convinced me that he should take the kids over to play the saving money game thing we had seen while I held our place in line. This ended up being really nerve-wracking for me. I think I was feeling kind of neurotic that day because, looking back, it was really all fine. First I noticed that they were coming out to collect Disney Visas and...do something with them before you got to the front of the line. And Dave had our Disney Visa with him! So I called him, and he ran back over to give it to me. And then I got to the front of the line, and they still weren't back, and I had no cell phone signal, so I was having trouble calling Dave. I let the people behind me go ahead, and Dave finally showed up with the kids right after that.

We had been told that we would see two characters “who don't belong together,” so it was kind of disappointing when we got in there and it was Minnie and Pluto. I think they totally belong together. Also, we were going to see Pluto again at dinner. Oh well. We had sort of an awkward character interaction where the Photopass photographer got frustrated because the kids wouldn't smile...anyway. The picture was free. Only I can't find it anywhere now! It's very strange...I don't remember unpacking it, and I have no clue where it could be. I suppose it will turn up eventually...maybe even in time for me to post it here.

The kids had really, really enjoyed the savings game (especially Gus), so we went back over there so they could do it again, and I could check it out. It's supposed to teach you all about saving and investing, but really it's a chance to carry a cute pig around and play some video games.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1337.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1342.jpg

I played with Ari and Gus, and we saved enough for our dream vacation! Ari wanted to save for something fun this time, since he'd picked saving for college the first time.

We left Innoventions, and it looked like this:

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1351.jpg

And then it kept looking like that for the rest of the day, which would end up really interfering with our plans. We kept hoping the rain would last long enough to clear everyone out of the park, then we'd have it all to ourselves, rain-free, that night. Instead, not only did the rain keep coming, on and off, all night, but everyone else seemed to have the same plan to wait it out that we had.

We ran over to The Seas to ride Nemo and see Crush really quickly before it was time to eat.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1352.jpg

Our kids refused to sit in the front for Crush. Last year, when their friends were with them, they sat up there happily, and Milo even asked a question. Back to being shy this year!

And now, time for an early dinner and an excuse to get out of the rain.

Fantasyland Mom

10-19-2011, 08:51 AM

kokotg

10-19-2011, 01:28 PM

I like the pictures of you guys with the wine--you shouldn't have told us that they weren't both for you. We would have thought you were having a REALLY fun day at Epcot!:lmao:

Looks like your boys were working well together on those missions. I'm jealous.

But notice that Ari is the one holding the phone thing in almost all the pictures. They worked well together only because Milo and Gus let Ari hold the Kimmunicator almost the whole time :laughing: Of course, last year they were trying to share one Kimmunicator between 7 kids, so this seemed easy in comparison, I guess.

nadira36

10-19-2011, 02:48 PM

TanzUnited99

10-19-2011, 04:49 PM

Lol we had a similar experience with Test Track! It didn't break down but the doors got jammed so the wait time was longer then posted.

Great relaxing day with the kids doing KP and you guys enjoying some drinks.

kokotg

10-19-2011, 07:52 PM

we have a Mickey Wine Stopper! But we drink pour wine before it ever has a chance to be used!:rotfl2: We also have wine glasses - those are one of the few things that Don't break around here :lmao:

Last year Ella refused to ride Nemo - then when the whale came at Crush she freaked out - and tried to claw her way through the crowd and over everyone to get to me - she didn't realize I was beside her. Poor girl Hopefully this year will be a bit better.

The girls really enjoyed the pig game too - until Agatha found out she didn't get to bring that cute pink pig home with her. :rotfl2: poor girl cried. Maybe this time will be different. I keep saying that a lot. But in so many ways I hope certain things don't change - esp since last night Ella announced fairies aren't real!:sad2: Our girls love the characters and I'd hate for any part of Disney to loose it's magic.

Yeah, I guess my only choice, since I didn't buy the Mickey wine stopper, is to just always finish the bottle :laughing:

They should sell that pig at Mouse Gear--he's really cute!

Ah, yes--if only we could keep the good parts about kids being little without all the pain in the butt parts :laughing:

Lol we had a similar experience with Test Track! It didn't break down but the doors got jammed so the wait time was longer then posted.

Great relaxing day with the kids doing KP and you guys enjoying some drinks.

It seems like Test Track is broken as often as it's running, so I guess we're lucky this is the first time it's ever shut down with us stuck in line!

teekathepony

10-20-2011, 07:44 AM

Of course Minnie and Pluto go together!
Too bad about the rain :(

jcano

10-20-2011, 08:21 AM

jcano

10-20-2011, 08:25 AM

Chapter 33: 'Ohana

Okay, so....Chef Jeff WAY undersells 'Ohana. This was the best meal of our trip! We got more of the Ener-G rolls of course, and the kids devoured them as usual. Then a giant thing of wings with some kind of tasty rub on them. The steak was REALLY good—by far the best I've ever had at 'Ohana. I thought there was just going to be some plain grilled chicken, but they brought out SIX chicken breasts with a really yummy teriyaki sauce on them. And a big plate of rice and broccoli. Which was great for me, because I don't like the noodles they usually serve anyway, so I was thrilled to have the rice instead. I think we managed to eat all six of the chicken breasts. And Ari couldn't resist breaking his rule and having some of the steak.

Just wondering where the gf teriyaki came from if they can't figure out a gf soy sauce to use.;):confused3;)

ohboyx3

10-20-2011, 08:43 AM

I'm loving your report! I have three boys too, but we went in May! I'd love a September trip someday.

kokotg

10-20-2011, 08:46 AM

Of course Minnie and Pluto go together!
Too bad about the rain :(

Ari has since corrected me and says it was Goofy. I think he's right...if only I could find that darn picture! But, of course, he still "goes" with Minnie!

Just wondering where the gf teriyaki came from if they can't figure out a gf soy sauce to use.;):confused3;)

:laughing: Right?! Clearly they have some GF soy sauce on hand--I'd seen pictures of GF meals where they brought out some as a dipping sauce, in fact (they didn't offer us any, but I'm sure they would have brought some if we asked)...I guess the problem with most of the meats is that they're marinated in the non-GF soy sauce already.

kokotg

10-20-2011, 08:48 AM

I'm loving your report! I have three boys too, but we went in May! I'd love a September trip someday.

thanks! September is great as long as you can stand the heat! I'll have to go check out your TR...I love reading other 3 boy reports :)

Mombits

10-20-2011, 10:59 AM

kokotg

10-20-2011, 03:25 PM

ooh, I have the mickey glasses! I don't drink wine though so they just sit in my cabinet but they don't get broken:rotfl2:
Here's a pic of what my friends sent me when we went last year:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk184/mombits/Disney2010/DisneyVacation408-2.jpg

That's one way not to break them :laughing: Another way would be to tell the kids not to empty the dishwasher anymore...

and very nice! Is that Tinkerbell on the frame?

kokotg

10-20-2011, 07:55 PM

Chapter 37: Garden Grill

Another new restaurant! When I made the reservation, I'd had no idea that Gus was going to be so into characters and autographs, so I was glad that we'd wound up with two character meals without even realizing we'd want them.

The waiting area was pretty full when we got there, and I don't think they'd started seating people yet. We waited a few minutes and then were taken to our table...on the upper, inside level, so we couldn't see a whole lot from Living with the Land. Oh well.

The chef here was much more upbeat about our gluten-free-edness than Chef Jeff at 'Ohana had been. In sharp contrast to Chef Jeff, he told us cheerily that almost everything on the menu was gluten free. Well, yay!

Oh, this was funny: Dave and I both ordered club soda with lime, which is what we usually do at restaurants. Our server brought out the waters but told us apologetically that they were all out of lemons and limes. I thought that was pretty hilarious given the nine pound lemons growing right there in The Land!

They brought out more rolls! With a honey butter. It was yummy. Salad. And then the platters with turkey, steak, fish, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and drumsticks for the kids. As far as I could tell, the only thing we were missing by being GF was the mac and cheese for the kid platter. The meats even had gravy on them, which I wasn't expecting.

Honestly, I wasn't crazy about the food here. It was okay...just nothing special. And I wished there were bigger portions so we didn't have to keep asking for more and feeling like we were being big pains (the server kind of made us feel like that at one point, but I think I'm too sensitive about such things. Probably she was just busy).

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1367.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1366.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1376.jpg
(Sorry, forgot to take pictures of the actual main course. The characters just kept coming!) This is the dessert platter they made us. It looks nice, but it's just the French Meadow brownies with ice cream. And, oddly, it was decorated with grapes cut in half. I guess no one could find any raspberries or strawberries or other more dessert-y fruits

The characters came fast and furious here. I'm not thrilled with most of my pictures, though...I think I was trying not to use the flash, and that that was a mistake.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1355-1.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1359-1.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1360-1.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1365.jpg
This is the only one with all the kids that came out well...and it's just Pluto. Why couldn't it have been Mickey!?

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1370.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1371.jpg
Chip showed up when everyone but me was in the bathroom, but he had a great time anyway. He pretended he was going to steal our dessert.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1372.jpg
Then Ari came back, and I made him be in pictures

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1374.jpg

Ari had read that there was a really great hidden Mickey in Garden Grill...the description said something mysterious about the staff offering him (Steve, the hidden Mickey book guy) a broom when he was looking for it. We couldn't find it. At one point Mickey was walking by, and Dave tried to ask him about it: “Hey Mickey—are you hiding somewhere over there?” he asked, indicating the general area where we believed the Mickey was. I kind of wanted to hide under the table, because I am awkward with characters and always fear they're judging me. I don't do awkward well. After Mickey shrugged and made some other indecipherable gestures and walked off, I hissed, “he probably has no idea what you're talking about...and anyway, he can't answer you—he can't talk!” Poor Dave. Hell hath no fury like me when I feel embarrassed.

Up next: the end of the day at Epcot

ohboyx3

10-20-2011, 08:03 PM

BerrysGirl

10-20-2011, 08:42 PM

I don't think I've been back to Garden Grill since I was a few months old and my Grandmother continuously bribed me with grapes to say my first word. Then when the waitress came she accidentally dropped a spoon and I proudly proclaimed "uh-oh!" Hopefully Grandma kept the grapes coming... :rotfl:

kokotg

10-20-2011, 08:53 PM

We tried GG for the first time this trip too. I reall liked it... although I agre with you about them bringing out more of the meat. I guess they do that on purpose, but it's irritating. I will say that your gluten free desserts look better than what we had! I thought the carachter interaction was really good here, but I'll post more about that in my report! Great update! I'm hooked.

The brownies were good; it's just that we got the same ones about 400 times during the trip, so we were a little tired of them. Well, the grown-ups were. They were sugary enough that the kids NEVER got tired of them :laughing:

I don't think I've been back to Garden Grill since I was a few months old and my Grandmother continuously bribed me with grapes to say my first word. Then when the waitress came she accidentally dropped a spoon and I proudly proclaimed "uh-oh!" Hopefully Grandma kept the grapes coming... :rotfl:

Ha! you'd think you'd keep going back, with all those childhood memories attached to GG! So the obsession with grapes they have there goes way back, I see....

shan23877

10-21-2011, 01:27 AM

3prettyprincesses

10-21-2011, 09:30 AM

Hi there.:goodvibes I have really been enjoying your TR! I too am gluten free (not by choice, sigh!) and reading about your experience has been great!

We've not done Garden Grill yet but I'm thinking we should. My middle DD has a thing for the chipmunks! The food looks pretty good. Did the restaurant turning bother you at all? I get a bit of motion sickness sometimes and was curious.

I thought your pictures turned out wonderful! The lighting is really nice, very natural looking as opposed to the harshness using the flash can sometimes create.

Looking forward to reading more, thanks for including the dining part of it too, it's very helpful!:goodvibes

kokotg

10-21-2011, 11:40 AM

I'm thinking that we'll keep GG off our list for the next trip. (I cancelled it last trip). We can get so-so food at plenty of places! :rotfl:

I'm also very sensitive to rude people in customer service situations. I always try to be understanding and polite, but then end up being angry with myself for not saying anything. :confused3

I think your character photos turned out just fine! Pluto is DD's favorite! She always calls him "that silly doggie" :)

Ha--he is a silly doggie! yeah, I don't know that we'll be back, even though the character interaction was really good. I'd compare the food to the LTT dinner, I guess, but I prefer LTT's version...I just wish they still had a character meal there!

Hi there.:goodvibes I have really been enjoying your TR! I too am gluten free (not by choice, sigh!) and reading about your experience has been great!

We've not done Garden Grill yet but I'm thinking we should. My middle DD has a thing for the chipmunks! The food looks pretty good. Did the restaurant turning bother you at all? I get a bit of motion sickness sometimes and was curious.

I thought your pictures turned out wonderful! The lighting is really nice, very natural looking as opposed to the harshness using the flash can sometimes create.

Looking forward to reading more, thanks for including the dining part of it too, it's very helpful!:goodvibes

Thanks for reading!

I clicked on your dining reviews, and I remember them from my mad researching days before our trip! I'm rereading them now...it's almost a year until our next trip, but writing this TR is kind of keeping me in obsessive planning mode :laughing:. Love your reviews--so much detail!

ETA: oh, I forgot: restaurant turning didn't bother us at all. It's very slow. I'm not especially prone to motion sickness (tea cups and primeval whirl are fine; Mission Space Orange is not!), but my husband is more than I am, and he didn't have a problem either.

Mombits

10-21-2011, 02:15 PM

That's one way not to break them :laughing: Another way would be to tell the kids not to empty the dishwasher anymore...

and very nice! Is that Tinkerbell on the frame?

Yep, and she lit up too. It was adorable. I have that frame sitting on my dresser.

Hmmm, I think if my kids ever emptied the dishwasher I might die of shock. No way would I ever tell them NOT to do it. I'd sacrifice some wine glasses for that in a heartbeat!

jcano

10-22-2011, 01:44 PM

So...did you ever get desserts sent to a park restaurant from Babycakes???? Inquiring minds want to know!popcorn:: How do you do it? Does it cost extra? My girls would LOVE this!princess:princess:

kokotg

10-22-2011, 01:47 PM

So...did you ever get desserts sent to a park restaurant from Babycakes???? Inquiring minds want to know!popcorn:: How do you do it? Does it cost extra? My girls would LOVE this!princess:princess:

Nope, they said "no delivery." :( ...whoever Dave talked to on the phone didn't say anything about whether they'd be doing it in the future...I've read on here that they're trying to set it up, but that's all I know!

jcano

10-22-2011, 01:50 PM

Nope, they said "no delivery." :( ...whoever Dave talked to on the phone didn't say anything about whether they'd be doing it in the future...I've read on here that they're trying to set it up, but that's all I know!

:sad2::sad2::sad1::sad1:
Oh well....

kokotg

10-23-2011, 09:46 AM

Chapter 38: Epcot evening

We left Garden Grill and used our fastpasses for Soarin'

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1377-1.jpg

Surely the rain would be over by now, right? Rain never lasts long in Florida!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1378-2.jpg

We had been thinking we'd run by Test Track and use our FPs there, then head back to World Showcase for a few more Kim Possible missions before Illuminations. But it was raining. Kim Possible missions in the rain didn't sound like much fun.

We went on Spaceship Earth again, stalling and still hoping the rain would stop. It didn't. We went by the camera place to pick up our FREE! photo. The guy there was really nice and spent a lot of time getting the picture just perfect for us, even though they weren't making any money off of it (too bad you can't see the great picture, since I still can't find it).

Then inspiration struck. Innoventions is inside! And we've never done The Sum of All Thrills! And Gus is tall enough for it!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1385.jpg

There was a short (10 minutes or so?) wait for this. We had a bit of a crisis while waiting in line trying to figure out who was going to ride with whom. Gus wasn't tall enough to go upside down, and I was going to ride with him. But then Ari and Milo were going to go together, only Ari wanted to go upside down and Milo didn't. They were both really upset and refusing to budge when Ari finally said, “why don't I just go by myself?” Oh. That was easy enough.

They give you about four seconds to design your ride once you get in there. Okay, a little longer than that, but not long enough, at least if your designing partner is a five year old. But we managed to design a roller coaster with some hills and stuff and name it...umm...Lightning something. And we were off!

It turns out, if you listen to my kids tell it, that Sum of All Thrills was the most exciting ride of our whole trip. They LOVED it. Thank goodness for all that rain, or we might never have bothered to check it out. But....truth? I didn't much care for it.

When we went to Legoland in California a couple of years ago, we went on a ride called the Knight's Challenge, I think, that used a similar robotic arm thing. Only there was no theming at all with that...you didn't get to design anything; you didn't have a screen that made it look like you were actually going somewhere—they just hauled you out over a pond on the end of that robotic arm and jerked you all over the place for a couple of tortuous minutes. I didn't care for it.

I was worried that Sum of All Thrills would be something like that. Which is why I was not at all disappointed to have under 54 inches Gus as my ride companion, keeping me right side up. It wasn't like that. It was very smooth. It was just kind of....boring. I thought. But my children could not disagree more. So there you have it. Different strokes...

We left Innoventions and walked over to Test Track to use our ride broken down FPs. But it was down AGAIN! We decided to walk back over to World Showcase in the on again, off again rain, still hoping it would eventually stop for good.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1387.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1392.jpg
Aww...the ducks and the bunny are FRIENDS! I can't believe it was still light out at this point; I feel like we'd been there for 100 hours. But it looks like it was

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1395.jpg
Disney snail!

We rode Maelstrom, tried on hats in the gift shop, and then actually went inside the little Viking museum.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1397.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1398.jpg
The....Three Hats of Ari the Viking

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1400.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1404.jpg

Now everyone was tired. It was still raining. So I talked Dave out of staying for Illuminations. In retrospect, I feel kind of bad about this. At the time, though, we all agreed it was the right thing to do. I think the kids all wanted to leave, and that was the clincher. Tired and wet, watching Illuminations is one thing. Watching Illuminations tired and wet, with grumpy kids who are also tired and wet AND don't want to be there is another.

We decided to run by Test Track and see if it was running and then head back to Pop. By some miracle, it WAS running. So we rode it. In the rain. Which was kinda cool.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii185/kokotg/Disney%20trip%202011/IMG_1406.jpg

I still have an awful lot of pictures left to sort through for someone who's about to write about her last full day at Disney. I'm just sayin'. Looks like I took a lot of pictures on Friday and/or Saturday. Be prepared!