Sunburn, not windburn : WDW and Universal in September

[bumbershoot]

This is a story of a re-do. Sort of. We went in December, and it was just SO cold, we knew we had to try again. So this is the story of that try. But we'd already upgraded to APs before it got SUPER-cold, so we sort of already knew we'd be back even before our brains totally froze.

Don't worry about the sunburn mentioned in the title...it's mainly just the way I was thinking of the trip...we slathered the sunscreen liberally throughout the trip! There were still some red shoulders, but it wasn't on purpose or wanted...it just happened despite the repeated applications spf 45.

Anyway, this is just the start of my story; I'm too wiped out right now from travel and jetlag and new eyeglasses and two dental appointments back to back (first cavity in a million years!) to really start on it.

:3dglasses

********

As I was writing, I realized that I should do an introduction.

I'm Molly, my hubby is Robert, and we have a 7 year old son, Eamon (said with a long A then a "mun"...sort of how you say Aidan, but different).

Our traveling companions for the first 4 Disney nights included my Aunt (my late mom's sister), then her daughter/my cousin A and cousin's husband, S. Their kids are just-about 9 and a nice, solid 4 years old, boy and girl. The boy is Cousin E, and the girl is Cousin A.

We own DVC and between last December and this trip, we've used SCADS of points at WDW. Without borrowing for a future trip, we've now used all our points from banked 2009 through borrowed 2012 points, and we don't have any until February 2013. We like our trips long, and we like to have family with us for part of it!

So our Disney stay involved 4 nights in a 2 bedroom villa at Old Key West. Then they went home (1.5 hours from Orlando) and it was just us. We wanted to do the rest of the WDW stay at OKW, but a weird DVC points situation had us moving over to a Boardwalk Studio for one night, and THEN on to a 1 bedroom at OKW.

We then moved to Universal. That was going to be it, but in the 2 weeks before the trip, Robert found out he had to go to the east coast for work right after the trip. Instead of going home and then making him fly all the way back out, we chose to add 2 nights at a Value resort to our stay, and he left straight from there for his trip.

So there are the introductions, and a bit of overview, for those of you who weren't already reading my pre-trip report. :)

***********

September 11/12: the beginning of the trip, here. (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42814371&postcount=8)

September 13: Kona, checking into Old Key West, MNSSHP here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42815658&postcount=9), here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42827438&postcount=16), here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42827602&postcount=18), here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42827712&postcount=20), here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42828217&postcount=22), here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42828263&postcount=23), and.....here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42839443&postcount=29)

September 14: groceries and tomatoes, here! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42845079&postcount=32)

September 15: aqui (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42871730&postcount=47)

September 16: lovebugs (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42878592&postcount=49), tea (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42881594&postcount=53), cute picture (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42965490&postcount=66), more stuff (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43001573&postcount=70), psychadelic psydewalks (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43009386&postcount=75)

September 17: sleeping in when you shouldn't (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43009724&postcount=77), Boardwalk pool! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43010703&postcount=82), dinner and a nasty cupcake (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43011928&postcount=86) here (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43017431&postcount=88)

September 18: a' wanderin' (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43019256&postcount=89), a tollbooth (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43019336&postcount=90), OKW and Wall of Minnies (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43019606&postcount=91)

September 19: Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43144859&postcount=100), KimPossibleDay (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43180042&postcount=110), Norway (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43180287&postcount=111), a storm in China (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43180554&postcount=113), moving towards Japan (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43181236&postcount=116), France and England (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43181796&postcount=117), a UFO (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43181847&postcount=118)

September 20: Chef Mickey (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43220197&postcount=131), characters (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43220241&postcount=132), AK Asia (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43256697&postcount=137), AK Dinoland (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43256988&postcount=138), dinner (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43257144&postcount=139)

September 21: DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43257437&postcount=140), Jedi (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43257439&postcount=141), evening (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43267073&postcount=145)



Swimming (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43267345&postcount=152) one night.



September 22:

September 23:

September 24:

September 25:

September 26:

September 27:

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Hooray! I love your trip reports.

Can't wait to hear all about your adventures. :wizard:

[kaoden39]

Hi Molly!! I can hardly wait to hear all about it.

[bumbershoot]

Upload, upload, upload....

Dealing with post-filling mouth pain, dealing with eye confusion from new glasses, trying to unpack all the while...

And just flat out trying to REMEMBER things from our trip!

Upload upload upload...

[kaoden39]

I am sorry these things are getting you down.

[Brady's Mom]

DH and DS ALWAYS suffer when they get new glasses - especially when the prescription changes quite a lot. DH got these things called wedgees (http://www.wedgees.com/) that finally hold his glasses in place right where they belong (he has astigmatism) and for the first 3 or so days that he got them - depsite wearing the same prescription for over a year - he was dizzy and a little nauseous. :sick: The next thing he has to think about are bifocals and he is NOT pleased. :3dglasses

I'm sorry you're feeling the teeth pain - yuck! I know what you mean about not having a cavity in a million years - I haven't had a cavity in about 30 years. My dentist says my teeth are slow to decay. :flower3:

I hope your sort of do-over trip was great and can't wait to hear all about it! :cheer2:

[bumbershoot]

Whew, my eyes/brain are finally feeling better. I actually thought I had put my old glasses on this morning b/c I felt so normal.

My mouth, however, sigh. Tiny little cavity, but way in the back of a molar. So my jaw is sore from the work and my cheeks and gums are sore from the injections. And I had to have two rounds of whatever-caine.

But I don't mean to complain so early in my report! :rotfl:

[bumbershoot]

Our trip started on the 11th, when we finished up packing and made our way up to the SeaTac Red Lion. I'd gotten a 14 day stay/park/fly package thingie there, which ultimately felt like it served us the best.

The Red Lion was...meh. The room was FREEZING and I just couldn't convince the thermostat to work with me. Their restaurant was not very good at all. I wish we'd eaten before leaving, but it just didn't work out that way.

Our flight on the 12th was at a relatively decent morning hour, but since we are people who want to be bored at the airport, we caught the shuttle at a nearly pre-decent hour. :) And so the tipping began!


Got through security to the pretty part of the airport, got some pre-flight Dilettante coffee and hot chocolate and bagels and such, and went to our gate. The flight was uneventful and just about 5.5 hours.


As we exited the Orlando airport monorail, we were dumped right at the Universal giftshop. Now that was not painful at all! They have the same prices there as at Universal, which is good to know for those who might have a sudden need for a chocolate frog or a Fawkes-the-phoenix plush while preparing for their flight home.

That night, instead of going onto Disney property, we were staying at the Hyatt Regency right there at the airport. I'd gotten a screamin' deal on the rental car which meant we also had to get that, and pay for parking (but it was still a better deal than picking it up the next morning). When we have to do two things at once it can be confusing, but we worked it out.


Our hotel room:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4382.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4383.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4386.jpg

I stepped out onto the balcony to take the next shot, and was immediately reminded that it was most definitely NOT wintertime. oh so so so hot. Anyway, looking up above our room, the hotel looks like the the rooms at the bow of a cruiseship.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4391.jpg


Conveniently placed towels, just inside the hotel before you go outside to the pool.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4393.jpg


Here's the only shot I got of the pool area:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4392.jpg



As we made our way down to the rental car area, I took this shot of the non-secure part of the airport that the hotel is in.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4394.jpg


There's this funky little area, where you go to get in the elevators, where you can sit in comfy chairs and watch TSA through glass walls go about their business on the secure side. Not sure who it might be who would choose to spend time there, but it's there for those so inclined! I did NOT take a picture of that, because I didn't want to make anyone nervous.


We headed to the National Emerald Aisle for the car, and had a plethora of choices. Since we figured we might have family in the car with us at some point, and since we knew that for now we had lots of luggage, we chose a new Durango, with fold-down 3rd row seats. Not bad!


For anyone who chooses to rent a car and stay at the Hyatt, finding the right place to park is extremely difficult. You have to watch for a teeny tiny little sign that points you in the right direction. We eventually found it, with no arguing and a bit of giggling, and then made our way back to the hotel/airport. OH my gracious goodness was it hot.

The Orlando airport has some very weird art...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4396.jpg



We were then at odds on whether we should eat or swim next. It was resolved with Robert getting take-out from the hotel restaurant, while E and I went to the pool. This was a good decision, but I forgot that Florida's stance on smoking in public areas isn't quite the same as Washington state's stance. A pox on those cigarette and cigar smokers who chose to sit in such a spot so their smoke would go right over the pool! yuck!

They play dance music at the pool, which was fun, though the pool itself was really weird. I've heard of pool liners, and i guess they had one of those, and the liner wasn't attached to the bottom. Is that normal? So if you walked close to the sides of the pool, your weight would push down the plastic liner. It felt VERY weird. But it was fun, and a nice way to start the vacation. Robert showed up with the food, we ate at the pool (still with the smoke wafting), then I sat with my coverup on and read by the light of the lighted Kindle cover, while R&E had their own pool time. OH and there might have been a rum drink involved. :)


That night was the full, Harvest, moon. I couldn't get a shot of it while it was reddish orange, sadly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4399.jpg


At last we grew weary (or felt we should be weary) and left the smokey pool area. Our room was very nice and rather swanky, though the fragrance of the toiletries was *disgusting*. To me.

We made ourselves go to sleep because the next morning would show up soon enough, and 3 hours earlier for us!

[bumbershoot]

The morning of the 13th came WAY too soon. Also, way too bright and way too hot! This is about the time that I started reminding myself that we'd chosen this timeframe for a reason, and one of them was that it was almost impossible that it would be freezing cold!

But there really is nothing like a parking garage in the South, is there? Sooooooooooo hot.



This is how bright it was in the morning, still in the hotel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4401.jpg


While the Orlando airport is big and confusing, it IS well marked. (and as we learned while leaving, even if you make a mistake, they allow for mistakes and you can just start over, LOL) As we left the parking garage on our way to WDW, this is what was beyond the gates.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4402.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4403.jpg



We headed out towards 417, which is a toll road that we find to be useful. You can't really see it, but this describes what you can get to on 417.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4409.jpg


Some people get very very confused and get into the wrong lane, and end up with big fines. If only they had a fast-reading navigator to direct them! (note that this group of signs is over a mile from the tollbooths)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4416.jpg

As you get closer:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4419.jpg


The first two tolls are very well manned, and give change and receipts.


The last one, though, wasn't manned and had just one cash lane (exact change) and one pass lane.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4423.jpg


There are two 1.25 tolls, and then another that was 75 cents, the way we went. Some people end up at the non-manned tolls without change,and just blow through and end up with a fine. If only they noticed things like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4424.jpg



There are some HUGE resorts out there...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4421.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4425.jpg


Getting close now!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4427.jpg

[bumbershoot]

Just in case I have any newer folks out there reading, I want to explain something. :)

Since I'm still a WDW-newbie, and my heart is still in Anaheim, I still feel that most people reading my stuff will be Disneyland-centric people who are curious about a WDW trip. So I tend to write for them, to show things that they haven't yet seen. Explain things they haven't heard about.

So if I'm explaining or showing things that might be obvious to the WDW veteran, that's why!

[kaoden39]

And being one of those Disneyland people I really appreciate it.:goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

I'm glad for it!



We were nearly following a car on the way back to the airport...they scrounged up some change for the initial (going that way) 75 cents toll, and then for the next tolls they went through the epass lanes. Now since they avoided the epass lane on the first, we can only assume they did NOT have epass...and they will be hurting in a month or so when they get those bills and fines. If my pictures can help a newbie know what to expect, I will feel good. :)

[kaoden39]

Oh goodness I can imagine those are some hefty fines too. I have in the past written a check at the toll booth because I didn't have the cash. Let's make that even worse and age myself tremendously the toll was $.40.:lmao:

[bumbershoot]

Ah, nothing like a check for 40 cents. :) I couldn't do a check for 50 cents, just could not do it, so I wrote one for a dollar, last December when Robert wound up on an unmanned, exact change only, tollbooth and had ZERO in change... I had to send in the check, and just couldn't do it for the 50 cents... You are welcome, Florida toll road! :goodvibes

[kaoden39]

Ah, nothing like a check for 40 cents. :) I couldn't do a check for 50 cents, just could not do it, so I wrote one for a dollar, last December when Robert wound up on an unmanned, exact change only, tollbooth and had ZERO in change... I had to send in the check, and just couldn't do it for the 50 cents... You are welcome, Florida toll road! :goodvibes


I have to laugh. My mom gets stock dividends from BofA and her checks have been 15 cents and such. It costs the banks more to send them than they are worth.

[bumbershoot]

Yayyyyyyyyy!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4429.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4430.jpg



Once again, the roads are nicely marked. You just have to pay attention. We now have maps from the rental car people and a few from OKW concierge desk, and we're slowly learning our way around and I think there are two slight shortcuts we know of, but even if you don't have that, as long as you know what *area* your resort is in, and where you're going, you can eventually find it with the signs.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4431.jpg



On that first true vacation day, we had late breakfast scheduled with the family at Kona. We were meeting there. Even though it wasn't until 10:30, we left *by* 8am from the Hyatt to make SURE we would be there on time.

Because of this, we were safely parked in the Valet area (we were going to use the Tables in Wonderland discount card, and that allows you free (except for the tip) Valet parking for your mealtime) and had time to look around the Polynesian lobby well before they got there.

Happily, they had my request for real maple syrup marked, and E was able to have goop on his pancakes without a problem. Sadly, he barely ate. :headache: OK, so...note to self, no big meals like that on our first real vacation day!


After that we went over to check in at OKW, and got almost the exact same room we had before. Just one room over! We got unpacked and the kids were silly and it was chaotic and fun.



I had an idea of something I wanted for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party we'd planned for that night, and thankfully my aunt offered to watch Eamon while we went to downtown Disney. My cousin and her husband also took advantage of the generosity, and we had something of a double date to DTD.

Sadly, I found out that the thing I wanted, Stitch Ear headbands, hadn't been sold in eons. Dangit. So we got Robert some Stitch *hands* (like those big huge Mickey hands, but, of course, Stitch), and I got this wacky headband that lights up, with black ribbons and funky orange tentacle things, and those were our costumes.


Soon enough it was time to head back home. This was the FIRST part of the season, and of course the question of "does it actually start at 4?" was heavy on the Dis...I knew, just knew that it would be OK to go at 4, but it was scary to bring everyone else over on my feelings!

However, that was moot, as it took so long for us to all get ready, to the bus, on the bus, and to the Magic Kingdom that we were actually entering AT 7, which is the official start time of the party.


Here's E, with his cousin's Tink wings in the shot, dressed as Agent E, a Men in Black agent.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4441-1.jpg



Have I, um, mentioned that it was HOT? Everything was slow slow slow.

And even though 5 hours for a party *sounds* like enough time, it was most definitely not. Things to do at a Halloween party :

trick or treat
look around and take pictures
ride rides
meet Halloweeny characters
meet special characters not always out (like Flynn or the 7 Dwarves)
see the parade
see the fireworks
extra bonus: see the parade and/or fireworks from a GOOD position!


I'll tell you right now...we barely even got the ToT'ing down! We rode 2 rides, and that's it, I believe. We barely looked around. We saw the parade from a decent viewpoint, but that is ONLY because I was just about to pass out from the heat and insisted that we sit the Hades down and just WAIT for the stupid thing. We did see the fireworks, but from a less than optimal viewpoint (if Tracey's around...the fireworks were almost exactly the same that we saw together in '09 at Disneyland, only our spot with you and your friends was way better!).

We saw NO special characters, or any characters at all. Sigh.

So really, especially if traveling with a big group, if not used to the heat, if dragging, if your group *didn't eat before the party, nay, didn't eat since 11am*...it's going to take you MORE than 5 hours to properly do the party.

So get there at 4!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4444.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4445.jpg


This area in my next picture would have been a GREAT shortcut over into Tomorrowland. I thought it would be, as we passed by the entrance to it. Oh well!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4446.jpg


I love neon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4448.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4449.jpg



Agent E has just gotten some treats (that he can't eat, of course), and has found an alien!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4451.jpg

[kaoden39]

May I say Agent E looks adorable? Because he does!!


No characters? Really? I would think when you pay for a prty like this they should roll out the characters.

[bumbershoot]

Oh, the characters were there at the park. We just didn't see any. Traveling in a group of 7 is...not so easy. Traveling in a group of 7 that hadn't eaten since 11ish am is...not so easy.

The trick or treating part was SO frustrating, but of course it's what kids want to do. The quality of the candy was gawdawful, and Eamon expected that we would swap it all out (dude, it's September 13th! And we paid $150 for the 3 of us to get into it...you want us to pay MORE? can't we NOT trick or treat please?). And so he wanted to do ALL the tot spots. The cousins weren't any better; their parents have a hint that they have the same problems with ingredients that E does (added to it, the little one can't have peanuts), but the kids know that they can *sometimes* have those candies, so they wanted all they could get, too.

Eamon's the only one that really likes characters, but since his cousins weren't into it he didn't want to see them. I gave up quickly on finding Flynn, especially since I found out that the little one REFUSES to watch Tangled b/c of Mother Goethl and even seeing Rapunzel or Flynn would have freaked her out.

It was just...cross purposes, ya know? And way too early in the trip for the party. Live and learn and spend a lot of money on it...typical for us and Disney! :cool2:



We thought Agent E looked cute, too. :) He was absolutely broiling, though! And the shirt is dry clean only (didn't check the tag at goodwill), so I was worried it was going to shrink up as he sweat more and more. Oh the things I worry about....

[kaoden39]

You know I am kind of disappointed in Disney. You would think they would get on the health bandwagon a bit more than they are.


Poor E I would love to meet Flynn!! So would Kody, she thinks Flynn is great!! I just plain love that movie. I think that Disney has hit it out of the park with the last two Princess's. I don't get how some people don't like the characters. To me they are part and parcel of the parks.


A big crowd like that is tough, everybody hungry on top of that makes it even harder. When we had our big group in 2010 I about went nuts. It is so hard to make everyone happy.

[bumbershoot]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4458.jpg




The Prince Charming Carrousel. I only went on because Cousin E wanted to ride but was nervous. Agent E ran up, got on a HIGH horse and got himself all buckled in (a first) while Cousin E and I found a nonmoving sleigh to sit in. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4461.jpg



Blurry day-after Harvest Moon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4463.jpg


So we trick or treated around Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, then came back on through and waited in a spot on the bridge to the Hub for the fireworks.


Oooooooh.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4465.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4466.jpg



Cousin E was (seriously, he WAS) Harry Potter. There had been discussion of E going as Ron Weasley, but Eamon was very iffy on that. He couldn't really embrace it. When we saw Cousin Harry we felt sad that E wasn't Ron, but ultimately it was for the best. Cousin has a hard time taking compliments or fully getting that people thought his costume was awesome; when people would yell out Hi to Harry, or ask to see his scar, or when we saw Teenage Snape and he sort of snarled, he just sort of ducked his head and kept walking. The few times he DID get that people thought he looked great, the JOY on his face was just immense. And I felt that if E had been Ron, then THEY would have gotten the compliments; Eamon can take a compliment much easier than Cousin can, and I think that Cousin would have started to forget that people were talking about *him* as well, and would have felt sad that Eamon got "all" the attention.

As it was, no one really knew who Eamon was (though the quick explanation made them smile, especially when Robert and I would point out that we were aliens and that he had caught us), so he didn't get much attention. And really, I think that was for the best.

But if Cousin had a more outgoing personality, it would have been a GREAT costume combination, to have E be Ron Weasley.


Now, my cousin and her husband, they love love love dressing up. :) And cousin's hubby is a HUGE Indiana Jones freak. So he went as Indy, and he was *perfect*. He even brought a jar of Diatomaceous Earth, to brush on his hat and slacks, to make himself dusty. My cousin went as Marian, and she looked fabulous as well. They were bummed that Robert and I weren't really dressed up, but, ya know, that just isn't us.


Anyway, here is E and a small, not really identifiable, part of "Harry".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4468-1.jpg

(believe it or not, in normal light, my cousin's hair actually IS black)

[kaoden39]

They look so cute. I think in some ways it's too bad that E wasn't Ron but I also think they deserved their own identities.


Cinderella's Castle is so beautiful and I think this may be the first picture I have seen of it at night.

[bumbershoot]

Yep yep, they did indeed need their own identities. Good way to put it!



Ugh. Jetlag is finally gone and I can stay up past 9; sitting here, typing, and eating one of the candies E couldn't have. A Goofy's Candy Company Mickey-head lollipop; it's just gross! And yet I can't put it down. The Trader Joe's organic lollipops (with tapioca syrup, and natural flavors and colors) are SO much more delicious than this weird thing is. Bleah. Tastes like a shampoo scent would.



At some point during the evening of the Halloween party, I found the fabulous Ghost Mickey popcorn bucket, and snagged one. I love my GMPB. :)

And at some point after that I realized that food was a must. I'd wanted to try out Columbia Harbour House, and since we all forgot that the Times Guides show restaurant hours, we hoofed it back there (at the back corner where Fantasyland turns into, um, Frontierland? The part where Haunted Mansion is, at least). Sadly it was closed, so we went back, again, to Tomorrowland to dine at Cosmic Rays. Our veggie burgers were fine, though of course E didn't have one, and getting 3 orders of fries for the 3 of us was WAY too much. The adults were trick or treating, too, though I do not know why, and I caught Robert sneaking into the bag a little bit, naughty boy.

For any new people out there...my son cannot have anything based on corn syrup. It causes a violent and difficult reaction in him. Some months after figuring this out about him, at the age of 3, we realized that my husband has a huge reaction to it as well. From things that happened after those realizations, I've come to the determination that it's a blood sugar thing; with my guys, if they eat corn that's been turned into a syrup, their bodies simply cannot handle it gracefully. I've watched my MIL have just about the same reaction, sort of a cross between my son's violence and my husband's passing out reactions, shortly after having a sandwich made with bread that was sweetened with HFCS.

Simple chocolate is fine for them, but most hard candies are just impossible, because they are almost always made with corn syrup, or corn syrup based products (even Dole Whips cause problems, as they have corn syrup solids). And almost everything handed out at the party that night was hard candy. My husband definitely should not have been sneaking corn syrup candy out of his bag, and he knew it (which is why he was sneaking it), and his reactions to it caused my night to be just a bit harder than it should have been (and it's not good for his blood sugar, either). My goodness, my 7 year old knew not to snag things, not even the M&Ms (corn syrup is in the candy shell), and has known not to mess with it since he was 3!

And on that note, I must put that nasty lollipop down. Grody.



More pictures! Got some surprisingly decent shots during the fireworks.


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Ooooh...

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The Hallowishes fireworks were good. Though long. I always, ALWAYS, feel that the parades and fireworks and just about everything at a Disney park is just too long. At least when these fireworks were at Disneyland, there was the big ball that they projected things onto (Skellington's head, Oogie Boogie Man, etc); made things a little interesting. These were good, don't get me wrong...just long.




At this point, there were wishes to go ride rides, then randomly catch the parade. I, in a surprising turn of events, objected to this. Generally I really only speak up when I sense a need for food. But I was hot hot hot, and I really did NOT want to miss the parade. For those who know me, parades are not usually my "thing", but I'd heard great things about this one! (and let's go back to the $150 thing) I'm short, and I wanted a good spot for this. AND I wanted to be in position in time for the Headless Horseman's ride.

So I urged us to head to Frontierland and to find a spot. Yay, we did!

Well, we found a great spot, and CMs were setting up ropes around it without saying anything, so we thought we were safe. Until 3 minutes later when we were booted from the spot, being told it was a handicap accessible spot. So we had to switch to the other side of the street. Fine, OK. Nearly as good.

We were continuing to wilt from the heat, even my Floridian family, people were sweating buckets. And we had no, I repeat no, water. And since this was the first day, I knew I wasn't going to get a good response to "does anyone want me to buy them some water?"

So I just took off...I'll be back in a moment!...and just walked away. To a food cart, to buy water. But, ya know, I had Disney Debit Card Rewards dollars, and I had some leftover GiftCards, so it was OK. I stood there at the cart, waiting for my turn, and by the time I got up there, I'd convinced myself to buy 4 Dasanis waters. For $10 total. :headache:

Took them back, handed two to my cousin's family and two to my family, and everyone was very happy. No one objected, either. :) I really should have bought more, but 4 felt decadent enough!


I love lanterns.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4481.jpg


While waiting, the CMs came by very very seriously to tell us to stand back from the ropes, to not even touch the ropes, and to be quiet for the Headless Horseman. They take the health and welfare of the *horse* very seriously, and do not want him to be spooked. Everyone in my general area took it just as seriously as the CMs did, which was nice. All children were directed away from the ropes; no one wanted any injuries, to us or the horse!



Ooh, this is a better shot of the Headless Horseman than I thought it was! How thrilling.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4484.jpg

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And then at long last, the parade.

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[bumbershoot]

Taking pictures of parades at night is tricky.

If you use the flash you get things focused, but they look unreal.


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But without the flash, things get murky.

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Ooh, Barbossa...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4498.jpg

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Pirates of all sorts. Isn't that piratess there just perfectly perfect? She looks like an audioanimatronic.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4500.jpg


The POTC 4 float; you can see Penelope's character there in the front.

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These next shots are fine, but should have been so much better. My camera is, at heart, just a point and shoot, though it looks like a fancy camera. And my camera's flash gets a bit dodgy; takes little vacations every so often.

Jack Sparrow was on top of the POTC4 float, and he was So Very Much posing for my area (dare I say ME?), but my flash would not go on!

Until he turned around.

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Seconds before those shots, he was looking down at us, posing. So so frustrating.



Then there was the Haunted Mansion ghost/zombie float, and the dancers. They were probably the BEST of the parade.

This group of dancers had the shambling thing down pat, and they were using the shovels in their dance. Now when you see someone dancing with a prop like that, your mind goes to Step in Time in Mary Poppins, with the brooms. But then you see these guys DRAG their metal shovels across the ground, making hideous screeching noises and causing actual *sparks* to come up, and thoughts of Burt are lost! I didn't manage a picture of that, but here they are with their props.

The noise and the sparks were just horrid, and also perfect. You can see there are several dancers, so you can just imagine.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4506.jpg


The next dancers were wonderful as well. It was a sort of waltz or other old fashioned group dance, and they just looked...unhinged, physically. I don't know how dancers do that (I never took dance)...manage to do perfect moves but also look like they are going to literally fall apart, but they got it right.

In one brilliant photographic moment, I snapped the picture just at the right time, so when they came up from their movement and into a bit of a "ta da" pose, my camera clicked!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4508.jpg




The rest of the pictures don't have memories associated with them. The ghost/zombies were just too good.


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Oh wait, this has a memory. This was a big advertisement for the Goofy Candy Company, and they were pumping out smells like you would not believe. Oh it smelled so good! (far far better than their lollipop product tastes, that's for sure)


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And then the parade was over. They unravel those parade ropes so fast you can barely believe it, and then it's as though it never happened.

[kaoden39]

I got a good chuckle out of you saying grody!! I can remember when we would say things were grody to the max!!:lmao:


Living close enough to Jelly Belly, I know how good candy can smell. That place is a mixture of delightful smells and other times it is almost cloying.

[bumbershoot]

Like, totally.

[bumbershoot]

Things I never thought I'd, nay, ANYONE, would say.

"Please don't slurp your cottage cheese".

Like, gag me with a spoon.


(FYI to anyone new, I homeschool my son, and he was sitting here having lunch when I made that statement. oh how I wish I didn't have to make that statement...bleah....)

[kokotg]

Subbing!

We had a similar experience to yours at last year's Halloween party--big group (who didn't care enough about the parade!), not enough food, felt like we couldn't get everything done. We had a do-over this year and it went much better.

And we're homeschoolers, too :)

looking forward to reading more!

[bumbershoot]

Glad to have another reader! Large groups are really something, aren't they?

I liked this trip, but we're definitely switching our strategies for the next time we have a big trip like this. One of the changes will be having the big family part at the END, for when we're tired and just don't care if we hit rope drop or get to a park at all! :)

[bumbershoot]

Before the parade, my little bitty cousin fell asleep in her stroller. Poor munchkin! When she sleeps, she SLEEPS.

Robert and cousin's hubby went on Haunted Mansion, cousin and daughter sat it out, and I took Agent E and "Harry" onto Small World. Yay! We were handed the red lanyard card thing (to measure the length of the line) and then nearly ran through the line. It was soooo empty.

Not sure what's going on with E's posture there, he was taking the MIB thing very seriously I suppose!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4521.jpg

Have I mentioned that Robert taught him to tie a tie (tye?)? It's the neatest thing. He doesn't do it perfectly, he gets the back part WAY too long, but still, he's got the knots down pat. My aunt was very impressed. (he wore a black tie with his MIB outfit)


After that we started making our way out. Passed by the, hmm, Diamond (?) Horseshoe. Different than Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe, and I guess it's almost never open (unlike DL's Horseshoe). But it was opened up for a dance party with Woody and Jesse.

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On the way out we needed to stop...we were SO hot. Eamon had to loosen up his clothes because he was about to fall over from the heat. While doing that, he posed. :)

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Bye orange Mickey!

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There ya go...the rigid stick has been taken out of his posture. Whew. But isn't it scary how grown he looks (even while holding hands with his second cousin)? How do boys learn to walk that way, so cool?

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We had taken the bus to the party, and we took the bus home. The bus was a HUGE bone of contention with Robert, because in December he and my Aunt had had a really rotten experience trying to get home from DHS on the bus. We rented a car last time and this time; we had some good, some bad, some indifferent experiences on the buses last December, but we had only GOOD experiences with the car, so we did want the car. But for this party, the bus won out. On the way there, it took AGES. But for the way home, it was nearly waiting for us when we got to the line.

[for the WDW newbies, when you leave MK and head for a bus, there are aisles (think about DLR's aisles where ART picks you up...it's like that but SO much bigger), and there's a big board before you get to the aisles that tells you what spot to stand at for each destination. pay attention to that board!]

It got us home quickly and efficiently, and I couldn't complain. What was extra fun was that we were on the bus with a bunch of people we'd ridden in with! I've just now remembered this. :) On the way in, before we were all sweaty messes, there was a lovely family with 3 sons; the mom and dad were Mary Poppins and Burt, and the boys were the penguins from the movie. And there were some others on the bus as well, and it was neat to see everyone all exhausted and bedraggled. :) The boys sat up in the VERY front seat facing the driver, and I was a nervous nellie so I stood nearby. Just worried that they were going to fall to sleep and fall, I suppose!


Anyway, the other kids went to sleep but Eamon had to look at his candy-swag. Sorting it all out, and talking about how we would be swapping it for him (buying candy he *can* eat and swapping it for the stuff he can't). :headache:

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The taped up mascara at the front of that last picture was Agent E's neuralyzer (flashy thing). Turns out...that would have been WAY better to have purchased at Universal last December than the "noisy cricket" blaster, because more people recognize the idea of the MIB "flashy thing" than the little teensy gun Will Smith is given to use. Go figure!



At last we went to sleep.

[kaoden39]

Wow look at all that candy!!


The heat must have been horrible. You poor things.

[bumbershoot]

It was most definitely hot! I kept having to remind myself of how stinkin' cold we were in December, over and over and over.

Of all that candy, E was able to eat the Crunch, and all the rest was swapped. Of that swapped candy, I snagged one lemon drop and the lollipops and the "sours" packaged like Smarties. To cut to the end of the story, I ended up putting all of the uneaten candy into one of the lion king themed ToT bags they gave out, and left it with a note for our last housekeeper (along with the laundry detergent I'd bought and the styrofoam cooler we ended up buying) if she cared to take it. I was going to offer up the beer, too, but I'd seen her in the hallway and she was wearing a head covering, so I figured she was Muslim and wouldn't appreciate *that* offer, even if she did appreciate the other items. :)

[bumbershoot]

September 14th.

I just erased some stuff. Felt too whiny.

Facts!

1. Cousin, her hubby, their son got a one-day ticket and then upgraded it to an Epcot After 4 ticket after using the day.

2. I was getting more jetlagged by the day. Tired, wiped out, and forgetful. A change for the future? Start the trip on the GO! Go go go, and THEN relax when jetlag actually hits. Because it's not hitting at the beginning, it seems. So forget this "try to avoid jetlag" nonsense.


To give an idea of how scattered I was, I kept losing things. Important things. My notes, my plans, my lists of ADRs, that sort of thing. Apart from the "no thinking" problem, I made it WAY harder on myself because I had things written in different places, kept in different areas. I need to keep things in ONE spot, with room for notes, and preferably small enough to carry with me without weighing me down (*cough* passporter *cough*). This is another one of the changes for the future. ONE notebook with everything!

The other change for the future....less complicated financial situation! I have 3 checking accounts and a savings account, and money was scattered all over the place. This got *ridiculous*. And then I never felt I had the time to write it all down to keep us on track with budget, and I still haven't taken care of that. I mean, NO worries, everything is already paid off (or scheduled to be at the end of the week), but I like to know where my money is going.

So next time, a clear budget, and either ONE account (and no losing credit cards, as a hint for things to come) OR Disney giftcards for the Disney portion of the trip.


Anyway, I'm fairly certain (from the time of some pictures I took of the kids being silly, that I can't show because I don't like putting faces of people outside my immediate family online) that we all got up nice and late, lazed around, and just didn't do a whole lot of anything on the 14th.


The 4 adults with small kids did end up going out shopping, though. We hit Costco and Publix, while my Aunt took the kids to a very fun playground near the quiet pool at Old Key West. It was SO sweet of her to take them, and I must remember to send her a thank you note for how helpful that was!


One of the big things we bought at Costco was the only thing that helped my brain...a case of Glaceau Vitamin Waters. The Revive formula was better than coffee for me!


Once we got back, we decided to go for an early dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. In retrospect, it sounds like a "lost" day, but I don't recall feeling bad about it at the time.

What was neat is that the exact same tables we ate at in December were available, so the kids got their own little booth while the adults sat at our own little half-booth. It was kinda neat. :)

[kaoden39]

I read the last post in my email first so I read the unedited version. I understand how you felt. That would have ticked me off.

I love the Glaceau waters. They definitely taste better than coffee.

[bumbershoot]

It would have made me feel like that at the time, IF I had understood what I was really feeling at the time. Since I only really get it now, now that I've had time to think about it, there's no emotional charge, just a "oh, yeah, that's why it didn't feel right"... Oh well!

[kaoden39]

Probably better you didn't notice on the trip. It might have put a damper on it for you. A bigger one than it might already have.

[Brady's Mom]

I'm lost on the just previous conversation....:confused3 Maybe I need to switch to instant email notifications!

I did want to say how much I love your pictures. I am sometimes amazed at how well my pos camera does compared to our "better" camera.

And don't you love the posture of boys??? They just crack me up! They get into their "mode" and just sort of go with it for a while (at least mine do) and then they change out of it like it never happened. E looks so, so big! I can't believe it. I know I have a 7 year old and you have a 7 year old, but my 7 seems to look so much younger than your 7. Maybe it's because I see him all the time and haven't noticed the bigness, yet! :scared1:

[bumbershoot]

It was just about something that was decided that was opposite of what had been talked about, and made it very very different than what had been talked about. :)



Our fellow condo building residents were commenting on how big he is yesterday at their every other Wednesday *sit in the lobby eat snacks and drink lots of booze* party. :) We moved in *just* as he was turning 4, so they've seen him grow quite a bit!

And I'm sure that the fact that I let him watch Zach and Cody, and 2 Kings, and other preteen shows doesn't help a bit; he's learning to posture from those shows. (I've been trying to convince him that the "Kings" in 2 Kings are actually NOT cool, that they are made fun of constantly in the show, but he refuses to believe me!)




Robert gets home late tonight. Finally! Just in the last hours of our 11 year meeting-anniversary. (which should really just be our dating anniversary, since it was all over after our first meeting)

[Brady's Mom]

:lmao::rotfl2::rotfl:

I am SOOOO glad you cleared that up for me!!! :rolleyes:

Yay for Robert getting home - that would have been a little hard for me to come home by myself after vacation. All that laundry and unpacking and stuff that I, alone, would have to be responsible for. I mean, how could I rightly blame my DH for not doing anything if he wasn't even home!! :rolleyes1

When you were talking about how much E has grown I just realized that I was pregnant with my DS 7 when we moved here and that was 7.5 yrs ago. :scared1: Man, they grow so fast, as evidenced by my now married 23 yr. old! Kinda makes you wonder what happened to all the years. :flower3:

[bumbershoot]

Facts!

For the months before this trip, we discussed scenarios. At first, there were no ticket questions, so it was just going to be fun fun fun at the parks! Slowly I realized that something needed to change from the way we did it in December, so we discussed, and agreed upon, early mornings, park in the mornings, then at some point between noon and 2ish, we'd head on back and enjoy the resort. Because the resort was fabulous and we missed it when we were at the parks!

Then things got in the way of family getting tickets to meet all needs. Aunt and little cousin still have seasonal passes, but the other 3 had nothing. So it was discussed at home what to do...give up parks, do parks in the morning and play with them after lunchtime, etc etc. It was all openly discussed, and it was decided that if my family of 3 (fo3?) was going to go to a park, if no tickets were purchased, we'd go in the morning and then be back for big family fun later. Yay!

What then happened was...MNSSHP tickets were purchased. Then a single day ticket was purchased for the day following what I've written about here, and we went to DHS. At the end of that day, an Epcot After 4 pass was purchased for cousin/hubby/CousinE for the rest of the time they were there.

Which made our "we'll play in the morning and hang out at resort the rest of the day" plan, well....well, it erased that plan.

So those are the facts. :)


But I couldn't put those facts in order until the other evening; I just knew something had gone awry but I couldn't figure out what had done it!

[Brady's Mom]

It's always a struggle to go with a big group. Not because the group dynamic is bad - but because there are so many opinions. AND because plans invariably change. We've been with bigger groups before - sometimes as many as 12 or 13 people and it's hard to wrangle all the ideas and plans.

I had to laugh when I read the facts! Just because I've been in a big group at DLR and know how hard it is to stick to a plan. And I know how I am when my plans are messed with. (Can you say Type A?) It sounds, so far, like you had a good time, everyone got some park time, you got to see the Halloween Parade and the cool fireworks and didn't freeze to death! AND, you got to be with your family. :lovestruc That makes the trip worth it, even with some plans going awry.

I can't wait to hear more of your adventures and to live vicariously through you. We won't be able to make it to DLR for Halloween this year. :sad2: Even though I really, really, really wanted to. We are going in March instead with another big-ish group. Our DS 15 is playing in a concert at DL and going to a workshop the end of the first week in March, so we are going to hear the concert and attend DLR with our very best friends and their "adopted" daughter who is 8 - right between my two youngest in age! We've been with them before (and their big kids) and had a great time, but now they have Holly and that will make it even more fun. :thumbsup2

So the group is - DH and me and DS 9 and DS 7. BFF's Him and Her and DD 8. So, 7 people, I can't wait!

[bumbershoot]

Shannon, just try to make sure everyone has the right tickets for plans! That's all I'm sayin'. :)

[Brady's Mom]

Shannon, just try to make sure everyone has the right tickets for plans! That's all I'm sayin'. :)

The good news for me is that DLR is sooo much less complicated than WDW. I don't have to worry about all the ticket variations that you did! :thumbsup2 For us it's more the decision between parkhoppers or AP's and the best time to buy them for optimal use!

[bumbershoot]

I swear I will continue with this trip report soon.

But for now I gotta go take a shot of albuterol (the problem with cleaning is that it stirs up the dust that had been sitting there, minding its own business, and stirring up dust makes dust angry, and angry dust flies down my lungs and creates a ruckus) and do some vacuuming or some such nonsense...

[kaoden39]

It is amazing how fast our kids grow. My BIL brought me some pictures of my kids yesterday from when they were little and the change is just amazing to me. The one picture is 12 years old and the other is about 16 years old. I know they have grown since then but Loren seems to have grown so much in the last year alone. He is around 6 feet now and last year I was still taller than him.:rolleyes1

[bumbershoot]

6 feet, oh my gracious!

[kaoden39]

I know he is built like a long haired football player.

[bumbershoot]

September 15th! (a weird day with a WEIRD day report, very scattered *just like the day*)



It was decided that 1-day tickets would be purchased by those without tickets, and then they would be upgraded. The tickets would be used at DHS that day! Excellent plan.

We took cars in that day. It was so hot already in the morning. There was some weird parking stress that I still don't totally understand. Parking doesn't seem to be a difficult thing, normally! I do wish that my aunt would cave in and ask her doctor if she can get a placard; she has all sorts of problems with her legs, and being able to park close would be a great boon to her. But, the morning started off with me walking with my cousin and her daughter, while the others all walked separately, and it took a bit for everyone to feel totally happy again. Big groups, ya know? :)

None of us had been on Star Tours in awhile, and there was some massive excitement for it. I don't remember why, but I became the FP runner for that ride (even though it was 5 minutes). It would be most convenient if I had taken notes, but...again...too many notebooks, not enough brain power. :)

This will be a holding spot for when Robert is here to tell me what I've forgotten. :)


In the meantime, cousins. :wizard:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4544.jpg


Our Star Tours FPs were "up" so quickly that it was only an hour before we could get our next FPs! I was aware of that, and actually kept track of time. Some of us went on Star Tours in the standby line, while others roamed the streets, watching Jedi Academy and going to the bathroom and possibly shopping...

Star Tours....I'm not really big on 3-D. I figure that our brains process what we see in 3-D (well, most of us have eyes and brains that do it for us, but not all, I recognize that), and I don't need *extra* 3-D. I was also not very thrilled to have the possibility of a podrace, as the podracing is my least favorite part (and I'm including JarJar in this) of the 5 Star Wars movies I've seen.

But, and it ended up being a big but, I liked it! Even though we hit the podrace on our very first time. See, I guess they have something like 54 different bits. And on each ride, a computer puts the bits together in different ways. So the number of unique ride experiences is actually pretty big, depending on which way the bits are put together. Kinda neat.

I ended up being a fan.

Oh, and the particular 3-D glasses they chose? They are The Coolest-Looking things EVER. If I were a different sort of person, one would have become my free souvenir.


The family was consumed with doing something. What, I do not know. But whatever it was, I didn't want any part in it. I was hot, and I didn't want to be standing around or whatever it was they were up to! So I collected everyone's tickets and told them that I'd go get TSMM fast passes. I found out later that there was much doubt as to whether I could do that! Eons later when I found out about the doubt, I explained that you must always look at the bottom of the FP for the time for the next FP. Anyway, I was successful, of course.

There was some walking back and forth that day. I got to know the back streets of DHS.

I know that we did the Muppets attraction, which was as fun as it always is! And TSMM was, indeed, ridden. However, we rode it standby, because our FPs were so far out in the day. Star Tours was ridden at least twice, because standby was so short and we had those FPs.

Also, this little cutie was purchased by my cousin (and, a week later, also by me).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4548.jpg


The other purchase made that day was a felt had styled similar to Indiana Jones' hat. He was *very* excited about this.


Although I don't know the order of things we did, or why we were wandering all over creation, or any of that, I do know that eventually we decided to do a walk-in to the SciFi Dine-In Theater (is that what it's called?).

Sci-Fi is a restaurant that is themed like a drive-in playing sci fi films (and cartoons). There are cars in there, it's fairly dark, and really really loud (especially if you are, like I was, sitting RIGHT next to a speaker).

There are three sorts of seating arrangements there. For those with ADRs (advanced dining reservations), they reserve the seats "in" the cars; they are booths, and you face forward. For walk-ins, you have two choices. Either a small table set WAY back in the room, that's sort of an umbrella table like you might find near a snack bar at a drive-in, or tables plunked in between a front and a back of a car. That's the kind we had, and I liked it WAY more than I would have liked the booths in the cars.

They used to have a marinated tofu dish for the veggies, but the DAY before our visit they'd gotten rid of that dish. :( Now it was just Yet Another VeggieBurger (YAVB?). Sure, it was a vb with a huge purple onion and fancy things on it, with sweet potato fries on the side, but still...YAVB. (I do recognize that this was the first vb of our trip, but still, it didn't feel like it)

I *highly* doubt I'd eat there again unless they put a real meal on there.

I also had a glowy adult beverage. This was so nummy while I was drinking it. And then it felt SO BAD once we got out into the hot hot sun.


Star Tours...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4549.jpg


After Star Tours...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4551.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4552.jpg


Eamon always gets shot down. Does it have anything to do with Random Child entering the picture?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4554.jpg

And Eamon always falls off, onto the ground, from the speederbikes. I think it does have something to do with the Random Child.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4555.jpg


Another note about SciFi. Their kid's meals. One of the possibilities for a kid's meal side dish is tomato soup. Sounds fine, right? Well, my cousin got it, and took one bite and rejected it. My aunt chose to eat it, because she doesn't believe in wasting food.

Side note to the "another note"...if someone eats something just so it's not wasted, without a wish for the food or a need for the food, and if it makes a person not feel well because they already eaten THEIR food, IMO that's wasting food! End to the side note.

So she was eating it, and said it was spicy! I tasted some, and wow yes, very spicy. Not just salty, but actual spice.

So along with giving our server feedback on what to tell the manager (I'm ordering a veggie burger because we're here and it's all ya got, but not because I WANT the veggie burger...bring back real food for vegetarians), we gave him feedback on "who makes SPICY soup for kid's meals??????"

We also gave him a solid tip. We're not crazy, LOL.



By this time it was well after 4, and I was dragging. Tensions had dropped and risen and dropped and risen etc etc and I'd had that boozey beverage and it was HOT and hot and even more hot than I'd ever possibly expected (I've lived in Miami! Spartanburg SC! Virginia! and Huntington WV! I've been in hot 'n humid! But this was just unspeakable.) and I was dragging.

I wasn't saying anything about it, because I don't like admitting defeat, but then discussions about who wanted to do what, and who didn't want to do anything, and what kids wanted to go home, and etc etc etc started.... And ultimately I ended up offering to go home with my aunt and the kid-cousins. I *was* going to drive, but then it was remembered that I'd had that drink NOT long enough ago (and my aunt had had a margarita at the same time), and the drink had hit me hard enough as it was... So we went home on the bus, instead.

Where we met a lovely family from Alabama!


Meanwhile, cousin 'n hubby 'n Eamon 'n Robert had a blast, riding Rock 'n Roller Coaster and various other things. Then cousin/hubby left, and E and Robert used all the TSMM fastpasses to ride a few times in a row, and then they left, and then everyone came home.

This is another holding spot for when Robert is here to tell me what I've forgotten. :)

[kaoden39]

E looks so cute playing on the speederbike. He has that playacting look on his face. I used to love when my kids did that.

[bumbershoot]

September 16th, Lovebug Day. And that's not a good thing.




The jetlag was hitting me hard, and I was finding it difficult to wake up. On this trip, the family decided that my aunt would sleep in the "studio" component of the 2 bedroom, cousin and her hubby would sleep on the sofabed (so that the younger adults could stay up chatting late without bothering aunt or children), and we, again, had the "big" room with the King bed. While we would be happy to sleep in the "studio" room, ultimately it doesn't make sense b/c of the number of children each of us has.

Anyway, my point is that I was in the big King room and it's big and really really quiet (apart from the early morning golf maintenance people and golf carts going by the outside windows...our rooms backed up on the golf course) and could hear almost NOTHING going on outside my door, especially because that door was down a bit of a hallway off the living room.

Sleeping was just lovely. But it did interfere with things! On the other hand, it's not like people were all ready to go as soon as I deigned to join them, LOL.

So anyway, I'm not sure when it was decided, but this was to be a swimming day. It's funny, because we kept on talking about the Polynesian pool when talking about our legal, sanctioned, DVC-owner-and-guests-staying-on-points Pool-Hopping. But we never made it there! I still do not know why.

After much discussion, we decided to check out Coronado's pool this day. This resort is a "Southwest-themed Disney Moderate Resort hotel encircling Lago Dorado—a glimmering 22-acre lake—that evokes the spirit and romance of Spanish-colonial Mexico" and I long to stay there.

We smooshed into the Durango and parked and wound our way to the main pool. Alas, as we got closer and closer, we found the lovebug infestation was growing. Lovebugs are benign beetle-like bugs. Harmless. And disgusting. They travel around in pairs, "kissing". They fly, crawl, stay still...in pairs, "kissing". Get a room, you bugs!

While I wasn't afraid of them, I really really really did NOT want them on or near me. I didn't want to kill them, and in fact I nearly cried when I realized that a pair had landed on my flipflop while I was walking (I don't like killing things, and only sanction "murder" when something has 8 legs), and while taking a step I had killed them...I just didn't want them to be there. Makes sense, right?



But anyway, theme. While approaching the pool...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4563.jpg

Hidden Mickey!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4564.jpg

Big huge decoration at the pool. You can walk up the steps just to where the "roots" are, and that's it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4565.jpg


The pool was fabulous and an excellent temperature and I went down their slide and it was fun, and Eamon LOVED the slide and went down multiple times. It was lots of fun. They had pool games (that we didn't take part in, but it was fun to have that energy), and they had pool toys like blow up balls. We got one of those, and I found that my cousin E has a bit of a talent at hitting balls in a volleyball style. We batted that ball around for quite awhile.

Alas, the littler cousin was having problems. She's 4, and 4 year olds are particular, and we'd forgotten her pink/purple princess floaty vest back at OKW. Whoopsie. No one wanted to ask aunt/grammy to bring it over. Any parent knows that there are really two ways to go with this. OK, 3. One, just have the floaty-less child attached to you in the pool and be OK with it. Two, go get the child's float even if it cuts into the fun-time. Three, take the child, take the Disney floaty vests, power that vest onto the child, because you KNOW that in 5 minutes the kid will be having fun and will have forgotten that it's not *theirs*.

And then there are the other options...sigh.

Ultimately, Robert ended up driving back to OKW to get the vest. Mission of mercy.


While Robert was gone on his peacekeeping mission, I got thirsty and had some myth that I could sit on a lounge chair drinking a mai tai and being peaceful. Yeah, in lovebug season.

I waited AGES for my maitai (and quesadilla) at the pool bar, and developed a soon to be patented arm sweep to get the stinkin' lovebugs AWAY FROM ME! Augh! Yeah I really disliked them. A pox on going in September during lovebug season! Bah! The bartender joked that they had a protein drink made from lovebugs...there were SO many dead and "kissing" on the counter, it was just gross...

I tried, TRIED, to sit down with my drinkie-poo (after inviting Eamon over to share my quesadilla), but the lovebugs wouldn't let me. Misery! If it had been the pool at Hard Rock Hotel I would have just taken the drink in the pool with me, but Disney frowns upon that a bit more than Universal, so I didn't. I had no peace, I had no loungey time, it was all just "kissing" bugs on me, around me, trying to sit on my drink and my food etc etc etc.

Robert returned, the conquering hero with the floaty vest, there was much rejoicing, people swam a little more, others ordered food... It was nice. Except for the stupid lovebugs.

Now the background to this day was that I had the Grand Floridian's Afternoon Tea planned for the Ladies. The other background is that no one but me *really* wanted to go. I mean, they did, but there were concerns. While we went off to the Tea, the Menfolk were to go to Downtown Disney.

Since there were concerns and since there were odd communication breakdowns, no one really *planned* for these things. No timing was planned, clothes weren't planned...it was all madness.

Utimately, my cousin decided to go, she decided to bring her daughter, and we had NO time to get home, changed, and to the GF. But we did it anyway! The guys were left in their swim trunks, LOL, and went to DTD by Disney transportation and had a good time, though Robert complained about things, but they had a good, manly time.

As my girl cousins and I screeched into the parking lot at OKW and ran into the villa, I said "we have 30 minutes to do an hour's worth of primping/changing/driving...this is true Womanhood!"

And that's where I'll leave ya, because I gotta go to an acupuncture appointment.

[kaoden39]

Yours is not the first trip report that has told the sad tale of the love bugs. Such a sad tale. They were staying at the same resort even. Hmm.


Can hardly wait to hear about the tea.

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, lovebugs went on the list (with the heat) of "you never know how bad it is until you're there" for me. But that day at Coronado was the worst day of them that we had. So that's good.

[kaoden39]

That is good. I hate bugs like that and I am also reluctant to kill them.

[bumbershoot]

More of the 16th!



So when we were so rudely interrupted by the need to stick needles in my skin (and I interrupted the typing of this part with E's aikido and my workout), I was talking about the ladies rushing to Tea (http://allears.net/menu/menu_gft.htm). My aunt was basically ready (she'd been at the resort relaxing), I was basically dry (having gotten out of the pool a bit earlier than the cousins) but needed to cool down and get something vaguely cute on. My cousin and her daughter needed to dry off, get changed and cute and ready.

As I said to them, this was a test of womanhood to see if we could do all of this AND get over there in time. :)

I was ready quickly, but that's b/c my natural style is very casual, with very little makeup and nothing much done to my hair at all. My cousin put on the barest swipes of makeup, and her daughter is 4 and therefore very cute most of the time anyway. We all managed to get ready and out the door in way less time than we ever thought.

The drive seems straight forward, but to get to the Magic Kingdom resorts you have to go through MK parking. Thankfully the lines to park were light, and we got through. Since I was planning on using the Tables in Wonderland card, I knew I would get free Valet parking (the two go together), and that made parking easier. We found the Tea room, smiled, and asked if we were too late. She said that of course we weren't (we were probably 10 or 15 minutes late).

She seated us at a window seat, and our server Patrick, from Baton Rouge, came over to introduce himself. He was SO sweet, I just knew we'd be taken care of.

They have a menu that looks short, but it's actually pretty intense. They have MANY teas, and they take them very seriously. For food, they go from savory foods to sweet foods.

You can get things a la carte and spend very little money (2 jam tarts and a pot of tea for 9.75 plus tax and tip, for example), or you can spend something like $38 per person and get the:

Princess Kate Tea - A Spring tea served with a classic dish of potted shrimp followed by a medley of cheeses, an array of seasonal fruits, and cheddar cheese biscuits. A scone, jam tart, and a selection of delicate pastries is accompanied by a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and your choice of tea.



We went with the middle road. The three adults ordered tea (I got the Earl Grey, and aunt and cousin got some tea that wasn't on the menu called Mad Hatter). I got the strawberries with cream, and the other adults each got the English Trifle (or, as the receipt calls it, "triffle"). The 4 year old lady in our party got the Mrs Potts Tea:

For the young tea lover in your party, we offer a variety of tea sandwiches, tuna salad, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly on white bread. We serve our magical dark tea (chocolate milk), followed by a choice of two pastries.

She can't have peanut butter, so they doubled up on the ham and cheese, and also got watercress&cucumber sandwiches and maybe tuna salad.


As we waited, we looked out on our surroundings, and noticed a bride and groom having pictures taken on the second floor of the Grand Floridian, on the opposite side from the Garden View Lounge, where we were. Awwwww!


The tea was there far sooner than expected! This is very likely because I generally oversteep my tea tremendously. Poor Patrick would be aghast at how often I forget about my tea, LOL.

When the tea arrived, we each had our own pot. The chocolate milk pot was the smallest, then there was mine, and then aunt and cousin shared a pot because they'd gotten the same tea, and their pot was rather large. It was all just beautiful.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4566.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4567.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4568.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4574.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4575.jpg



Patrick *amazed* little A. He poured her "tea", and it started off like a normal pour, but then he raised the pot higher and higher and higher, up to at least his head level! It was so cool. She couldn't believe it. :)

Our food was there immediately after the tea was brought out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4572.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4573.jpg


The strawberries were sooooooooo good. The trifle (triffle, LOL) was delish too, though I only took the tiniest bite (honestly, I was worried that it was made with gelatin, which I don't eat). Little cousin wasn't into her watercress&cucumber sandwich, so the 3 of us shared that one. She devoured the others, though.

When her cup was empty, Patrick reappeared to do his trick, and this time I thought she was going to fall over. She clapped her hands to her cheeks and her eyes were SO wide, and she couldn't move, she was so afraid he was going to spill! But he didn't, and she drank a gallon of chocolate milk. Seriously, how much did that pot hold?

Meanwhile, we were drinking cup after cup of tea. My Earl Grey was beyond description, it was SO good. It had flavors I've never tasted before! (see above for oversteeping problems that I have) They really loved their Mad Hatter as well; it had caffeine but was also herbal, if I recall correctly.

As we sat there, we suddenly noticed the wedding couple right outside our window, along with the photographer. Awwww.

We just kept eating tiny bite by tiny bite, drinking lots of tea, relaxing, talking...no one argued, no one was snippy, everyone was just so pleased with the experience. It was probably my absolute favorite part of the whole trip. It was definitely my favorite part of the big family part of the trip.

The wedding couple was gone, but soon enough we saw this sight outside our window.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4583.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4584.jpg



We spent ages there. It was wonderful. I recommend it to anyone who, well, who would like to sit and sip and nosh a bit and *relax* in a lovely room. Although the servers were getting on with their work, and part of it was cleaning up a bit (the tea isn't all day), they *never* made us feel rushed. Even after we paid the bill we still sat there, just talking. It was the calmest I saw my little cousin *ever*.

OH, at the end of the tea, Patrick came out with a pink rose for each of us! It was just the BEST end to the tea that I could imagine. :wizard: Even though the tea didn't last forever, it was like this magical interlude of the day and the trip that was almost as though it had been sprinkled by pixie dust. (and you KNOW I don't say stuff like that)

Just fabulous.

[kaoden39]

Oh I think I would love to do the tea. How wonderful is that? Wow. And the rose is a nice finish.

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Is the tea simply a "girl" thing or were there any boys or men there? Wondering if I should book this for me and the girls or if the boys would enjoy it as well.

[kaoden39]

Is the tea simply a "girl" thing or were there any boys or men there? Wondering if I should book this for me and the girls or if the boys would enjoy it as well.


I saw on another friends trip report that there were men and boys in her pictures. I think that it depends on the boys themselves.

[ClarabelleCowFan]

I saw on another friends trip report that there were men and boys in her pictures. I think that it depends on the boys themselves.

Thanks. I know DH and my youngest son (4) would enjoy it but not sure about my older ones (9 and 7). Hmmm.... Sounds like a fun girls only fun thing to do while DH takes the boys swimming or something.

Thanks for the photos of the tea. LOVE the china teapots!

[bumbershoot]

There were men there and they looked to be having a nice time. I do not, however, know if they got roses. Robert would have loved to do the tea, after all our one official cruise excursion on our honeymoon was tea at Jewell Gardens, and it was his request. But I really wanted to just do this with the ladies, and let the guys hang out a bit.

[Brady's Mom]

I would LOVE to do the tea. I think DH would love to do it, too. Maybe even DS's 7 and 9 - not really sure about DS 15. :confused3 He's a hard one to figure out.

It sounds like such a relaxing, restful thing to do. I'll have to add it to my mental list of things to do at WDW - when I ever get there. :cutie:

[kaoden39]

Shannon, I think my DS15 would do it. He might act like I was making him do the worst thing in the world but deep down he would love it!!

[bumbershoot]

So I'm here in San Diego with E, today's my birthday, we have those tickets never used for our reunion...but today was slated to be sickeningly hot, so I opted to NOT hit Anaheim.

While I'm happy to not get heatstroke, I'm so sad we didn't hit DLR. But the weather site said it hit 104 today...couldn't have happened.

Sigh.

[kaoden39]

Happy Birthday!!!

Oh Molly, 104 is ugly anywhere but at Disneyland that would be unbearable. Are you going to be there a few more days? Maybe it will cool down before you leave.

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Happy Birthday, Molly! :banana::dance3::yay::woohoo::cheer2:

[bumbershoot]

Thank you!!!

Sadly, I leave Friday and can't change the plans because I have to get back for my good friend's wedding. And the temperature doesn't seem to be going down tomorrow.

But.....my brother SEEMS like he wants to go there, so we might get another visit soonish, maybe...



I would do more report but I'm not on my own computer, so it's going to have to wait.

[Brady's Mom]

I hope you had a Happy Birthday! Sorry I missed the good wishes on the precise day! :wizard:

I hope San Diego was rejuvenating and relaxing for you. I sometimes feel after a vacation that I just want a vacation....:confused3 Usually because I'm tired and a little run down, so sitting around and reading a book or something sounds really great.

[bumbershoot]

Teensy preview....very sweet moment as a 4 year old notices her pretty little shadow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4592.jpg





Went to my awesome friend's wedding to her awesome guy...sigh. The groom's sister told me I was beautiful*! That was neat. To say the very littlest least. :3dglasses


*I think this means I've finally lost *just* enough weight for my face to be more face-like. It happened many years ago when I'd gone up high in weight and once it came back down my face was finally able to be noticed. (but we had just met!) She seemed sincere and it was a faboo moment for me.

Which came not an hour after I'd told someone else how gorgeous she is! Maybe I had a glow from complimenting her. :)

[kaoden39]

That is such a sweet photo. I remember have that sort of magical moment as a little girl, and watching my girls have them.


How nice that the grooms sister made you feel special too.:flower3:

[bumbershoot]

Started Eamon's second grade work, have been helping MIL...she might be starting a long slow slide into old-age-based mental problems... I have a feeling that Eamon and I are going to be spending a lot more time with her.

(thoughts prompted b/c she had *yet another* parking lot accident; this time no one could be proved to be at fault, and the other guy had no damage, so her kids are funding the fix rather than the insurance company...and we found out that she, a 75 year old not-so-controlled diabetic, hasn't gotten her eyes checked in eons, and has made up conversations that she and I have had about how long it takes for accidents to fall off of insurance... This is just the tip of the iceberg that is making us have these scary feelings about her...sigh.)



I know I gotta continue my report! Maybe I'll go get comfy and try.

[kaoden39]

Oh Molly that is awful. I have talked my mom into giving up her car and let me take her where she wants to go. She is 74 this year, it has been a battle and a half. My mom also a diabetic hasn't had her eyes checked for over a decade I guarantee it. The only reason she found out she had her cancer in 2006 is because I went behind her back and made her drs appointment and then lied to her to get her there. I feel your pain. What you deserve is a nice cold beer or glass of wine and a warm bath with candles.

[bumbershoot]

Back to the 16th!


We'd finished tea, my girl cousins, my aunt, and I, and we wanted to do a spot of shopping at the Grand Floridian. We went on upstairs, and since my cousin and aunt are both VERY interested in music, we stopped to listen to the *band* up on the second flood. They were playing lovely bits of waltz-able music. I was taking some pictures, and the family moved on...they were seen by the bandleader, and he told them that he was going to play something for the Princess. :)

So we stopped and listened, and they played a lovely little medley of various princess songs. Little cousin LOVED it.


However, the chocolate milk was kicking in, LOL, and by the time we got into the giftshop and she started hearing "no" more often than she liked, there were troubles! Such a bummer, but kids will have tantrums...sadly, when you've got a mother and a daughter and a granddaughter, sometimes there are just one too many adults, and sometimes grandmothers get very distraught watching a small child flail in a mother's arms, especially if a small hand connects with a mother's face.

So that ended that bit of fun, but it's to be understood all the way around.

We chose to leave the Grand Floridian. I had used Valet parking, which I think I've mentioned, so I showed the bill with the Tables in Wonderland discount, and that made it free. The valets RUN to the cars! And at the GF they are wearing "knicker" sorts of short pants, with knee socks. Can you say broiling? I will say that it seemed to be a downhill run, but still...I could barely walk, let alone run.

When the valet got back, he was being superbly gentlemanly, and as he was helping people into the car, we remembered that we couldn't get one of the seat backs up properly (a second row seat that comes down to give entrance/exit to/from the 3rd row seats). He fiddled with it for about a minute and a half and fixed it, which was especially awesome of him, and he got a bigger tip because of it. Thank you, Valet-Man! You were as helpful as you were handsome. ;)

Drove on back, and I do believe that the menfolk had arrived back by that time. They weren't as happy with the day as we were, since they ended up going to Downtown Disney in their swim trunks, and there may or may not have been some chafing involved with that. Poor menfolk...

They'd been to the Lego store, they saw a lot of DTD because of misunderstandings of the boat launches, they had fun man time.

The tantrum problems continued with the adults...different discipline techniques and beliefs were discussed, rather enthusiastically (Robert and I stayed out of this!).

At one point the other adults were in other rooms, and during my little cousin's shadow-noticing time (shown a few posts up), she and I were talking about how her mom might feel, and she said she was sad that she'd hurt her mom and grandma's feelings... When they came back out, she said something sweet to her mom, and hugged her grandma, and it made her happy, though all it did was confuse the adults... Oh well. :) All you can do with cousins is talk with 'em...can't force them to do anything, or to change their ways!

Eventually the boys were pulled away from their Legos and the cats were herded off to Epcot.

Aha, it's E's bedtime, and I gotta jet! (man, this day of the 16th is taking AGES to post about!)

[bumbershoot]

Oh Molly that is awful. I have talked my mom into giving up her car and let me take her where she wants to go. She is 74 this year, it has been a battle and a half. My mom also a diabetic hasn't had her eyes checked for over a decade I guarantee it. The only reason she found out she had her cancer in 2006 is because I went behind her back and made her drs appointment and then lied to her to get her there. I feel your pain. What you deserve is a nice cold beer or glass of wine and a warm bath with candles.

I'm so sorry that your mom and my MIL are about in the same situation. For them especially, but also for us! MIL sees a cardiologist...but she takes care of everything else with a GP. It's odd, in my opinion. She was so upset about the fender bender that she had to take two nitro pills in just over an hour. But she's told us that she doesn't ever want to go back to a hospital for ANY reason, and we are to leave her be. OK, but, then...why take the pills, ya know?


Beer/wine/bath sounds fabulous. Alas, I started reading Robert The Hunger Games last night, and we have to continue! I'm shocked at the fact that I like the book...turns out the suggestion was from my brother of all people. Since he's smart about most things, Robert got the books on Kindle, and told me, and I decided to check it out...and my brother was right. I think that part of the enjoyment is because it's somewhat similar to Stephen King's The Running Man (the book NOT the movie). Brother and I both read that story in high school. Anyway, the story is enjoyable (though not in a oh yay what FUN sort of way, of course).

[Brady's Mom]

My sister read the Hunger Games and liked it. I just can't bring myself to read it. :confused3 But, I also have no interest in the Twilight series, either. My friends and some of my family think I'm weird! I pretty much agree. ;)

I did just read one of the most recent David Baldacci books though, and really liked that one.

[bumbershoot]

If the recommendation hadn't come from my brother I would NEVER have read it. But he has excellent taste in books. I was hooked from just a few pages in.

[kaoden39]

I enjoyed that series a lot. Suzanne Collins is a good author. It is a series that Scotty, Loren and I all enjoyed.

[bumbershoot]

September 16th...


This had the potential to be our last evening together, because this was the last night of the 2 bedroom and we didn't know when family would be going home. They are churchgoers, which is partially why we made Friday night our last night with them. However, at some point between the excitement of the tea and the tantrum and dragging the boys away from their new Legos, it was expressed that there was a wish on the part of the family to stick around for another evening. The 3 of us were moving to a *studio* on the 17th, so even if we wanted to cram everyone into one room it was impossible.

Calls were made in regards to Value Resort rooms, and we realized that we had a free night (aka pay the taxes) through hotels.com, and we found a room at the Dolphin that could work. The decision was made that the Dolphin would be great, better than the Value, and so it was booked. Since our studio was at the Boardwalk, it would be nice and close.




That done, we went to Epcot, and since Robert had never been inside the temple in Mexico, I urged the group to go on in. I also urged us to go on the Three Caballeros ride. Small World in Mexico, as Robert ended up calling it. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4596.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4597.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4598.jpg


I love these balloons.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4599.jpg


Robert liked the ride, as do I. Relaxing, cool and breezy, with neat fiber optic fireworks at the end.

I have NO idea what happened between there and Germany. How odd. But I remember some people needing a snack, so I went to the pretzel kiosk. Sadly, this was the last time I remember seeing my credit card. About a week later, after watching our account like a hawk and giving the resort and epcot lost and founds ample opportunity to find it, we canceled the card. Drat.

We had bought water at Costco, 2 cases of it, but it wasn't all cold. For some reason, all the cold waters ended up in the family's backpacks, and none in ours...and all of it ended up in the family's bellies, not ours. It was kind of strange. Hot evening with salty pretzels and no water...not so great!

Honestly, Mexico and pretzels and thirst are all I remember of the evening, until I was walking with E and cousin-E, hanging back from everyone else. The three of us just LOVE the fiber-optic stuff in the sidwalk near, I think, the Innoventions building.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4605.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4607.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4608.jpg


From there, I'm sure we went back home, and I remember having a late-into-the-night conversation with Robert, cousin, and her hubby, and then it was good night.

[kaoden39]

That ride looks cute. I can see why Robert call it Mexican Small World.

[bumbershoot]

September 17th.


Because of the long day and late night, we were lazybones on Saturday. I was under the impression that Robert was both watching the time AND knew what time checkout was. Whoopsie, NO, he didn't.

My sudden realization of the time caused a panic. Enough said.

Thankfully the housekeepers were flexible, but you are REALLY not supposed to be in your DVC room after 11, and we were. :headache: A bigger tip than normal was left.


The conversations about what was best to do next were akin to the highest level of calculus. Confusing. At some point my aunt decided that she wanted to just go home for the night, which meant that no one had to have too many people in their Dolphin room OR share a very small room with family they don't see all that often. But she was worried about things at home, and hadn't brought the right shoes (she has very persnickety feet), and she said she really WANTED to do that.

But they wanted to be part of us checking into the Boardwalk, so we did that. And that all on its own was FAR too confusing. So I'll skip it. Except that we got the chance to hang out in the lobby for a bit, where I started to fall madly in LOVE with the Boardwalk.

And this was absolutely not expected or anticipated in any way!

The front is beautiful. The lobby reminded me of something in my head, or maybe of some book I read years ago, I don't know, I just felt at home there. This chair didn't hurt (except perhaps to sit upon), as it really reminds me of the art and whimsy at the McMenamins B&Bs in Oregon and Washington (http://www.mcmenamins.com/Hotels).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4613.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4614.jpg


Our room was actually available, so we headed down there and eventually met the Bell Services guy there with our bigger bags.

Side note: there is no short term parking area there for guests to drag their bags inside. And the parking lot is approximately 18 miles away. And the walk to the hotel is all uphill. AND the people who take the bags out of your vehicle if you bring it up are NOT the same people that delivery your bags to your room (you can't just have one person follow you on down), so just prepare your wallet for double the tips, and drive on up! Don't bother to even try to carry your bags, unless it's chilly OR you're from the South, and you have light, rolling bags and no children who might whine. End of side note.


As we trudged up the hill, I noticed the rooms to the left, which were sort of basement-looking. I thought "our room is so cheap I bet it's there!". And I was right. If we were rule-breakers, we would have hopped the hedge and walked down the grassy hill to enter our room from the patio. Since we're rule-followers, however, we took the long, long walk.

Our little patio, that I wanted to spend some time on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4645.jpg


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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4649.jpg



OK, so we all crowded into the little studio. Almost as SOON as we'd shut the door after the last person, there was a huge sound! Fire alarm! Ack! Ack! Ack!

Everyone else headed right back to the door, like good humans. I, however, ran around grabbing wallet and camera...what a dingbat I am. As soon as I touched the door handle to leave, the family had found a maintenance CM who said it was just a test, and then the alarm stopped. WHEW.


After they checked out the room, the family went on over to the Dolphin to check in, and my aunt went back home (1.5 hours away). We were given the opportunity to wait for our luggage and to change into swimsuits.


The room!

I took a picture of this door (to the toilet/tub/shower area) because I was madly in love with it. However, the picture does not show me why. :) It was wider than a typical door, and I loved the knob/handle. I just LOVED this door. It's possible I was a bit tired by then?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4633.jpg


Here is the vanity area, and you can see the "studio kitchenette" area in the reflection.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4634.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4637.jpg



I loved just everything about this place! I went to the Boardwalk because of a lack of points to just stay at the OKW 1 bedroom another night, and felt strongly that I would just be dealing with the place, but found myself wanting to sell all our Bay Lake points and buying scads of Boardwalk resale points, so that we could stay there for all of our well planned trips.


I loved the cabinet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4635.jpg


This closet was actually quite large; large enough for me to, you guessed it, LOVE it enough to take the picture!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4636.jpg



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4640.jpg

OK obviously I didn't take all of these pictures when we first got there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4643.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4641.jpg


As we headed out the next day (we'll just skip ahead for a moment b/c it's a picture of the room), I snapped this shot of the mirror and shelf next to the door, thought "oh I have to grab my Tea rose", then forgot about my rose. That was the last time I saw it! Sniffle sniffle.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4638.jpg

[kaoden39]

I have to tell you E looks adorable in his fedora.

[bumbershoot]

He says "thanks". :) He loves that thing.

[kaoden39]

He looks rather dapper!


The cabinets look a lot like what I have seen of the PPH in recent trip reports. Scotty and I were talking about our February trip and he was trying to talk me into changing our hotel to an onsite one. I am just not going to do it, I have two free nights at the Ayre's is one of the reason I chose there. Hmm maybe we will do one night at the resort.:rolleyes1

[bumbershoot]

Oh, that's cool to hear about PPH. It makes sense, from what I hear about DCA nowadays, etc etc.

It's hard to give up FREE nights! But yeah, I bet you could find a good day to be at PPH, a MM day perhaps...

[bumbershoot]

I know that my regulars won't care, but just in case there are lurkers who will wonder about the next part, let me explain that it was totally allowed. :)

We'd checked out of OKW that day. As I'm sure we all know, when you check out of a Disney hotel, you can still use that hotel's facilities all day long. And if you're a DVC member staying on points, as well as their guests who were on the reservation, you can still legally pool-hop.

Therefore, with this in mind, we all went to the Boardwalk pool. The Scary Clown face pool, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!


I'm sure you can find images online that make that pool slide (you slide out of the clown's mouth, ugh) look terrifying. I know that I barely wanted to go near it! Until I saw it, that is.

Even though our room was really inconvenient from the lobby, it was a hop, skip, and a jump from the pool area. We went outside, and I saw that the bar was themed as though it were an old-fashioned carousel. Very cool. It's called:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4619.jpg


Now, all I planned to do was sunbathe and have some of those libations, since the lovebug infestation level was low there. But when I saw the area and felt the energy from the people just flat out having FUN there, I changed my mind!

I don't have a lot of pictures; I was too busy playing. But I did take some shots showing the ominous clouds...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4620.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4621.jpg


If I ever join a band, it will be named Ominous Clouds, by the way. :)


The pool gets deep enough for fun, but it has shallower parts, too. The tile-work on the edges of the pool is pretty.


OK, now refer back to the picture just above. See that round sort of section of white construction (kind of looks like scaffolding)? It's the swirly part of the pool slide. The stairs are of the same white boards, and you start off WAY high up, and then you just go around and around and around and SHOOT out into the pool. I took ONE look at that time, abandoned my stuff, and headed on over.

No one expected that, LOL. I never did go down the OKW main pool slide, and I went down the Coronado Springs' pool slide exactly once. But this one, wow!

At the top, there's a light system. You wait for the light to turn green, and then you can go. As you go on down, you're going around and around, then suddenly you go turn the OTHER way, and it feels like you're going to go flying out of the slide! Then you are at the end, and out you go!

It's exhilarating. I went on a few times. In a row.



The adults sort of swapped back and forth hanging out with the kids that had no interest in the slide (not Eamon, that's for sure!) vs going on the slide. It was pretty fun. :goodvibes

At one point, I was chatting with my cousin+hubby, while Robert and Eamon went on the slide repeatedly. I don't know what started it, but we were talking about the clown's face, and how it wasn't as big as pictures made it look. I mentioned that even Disney's *advertising* pictures for this slide made it look scary, which seems to be the opposite of what they should be doing, LOL. But it's nothing like that. It seemed relatively small, and safe.

So we're just staring at the clown face, and I guess we were tired or sunbaked or whatever, because it started to look like the clown was making different expressions. We know he wasn't, but that's how it felt at the moment.

Oh look, I'm a benign, happy clown. Oh wait, that's my *tongue* you're sliding down, on your rear, and suddenly the clown's face looked disgusted. Cousin's hubby made the nasty suggestion that the slide should be brown (sorry 'bout that). Then the clown looked perturbed, like "why are you mocking me, humans? I let you slide several times in a row, why are you going to be like that?". Aw man, if we HAD had some libations it could not have been a funnier moment (I know it's not translating, but I also know you'll trust me on this). Good times, good times....


Finally we were all about ready to go. We went back to our studio and everyone took turns in the suddenly-too-small bathroom, changing. Once dry and changed, we headed out for dinner.

[kaoden39]

I have seen pictures of that clown slide and yeah it does appear menacing. I think that it could have gotten real fun if you had been imbibing in libations.:rotfl:


Oh and my first thought when I saw those clouds was that they looked rather scary.

[bumbershoot]

Oh if only there had been libations!


I highly recommend the hotel and the pool. If you ever get out there, look into it.


One of the things I've found myself missing the most from the trip is the constant cloud-watching! It's so interesting to watch these frightening things build and move and get closer. Here in western WA we have beautiful clouds, but they are either white and fluffy, or grey and actively raining (sometimes not)...there's no big scary looming things throwing lightning at you (or very rarely). It's boring here, it turns out. :)

[kaoden39]

You're right about that. This year has been odd with the thunderstorms and such so we have had those clouds. There is something to be said for them. Today I was marveling at how pretty the fog over the hill was. It looked like a blanket.

[bumbershoot]

Wow, fun weather for you!

**************

the 17th, continued (and maybe even finished up).


For dinner we went out onto the Boardwalk. Finding food was always a tricky thing, as there were so many ideas of good food as well as good prices. We finally chose Big River Grille. We waited a bit for our names to be called, and at last we were inside.

It was...NOT what I had imagined. To me, a brewpub has dark wood, booths, it's noisy but muted. This place reminded me that to others, a brewpub is a very sterile, simple place, meant for brewing beer, not making people comfy. I went to one like that in Albany NY once, so maybe it's an east coast thing?

It's stark and LOUD and really really loud, and they put us (with 3 kids) at a high table with tall chairs, and it was super-duper loud. My cousin and I were somewhat aghast, and if either one of us had pushed for it, we would have told the family that we were going elsewhere. The interior of the place was THAT bad. To us.

There were many other people, all right behind us at the bar, who seemed to really enjoy the place. Didn't mind all the games being played at high volume on the TVs, didn't mind that everyone had to yell to be heard, which caused others to yell louder, which then made people yell even louder... They seemed to be just fine with this. So, what I'm saying is...your mileage may vary on how much you like or dislike this place.

Alas, neither of us pushed hard enough, and we stayed. Dangit.

The *food*, itself, was decent. Robert decided to go crazy and just order things he wanted, instead of things that were actually listed for sale on the menu, LOL. Which means he asked for an order of mashed potatoes, which were listed as a side dish for something else, but NOT as a side on its own. Crazy man. :) He also ordered a "greenhouse salad", with blue cheese.

Eamon got the mac and cheese, which was such a surprise I nearly fell off my....oh wait no, not a surprise at all.

I got a quesadilla and a seasonal beer.

Cousin's hubby, who is blonde (this is important in a bit), was sitting across from me. I was asking the server about vegetarian things, and we worked out the very very few things that they had that could be made veggie. Shortly after that, cousin's hubby ordered nachos "for the table", and he was being kind by asking for no chicken. I reminded him that he could get it on the side, so he did. After this, the server thought that he and I were together, and that Eamon was ours (and maybe my girl cousin, as she has light hair). Which then left my cousin, who is part Irish mutt and part Mexican-Indian (Native Mexican not having the same obvious understanding as Native American...and only Canada uses the beautiful First Nation phrase), and has dark hair and darker skin and deep deep chocolate eyes, to be *obviously* paired with DH, who was sitting at the opposite end as my cousin, and their child was obviously cousin-E, who has black hair.

It didn't take her *too* long to get it straight, but it took too long. If that makes sense? She let it affect her for too long once it had been explained that no, the blonde man across from me was not ordering FOR me, nor were our orders together.

Cousin and I mentioned, once the groupings were worked out, that each of us has a Tables in Wonderland card, and the server was OK with that.

Other food was ordered. Cousin ordered the Greenhouse Salad, with ranch.

The nachos were *quite* good. My quesadilla was as well. E's mac and cheese was good, and although I didn't like the taste I had of them, Robert liked his mashed potatoes.

The PROBLEM was that they had something like 3 servers giving food to us. Ridiculous. There were only 7 of us. And it's not like they surrounded us and plunked the food down all at once, which would have been impressive and worth the peoplepower. And what it caused was that Robert got cousin's salad and she got his. Which no one noticed, because both dressings were white. And it only was really realized after both of them, independent from each other, asked the server to bring them an "extra" side of their preferred dressing. I was the one who finally caught on, because I was in the middle and sometimes have a knack at putting 2 and 2 together, LOL.

You would think they could have just swapped salads! But no, because my cousin had put some of the nacho chicken on her salad and mixed it all in. Dagnabit. While Robert liked his ranch/blue cheese mixture, my cousin wasn't so enamoured of her blue cheese/ranch mixture, and dinner was unpleasant for her.

Shouldn't have been unpleasant, especially once the server was notified of the problem...but the server NEVER, not once, offered to bring her a new, correct, salad. And it wasn't asked for because no one knew if the server would also put some chicken on it. Now...if DH had been involved in this, the server *would have* brought a new one to her, and oh you can bet your bippy they would have put nacho chicken on it! But DH was not involved, he was hangin' at the end of the table with Eamon and Cousin-E, both of whom were just snarfing down their food like no tomorrow, and he was enjoying his potatoes and dressing-mixup salad.

The cousin-kids got some sort of chocolate moussey cake, and E, on his own, ordered the fruit cup (oh I adore him). Little-cousin just devoured her cake, and when the server came by she said "excuse me, can I please have more of this cake?" like it was a soda that got refills. It was SO cute.

The bills came, cousin and I popped our TIW cards and cards into the slot, and she took them away. Mine went totally fine. But cousin's came back with server saying "we don't take the AP discount, so sorry". A ha, but they don't HAVE APs! What happened last December was...the CM didn't print her TIW card on the TIW stock, and instead printed it on AP/ticket stock. And this hasn't been a problem *at all* until September 17th. After a lousy meal (for my cousin). Aw drat. We set the server straight, and hopefully she'll remember that she needs to take the huge amount of energy to, you know, LOOK at the printed part of the card, not just the picture part of the card...

There was talk of not leaving the auto-gratuity, and around the same time I decided I needed to get out of the stuffy place. Whew, fresh air without everyone yelling about football games! Sweet relief.

Eventually everyone else came out, and it was getting late. Cousins wanted to show us their room at the Dolphin, and I was the only one interested in it, so I followed them while R&E went off to watch a movie in the room.

Ooh their room was niiiiiiiice. The Swan and the Dolphin are Starwood resorts, and have Heavenly Beds. And their room was massive. Their nearby "view" was a staff entrance with staff trucks and whatnot. But, it turned out, once it was MK's Wishes time, they could SEE it, waaaaaaay off in the distance, just *perfectly*. I didn't stay for that, and in fact made my cousin NOT walk me downstairs so that she could see it with her immediate family! I hadn't yet seen Wishes apart from Hallowishes, and I wanted to wait until our MK night with *my* immediate family. :love:


I went on back, and it sounded like my guys were doing fine, so I stopped to get treats for the next day. Cookie and something for them, big ol' nasty cupcake, that I knew I would hate but *had to* get for me, then I got an iced latte, and I was happy. Went back to the room, E was asleep, Robert wasn't hungry, I ate the cupcake, disliked it, but ate it all anyway, it was all good.

E slept in the pullout couch and Robert and I shared our first queen-sized bed in AGES, and apart from that CPAP (actually, Variable = VPAP) facemask losing suction every few hours and making scary noises, it was otherwise very quiet in the room (no snoring!), and we all got lots of sleep. Yay.

It was a very very up and down day, that's for sure!

[Brady's Mom]

Molly, I'm exhausted just reading about your dinner and changing rooms. I can hear the din of the restaurant and I would have been overwhelmed. :scared1:

The pool pictures looked really nice and the room looked nice too. I would like it, for sure.

[bumbershoot]

Yes, you can see why I felt I deserved this nasty-awesome (or awesome-nasty?) thing...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4630.jpg

[bumbershoot]

September 18th!


My aunt was coming back with the van, family was over at the Dolphin, and I was so so so SAD to be leaving the Boardwalk! That's when I took most of the pictures, and especially the patio ones, because I just wanted to be sitting there with a libation. And I wanted to swim again. Dangit!


We slowly packed back up.

Ah, something i haven't yet mentioned...while we were in the 2 bedroom, Robert brought a router so I didn't have to be wired to a wall on my computer. He kinda thought that family would be bringing a laptop as well, but it turns out they have an ipad and liked using the wifi through the router on that.

Alas, something like 2 days into it, my computer went insane. I mean...got weird and strange and it was BAD. I thought for sure my computer was dead. And it is amazing how SAD it is when a computer dies!

Now at the same time, the router died. Robert got another half day from my computer by taking away the router and plugging the computer into the wall, but then it stopped again, was just the white spinny screen, never booting up. Oh so sad. (note: I'm typing on that same computer, so don't be so sad! be mystifed, but not sad)

To ME, the router AND computer going kablooie at the same time cannot possibly be a coincidence. Robert...hasn't had the time to really think about it. When I add in the concept of the cousins' ipad, which we have no control over and don't know what virii are on it, being somehow linked into our stuff via the router, it just gets weirder to me.

Well Robert needed the wireless for his upcoming work trip, so we had to take a trip to Best Buy very soon.

We were all being very flexible about what to do that day, and when family was going home (they had obviously decided to play hooky from church), and that was fine, but we did have things to do! And one of the things discussed was swimming...but I'm a little bit of a stickler with that. NO, no one asked to see proof that we were allowed at the Boardwalk; but when you HAVE proof that you're allowed, that's one thing. Not having proof because half the group is NOT allowed to come in that day? That's too much for me. So I was avoiding the swimming convo at all.

Finally we decided we needed to check out and we wanted to check in to OKW. And it's possible that Robert wanted to check in as our immediate family. So we headed on out, and contacted the family once we were done checking in.


Sword fight with a random kid at OKW.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4655.jpg


Having that sword fight was in close quarters, as people were checking out and amassing to leave for the port for the DVC Members Cruise! I figured that must be what it's like in super-peak season, with the lobby being filled to the rafters with people!


The Cruise Line buses waiting for the people. Yes, that's THREE of 'em.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4657.jpg



They met us over at OKW. We didn't want to say "bye" quite yet, especially for the kids' sakes, so we decided that lunch was in order.

Robert remembered Sassagoula over at Port Orleans French Quarter, we all decided it was a grand idea, and we were off!


This day was overcast and felt different than the other days. But what's there to do? Take pictures of pretty places, of course!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4664.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4666.jpg


We had veggie burgers, E had the shocking choice of mac and cheese, I bought 50 cent Mickey straws for the kids, and we all shared beignets at the end of the meal. My aunt just wanted a milkshake, and then, of course, the shake was bad, and, of course, she didn't complain to anyone who could do anything about it, so nothing could be done about it. :teacher:


After lunch we went a'wandering.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4667.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4668.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4670.jpg


We checked out the pool...it was very cute!

And then it started POURING. So we went back into the lobby-ish area.

And there was a fabulous CM who told jokes and made us laugh and gave the kids coins....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4675.jpg



After a few false starts, after realizing the rain isn't going to let up and there's nothing much to be done about it (cousin-hubby, little cousins, and Eamon had played in the arcade a bit, which was cool for them), so we said our goodbyes. Bye!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought it was a much more tear-free goodbye than last time, though the boy cousins were crying, but it turns out that was just me. Everyone else, I found out later, was holding it all in. Great, so I'm the bad guy. (or at least the tear-free one). Meh, I was exhausted! and frustrated And worried about my computer, or rather about *replacing* my computer. And I was tired.


So we went from there on to the airport hotel because, and if I said it wrong earlier I'm sorry, I was wrong, we needed to pick up Robert's credit card that he'd left there! They found it, he'd left it at the restaurant while picking up fries and veggie sushi and other dinner while E and I were swimming that first Orlando night, and they were holding it for him. Once I lost MY card at Epcot, even though we could have simply moved money around and used the debit cards, we didn't want to lose the rewards on the CC expenditures. PLus, it felt weird to have a card just sitting over there.

So off we went, to the airport, and eventually figured out where to go and got the card and security was very secure and stern but kind and we missed the Hyatt and the lady at the front desk remembered us.... We snagged treats and coffee from the expensive airport Starbucks. And then we found our way to the Best Buy.

Where we encountered the antithesis of the employees at the Hyatt, with a young woman wandering the Router department having less clue than I did about Routers. Oh SO helpful.... We finally figured out that they have the dimensions of the routers on the tags on the shelves, and since that was the main difference between the two Robert found that met his needs, and since they wouldn't open a box for us, we needed that info. So glad the employee now knows that they have dimensions on the tags! Glad we could help her figure out her job a tad bit better.

And off we went, back to OKW to look more thoroughly at our room!

[bumbershoot]

While driving back from Best Buy, along a road I've forgotten, we encountered a floopy toolbooth. We've taken pictures to document what it did.

First, the GREEN light wasn't working, apparently. And there was no OTHER indication, in the absence of the green light, that it knew you had paid. So we plunked our 3 quarters in, and...nothing. NO green light, and it just went back to showing we owed 75 cents again.

So we did it again, one quarter at a time.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4678.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4679.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4680.jpg


threw that last quarter in, and....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4681.jpg


GAH!

We drove through after paying twice, though I do need to find the note I took on what tollbooth that was, to write to them. They need to know!

[bumbershoot]

Our 1 bedroom was a bit of a surprise.

At checkin, the CM mixed me up. My last name is also a man's first name, and the CM just went looking for the *name*. So I got the porfolio of some guy who'd booked on points, with the dining plan (which I found out b/c the CM started in explaining things to me before I had a chance to say "uh, wait?"). HIS room was ready.

Once we figured out that it was not my beautiful wife (REM reference, sorry), or, rather, that this was not my portfolio, we found out that OUR room wasn't ready.

So we got his room. I tried to not let it happen! I did I did! Dangit.

The CM said that it's a handicap accessible room, and my immediate words, and I quote myself, were "absolutely not". But then he said "it also has the big jacuzzi tub" and I said "wait, what?" I also asked "doesn't this other guy NEED the HA room?" and the CM said "no, there is no request for one, it was just assigned". And then I said "tell me more".

So it's a walk/wheel-in shower in the toilet room, but they still had the big jacuzzi tub in the master bath (which just has a sink and storage and the bathtub). Well OK. I asked if there was anything else different with the room, and he didn't indicate that there was, and I said that if he PROMISED I would have my tub, then we'd take the room. He did, so I did.

And it was all fine.

There was empty space below the sink for knees, should someone be in a wheeled conveyance, and the microwave was down below. And it was a side-by-side fridge/freezer rather than the top/bottom set-up, but I minded none of that. I actually liked the shower. This time...Robert and Eamon hated it, LOL. Oh well!

The room was in a gorgeous little corner of the resort, on the first floor of course, with a lovely little patio (that I never went out on because while the guys were unloading the car I had seen some sort of bug/lizard hybrid* that scared the pants offa me). It was near the quiet pool, which also had the playground where my auntie had taken the kidlets that day when the kid-parents went off to shop.

View towards the quiet pool.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4682.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4683.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4684.jpg


Loved this tree.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4686.jpg



OK so housekeeping had left this *adorable* towel owl (yeah, try to say that out loud a few times!) on the little key shelf below the hall mirror. Sadly, I only used the flash, it seems, and it doesn't really look like a cute little towel owl here. You are just going to have to believe me.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4688.jpg



I got us quickly unpacked (some people do not do this for split stays, but I find it much better if I do, even if it takes a little time...it actually makes me feel like I'm truly there, AND there for longer), and we were hungry, and we wanted to go to Columbia Harbour House because we'd missed it on the Party night, so off we went to Magic Kingdom!

I don't know if it was that time or another that I said "the bus will be easier" and then the bus was NOT easier. But the car was so far away that it would be impossible to get the car-getter back, should the bus show up....so we just waited, and...yeah that day was frustrating. I think it was that day, but I'm not totally sure. it did happen, though!

Dinner was tast-a-licious! Aw man, did that sound too much like Sandra Lee? Deep dark secret; I am her. She. Whatever. Hey, it even works b/c her last name is indeed a man's first name! How cool is that! So YES, I am Sandra Lee. Except that I'm not skinny and wasn't married to a very rich man and in fact don't have any "was married" situations in my past at all, and I don't have a niece and...OK fine I'm NOT Sandra Lee. Can I still use "a-licious" for adjectives?

But seriously, CHH was deelish. (OK now I'm Rachel Ray? And that name ALSO works for what I've previously mentioned! What's up with the Food Network people?) (Paula Deen...change that to Dean, and boom, there it is again.)

E got the ground-shaking mac and cheese, though this time he also included a side of broccoli. We got the Vegetarian Chili (scrumptious!), a side of couscous (good!), a side of fries (meh and so unnecessary but that's what happens when everyone is hungry), and the Lighthouse Sandwich, which was...omb** SOOOOOOOO good.

Lighthouse Sammy (Rachel Ray again) = "hummus with tomato & broccoli slaw on toasted multigrain bread with potato chips"

Good. Trust me. Could have eaten two. Not that I'm saying it's small. It's large even when you don't think it looks it. But it was THAT good. We were all VERY happy with our meals there.

If I remember correctly, we chose to eat instead of watch fireworks. And when you sit inside Columbia Harbour House during fireworks, it feels like you're at war (yay, no more Iraq war! so glad!) with bombs bursting in air... Do NOT take anyone with severe PTSD in there, if it was caused by bombs, OK? Get the food to go for them, LOL.


Magic Kingdom'ish things were done that evening. It's always good to do MK things when you're at MK. Otherwise it's just far too frustrating, isn't it?


The Jungle Cruise line is funny, though very arachnid-filled. This made Eamon nervous. Me, too, but I had to be the grownup and protect him from the images of them. Sigh. I like solo trips when I can be the chicken!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4690.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4691.jpg


We had a wicked-good time that evening, just being us. Just like I'm sure the cousins have an amazing time when it's just them! It's so much fun to do family things, and it's fun to do immediate family things. (and it's fun to do solo things!) I think we can all agree that it's just fun to do THINGS.


Eventually they kicked us out.

Not until late though, because I *think* that this was a night where the park was open very very late for resort guests (EMH).

This picture of Wall of Minnies was taken after midnight, for example.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4694.jpg


We made our way home somehow, and I suppose we slept!





*that's what it looked like, anyway

**oh my buddha

[kaoden39]

Sounds like you got pretty lucky with your room. I think I might enjoy that shower myself.



Today was a proud mama moment for me. Loren's hair has been long and something he has really taken pride in. At our local community college they had a Locks of Love event and Loren got his haircut. He gave six inches of his hair. They loved him in there. They even took his picture and interviewed him for the school paper. He hasn't wanted his hair touched for years. He looks great and best of all he feels great.

[bumbershoot]

Aw, how neat! Yay Loren!




My computer is trying to destroy my mind. It's not working again, acting like it has no internal modem, etc etc. Robert is now scouring the internet for refurbished macs... Im using the tortuous iPad he has for work. I hate typing on this thing! Which makes it a big problem for trip reports....:headache:

[kaoden39]

Aw, how neat! Yay Loren!




My computer is trying to destroy my mind. It's not working again, acting like it has no internal modem, etc etc. Robert is now scouring the internet for refurbished macs... Im using the tortuous iPad he has for work. I hate typing on this thing! Which makes it a big problem for trip reports....:headache:


My best friend has an iPad she takes on business trips because she already carries a laptop for work. She does her college courses on the iPad. I will never know how she does it. It would drive me nuts. I hate the touch screen on my phone. Good luck with your computer.

[bumbershoot]

:goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes

I'll have a little pretrippie (or as the iPad wants to call it, a pretty pie) in the DLR section, thanks to Sherry and The Man Who Gets The Alaska Air Miles. :goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes

[kaoden39]

:goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes

I'll have a little pretrippie (or as the iPad wants to call it, a pretty pie) in the DLR section, thanks to Sherry and The Man Who Gets The Alaska Air Miles. :goodvibes:goodvibes:goodvibes


I shall go look for your pretty pie when I am on my computer.:rotfl:

[Brady's Mom]

Checked out the pretty pie and am subscribing. I am soooo longing for DLR. But the soonest we'll probably make it is March. I think I can live that long......maybe........

[bumbershoot]

March isn't soooooo long.

[DisneyMomma81]

Bump ~ well where's the rest of it....?

[bumbershoot]

Hello! I was just coming over here. Got photo bucket opened, have my receipts, even my hotel packets.

Let's all just remember this, though....

My computer is trying to destroy my mind. It's not working again, acting like it has no internal modem, etc etc. Robert is now scouring the internet for refurbished macs... Im using the tortuous iPad he has for work. I hate typing on this thing! Which makes it a big problem for trip reports....


And don't laugh too hard at the autocorrects that I don't catch. :wizard:

*****************************


September 19th! One hundred million years ago, it seems. Many thousands of frequent flyer miles for hubby later.

We awoke at Old Key West in our one bedroom, which was in building 42, it seems. Right next to the quiet pool which also had the Turtle Shack Snack Bar. Alas, we felt we were in such catch-up mode, we only got to that pool once, and the snack bar was not open while we were there.


Today was an Epcot day, and we were excited! I'm sadly not sure exactly what time we got there, but I believe there was some FP getting and possibly some riding going on, before we headed over to the Coral Reef area for lunch. We did make sure to run into Innoventions to grab KimPossible FPs for later!

We had a little time once we got to the Seas area, so we rode their Nemo ride....ah, yeah, well...I followed it even less than I do the submarine version! When we were done with the ride, Robert said that they had told the story backward, and I remember basically agreeing with him.

Here we got lost because there's no signage to point you to the restaurant. Actually, we thought there was, and we went upstairs and out of our way because a sign said something about it and pointed to the escalator, but it's just a viewing area. A CM, when we went back down, agreed that the sign is weird and causes problems. So we went back outside into the HEAT, which is what we were trying to avoid, and of course the exit is a hike to the restaurant. We hiked, got there, and soon enough we were seated.


Doesn't it just LOOK hot that day? Gorgeous, but hot.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4696.jpg


E got pizza, and the plan was that Robert and I would share a Caesar salad and their vegetarian thing. Which is helpfully referred to on my receipt as "Vegetarian".

I'd tried to take pictures of the menu, but they were dreadfully washed out. So all I see on the one shot with anything but bright white is "vegetable potato strudel". But the current menu on allears.net says "mushroom phyllo crisp".

A picture.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4700.jpg

Whatever it was, it had great potential. Which was absolutely ruined by horrendous amounts of salt, a gross and tinny tomato ragout, and something in it that smelled horrid to me. Robert could smell it too, but he doesn't read it as a stink but I do. Smelled like stargazer lillies, and that is one of my all time worst smells to be around.

I still am not sure what that round thing near the carrot and asparagus was. And I ate it!

The phyllo was good, and if I just ate without involving my nose, most of the inside was good, but I didn't even eat my half. Robert saved me by handing me the salad.

I doubt we would go back. The place was overwhelmingly fishy, especially smelling of salmon which I also despise, so it was unpleasant just starting off! The tank was...a tank. Same fish, same sharks swimming in circles.

We ate, we planned, I asked the server to make sure the chef knew about the incredible amounts of salt that made it difficult to eat, and that the tomato sauce was just not good. She thanked me, so hopefully it made it back to them.


We left, and I thought these light sconces were fun.

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Wandered over to the World Showcase. Today, Eamon was on a mission. He was going to finish the KimPossible mission! We were game, though it was, as I mentioned, rather hot that day.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4706.jpg


There's a whole plant world under that water.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4707.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4708.jpg


And fish!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4709.jpg



Timing is everything.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4710.jpg


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On our way to Norway, where we needed to pick up the KimPossible thing (first get FP, go where it tells you, they give you Kimmunicator phone and tell you somewhere else to go), we saw El Donaldo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4713.jpg


The very nice KimPossible CMs asked us if we had previously saved any countries. We told her that we had saved Germany in December, and mentioned that with the heat it would be lovely to go in order starting with Mexico, so the backtracking would be minimal. They agreed, and it was all set.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4715.jpg


If you see people doing this at the parks, don't judge them for working or being unable to come away from angrybirds, or having kids who can't focus on fun...they might be doing KimPossible!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4717.jpg


OK I have to take a break. The iPad...it's probably not as frustrating as it is for SherryE to post her pictures, but it's close! So before I put my finger through the both sensitive and insensitive touchscreen, I'm stepping away for a bit.

[kaoden39]

I wish they had the Kim Possible thing at Disneyland it looks fun. Of course I don't think it would work there.


No fix for your computer yet? You poor thing. I don't even have a touch screen e-reader.

[bumbershoot]

We haven't decided what to do about my computing needs. R wants to get me a refurb Mac, to replace my almost dead MacBook, but even a refurb is spendy and it bugs me. But when I use a PC I want to destroy it. There are ways to make a PC feel more like a Mac, but that seems time and money consuming too.

Alas, r has informed me that work will need the iPad back soon, so I've got to make up my mind.

The Mac was fine until that beer spill...sigh. And the Mac was free with an apartment lease back in 2007, so it's not like we normally run around buying very expensive computers!

[kaoden39]

Macs are pricey for sure, but it is a well spent expense for sure. I am used to my windows based computers so I can get one pretty cheap. Too bad the iPad has to go back. Even if it is a pain to use but it is a computer.

[bumbershoot]

If the last two, nay, three PC laptops Robert has had (since we met) were anything but pieces of junk, I would have more faith in them! But even this most recent one, which he actually says he likes and hasn't fallen apart yet unlike the toshiba he had when we met, is just so physically mind-bogglingly difficult for me to use. I mean, it's here, I know how to get online with it, and yet I'm using the iplop (took me FIVE times writing that before it stopped taking the i out of it) instead, that's how much it bugs me.

It's funny how much I like proper Mac computers, but really cannot stand anything else apple makes.....



I really cannot deal with photobucket tonight...the process of trying to copy each image URL is just too much. But at least I started on the 19th, right?




And YES I would love to see a KimPossible type thing at DLR.

[kaoden39]

I am a fan of HP computers. We had one for several years that was used by 10 different family members at one point. I have an HP laptop and Scotty has a Dell. My HP is a good soldier and it keeps going, his Dell is enough for me to say I will never own another Dell product again.

[bumbershoot]

I will agree that Dell most definitely sucks! To put it gently, and based on our experiences. :3dglasses



I have the photobucket open, I'm just trying to will myself to continue my story!

[kaoden39]

:dance3:

[nancy drew]

As a PC user and Mac disliker, I will agree that Dell sucks. I've had good luck with HP, but my Dell bit the dust way too soon.

Yes, please continue your story! You must finish before we go (12/16).


And although it would disrupt the flow of your report, I'd love to hear anything else you have to say about the Boardwalk. We are staying there this time, just for 3 quick nights (not in the villas, just the regular hotel) and I'd appreciate any hints/suggestions/must do/must avoids. We're eating at Kouzzina (I've heard they are VERY vegan friendly, and the kids menu seems to have more options than anywhere else in Disney). Not sure we will be able to use the pool since the weather might not cooperate. After reading recent posts I'm really nervous about taking the bus to and from MK.

[bumbershoot]

Well, remember that we swam in December despite it being disgustingly cold. Since you are used to colder weather than we are, I bet you'll be fine. Get tons of towels to dry off and warm up in once you're out! Hopefully your kids will want to go on the slide!!!!

IMO, avoid the big river brewery. But kouzzina was good, even with just going from the menu's vegetarian option. Only time I've EVER liked dipping bread in olive oil!

Not sure of the bakery will be worth the time for you...maybe the kids though. Even their key lime pie was made with gelatin, bleah. But jus about every place we looked had Silk soy and chocolate soy milk, and I think the bakery did, too.

Its just a fun place to walk around in. Lots of energy especially right at dusk.

If you drink espresso and don't want to deal with the bakery or kiosk, there's a coffee place over at the "swolphin", which is a lovely walk from the boardwalk!

[bumbershoot]

The 19th.



We were starting on our KimPossible quest. Went to the stand in Norway and got the phone, and were sent back to Mexico. It was all very simple, especially in the daytime. The only clue we had a hard time with was in Norway, actually. We also did a lot of back and forth in norway, which can be avoided somewhat if you just go through the bakery instead of walking all the around.

Found a couple clues in the temple...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4719.jpg

Then made a bird talk.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4722.jpg


The effect involving this was VERY cool.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4723.jpg


The temple smells SO good. Food food food. I confess here...we might be the reason so many restaurants now have cancel fees. There were more than a few ADRs that we just forgot about. The ADR at San Angel was not one of them...we were in there at the right time for our dessert, but we just didn't want to have dessert there at the last moment because we were still full, and there wasn't a line or anything, so we just didn't go. So sorry about that.

Since it's basically a little tienda area' doing this quest offered good opportunities to look around. Loved the silver shop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4724.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4725.jpg


Finally we were done with Mexico and went out into the heat. Stopped for a mariachi and sunscreen break.

Some trees have their own protection, which I think is so cool.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4727.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4728.jpg

[bumbershoot]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4730.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4731.jpg

The above is the seating area for the bakery, whose main entrance is on the other side of the big building in the first picture. And there are bathrooms up that walkway.

I'll just go ahead and mention that it was really hot that day. Not the first or last time I'll mention it.

This was the area where we had the problem. You are supposed to stand in an exact spot and we just couldn't figure it out. Oh well!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4732.jpg


The ducks made it worth being in that space though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4734.jpg


Oh yeah...Eamon made that chimney smoke happen. This is in the courtyard near the bakery etc.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4736.jpg

Raised the flag here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4739.jpg

The spot above is back over on the other side again. Annoying.


At THIS point we got hungry for dessert. Luckily we were near the Kringla bakery, and I had heard good things about it.

Now you know we ask about ingredients. Not here! We went crazy and didn't look back.

Got a Cloudberry Horn, Jelly Roll Cake, and the famous School Bread.

And all three get a big ohhhhhhhhhh that's so good from us.


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The school bread has a coconut creamy filing inside and on the top. The horn and roll seemed to have about the same filling as each other Berry-ish and creamy. It was hard to pick favorites! The bakery did have other things, and sandwiches, too, also, alcohol even hard liquor! Our second time there days later we saw the CMs giving, or selling rather, a shot of something evil looking, lol.


After such a treat, even though we had waters as well, I could not ignore the call of the beer. Also, one of my planned souvenirs.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4745.jpg


I kept our tip change in my Germany beer mug from December, and it worked well so I have grand plans for adding this one to the bank!


The guys at some point here decided to go on Maelstrom. I had my beer, so I just did a little shopping. I wanted to sniff the perfume Laila, as I had heard good things about it. I liked it, and put some on to see how it lasted and changed. Also found Geir, a men's cologne by the same perfume maker. Little note...these CAN be bought elsewhere...online, actually, so there's no need to feel pressured to buy while there.

As I waited for them, I couldn't help but notice a change in the weather....

[kaoden39]

A change in the weather? Does this mean hotter?:scared1:

[bumbershoot]

Do you see what I see?


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4746.jpg


Besides the gorgeous temple, of course.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4747.jpg


Oh WOW. I absolutely loved watching this storm get closer. There was something so primal about it. I doubt I could deal with living with storms like that, at least as someone responsible for keeping things safe. I remember going running in Miami as a storm like that came in, but I wasn't the home, or even a car, owner.

We took some pictures and did some KimPossible things, and it was hard but fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4749.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4750.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4758.jpg


Finally, though, we knew we had to take cover. Robert, even though he has lived in the tropics before, was in denial, but when we saw the outside sellers like the parasol guy starting to batten down the hatches, even he had to admit the reality of the situation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4759.jpg

And yet in the other direction...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4760.jpg

[bumbershoot]

At first, the weather almost got hotter. It was like the sun got closer or something. Like if you lay out and suddenly it's noon and just mind-bendignly hot.

But then the storm got closer, where you knew it was coming in our direction, and the temperature dropped, and breezes cropped up. A very lovely, but scary, feeling.

[kaoden39]

When we get clouds like that with the blue sky and sun I always tell our kids that it is thunderstorm weather.

[bumbershoot]

And indeed it is!


So we took cover. Luckily, that's where they have the movie about China. While waiting for that, I looked around.

The ceiling.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4762.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4764.jpg


Hey look who else was taking shelter?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4766.jpg


As we waited on benches, the room filled up. It was pretty much full by the time the theater doors opened! In the meantime, the sky had also opened up, and was dumping all the water of the area onto Epcot. I was glad to be indoors.

The movie is one of those 360 movies, where you stand, hanging onto a rail, looking all around! It's slightly cheesy, it's outdated, but it had both me and Robert in little tears. Me because I don't know if I'll ever get there and because I knew Robert was reacting to it even without looking at him. Robert because he misses it.

I was glad to have seen it!

We did a little browsing after the movie. The storm had passed.


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We found a jade necklace that Eamon loved, got a ba gua hangy thing (feng shui thing), and some stainless steel chopsticks for Robert. We were looking at Chinese zodiac posters, and it hit me that my mom was also a Monkey, just like Eamon. And so, I had my first real cry of the trip. Sniffle. So we bought the little print of Monkey information. I should mention that we were coming up on my mom's birthday, and spending time with my aunt always brings mom to mind, so it's not a big surprise that I got sad.

I was still upset, and went outside while they bought those things, and they also got E a ninja sword (we thought we would get Viking stuff that day, but the ninja sword won!).

While in China we also saw the art/history stuff, and were happy to have saved yet another country. That's 3 in part of a day!


So we moved along...


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When you save one country, you have the opportunity to either tell the phone you are done, or that you would like to go on. If you go on, you choose what country. And so we kept choosing to go on, in the order that we were walking.

We actually ran out of time in China, and had to reset it. Can't recall if we had to go see someone for that, or if we did it ourselves, but either way, it was simple.

Since we were on this mission, we didn't look through countries without KimPossible stuff, and we didn't pay attention to Germany since we had saved it in December, and we had been there already.

We quickly found ourselves in Japan, which was under construction.

The heat had come back, and the steam bath effect of the storm having dumped water which was now evaporating was making me grumpy and uncomfortable. So we didn't thoroughly explore Japan, though we had actually been all through the stores on our last trip.

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There are a few KimPossible areas in Japan, and one inside the shop gets a lot of attention from passers by!

While there we got to see Miyuki, the candy-making lady. We had to crane our necks, but it was indeed very cool! Contrary to what I've heard, she DID give the creation to someone in the crowd.

They were doing construction in the country, and like I said it was hot and steamy, so we moved along once we had saved Japan. We were on a mission, not sightseeing, after all!

[bumbershoot]

I didn't get any pictures of France. Probably because we were getting kinda tired by then, the quest was confusing, and, well, we felt the need for more treats. Because we had been so deprived of treats that day.

While saving France we stopped at their boulangerie (I think we had stopped by when the family was with us, but it had just closed, and we didn't want to take the chance again...see it, do it being our new motto). One slice of cheesecake one chocolate chip cookie, and one chocolate croissant, and one incredulous sighting of what REALLY looked like a father giving his toddler son beer later, we were ready to go to England.

Side note...if you are sensitive to perfumes, AVOID the France perfume shop! Oh gracious was that a big smell. The Laila was still nice on me, but it reminded me of my Escape (yes I keep perfumes forEVER). Robert's Geir Wess was also quite nice.

I did get myself a Grand Marnier slushy at this point. Hadn't quite been long enough time since the Carlsberg, but oh well.


Saving England!

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It was really noisy so we headed to an unpopulated area so E could hear the Kimmunicator, and in doing so found the backside of a little meet and greet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4777.jpg


The effect here was that the window filled with water. You can sort of see the bubbles, I hope.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4779.jpg


And with that, if I'm not mistaken, meant we were finished with our missions! We had saved the world in a day and we were EXHAUSTED. But there was still more to see.


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The guys had some rides they wanted to go on. And I had some shopping I wanted to do. We split up for that.

I went to Mexico to buy one of the bracelets. After much back and forth I got the circle glass one in a bright green, instead of the beaded one I tried on. I wore it to my friend's wedding last month to brighten up the otherwise black outfit I was wearing.

I went back to Norway as well, and bought Robert the cologne. It smelled SO good while we were at WDW! It doesn't smell that good at home. Different atmosphere, quite literally, I suppose. And I'm glad I didn't get the Laila.

We were so full of desserts that no one wanted dinner at that point. I wanted to do a little more shopping, and the guys did too, so we went to MouseGears once we met back up. Bought some chocolate, a new lanyard pouch for E as we could not find his old one before the trip, a Mickey backscratcher that E has coveted since he first saw it...we bought me a HAT that I'd wanted for literally years...that sort of thing.

No one wanted to wait around for illuminations, so we left. Robert bought some bread at the hotel store, and we probably had some sandwiches for dinner.

We slept the sleep of people who had saved the world (showcase).

[bumbershoot]

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Does anyone else see the original Starship Enterprise in that big cloud there?

[kaoden39]

I didn't see it at first and then I spotted it.

[bumbershoot]

Yay!

[nancy drew]

I see it too :).

I am really enjoying the Epcot report. We're going there for the first time since DD was 3, and we are all very excited! The KP missions look so fun. I have no idea how we are going to manage that and Future World in one day, but darn it we are going to try. It will be our first day, so we'll be fresh and full of energy.

I hope DS gets to try the slide at BW. He learned to love water slides at DLR (Paradise Pier was his first, DLH was his second and third) so he said he would do the clown slide. DD will not do it, no matter what. She will need to work her way up to something like that. I wish she had done the easier slide at DLH, but she would only go if I could go with her, and they wouldn't let me.

[bumbershoot]

I saw kids his age going on the slide by themselves, so if he's brave enough to go up and wait on his own, he should be allowed.

You definitely do not have to do all of the missions in one day. I recommend that you NOT do that! it was exhausting.

If the kids work together well, just one mission might do it for them. If not, and they can take turns, maybe have one do the first and then the other do a second. Or switch back and forth with each clue. They often ask you, during slow times, if there is a country you have in mind, and you could always pick the country that YOU want to explore the most. They don't have a mission, as far as I could tell, in Canada or morocco.

E just loves Epcot, so he would definitely be happy that other kids are going there!

[bumbershoot]

As long as this trip has felt for me, at least I didn't have to spend all last night, his time, at the Frankfurt airport, sleeping on the ground. For whatever heinous reason, no one thought to get Robert a hotel room for the last night, because it was his travel day. Yeah, he left at 6pm his time on the 7th, got to Germany around 9pm his time same day, and his flight home leaves in two hours, at 11am on the 8th his time. With no hotel scheduled. Having that gap (not having him leave mega early to hit the airport in time to catch the flight home) saved them fifteen hundred bucks...someone should have thought about throwing some of it towards a hotel. By the time I figured it out he was on the plane, and when he landed I was trying to sell him on a hotel basically out of our pocket when he was already mentally sleeping on the floor.

Silly man! He also had thought he could hang out in the snooty lounge but it closes. as does quite a lot of the airport, leaving only a small area where peole can wait and snooze. Good to know, in my opinion!

He is finally heading through to his gate, and I hope he is so exhausted that he sleeps nearly the whole way. That way he might be human when he gets in! And if he's human maybe I can stop stressing and maybe, just maybe, kick this insomnia to the curb!!!!!

E and I are also both so bored because we can't do anything because of this cold.... He made a mask as part of a study about china, and I used some of my old belly cast plaster stuff for it. Because I was thinking of it, and buying him supplies anyway, I've started working on my cast again. It has just sat there in my closet all these years, and I'm glad I'm doing something with it now! Still haven't decided how I will decorate it, as it is hard to remember much from the good parts of the pregnancy. I could, though, decorate it with Tums, lol. And arnica gel for aching back? I could do a big, real, miserable thing, but that doesn't sound like fun. Once Robert is back we will brainstorm to remember the good stuff from during that time.

Though making a dye based out of Tums would be incredibly creative, but maybe a bit too pastel.

I got to rewrite history a bit, though, as I trimmed it. Funny how much cuter it looks without all the messy bits of plaster hanging off the sides.


If there's a next time, I'm having pictures taken, no matter how ugly I might be or how huge I might get. Pictures are a lot easier to deal with! :goodvibes
Just go and have a makeup person glam me up, get my hair done, and snap snap snap, done.


OK, I should try for sleep. Will probably end up reading a book, but at least I will have tried.

[kaoden39]

I have the something good possibly. To me there were things that just stood out for me. Like the first time I heard their heart beats or when they would move. Kody kicking a book off of my stomach. Kacy liking music and how she would react to different types. Loren loved to be read to and hear his sisters voices. Little things like that.:goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

E loved music...alas it was Britney Spears! And the biggest movements I remember are when he ran some round body part up towards the top of my belly and FREAKED me out. Also, he had his hands above his head towards the end, and used to twiddle his fingers, and you can imagine just WHERE that tickled me. :scared1:

If only I could have gotten more sleep, maybe I would have held onto the better memories?



I do, however, remember the cherry blossoms outside our kitchen window, and the other trees on the other side of our high apartment, so I think I've found a theme. :goodvibes

[kaoden39]

I am glad you found your theme.:goodvibes

[Brady's Mom]

Your pictures aren't showing up for me - but DH has been fiddling with the router the last couple of days - so I'm blaming him! ;)

I'll come back later and re-read and see the pictures. :thumbsup2

[bumbershoot]

They are just photobucket pix, so it might be an issue there...

[Brady's Mom]

Yay! I had a chance to see the pictures and can I just tell you - the text makes a LOT more sense when there are pictures to go with it! :thumbsup2 They looked really great.

I can hardly wait to try Epcot when we finally make our way to WDW. DS 7 was telling me we should go. I told him maybe when he's ten. Then we'll have an 18, 12 and 10 yr old. We should definitely be able to commando as much (or as little) as we like! And, we won't have to worry about anyone missing school like we do now since DS 15 is in 10th grade and absolutely refuses to miss any school if he can possibly help it. :confused3

[princessmarie]

I am LOVING your TR! Your little guy is adorable too!

I will have to check out your last TR when I get some time. :thumbsup2

[bumbershoot]

Yay, a new reader and an established reader, both commenting! Makes me happy.:goodvibes

We still have no computer solution, because i do not like spending money on myself when keeping that money for travel would be more fun. But I have a funny feeling that everyone will be a lot happier once we do choose something! :3dglasses


****************************

September 20!


We awoke bright and early as this was our Chef Mickey's breakfast day. Reservation was set for 8:05. Eek.

I love the moon, but I wish I didn't have to see it in the mornings.


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The drive in was straight forward. For those who don't know, you have to go through the main gate for Magic Kingdom to get to the MK resorts. Just tell them that you are dining and it's simple, the get to the right and follow the signs to whatever resort you need.


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People talk a lot about how immersed you get at WDW in theme, and how you don't have the outside world intruding, but I don't get it. There are gas stations, a fire station, the roads are like highways, and even though we were going to the Contemporary and it's a Disney hotel, it's still a boring parking lot and not that much different than, say the HoJo Anaheim's parking lot. And this just hits me wrong...I just don't wanna see it from the mundane spots.


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Some day we will go where we own! Well, unless we sell and buy a bunch of resale points at Boardwalk first. Yah, sure that'll happen!


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Ooh, the upside of being up so early.

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We were there early, I was tired, and I knew I was not going to be drinking the regular Disney coffee, so we snagged lattes at the Joffrey stand in the lobby. Finished them and went on up...yay for cool escalators.





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[bumbershoot]

This was E, re-enacting his moment of bliss as he tried whatever it was he was loving so much.

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The family behind us was funny. There were so many of them, and with each character we had to wait AGES for them to be done. We were patient and just waited our turn, focusing for those moments on eating.

But with Donald, the ONE character who came to us first, they were photobombing! I don't know why, but they did not seem to have their patient pants on, and it was just odd. We had ONE person at our table doing the meet n greet thing, versus their who knows how many, and we were very aware of the need to be brief.


The food was basically decent, and e had fun but I wouldn't feel the need to eat there again. Even Robert was semi disappointed, because the whole reason he wanted to eat there was because he wanted to sit under the monorail. But they sat us in an area away from that area, more protected.

But it was good for the experience, at least!




Up next, we go somewhere unexpected and take back our vacation! But I can't do it tonight.

[kaoden39]

Yeah I noticed the photo bombing. I just don't get it. I am so conscious of not doing that to other people. And what is a few minutes waiting for one child when you have an army.:confused3


Decisions, decisions......I hope you like whatever you end up with.

[Brady's Mom]

We had the photo bombing happen to us on our first family trip to DLR. We were getting a picture out front with the Mickey Floral and this woman just kept edging closer and closer and kept getting in our pictures! :headache:
So now we have pics with this random woman in them. :confused3

[bumbershoot]

My computer is pretending to work right now, and I'm going to take advantage.

Oh, a keyboard I can feel, and no computer brain changing my words as I type them.... And if there's any way to make you think a not-huge laptop's screen is nice and big, use an ipad for awhile! Oh joy, I can type it with a lowercase p! No autocorrecting here!

The boss man is hinting at needing the ipad back, and when the boss man stops hinting it will be needed the very next day, so I've got to get on the ball with choosing something.

Happily though I figured out the basic problem with the computer. It's all about moisture (no surprise since it was a beer spill that started it all) and the Shift key. If it gets steamy under the keyboard, something goes hinky with the inner workings of the key that is Shift, and as I'm sure you all know, the Shift key does a lot. Biggest problem, that I figured out by googling while everyone else was confused, is that hitting Shift while logging in puts you into Safe Boot mode. Which hides the computer's knowledge of the AirPort, which means ya gotta be wired to the wall. Which makes you think the computer has died a whole lot more than it actually has.

Intriguingly, we are also having weird moisture issues with our microwave; when it gets too damp inside (because of pasta boiling below it), the fan turns on and stays on when the door is closed.


So anyway, let me get prepared, let's all hope the inner workings of the Shift key stay like they are right now, and I'll try to get some report in!

[bumbershoot]

Yay! I had a chance to see the pictures and can I just tell you - the text makes a LOT more sense when there are pictures to go with it! :thumbsup2 They looked really great.


I was just fixing up my links in the first post, and got a chance to quickly review those pictures and the little descriptions, and I can see why it really wouldn't make much sense!

"and fish!"

:rotfl:

[bumbershoot]

September 20, The Park Edition.



We had previously planned to make this a MK day. Makes sense, right? But when that was planned, we had NO idea that we wouldn't have been to AK yet. Because, if you recall, we thought we'd either be going alone to parks in the mornings then meeting with family later for swim and food and no parks at all, or they would just go with us.

So here it was, day million (or so it felt), and no AK. This would not do, not at all! And that's why we drove to breakfast, because we were going to drive to AK. And so we did!

This is yet another imperfect memory day (the good news is that Robert isn't traveling and will be home soon, and might be able to fill in some gaps in this report).

At 11:30 am we were seeing this!

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Basically, today we started in Asia, since before we had started in Africa. Eamon wanted to try Expedition Everest again. He had been too surprised by it in December to enjoy it, and was willing. Sniffle sniffle, growing up!

He liked the ride this time!

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Weird plant.

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So pretty...so hot.


Things I remember from this day. Hot. Cranky. Robert and I having tantrums while waiting outside the Kali entrance for it to be time to get new FPs so we could get them for Kali (cannot recall what we had them for already, though maybe it was EE b/c I recall the guys going more than once that day), me stomping off with some excuse to put my feet in water that was splashing in a kid area....ugh. Who knows why those things happen? I blame the stinkin' heat.

I mean, not to quote Biloxi Blues or anything, and it's not correct since we were in "Asia" after all, but seriously, it was hot...Africa hot.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4834.jpg

Finally we went on Kali. We had FPs in our pockets...for later. So there we were, in a stand by line from Hades. The thought of 2 minutes of refreshing water was worth it. At the time.

But not by the time we reached the front. :headache:

The line was far longer than the line said it was. Which we should have known, as we had sat there watching the wait get longer and longer before we got in the line. But omg.

The line is HOT when it's warm outside. Sure, it's inside, or at least under shelter, but there's no air conditioning. There are *some* fans, but the time spent in between them is way too long.

Making it all so much worse was the group behind us. As we entered the main part of the line, where the path is a bit wide, I knew they wanted to pass us. But we were moving steadily, though a little slower than usual (I had blisters, have I mentioned that? and it was HOT), but because of the steady progress I just didn't think they should go in front of us. We were getting enough people passing because they had FPs (a righteous pass, because the left line is for FPs but it wasn't roped off all the time) or because they didn't know you were supposed to have FPs for that side (a failure on Disney's part to not rope it all the way off OR have CMs along the way....but it was really amusing to watch those people have to go back to the END of the line, making the walk of shame past everyone they'd just passed in such a "those people are such suckers for waiting in THAT line" sort of way), and I just couldn't deal with this large family getting their way by being rude. If I'm taking pictures at Mr Potato Head and there is a vast empty space between me and the next person in front of me, YES, GO, go ahead, pass me. But not when we're all just making our way to wherever the line was clumped up ahead.

So we were thoroughly punished for this.

This large family of people who were either from elsewhere, or who were getting their money's worth out of Rosetta Stone, if RS sells a Brazilian Portuguese set, were just obnoxious in every way we could have imagined. The whole line long.

Between setting the children free to roam around in line, to letting a boy who was darned well old enough to know better go OUT of the temple and onto the themed "grounds" of the temple where no one is supposed to be, to the women of the group standing THISCLOSE to Robert.... It was just thoroughly annoying. The standing thing was the absolute worst. I am not exaggerating when I tell you they kept standing so close to his back I'm surprised they didn't just put his shirt on. It was so weird! And I can't say "it's a cultural thing, personal space is differently defined there" because they weren't standing that close to me, to Eamon, to each other, to anyone. Just to Robert.

So...ya know...90 degrees outside, 100 in the temple line, 130 in Robert's general vicinity because of the people taking turns immediately behind him.

While all of this was going on, I was realizing I wasn't feeling so great. Not quite enough water yet, we were running out of Vitamin Waters (brilliant creations, the Power C and Revive formulas are, brilliant!). Woozy.

We're approaching the end of the line and our patience, I'm getting out the ponchos, and then there's mass confusion because the head of the family in the next FP-holding family thinks he just gets to go into the line willy nilly and he's getting stressy because he's not allowed and we're getting stressy because it's OUR turn to go not the FP dude's, and I'm getting stressy because I really WANT MY PONCHO NOW but the idea of putting it on at any point earlier than I absolutely have to put it on is sickening to me as I am worried I will melt into a puddle from the heat.

OK I'll back up and tell you that the ponchos we have are nylon, definitely non-disposable, and not really hot, apart from the concept of how it will trap heat under it.

But I couldn't reason it out. I'd been plunked down in Asia in monsoon season but without the monsoon and I was annoyed!

Of course, R&E weren't having these problems, they just put on their ponchos. But I barely got mine on before we got to the boat.

And then we were put in the boat with the family in *front* of us. The family behind was so difficult I haven't described the front people, but they were basically back-people Lite. I would have thought that they were together (and if they had made ANY indication that they were indeed together I would have let them join up but they did not) but they never once spoke a word to each other.

So we were with the front family, and they did NOT know that they would be joined, and had spread themselves out in the boat.

Let's just say...the system had to slow down for our boat, and if that family had not spread themselves out it wouldn't have had to slow down. Now if Robert and I were teensy we could have squeezed by, and so it wouldn't have slowed down...but "not being teensy" isn't against the rules of the ride, but "not giving others room to sit" kinda is.

The ride was wet, I got drenched, especially on my bum, because I hadn't gotten the poncho down enough, and never got the chance to fix it. I was NOT happy.

In fact, by the time we got back to the dock, I was VERY not happy. By the time we got to the bridge where there's room to put yourself back together, I was VERY VERY not happy. And by the time we got a few steps after that, and I realized how damned wet my bottom had gotten, and that I was peeved with myself for not buying the "wicking" underpants made for runners, I, yes, I started to cry. At that moment, I felt that the world was just ruined for me. I mean, sad moments of Lord of the Rings sort of sad. Aw man I was a mess.

So let's let me get myself back together, and I'll post on this embarrassing note.

[bumbershoot]

More September 20.


We were standing there, trying to deal with my silliness. And I notice that we are right near the entrance to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Although I wasn't looking forward to walking in thoroughly wet cotton, what other choice did I have? I'd either be walking there or to rides. And I'd wanted to do the trail anyway, so I suggested it. The guys agreed.

Here kitty kitty....


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It's like you are walking through a big temple, a ruined one, and there are tigers roaming. Thankfully the ancient Hindus who built the temple knew to put plexiglas in the big holes, because otherwise it wouldn't be fun to walk through there at all!


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I started to feel better, though not the cotton-swathed parts of me, LOL. I'd made this big deal about getting "duo dry" shirts from Target, like 6 of them in different colors, so I wouldn't have my upper half drenched during our days...but the bottom part of me was just cotton, cotton, and more cotton. Ugh. This is not recommended. Buy some running clothes and some easy-dry shorts. This is what I recommend.

But the point is, my mind threw off the tantrum. And that is good.


I can't remember what sort of cow this is.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4844.jpg

But she was sitting rather far away. There weren't many animals in her area. The CM in that area mentioned that the animals start moving away from the guest parts when they sense "weather". And...these animals were doing that...ruh roh.

We didn't even make it out of that little part before the rain started to fall!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4846.jpg


We sat on a bench in this little area that was surrounded by bamboo. And we discovered that bamboo is AMAZING in a rainstorm! The leaves are so close together that it just catches the drops and you don't get the full measure of rain. I actually took OFF my poncho for this storm, and people who had been out of the bamboo were passing by, more drenched than I had been after Kali. We just sat on a bench under the bamboo, thought thoughts of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and waited it out.


On our way out of the trail, once the storm was done...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4848.jpg


I was feeling a bit more myself, but not enough to deal with EE. Plus I wanted to sneak a Mickey Bar. ;) So I sent the boys off, with promises that I'd buy them a chocolate dipped banana for when they were done.

So I stood in a tiny bit of shade and ate my Mickey Bar and people-watched. While I people-watched, I noticed that the frozen bananas don't act like the ones in Anaheim. In Anaheim, you have to wait awhile before you try to eat them, because they are SO frozen. But people were actually taking bites, and not holding their mouths in pain after, even just a few steps beyond the cart. So...I decided I would not buy them ahead of time. The Mickey Bar was melting fast enough already!

They came off the ride, found me, and got in line...and got Haagen Dasz bars instead! Glad I didn't get 'em bananas.


Thoroughly refreshed (now I see how people eat frozen snacks all day, it's just an attempt to cool their innards down), we went back past EE into Dinoland.

Dinosaur was rejected again by E, and the adults didn't ride it either this time.

I do believe we rode Primeval Whirl. Again with the longish line, but that was OK. There were fans in this ride, and no one crawling up Robert's...shirt. This ride was just as fun as on the last trip, and it's certainly safer since the safety people had their way with it over the summer.

R&E went on Triceratops Spin (I wasn't feeling the go around in circles thing), then E went to play in The Boneyard.

Before he went off, we made sure that we were allowed in as well, and were glad to know that there's just one exit. Kids can nearly disappear in the place, but if you station yourself near the exit, you can be as sure as you can be that they aren't going to sneak out and *actually* get lost. Whew!

We sat in the shadiest spot possible, and rested our weary bones. Eamon played Indiana Jones above us.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4850.jpg


He played for as long as he could, which was actually awhile, and then we started hearing thunder, and the place was closing. We called it a day at that point, and slowly made our way out of the park and to our car.

[bumbershoot]

We went on back to the resort. Relaxation is good.

But then hunger hit. Decided to go to Olivia's, the Table Service place at OKW, and then to Publix after that.

You see, way back last December, I bought some cheapie basket coffee filters for our trip. Took them back home and stored them in my Disney drawer (cheaper than Owners Locker, LOL). Brought them back. Everyone was unpacking on the 13th, and from the bedroom I heard "hey mom, where are the coffee filters?" "I don't know"...and I snagged mine and went into the kitchen, meaning to have a "ta dah!" moment. However, by the time I got out there the kitchen was empty. So I just put them on the counter.

Fast forwarding to unpacking at OKW 1 bedroom...no coffee filters. :headache: I'd made do, and that's how I found that the Revive Vitamin Water is very good. But I needed some coffee.... And once I got some coffee, I realized that my "ta dah" moment was understood as "oh, mom/daughter found the filters, yay her!" and they never knew that they came from me. So then they packed 'em up.

Ok that's a long sidenote.



Since we were going to the store after, we drove to the restaurant/checkin area of OKW and parked up there.

E was pretty excited for some reason, and was being really goofy. As we walked across the parking lot, he was skipping or something, a foot caught on the ground, and he tripped.

Backing up again to the first family day of the December trip, we were walking up to the building, saw the family for the first time, E sped up, and just biffed it on the sidewalk. I scooped him up and took him into the restroom at Olivia's.

So here we were again....Eamon was falling to the ground.

But...he's had months of more advanced Aikido since then, and they've been practicing falls. I can't even describe *now* what happened and what he did, but while watching it I was amazed. He managed to gently catch most of himself, then relaxed his arms and did a bit of a shoulder roll, easing himself from a full-on fall. SO cool to watch!

Now he still get a nasty little scrape on his knee, again. And he had a bit of a scrape on his hand. But compared to what it was *going* to be, before he slowed it down and rolled, it was nothing.

Still required some modified scooping up (he's nearly 60 pounds people, I can't destroy my spine for a *scrape*!) and cleaning up in the restroom at Olivia's. After cleaning him up we went into the store; I was hoping that they had a little first aid kit and could hand me a bandaid...sadly, no, I had to buy a bandaid kit.

OK so anyway, that was all worked out, and we met up with Robert, who had gone to be seated.

Our server was *fantastic*, the food was good, it was a very nice cozy place to be. We watched the sun setting from the window, we relaxed....it was nice.



Went to Publix, went back "home", prepared for the next day. :goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

September 21.

We went to Hollywood Studios. We were there for rope drop, but not *early* for rope drop, so we waited for it inside the park. An interesting thing you notice once you're done with strollers. People leave huge holes between each other, even at rope drop. Not "I'm saving this for my grandma" type of holes, but "this is where the elephant goes" holes. If you can walk single file, just head through and snake up. None of the jerky moves, but seriously, anyone could have moved up, and they were not, and I just don't know why not. So we filled in the gaps. Oh, and i'm not even talking about being right up at the front, but halfway back! Just odd.

Once it was time for rope drop, we headed straight for the Sounds Dangerous area, because that's where the Jedi signups were being held. Got there to a line! We were inside the building, but still...a line. How?

It turns out that we had missed the *very* early Jedi Training Academy sign-ups. Since we didn't see it, I don't know how they are doing it, but...there we were, there as soon as a person could be there (well, there *were* people in front of us, but not many), and when R&E finally got to the front of the line, they were able to sign up for the 2pm show. :headache:

By the way, we had a 1:05 ADR for Brown Derby. :headache:

Oh well, let's enjoy ourselves.

While they were in line, I went off to get FPs for TSMM, and I also talked with my aunt. She was considering bringing boy-cousin out that day, but it turned out that she had a flare-up of her knee problems (some vein thing) and couldn't sleep all night. So that was off the line-up. Didn't the same thing happen in December?

We met back up and rode Star Tours. Again. I was a skeptic, as I might have mentioned, but it was good! The lines were *nothing* for it while we were there, I'm talking 5 minutes, so we took advantage.

Since we were there, since Eamon was committed to doing the Academy, since he's bigger now...we surprised him by getting him a Build Your Own saber. (again) :) It doesn't look as big next to a 7 year old as it does next to a 4 year old! :3dglasses


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4856.jpg


TSMM was as fun as always, and afterwards I bought the cute R2D2 popcorn bucket that we had seen before. The guys were off somewhere (bathroom?) after I ordered 3 cups of water and the popcorn (and I was carrying other things). I had to wait for fresh popcorn to be made, and the CM and I had a chance to talk. I was wondering how I was going to carry it all, and she told me she had confidence that I could do it, as I was a woman and a mother (there's a theme of womanhood in this trip...). She then got it all out for me, I managed to wrangle it all, and was amazed! She told me she knew I could do it. :)

For whatever reason, though, we didn't really get into the popcorn at that time. Too full, really, to open unless you were sitting, and we weren't interested in sitting. Mainly interested in drinking that glorious ice water.


The other thing that kept us from eating it was that we went to Animation Academy. And while waiting for the next show, E waited (with R) to meet Pooh.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4861.jpg

We drew Chip. I did NOT like the Animation CM, she was really ineffective, wasted WAY too much time with everyone giving input on who to draw, and kept giggling at herself. The important stuff, how to draw and WHEN to draw it...got pushed aside from her personality stuff.


**************
While moving along *at some point* before noon, we passed by Brown Derby, and ran into the manager (assistant manager?), checking things over outside. Being a talkative person (hubby tells me I need to stop chatting like crazy while telling people I tend towards hermit-tude, because they won't believe me, but both people are me!) I felt the strong need to ask/tell her to NOT change the coconut tofu dish. That everyone else was taking their interesting vegetarian entrees off the menu and replacing them with dreck or Yet Another Veggie Burger. And that those things are negative. :)

She told us to come by when the restaurant opened and they'd seat us asap so we wouldn't miss Jedi.

So that's what we did!

OK it wasn't perfect, it wasn't fantastic. DH and I decided to share the Cobb salad without meat, and the coconut tofu meal. DS got the grilled cheese. We got the same great server we got in December, so that was fun. We were nearly in the center of the restaurant instead of in a booth. The Derby is one of the only places where booths are comfy for DH, so that was kind of a bummer. Next time we won't have a conflict and we'll be willing to wait for a booth. :)

Because I felt very much on display. Especially when DS, whose belly wasn't quite full after his grilled cheese and carrots&celery with mustard, and while waiting for us to order dessert, decided to get into the still full popcorn bucket and spilled it. How embarrassing.

Anyway, the Cobb salad without meat was...how can I put this...disgusting. I mean...slime. I know that the Brown Derby, the real one, supposedly invented the thing...but YUCK. They chop it so so so small, it's more like slurry than salad. We were hungry so we ate it, but...bleah.

The coconut tofu, however...just delish! Same as in December. Different from December...the way they presented it. :( The first time they split it into two bowls and it was more like two servings. This time it was just one serving, and we had to ration it. Next time we'll spend the BIG bucks and get two.

We got dessert, too. One of the few we got! Tasty again!


We left basically happy, having had lots of water and ready to face the heat again.


E had to go sign in for Jedi stuff (you know those Jedis, having to do all that paperwork) and R went with him. So I went to go survive the heat and wait on them and the show.

Lovebugs were back, and the heat was tremendous. I decided to poach a seat at the CS place despite not eating there. If it had been full I wouldn't have, but it wasn't. Ohhh was it warm.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4866.jpg


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Jedi outfits showed up...

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4871.jpg

[bumbershoot]

Padawans showed up. I came out from my shady seat and stood in the bright hot sun. The kids had the shade...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4872.jpg

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The pictures do not capture the sun. the pictures look downright overcast. It was NOT. It was sick sick sick sun.

OK I know that in December I whined about the cold, and now I'm mentioning the sun. While there, I kept saying "I'm so glad it's not cold, but that doesn't mean it isn't hot!" And other things like that. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4878.jpg

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I *loved* the Jedi Master. She was hilarious! I'm sure it's all just the same script, and any of them would be funny, but she's the one I saw. :) (well we saw the guy at disneyland, and he was similarly hilarious but had even more amusing lines) She made some cheesy joke, no one really laughed, and she glared at us and did the Jedi mind hand movement thing and said that we WOULD laugh at her jokes. Said the joke again and of course we all laughed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4882.jpg


OK he wasn't really paying attention but he rallied.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4884.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4890.jpg


E was one of the last to go. Oh I love watching all the kids do this!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4892.jpg


E was so intimidated.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4893.jpg


They all pushed back at Vader.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4895.jpg


And Vader left.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4897.jpg


In line for his certificate.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4903.jpg


Almost as soon as Eamon was done, the clouds covered the sun and there was relief from the searing heat.


I actually don't think we did much else, and then it started to think about raining as we were leaving. Robert made fun of me (and all the other people doing what I was doing) for taking pictures of the clouds instead of getting out of the approaching weather.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4905.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4907.jpg


And off we went!

[bumbershoot]

I can't get over how well my computer is behaving! It's a trick, of course. I'll decide to NOT get a replacement, all the ones we've been looking at will be sold, and then it'll kick the bucket entirely. A trick I tell you!

Time to go to bed, though. Gotta edit for typos tomorrow, since my eyes just can't be trusted right now.

[bumbershoot]

This creeping crud E and I have can just GO now. We are definitely 99% better, but I'd like to be all better now. OK? OK. Was talking with someone who had it hang on for a month...omg cannot handle that.

[kaoden39]

Wow your computer is being really good isn't it? I love the picture of E with the wig on!! He is a real ham sometimes isn't he?:rotfl:



Well, it looks like I am joining the ranks of homeschooling. It ought to be interesting. I will have one in college, one in public school and one doing the homeschooling. It ought to be interesting.

[bumbershoot]

Back to the 21st....


Eventually after leaving DHS, we grew hungry. We also wanted to head to DownTown Disney, in order to return something and buy more stuff.

So first we went to Sweet Tomatoes, and then DTD.

Lego was important because E had a Lego VIP club-thingie $5 certificate to use. Since the closest Lego store here at home is an hour away in a city we don't particularly enjoy, it's best to use those while at Disney. E got the POTC Cannibal Escape set, which he thoroughly enjoyed during the rest of the stay.

I then scoured Arribas Brothers for a pair of dangly Mickey Head earrings. I'd seen them on disneystore.com, then I saw the red ones at the Arribas cart at MK, but didn't want to buy them then. I got the clear/white ones, instead, once I found them at the store. When at Disney, I like wearing Disney jewelry. :)

And then we returned the "buy this extra thing with purchase" watch that Robert had been drawn to on our first DTD visit.

And THEN we went to Once Upon a Toy, for Robert to get the lightsaber HE wanted (they didn't have the part he needed at the Star Tours shop). While there, I found out that you can buy individual Potato Head parts for $2.50 or so.

This is what E made at the table of Potato Head parts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_4908.jpg


4 stores in a very short amount of time! We were wild shoppers that night, LOL. Oh and then we got a large, decaf, iced latte from Ghirardelli. mmmmmmm.

At last, good night.

[bumbershoot]

Michele!

Well, I'm excited for you, though I know this isn't the way you wanted it to go. And it means the district failed her, right? I'm so sorry. It's rotten when you come down to *having to* homeschool. Just like with my cousin, when her son was booted from the school.


Will you be doing a school-at-home sort of thing, with a curriculum like K-12, with her actually enrolled? Or is it just the two of you, no enrollment?

If it's the latter, this link (http://www.hslda.org/highschool/youcan.asp#services) *might* have good stuff for you. Might have good stuff even if you're doing an enrolled type of homeschooling! I'm not sure.

And maybe this (http://www.thehomescholar.com/) will have something useful too (though I think it's a paid-for thing). Not sure!



Meanwhile, Eamon's been giving me such fits that I went so far as to looking up what school he would go to automatically, if I enrolled him. :rotfl:

And ick, he would NOT be going to the school the district map showed me...yikes! Scared me straight to think of it! And gave me more patience.

We're trying to do this week's work AND the last two weeks' worth, as neither of us was up for doing ANYTHING mind-related. So that's slightly stressful. I'll get my patience back. :wizard:

[kaoden39]

Molly, yes they failed her badly. Kody has had problem since her freshman year when she was in and out of school first with MRI's, spinal taps, and all those very scary tests for headaches that they were never able to pin point quite what the problem was. Plus she had a case of mono during the school year too. I tried to get help from the school because she was falling so far behind. Needless to say she never got any help. In her sophomore year I tried to get her in another school because I finally realized that her headaches were stress related, but no they wouldn't help. Again last year we fought. This year starting the first week of school I started calling her councilor. Finally today after all this time I got through to the vice principal that she has got to leave that toxic environment.

The vice principal gave me the name of three different programs that are online. She told me that they might not take her blah, blah blah. Well, the first place I talked to hooked me up. She will be supplied with a laptop and that is her school. She can take Japanese as a foreign language as an example. I am thrilled.

[bumbershoot]

You started calling the counselor when school started, and only NOW were you able to talk with the VP? Ugh!


The laptop thing is cool, isn't it? It was one of the things that almost swayed us. :) We looked at K12 and Columbia, the two virtual academies I've heard of that are allowed in WA.


Poor girl...it's just not right that such headaches should be brought on by the stress of school. :hug: Hopefully she'll start feeling a lot better soon.

[kaoden39]

We have a fight every morning. She is convinced she is sick and she cries. You know I cannot doubt that she really believes she is sick.


The best part about this for me is that this is a public school so we don't have to worry about a huge tuition either. This is Insight. It is accredited here in California and their curriculum looks really good to me. They even offer AP course so that is a good thing. She can do AP English and not have to worry about being harassed for being smart.

[bumbershoot]

Oh it sounds like me and my mom...I was sick to my stomach every single morning. And came home every day with hives. Not that anyone recognized them as such; I would say that I got 'blotchy'. And they were always faded by the time my mom got home from work. So... But my poor mom had her own battles to deal with; she thought she was so so so stupid, because of weird things that happened in her last two years of school. She was in the "college" program (I guess back then they had college bound programs, and then non college bound? seems awfully self fulfilling prophesy-ish to me), then her parents moved from NY to CA (where she met my father). The school there didn't know what to do with a girl from New York so put her in the basic classes. Then she begged to be moved back and stay with friends, and her parents complied, but now the NY school didn't know what to do with a year's worth of credits from the left coast, and put her in total basic classes. She went from theater and advanced classes and German, to nothing much interesting.

She never felt competent to judge my homework, or help me in measurable ways (other than not complaining the one night when I FINALLY *got* the word root thing we'd been working on for months, the night before it was due, and I was up ALL night with a manual typewriter, doing the work I literally could not figure out all that time before). So she would not have felt competent to homeschool me, and it turns out she actively kept the knowledge from me. Poor her. (poor me, but really, poor her, to feel like that)


So I'm really glad that this opportunity is available, and that you are taking it! Woo!

Honestly, to do the work without the junk is just perfect, isn't it? There are so many other ways to socialize, and didn't teachers used to say "we aren't here to socialize"?


Sorry, went off on a rant. :) My brother would have faded away if homeschooled. Wouldn't have liked it much at all! But he excelled despite the nonsense around him. Not as sensitive. Able to block out the crud. Lucky kid.


I'm excited for Kody!



*********

The cool thing about the virtual academies that hook up with the school districts is that they are tuition free. Which is so great. We considered K12 but it was SO expensive to do it on our own. Free tuition and the laptop really really did tempt me! Same with Columbia. They either offered a credit to buy the curriculum you and their counselor came up with, or you could just buy Calvert curriculum. And again, laptop, as it was offered through the school districts, and kids in school have access to computers that the parents don't have to buy. Can't argue with the logic!

[kaoden39]

Poor you and your poor mom. How sad is that? If I had any idea that this was available I would have done it in her freshman year. I feel like I failed her by not getting this done sooner.


I was looking and Insight has a Middle and High School program in Washington, so maybe when it is time for E to move into them it will be there for you. I was rather shocked to hear that they were supplying the computer. I was looking at the languages that they offer and I was amazed. They offer Mandarin, Chinese, Japanese, French, German and Spanish. It is a great curriculum.

[bumbershoot]

One of the nights at the 1 bedroom did involve swimming in the quiet pool. I didn't include it yet because none of us can remember which night it was, apart from the fact that it wasn't the LAST night.

We were all tired, but Eamon and I just could not resist the thought of swimming. The pool was so inviting and quiet and close by... So we decided to swim. Robert could not be persuaded. He was tired and his feet hurt (Robert and I both had blisters by this time, way under the skin so they couldn't be messed with (and before the trip I'd read two posts of people having horrid infections caused by messing with blisters while at Disney!), and I had some on the bottoms of my toes) and he just did not want to go.

So E and I went, and as we walked across the pathway, we saw a tiny bunny. Aw, tiny bunnies are so cute. :)

Got to the pool and it was just nirvana. And there was a lovely British family there, all having fun and being silly and using JK Rowling magic spells on each other...so fun.

We really missed Robert, and so the two of us quietly decided to think REALLY hard about Robert joining us, at the same time. We did this, thinking really really really hard, and it was nice to at least know what we wanted and to think about it. We'd already tried to get him to come with us in person...might as well let the universe help as well, right? :)

So we were swimming and playing and goofing, and is there anything sweeter than swimming and goofing with your kid? I know that swimming with my mom is one of the sweetest childhood memories I have. She seemed like such a good swimmer, so strong and caring, and warm when she would hug me. Sigh. Anyway, it's fun from the mom part too, it turns out. :)

We were having a nice time, and we looked up, and...there's Robert! He decided that even though he wasn't feeling up to it, when else was he going to get to swim there on this trip? So it was now or never, and he felt like he really needed to be with us.

He was very surprised at how happy we were with his decision! :goodvibes

So we had an absolutely lovely swim.

[kaoden39]

How wonderful that Robert decided to join you! Positive thoughts at their best.:goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

Oh you didn't fail her! You trusted the school to help her. A normal person would expect them to step up! Even I was hoping they would get their heads out. And I was ignored by the CA school system to a certain degree. You didn't fail her. You helped her, you believed her, you had her back. And now you get to be an even bigger part of her education, and how neat is that?

I know that time is probably of the essence, but many people going through the transition have a time of "de-schooling". It can be as simple as "yes you CAN sleep in" or "no we don't have to start the work at 8am" or "let's do the work at the park today". But just something to really mark the transition, the change, in both of your lives. (cough, disneyland, cough, ha ha ha)

Anyway, "de-schooling" is something some people do, and if you hadn't heard of it or thought of it, well maybe it will be useful to you. :goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

September 22 dawned. It was a bittersweet day. I mean, one, we were going to Universal! But the sad part was that it was my mom's birthday, and I was missing her BIG TIME this year. 11 darned years...impossible to fathom. I say that every year, and it just doesn't change. It's just impossible.

OK but I don't want to bring myself down here, because we were going up the highway to the land of Harry Potter and the Simpsons!


Checked out, made sure there were no random charges, made sure of the same for the stay before the 1 bedroom. Shopped a little bit, and that's where I found out that the Conch Flat General Store at OKW will indeed take 5 methods of payment! Two gift cards, two disney Rewards Cards, and one debit card. Hey, I had these DISNEY cards and I had to use them up! Can't use 'em at the "dark side", as some call Universal.

We did all that at around 11:30 (yay for sleeping in a tad) and hit the road.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4909.jpg


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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4914.jpg



As usual for us, checking in was overly complicated. Not sure why we haven't worked this out, but there's just something about the car-unloading and tipping and all of where the grace eludes us. It's why we practice so much! :laughing:

The interior of the Portofino Bay lobby is *beautiful*. So lovely. The front desk employee was kind and sweet, and our room was ready.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4916.jpg

Unfortunately, having made no room requests at all, we got the wing across from the boat dock. Which meant we had to get all the way to the elevator (long walk), go down, out the door, all the way around the lagoon thing, to get to the boat. People in a room opposite from us, in the nearer wing, were a LOT closer.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4917.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4918.jpg


There are these moped "statues" bolted down around the harbor.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4921.jpg

Someone loved them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4922.jpg


We had checked in around noon, and started making our way to IOA. Impossible to keep the kidlet away.

However, it was also hard to keep these away...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4923.jpg


But we kept going!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4926.jpg


Augh.

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Just as soon as we hit Citywalk and were heading towards the bridge to IOA, the rain hit. We were unprepared. And WWofHP is all the way in the back of the park. And heck, it was probably time for some lunch, so...Margaritaville's it was! [and the florida/keys/Buffet vibe got to me, reminding me of my mom living in Miami and taking me and two friends to the Keys over our Spring Break Freshman year, and, well, the waterworks started again dagnabit.]


The rain was serious, and took awhile to leave. We hid in the restaurant until it was just random drips. And then...Universal began!

[bumbershoot]

I despise insomnia.

[kaoden39]

Those Vespa type thing that E was playing with are a great idea. I think it's great he wanted to play with them.:goodvibes Silly guy. What a hammy guy!



Boy were those clouds scary looking. I don't mind a little rain but those clouds looked a lot like a lot of rain.

[kaoden39]

I tend to be an insomniac so I feel your pain. I think it comes from being a mom, I was bad before but once I had kids I became much worse. If I manage to go to sleep every little sound wakes me, and it's not like my kids are little enough that I need to worry about him.


I am off to San Francisco this weekend. Since we live so close we are driving in everyday. Scotty is in a three day bicycle race. They wear costumes to this silly type of racing. I have made him a Richard Simmons costume. It should be a hoot!!:rotfl:

[bumbershoot]

Oh I thought that was for Halloween! I can't wait for pictures, if you'll share them. :)

The insomnia, of course, is perpetuated every day. Stayed up late b/c I was sick and lonely while Robert was gone, then am drowsy in the morning. Finally get up, get my coffee way too late, which then keeps me up too late. etc.

[Daisybelle]

Just poppin' in to let you know I am enjoying your report! :surfweb:I hadn't been on the Dis in a few months and I was longing for a good trip report to read and rememered being entertained by your's in the past. I did a search and viola'! Bumbershoot has a new trip report!

We hope to make out way out to Disney World in a couple of years so it's fun (and educational!) to read about people's experiences.

Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup2

[kaoden39]

Oh I will be sure and share them. I can hardly wait to see the racers. This is a silly group. Even when it isn't a dress up race there is racers wearing tutus or some such. It should be fun.

[bumbershoot]

September 22, continued.


I love doing the Universal reports, because I mark down what we do, at the time that we do it, on the map. Makes it much easier. I don't know why I don't do it on Disneyland/world maps!


Once the storm subsided, we headed off to get my AP. I got it online so that we would get the AP discount for the hotel. First we got in the will call line, but I re-re-re-read my email and saw that I could use the machines. Got out of line, did the machine thing, SUPER-easy, and it printed out my AP with my name on it and everything. Took that and the undercovertourist tickets R&E got, went to the line, did the "fingerprint" thing, and we were in!

First thing we went on was Cat in the Hat. Not sure why, but it's a favorite! Then they went on One Fish, Two fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (long name), which is basically Dumbo, but with water squirting at you. fun to watch. :)

You can see that the sky was still rather dramatic. But it was also still hot.

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We were heading to Wizarding World, but as we passed through The Lost Continent, we saw that the Sindbad (not Sinbad as I always thought it was...there's a second D in there) show was starting. Since we were in a "if you want to do/see it, do/see it NOW, not later" mode, we convinced a hesitant kidlet to come with us.

What's funny is that I did NOT want to see the show, because I've heard it's so bad. But sometimes I go into opposite-land, and I want to make up my own mind. And so we went. And...it was decent!

People say that Universal doesn't have ample theming...I don't understand.


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I had no idea he was holding a kitchen sink until I saw my pictures on the computer. We were sitting in the very back row, and the lighting was funny for my eyes...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4938.jpg


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The show had REALLY cheesy lines (the ones I could hear/understand). The storyline was not the best. But the stunts were good, and really, that counts a lot.


At last, to Eamon's way of thinking, it was done (but to be honest he was thrilled to have seen the stunt show), and we continued forward.


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We immediately stopped to get more Butterbeer mugs and Butterbeer. We have three mugs. But you can't get them as normal souvenirs; you have to buy the drink in them, and we wanted to give two away (and hubby wanted one for work). So poor us, we had to buy the mugs again. This time I tried the frozen version, and I liked it a LOT better. Robert could go either way, but Eamon prefers the liquid version (though he won't say no to a frozen sip).


After that, it was time to get Eamon's wizarding supplies. After the Halloween party, when he got the chance to see his dark-haired cousin absolutely rock the Harry Potter costume, he finally embraced his inner Ron Weasley. Whew.

So, the long-awaited, and promised-back-in-December, cloak made its appearance. My goodness Dervish and Banges is tiny and crowded. And my Preferred AP got us a 10% discount (though officially it's not on the list)! And some of the TMs need a little bit more training, as ours got confused, thinking that APs were ONLY for FL residents, had no clue that they were for anyone. Regardless, E is ready for Hogwarts in his XXXS robe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4943.jpg


Went to Filch's Emporium and Eamon got his rat Scabbers. Or, as he calls him, Rex, because it's hard for him to think of the rat being Peter Pettigrew, know what I mean? I got a couple keychains, 'cuz I love keychains.

And THEN we had to go to Zonkos, to buy some chocolate. December's chocolate frog was finally gone, and he needed to be replaced. And my acupuncturist has two kids that are mad for Harry, so we were already planning to get them chocolate frogs, and then she gave me some money and asked for treat-souvenirs! Along with the frogs, we got each of them a chocolate wand and a box of Bertie Bott's Beans. :)

It was fun to have that many bags! Serious shopping is fun...sometimes. (especially when budgeted for)


It wasn't that far from closing time, and after the shopping we wanted to be mellow and just drink in the feel of IOA, so we didn't go on a ride at all after that. We just enjoyed it. Also, it was still drizzling, and we were still unprepared, and E was now wearing a dry clean only, expensive, piece of clothing... So as we made our way into Jurassic Park, we stopped to get E a poncho. Yes, he had one, but it was back in the room, useless. Plus, it was bright yellow, and while he liked the idea of that when we got it, the reality was that he didn't like it that much. So we got a Universal poncho and all was well.

We continued to wander as the light started to fade (dinosaurs looming out of the foliage is creepy at that time of day), and it was also foggy, which added to everything.

Eek.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4947.jpg


The park closed, and we got back to the hotel. We stopped at Sal's along the way, and ordered pizza and salad to go. E was wiped out so he and I went back to the room, leaving Robert to wait for the food. The pizza is thin crust and SO good, and the salad was very good as well! Definitely worth it.

Our first night of Universal was mellow, full of shopping, and with tasty food and drink. Nice!

[bumbershoot]

Just poppin' in to let you know I am enjoying your report! :surfweb:I hadn't been on the Dis in a few months and I was longing for a good trip report to read and rememered being entertained by your's in the past. I did a search and viola'! Bumbershoot has a new trip report!

We hope to make out way out to Disney World in a couple of years so it's fun (and educational!) to read about people's experiences.

Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup2

Thank you so much! :goodvibes


Oh I will be sure and share them. I can hardly wait to see the racers. This is a silly group. Even when it isn't a dress up race there is racers wearing tutus or some such. It should be fun.

Those crazy SF races. :)

[kaoden39]

E looks so cute in his robe. I love the pictures I have seen of Universal. I wish Universal in So Cal was as good as the Orlando one. I would love to see the Harry Potter stuff I am a big fan.


The scary thing is this isn't just California racers.:scared1: I wonder how many of the out of state wear them.

[bumbershoot]

September 23.


We had Early Entrance to Wizarding World,and you know we were going to take advantage of it!

Eamon's obligatory height stick picture.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4949.jpg

He got a LOT of attention, in case you're wondering. All day every day, whenever he put on his Ron outfit. (not that he wore it long, not in the September heat) Glad he's not shy! I could never have dealt with the attention he got.


I got distracted by this *garbage can*. (no theming my rear end...)

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The menfolk had gotten well ahead of me, and I had to rush to catch up. Not fun in the heat!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4955.jpg


We got to WWoHP, and Robert decided to try to go on Forbidden Journey. Since December he was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and ever since he's had a VPAP (like a CPAP, but "variable" pressure) he's lost some weight. Which I hear is common when you actually start getting proper sleep! He is very slow to lose, partially because thats' just his metabolism, but also because he still is dealing with a pituitary tumor (benign) that makes it VERY hard to lose. But breathing while sleeping, and therefore actually sleeping when he's sleeping, has definitely helped. In December, he tried the outside seats and it wasn't going to happen. This time he wanted to try the inside.

And Eamon found his bravery and decided to try the ride. He'd been through the line, but he and Robert left before the sorting hat the last time. This time we went all the way through.

Sadly, Robert wasn't able to ride. I don't know how hard they pushed on the harness, but it wasn't enough. It's a whole host of factors working against him. One, he's got a belly. Two, he has a broad back with some thickness to it. And he's got big arms. If the shoulder space on the ride were wider (they have random metal "walls" that go up between each rider) and he didn't have to squish his shoulders *forward*, then he wouldn't take up as much front-to-back room, and maybe there would be a chance. But those shoulder walls are there, so... I keep trying to get him to do Pilates, just at home, but he feels really so self-conscious about it. But Pilates did wonders for me as we approached our wedding; my weight was much higher than I looked, because the Pilates sucked in parts that I couldn't suck in before. So I think it could help him get on that ride.

He was very sporting about it, didn't let it ruin his day, and didn't begrudge our enjoyment of the ride.

And we did enjoy the ride! I did NOT get ill after the ride. I did, however, have to keep my eyes (partially) open during the arachnid "scenes", so that I could let E know when to close and open his eyes. he really enjoyed it, though he was startled by the dragon breathing fire at us, and the size of the dementors! He was excited to have gone on it. :)

E then went on Flight of the Hippogriff, a small but fun coaster. At Universal, you can ride alone when you are 48", and he's taller than that, so we have started taking advantage of this. I think that Robert went on FotH once this trip, and that's it. I didn't ride it at all. E really enjoyed his independence!

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Since the line for Forbidden Journey was still short, E and I went back around and rode again.



After that we were hungry! We decided to see if there was anything at the Three Broomsticks. Asked the host outside if they had any veggie items, he listed some, but sent us inside to talk to the host inside. He listed some, including a soup, and actually went to talk to the chefs/cooks to see if it was made with meat and/or meat stock. We could see him talking to them, even. he came back and let us know that the potato leek soup there is vegetarian, no meat stock. :thumbsup2

We went on inside, and it was nice and quiet in there. It was only 10:32 in the morning, but they were serving lunch already! Excellent! Because that's what we wanted.

Got a butterbeer refill for the guys to share (with the liquid version you can get a dollar discount if you re-use your mug at the 3 Broomsticks), got a frozen butterbeer for me, as well as a bowl of soup, a baked potato, and a side of roasted potatoes.

Hello, deliciousness!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4961.jpg


I think that E had had a little something before that I'm forgetting, so he didn't need much at that time. The roasted potatoes were for him while Robert and I shared the soup and baked potato.

We were SO pleased with the meal! We're always nervous with soup, because it's so easy for people to be wrong about the ingredients. But neither of us suffered any ill effects, so it does seem that the soup is not meat-based. There's no reason at all for the chefs or the host Team Member to lie, either.



All the snow looked very natural in December, when it felt like it could be real. It's a little more strange when it's hot outside, but that's OK.

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For those who don't know, the bathrooms in WWofHP have Moaning Myrtle talking in the background. In December, I didn't hear her, because, and I think I'm right about this, they had the Dyson hand dryers in there, which destroyed the possibility of hearing her. I didn't notice those dryers in the bathroom on this trip, so I think that they were there but they took them out. It's a neat touch, having her voice. Universal really has fun bathrooms. :)


On our way out of Wizarding World, to get back to Jurassic Park.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4968.jpg

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In December, Eamon and I happened upon a random opening of the Triceratops Discovery Trail, where you meet dinosaurs. It was an amazing attraction that had been closed for several years after a hurricane blew through (or so the TMs told me). But it was closed the whole time we were there. I was sad, because I wanted Robert to see it. :(


I wanted to check out Thunder Falls Terrace. See the inside, and see if there was anything for us. Sadly, NOTHING for us (OK, maybe corn?), but it sure is gorgeous!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4974.jpg

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We never got our minds together to ride the River Adventure, and instead just went straight to Camp Jurassic. The line for Pteranodon Flyers (hardest TM job at Universal, because the height restrictions are so bizarre) was way too long, so we let Eamon play for a good long time. I sat and chatted with a woman who was also reading the main Universal guidebook. We were both just hiding from the sun...


We then went on Spiderman and Storm Force Accelatron, and both were fun. SFA was the only spinny ride I'd been on since the Tea Cups at the beginning of the trip. When I ride such things, I REFUSE to get sick anymore, or if I do feel sick I don't let R&E see it, and we all have fun. Then trying to make me sick (not quite sure why) and me refusing to turn green...ah, good times, good times....

We decided that swimming was an absolute MUST-DO (whoops, wrong franchise...sorry Stacey-of-WDW!), and went off to do it.

[bumbershoot]

On our way out, a picture of a window.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4983.jpg


The big pool at Portofino is behind the West Wing. We were in the East Wing. We had to walk past the West Wing, and the path up to the pool, to get to our wing. This...was frustrating. Next time there will be a wing request!

But we got there, and it was lovely.

There's a big shallow portion, but then it drops off into a deeper part. There's a slide which I hear was fun (I was ruined for slides by the one at boardwalk!).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4984.jpg

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We swam, we relaxed, I dozed on a chair soaking in some vitamin D...it was lovely. And then it got hot. And then too hot. And then way too hot, so we went back to the room.


Of course, with all that lazing around, we were hungry again. And could not think of a single thing we wanted more than that soup from the Three Broomsticks again. So...back we went! :rotfl:


Eek. Looming cloud.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4993.jpg


Part of the entrance area, cleverly called Port of Entry.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4994.jpg


This time, instead of going between all the Seuss rides, we went on a little shortcut. What is cool about this shortcut is that it has my mom's hometown's name on a sign along the way. Not to mention my brother's adopted town!

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We got over there in record time, and got food, tasty food. More soup, some mac and cheese, side salads... And a butterbeer as well as a Hog's Head beer for moi.

However, we were also joined by a certain Rex/Scabbers...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4998.jpg


You might notice that the rat is missing a toe? Clever.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_4999.jpg


He might like Butterbeer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5000.jpg


While there the second time, we ate slower and noticed that there are things happening all around. Shadows moving near the ceiling, props moving on their own, noises...it's really quite cool, how much is going on that you don't notice at first glance.


I recommend a hot September trip, if only for this sort of line towards the end of the day in IOA:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5012.jpg


For those parents who are worried about their kids riding alone on Hippogriff, check out the netting that covers the space between feet and lap bar.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5017.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5018.jpg


It is nearly impossible to not take tons of pictures of the castle, even if you'd just done the same thing several hours before.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5019.jpg


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And this is the evening when we discovered what happens when there are lightning strikes within 5 miles of the parks!

[bumbershoot]

Instead of going through Jurassic Park again, we backtracked. Eamon and Robert looked in this store/stand thing in The Lost Continent that had heraldry stuff. I only think of names and crests and whatnot, but when I lost the guys for a little too long and went looking, I found that there were swords and daggers in the back, LOL. Must remember...heraldry shop = sharp shiny things!

Pretty lights...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5026.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5027.jpg


And then the breeze started. The glorious marvelous wonderful...oh wait I've felt that change in the wind before, ruh roh...breeze.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5028.jpg


Little duck don't care...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5030.jpg

(hopefully you guys have heard/seen the honey badger thing..."honey badger don't care", etc etc) (if you haven't, the caption is "cute duck!")


Aw mannnnnnnn.

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Oh man oh man oh man...

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This is the "back side of" the Seuss shortcut.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5033.jpg


Which has a name!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5034.jpg


Wait, we need to get a little shopping bag to put the camera in, because again we brought nothing to protect us from the rain.

Hurry hurry!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5035.jpg

Hurry hurry hurry!

That was the last of the pictures that night. We were seeing lightning off in the distance, and WOW it just felt scary. We weren't the only ones rushing, either.

So we left IOA and went over to the boat dock. Just missed a Portofino Bay boat, and didn't even think about taking a Hard Rock boat, and just waiting around at HRH. We were waiting for a bit, and the rain started. Whammo. We were glad to be under shelter.

Then the boat pilot for the HRH boat just leaving told everyone that boat transportation was *closing* until there was no more lightning in the 5 miles around us. Aw dang. All of us being silly, we waited. I mean, who wanted to go out into the biggest downpour we'd been around for yet? And the only one we were outside for (in the China movie and then in Margaritaville for the others).

After waiting for a while, another TM came over and flipped out on us. Telling us something we couldn't have known as typical tourists (not just US, but any of us), that the structure is metal, and it just wasn't smart of us to be under there.

Well, the three of us decided that it was best to get out. In the very short distance between the dock (and to the right or left then up the stairs) and across the way to a store (any store) we got downright drenched. Stores are cold!

We took shelter there, along with a family *from Florida* who hadn't brought their ponchos even though they KNEW this was going to happen. Glad we weren't the only ones unprepared! We waited and chatted and talked about all sorts of things, and if I hadn't been so cold, it would have been great. [Sidenote: I've GOT to get into non plus sizes, so I can buy clothes wherever I want to, because I would have bought a sweater or a dry shirt or something, but I wouldn't have fit in anything there.]

Finally it eased, and we went back to the boat area. 3 minutes later a TM came by and told us we still couldn't be there. Gah. But that if we wanted to, we could ride the shuttle.

Uh, what? The shuttle? Shuttle to where? The resorts?


So later I realized that this info is in the brochure or whatever. I could have known. But frankly the idea of a shuttle to the parks, when the parks are SO close, just never made it into my consciousness. So...we waited for over an hour for no good reason.

We tried to help some other people get to the shuttle, but because our information was semi-vague (go towards and past the Studios, continue along the path, and the bus stop is right there) they had no faith, and didn't follow. They decided to walk, instead.

The shuttle came, we packed ourselves in, we got back to the resort.

The bummer here is that we were trying to get back for their pool movie. Yeah, right, movie at the pool during a storm...but it had been moved of course. Alas, it was over halfway over by the time we got back to the hotel (I think they started it early).

We had some leftover dessert and called it a night.

[kaoden39]

Oh that storm is scary business.


You know when I was reading about the food and eating I was hit with the thought that not all restaurants have a vegetarian choice. That is just crazy. There are so many people that are choosing to eat healthier I would think they would cater to all diets.

[bumbershoot]

Even Disney's getting weird with it. They keep replacing interesting things with veggie burgers. Yawn-o-rama.

Thunder Falls was heavy on the BBQ! But not BBQ like a person would make at home with a variety of friends (vegetables, perhaps some tofu, etc...heck, maybe just a veggie burger, LOL)...just meat, meat, and more meat. Oh well! At least it's pretty in there.

[kaoden39]

I don't get the meat, meat, meat thing for a barbecue. I love grilling vegetables. They are a huge part of any meal I grill. I have two barbecues. One is used for meat and the other is used for vegetables. I know that some people would find that silly but I am willing to bet you understand it.


I meant to mention that "Rex" is rather cute.

[bumbershoot]

Note to self: go to Michele's for BBQ. :)

Rex isn't soft, that's for sure, but he's perfect for Scabbers. Scruffy, a bit yellowish, and of course that missing toe.

[kaoden39]

He needs to be a bit yellow. Remember in the first book Ron did the "spell" that Fred and George had taught him to turn Scabbers yellow? It fits. He also shouldn't be soft and I love the missing toe.


You're welcome anytime you want to come.:goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

September 24!


Since we had already been to IOA twice, this day was for the other park. (it's so awkward, with the whole place being Universal Studios, and the park being....Universal Studios? and "the Studios" is what people call Hollywood Studios, especially if they were WDW people when DHS was called MGM Studios)


On the way to the boat.


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Started the morning with a tasty Emeril's blend coffee from the Keurig machine in the room. Felt that wasn't quite enough, so we also stopped at Starbucks in CityWalk. Such a mistake. First, the coffee was BAD (one of the s'bux that proves the theory that the further from headquarters you get, the worse they get). And second, you have to go way into CityWalk, go up a very tall escalator, and then to the storefront. And, alas, the down escalator was broken, which we did not notice on the way up. Ugh, what a pain.

Anyway, just a waste of time, though I suppose there was some caffeine in the lousy iced latte.


But...seeing this made me happy again.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5039.jpg



Eamon's obligatory height checking picture! (omg look at that)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5040.jpg


The little kid area, the Kidzone, doesn't open right at park opening, so we ended up going on Shrek 4D our very first thing! Not the thing we would have *thought* to go on first off, but that's how it worked out.

And we were so glad! We hadn't been on it yet, but it's a favorite now! Combine "tough to be a bug", "Mickey's Philharmagic", Muppets, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids. But put MORE action in the seats, funnier lines, more effects...and you've got Shrek 4D.

OH, and they make fun of Tinkerbell. Of course. :rotfl:


Ack! While typing this I have the news on, and they just played an ad for Aulani Disney Resort in Hawaii. Fun!


The gift shop has some good stuff. They have dress-up stuff from a store called Creative Education of Canada (http://www.creative-edu.com/index.php). I am so glad I wrote that down on the map of this day. I'd forgotten about them! I was really close to buying E some knight/prince dressup stuff, but since they had tags with the website on it, I then figured I'd do some research before paying theme park prices (and taking up luggage room).

After that we went on ET. I both really like, and am really bored by, the ride. And that's that.

It was getting so hot already... Robert suddenly did not feel well, I can't remember how exactly, and I think he went off to see if their first aid office had ibuprofen (so I figure it was a headache?). So I sat in the shade while Eamon played in Fievel's Playland for awhile. Robert finally came back.

One of the TMs and I had been passing the time, and she mentioned that back behind the Curious George Goes To Town water playground there was an indoor play area that would be fun. So we went on back!

If you don't want to get wet, you follow the footprints carefully, and it lets you avoid all the surprise sprays and dumps of water.

The place that's back there is called the Ball Factory. It's filled with soft-soft-soft foam balls, and tons of ways to shoot them at each other! Scads of fun for all ages. I think we must have spent an hour in there. I decided to just sit down and rest while the guys ran around playing with the balls.

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While sitting there I talked with a different TM, and I watched people. There weren't a lot of people back there...it's not really on the map, and it's all the way back behind a very wet playground. But the one thing that I noticed that was EVERY single woman who came in there started using the vacuum thing to suck up balls (they went into a hopper and into a bit container, where they could be dumped out later). And every woman suddenly realized what she was doing (vacuuming on vacation!), got a sheepish look, and stopped. And yes, that included me, when I first came in. :rotfl2:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5047.jpg

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It's a neat area back there, and the balls don't hurt even when they hit you on the head.

They were VERY warm when I finally got them out of there. Luckily we were in a water area, so E filled his hat and stuck it on his head.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5050.jpg


No one went in this area. We had things to do!

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Eamon then went on Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster. Ten times in a row. Alone.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5053.jpg


It was a good morning for him!


From there we walked, slowly (hot hot hot) to the Simpsons Ride. And then onto MIB. We walked out of there dancing, as usual (they play the MIB theme), and after much debate got a "neuralizer". A little late, especially since Eamon had decided that he was going to be Ron Weasley for Halloween, but he was still glad to get it.

We decided to skip the Amity area altogether, since E wasn't ready for Jaws yet and it just isn't compelling enough to do one at a time.

Decided to go for lunch at Lombard's again. A very interesting time we had...

First, they stuck us in the tiniest little section of the restaurant. Not a corner, and right next to an aquarium (which normally would be good), but absolutely surrounded by tables. Tables packed with people. And apart from Eamon, we are not tiny people! There was one lady who had just HAD IT with people squeezing past, and from our hostess's reaction to the lady telling her she didn't appreciate it, I got the impression that the hostess had sat us there on purpose. Wow. That's fun. :rolleyes1

Robert and I shared a salad and pasta, and Eamon...jeez...he ate an adult portion of ravioli, and was still hungry. We made him wait a bit, and 20 minutes later he was still hungry. So we ordered him a half portion of the same ravioli, and he ate it ALL. (I'm frightened of what it's going to be like as he gets older)

We went on out into the heat. Decided that we just didn't have much interest in the other rides.

On the way out we saw the "Blues Brothers". I like the zoom feature on my camera.

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Then we went Back to the Future.

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Hey, who is that?

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Of course, all of this was lost on E, as he hasn't seen the movie yet.


Next summer, the old Jimmy Neutron ride will become Despicable Me. Think it'll be on this street?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5067.jpg


It was so hot, we were exhausted. And Robert had started the day not feeling so well, so it was definitely time to go rest.

[eculmone]

really nice:goodvibes

[kaoden39]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5061.jpg

I spy a hidden Mickey!! How Disney obsessed am I?:rotfl:

[bumbershoot]

:rotfl:


I even saw one in the clouds in Hogsmeade; you can sort of see it (it was drifting apart by the time I took the picture) in the pictures I posted yesterday.

[kaoden39]

:rotfl:


I even saw one in the clouds in Hogsmeade; you can sort of see it (it was drifting apart by the time I took the picture) in the pictures I posted yesterday.


I think I saw it. It looks like part of his head?

[bumbershoot]

Yep.

Walt really was inspired to put WDW in Florida, where they have those big puffy clouds that look so interesting. You can create anything in those clouds!

[kaoden39]

Boy isn't that the truth. When the kids were little we would lay in the grass and watch the clouds and talk about what we saw in the sky.


We got word that Kody is definitely starting that program and all that is left is to get her signed out of her old school.:cheer2:

[bumbershoot]

woohoo!!!!!!!

[kaoden39]

We're pretty excited!!

[nancy drew]

Hidden Mickeys are everywhere!

I taught my kids about Hidden Mickeys on our summer trip to DLR and now they spot them everywhere. Yesterday we were walking out of the grocery store and DS found one on the wall of the flower shop nearby. He even asked me if it was intentional. I said one day we would go in and ask (it was really cold and I just wanted to go home and not buy flowers, which we would have ended up doing if we had gone inside).

Also, my mom had a candid photo taken where, in the background, there were 2 chairs with round black seat backs. You'd totally know what chairs these are if you saw them, they have metal frames and soft pleather type padded seats and seat backs. Anyway, it looked like she had Mickey ears. She stuck a Post-It note on it that said "I'm going to Disney World!" and tacked it up on the wall.

[bumbershoot]

Glad I remembered to check photobucket before moving on to the 25th! Forgot a whole portion of the 24th. :)


We went back to the room, and Robert was just wiped out. This time he could not be swayed to swim, but Eamon and I wanted to. Instead of visiting the PBR pool again, he and I decided to walk over to Hard Rock Hotel.

So we walked around the harbor...again. On the way, we were stopped by a bridal party having a, you know, party for the bride. They had some rooms on the ground floor, and the french doors opened up onto the plaza (piazza?). They were having LOTS of fun, that's for sure!

Eventually it got too hot to stand there (and they were smoking a whole lot) so we moved along. Walk up the path, go straight instead of left (which would be the official pathway to the parks), cross the street, and walk up to the Hard Rock.

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Pool-hopping is encouraged at Universal, so I simply showed our keycards to the *attendant* at the gate, then went on through where I got iced water with lemon slices and a couple big fluffy towels for us. Now THIS is the life!


They have a very shallow pool, but not too shallow that a person can't float face down in a worrying fashion (thankfully the person got back up).

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Their pool LOOKS very cool. And they had a band there, which of course is cool.

But you can't really *swim* in it. Most of the pool is incredibly shallow so that, I guess, people can sit and look pretty and drink. It was really frustrating, because I actually wanted to swim! But that's not really what you do at the Hard Rock, I suppose.

They do, however, have a slide that Eamon LOVED. He went down again and again and again. By now, he's a slide expert, and I let him go all the way up without any supervision other than just waiting to the side at the bottom. He had huge amounts of fun, and I was happy for him, but wowie was I bored. Guess I'm just not interested in the whole "hang out in a shallow pool drinkin' booze and sucking in my stomach" thing...


I'm sure it's no surprise to you guys that eventually we started seeing dramatic clouds and feeling the winds change. When that happened, we went back over to our own hotel.


Happy kid.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5081.jpg


Happy kid, far away!

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According to the website, at the Portofino Bay Hotel in the evening, they have...

Musica della Notte

Come and experience "Musica della Notte" (Music of the Night) at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel. Every evening the hotel’s Harbor Piazza comes alive with a musical celebration that captures the romance and charm of Italy and the allure of Mediterranean hospitality. Musica della Notte showcases a unique blend of classic opera, romantic and festive music, along with 'popera' favorites – the wildly popular musical style that bridges the gap between pop and opera. Three themed shows are offered on a rotating basis: Romantico Night, Classico Night, and Italian Festival Night. The activities begin every night at sunset (weather permitting) with strolling musicians followed by the show.


By the time we got hungry, it was just about time for the night music. We all went down, thinking that maybe we'd just pick up pizza to go again, or maybe we would sit down. But it was busy, and I just wasn't feeling up to sitting in public. So, of course, the pizza and salad to go took AGES, which meant I was sitting in public though I didn't want to. I could have gone back to the room, but it was just so pleasant with the music (opera guy on a balcony) and the evening and the courtyard. And the occasional loud booms of thunder from somewhere...

We finally got the food, went back to the room, got comfy, and ate the tasty goodness!

Goodnight to the 24th.

[bumbershoot]

September 25th


This was our last day at Universal. Waaaah!


I have to back up a bit.

Our original trip was to end on the 25th. But then Robert found out that he needed to work on the east coast by the 27th, and it just seemed ridiculous for him to go all the way back home and then back east. So we looked into things, found a decent rate on a Value, found that E and I could easily rebook our flights made with miles, and decided to do it.

With that decided, we thought "hey, maybe this is the ONE opportunity to surprise DS"! He really likes helping to plan our trips, and I don't want to deny him the fun of it. But this seemed like a good time to see if that was fun.

We figured that we would return the car on the 25th, just way later than originally planned. Then we would say "hey, let's just go catch that Magical Express bus and go on back for a couple nights!" And it would be tremendous fun.

So that was the plan.


On the Best Buy errand day (to get the modem because Robert's had tanked, along with my computer (which is mysteriously continuing to run wonderfully again)), as we were driving off of Disney property, it hit us that it was going to be SAD to leave WDW for Universal, with Eamon thinking that we weren't coming back on that trip. I realized that we have little traditions when leaving Disney (land or world), and we would need to DO those traditions, and we would be sad.

Too sad, in fact, to be evened out, or made up for, by the joy of going back at the end of the trip.


In a rare moment of understanding-without-hashing-it-out-for-way-too-long, we realized we had to let Eamon in on the surprise. As I'm always telling people who get stressed out about "keeping the secret", it's going to be a surprise *no matter when they find out*.

And it was! He was VERY excited that we would have a little more time at WDW, after Universal.


Because we didn't need to surprise him, we realized that the plan of going back to the airport, magical express, etc was completely unnecessary.

We called National, and they were happy to continue our excellent rate on the car. The complicating factor? The fact that we'd lost the credit card, and by then had canceled it. The only way to seamlessly continue the rental was if we had the same card. We had to bring it in. To some rental agency, not necessarily the airport.



OK so now our day had become Best Of Universal, get to a rental car agency, go to a store for a few things, check in to WDW, and maybe run over to a park that night.

And that's the background stuff.

**************************************************

Now I know that our days at Universal had not been grueling. This is mainly due to the heat, and the fact that we just weren't that into doing EVERYTHING. I'm afraid of the big coasters, Robert can't go on them yet, and the one E is interested in AND can ride (Rip Ride Rockit) I am not ready to let him go on. :3dglasses


We were having a grand time, being somewhat relaxed and having the swims...our enjoyment of Universal is just really different than at Disney. At Disney I want to go go go and I have a certain level of disappointment if I haven't checked off a certain number of attractions per day. Very different. We were very content.


At some point in the previous days, we had been in contact with the cousins, and it was agreed that we would meet up for an Epcot visit at some point after 4 (when they could get in).

So now we had to add *that* to the list. And instead of it being merely *possible* to go to a park, it became an absolute. Eek.


And with all of that said, I just looked at the clock. We've been semi-watching the long-DVRd season premiere of Castle, but now it's done and I can't write any longer.

See ya tomorrow!

[kaoden39]

I have heard that the roller coasters are not friendly sized. Too bad for Robert, but he's headed in the right direction for that.


I am usually Go go go at Disney but my last trip I took it slow and had a ball!! I will do it that way again. There is no race it is about the fun for us, but that being said my kids when they are off to the races and that's good for them.

[bumbershoot]

Yep, Universal's a bit more difficult than Disney is.

[kaoden39]

I heard Disney is doing away with their turnstiles, have you heard this?

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, I saw those pictures of the RFID scan spots. Pretty weird!

[kaoden39]

Yeah it is and I being a skeptic wonder how well it will actually work.

[bumbershoot]

Okey dokey!

So there we were, on the 25th, with a BIG day ahead of us. Got up, got ready (or finished getting ready), Robert checked our bags with bell services (while I made TWO cups of coffee in the Keurig for myself), got OUT.

We again took advantage of Early Entrance to Wizarding World, to ride Forbidden Journey and Hippogriff. I believe E rode Hippogriff again and again and again (11 times). He even picked up a friend for a few rides; another boy being allowed some independence. Fun for him. :)

While he was on Hippgriff, I bought E a new wand...Ron's wand. I also sneakily bought Robert Sirius's wand, as he was drooling over it. Man, those boys!

At 9:16am, this was our beverage of choice:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5100.jpg


(hello Mickey!)

[I'm going to tell you about my bizarre nail polish situation in the next post]

After that, we moved along.

The entrance, not marked because it's not open, to Triceratops Discovery Trail:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5102.jpg


I actually wanted to ride this time, but was for some reason outvoted.
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Not sure how much longer Eamon will be able to even ride the Pteranodon Flyers, since it's for kids 36-56" tall. If you are taller than that, you must have a child between those heights with you. Well, hopefully I'll be able to ride once in my life!



We hit Spiderman again, just for fun, then explored the giftshop. Robert REALLY wanted some sort of mug for coffee at work, and had been scouring the giftshops, but never found something perfect. They sure have lots of different kids of mugs, though!

Eamon had been yearning to go into an arcade on this trip. I had meant to make that happen, but it had sort of gotten lost along the way.

Well there's an arcade near Spidey. There's also an airbrush tattoo person outside the arcade. Eamon was staring at the tattoo person, but Robert thought he was staring at the arcade and mentioned it. OK, then, in we went! We toured the games, E decided which games he wanted to play, and we bought tokens that would be enough for the games. It was a brief arcade visit, and he certainly would have liked to have spent far more time on it, but he seemed to focus on what he was getting, and that made me happy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5106.jpg


After that, E rode Storm Force. Alone because he wanted to. And neither of us wanted to ride badly enough to go in a separate cup thingie.

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By this time, and I know it might not be coming across considering how little we did, we were so madly in love with Universal, Robert and I were having a quick conversation about whether we could create a trip inside of the year that my AP (bought for hotel discount) was good for. We came up with a few scenarios. This is what E was up to while we were having our whispered discussions.


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After fist-bumping on the decision (we are goobers!), we went and got in line to upgrade their tickets. OH YEAH.

The line wasn't *long*, but the people in front of us were long-winded. Both of the TMs were dealing with People With Issues. One had a valid complaint but wasn't all that happy with the mummy dust (Universal's pixie dust, considering their Mummy ride, ha ha, no I did not come up with that) being blown in their direction. The other people didn't have much of a valid complaint, IMO, but hey, maybe I just didn't hear the whole story.

But I tell you this because either TM we were going to get was being given a very hard time before us! So when we went up there, we made sure to smile big and tell them that we loved it so much we needed to upgrade! That brought a smile to the TMs. :) The process was quick. Made quicker by something we didn't realize happened until weeks later. Instead of going by their normal protocol (same at Disneyland, where you lose your discount when upgrading), she credited us with the *gate* price for their tickets, instead of the discount tickets we had. Now WE got mummy dust! (but don't expect that, because it's not their normal thing...she might have just made a mistake, not sure if it was on purpose or not)



We were SO excited while leaving. :dance3:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5115.jpg

(just looked it up...a Lustrum refers to a 5 year period of time)


We were just heading over to Universal, which meant we walked out, turned left, and walked until we got to the Universal gates, but it was HOT. E tried to take some shelter for a moment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5116.jpg



Before starting Best of Universal Studios Park, we needed lunch. Each of the adults ordered the "Health Sandwich". Eamon got something else. Robert liked his sandwich, but I was NOT impressed. I really dislike bad food!

While sitting there, we saw some characters outside. Thanks to the camera zoom....


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Takes a minute, but you'll figure it out soon:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5121.jpg


We finally had remembered we had those towel things that supposedly cool you off! They worked, to a certain extent, but not to the extent that we needed. The little handheld fans also worked.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/Universal%202011/IMG_5122.jpg


After lunch, we went on Shrek again. Love that ride! This is a laminated newspaper that is a poster in the queue.

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For the Disneyland folk...the Express Pass for Shrek is a lot like FP for Autopia...you'll be ahead of some people, but you still have a wait in front of you. At the same time, there's a show going on, and there's a scripted pre-show going on in the waiting area outside the theater. And at the SAME time there's a line outside the waiting area. So even if you're in the Express entrance before anyone else hits the regular line, you're still waiting for the pre-show/show to let out, and then you're watching the pre-show before the show. Shrek is NOT a quick thing.


From there, it was Simpsons again, then Men In Black. Eamon needed to ride Woody again, then ET. On the way out of that section...

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And after that, we had to go!

[bumbershoot]

I'd started the trip with BRIGHT pink nail polish. I brought it with me, along with a top coat, and a sort of silver glitter polish as well.

On my toenails, the big ones, I'd painted Mickey heads. The toenails kept their polish very well.

My fingernails, however, didn't fare so well. It chipped a little bit, but one day of our trip (still at WDW) I noticed my fingernails were getting this weird dingy grey. When I really looked, I noticed that parts of my *hands* were also changing colors! Scary! It almost looked like bruising across my hands.

I cannot remember what I thought it was. I did come up with some sort of conclusion, though. It washed off my hands, with a bit of scrubbing, but wouldn't come off of my fingernails. It turned the bright pink into a weird dingy reddish purple that just wasn't attractive. I'm not opposed to dark colors on my nails, I've done green and blue before (in the 90s, of course, but I'd do it again if I felt like buying the polishes), but this was UGLY.

I tried to pretty it up with the silver glitter. And that's what you see on my thumbnail in the Butterbeer picture. My sad attempt to make my fingernails cute again.



The end of the hands-turning-black story came in the late afternoon of the 25th. On that day, I wanted to be comfy AND ready for waterrides, if I chose to do them, and/or rain. I was tired of shorts and tired of cotton unders. So...I wore a loose, black, cotton dress (in any other color it could be a sundress, but in black it looked fancier than it was, but I didn't care) over my new Land's End, fuschia, one-piece bathing suit.

The problem I noticed first off was....NEVER wear a one-piece under something if you think you'll have to use the restroom! Especially not one with "shaping" or support in it. Oh the arguments I had with that thing in restrooms...way too difficult.

And then I noticed my hands turning black again. I noticed the pattern of it, and paid attention to how I was walking. Noticed it in my inner arms as well. And I started to notice the already dark color of my nail polish getting even darker as the day went on.

Ohhhh. Black cotton dress that I very rarely wear, that could almost be considered new if you took how often I have worn it into account. The dye wasn't set, and was coming off on me.

Much later, when I changed, I realized that I had not only dyed my skin, but my bathing suit as well.

And then I did something massively stupid. I put the thing back on, but this time over a two piece I'd also bought, in bright yellow and orange...and I ended up dying that suit, too. :headache:

I'm going to try that Rit product to pull colors out, but who knows if it will work on bathing suit fabric....


So that's the story of how I dyed. (to paraphrase from Tangled, LOL)

[kaoden39]

Gosh was that Marilyn?:rolleyes1


Oh that is not cool about the black dress. Not cool at all.

[bumbershoot]

What followed then was a Way Too Complicated trip to get to a rental car agency (GPS can't always be trusted!). We finally just ended up at WDW's Car Care Center, where it was taken care of relatively painlessly. Then we went to Goodings, a grocery store, for just a bit more water, a few more vitamin waters, a cheap styrofoam cooler for the food we still had, and a few little munchies.

And at last ended up at All Star Sports. Family was in town by then, but they were wandering around All Star Movies (I hadn't realized how close together the hotels were until later!)

So we were texting back and forth, as we checked in and found out our room number, got the car, went over there, and started unpacking. There was a strangely long period of time after a funny text "ooh nice car" (indicating that they saw us) and when they finally came over. We were just unpacking the last of the stuff from the car, and taking it up to our second floor room, when they showed up.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5130.jpg


The room was actually quite nice! The entertainment center was really big and useful, with shelves and cubbies. They are following the current concept of one big "headboard" attached to the wall, going across the span of both beds. I really like this new trend. Just brings the level of "ooh nice room" up.

We were in the Surf's Up building, which was really close to the pool, and across the pool area was the main building with the food court (and through the food court was the arcade and checkin, the knowledge of which would have been MOST helpful earlier!).


I was so so so so so so broiling it wasn't even funny. So even though the room was small and packed with family, and it felt incredibly rude to do, I shut myself in the bathroom and took a cool shower to try to make myself human again. It worked to a certain extent. My hair never dried that evening, though!

My aunt had stayed home, not wanting to be part of a "commando" afternoon/evening. So we all headed over to Epcot!


I know we rode Spaceship Earth, and some rode Test Track and Mission Space...I think I rode Mission Space, actually, with E and R and cousin's hubby, while cousin stayed back with her kids (though I might be remembering from earlier in our stay).

But then we headed over to the Showcase, because...we NEEDED the Norwegian bakery again. :) The cousins seemed to like their treats, and I know we enjoyed ours again. Some people don't like the Schoolbread, but we do. "They" say it's different than it used to be, but this is the only version we know of, and it's good enough for us.


After that, we mainly wandered and visited with each other. It was really nice, just having it be cousin-time.


Eventually, however, the lack of food caught up BIG time. Poor Robert was trying to keep it together, and he did so well. He's always had trouble figuring out when he is going to get hungry; he goes from feeling full to feeling desperately hungry, and once he started reacting strongly to blood sugar swings, it got harder. But he was so sweet, and came up to me, telling me quietly that he really needed my help to get some dinner.

The first wish was said by cousin's hubby, he wanted to eat pizza at Via Napoli. So we went up there, looked at the menu, deemed it good for everyone, and then asked about a walk-in. They refused to give us an estimate, which was most UNhelpful of them. Some of our group didn't want to wait, having no faith that the diners inside would, eventually, finish eating and leave.

So then we came up with the idea of the Rose and Crown in England. So we made our way over there, and perused the menu outside. Alas, it was all deemed not perfect. They did have an expensive menu! Robert was going to sneak over to the fish and chips place, which would have involved me taking Eamon ahead (since he's being raised vegetarian, he has a REAL problem with the idea that his dad sometimes eats fish, and while he accepts it to a certain degree, he doesn't like seeing his dad eat it). BUT the line was massively long.

It was getting later and later, and Robert was getting hungrier and hungrier, and so were we, and decisions were getting harder and harder!

Finally I just said that Sunshine Seasons was always good, it was cheaper than the other places that had been suggested (wasn't really our concern, having had 9 months to budget, but we certainly understand budget difficulties!), and it was probably open.

So we headed on over to the building. Thankfully the restaurant was still open.....

Got hardboiled eggs for immediate protein, mac and cheese, and two tofu noodle bowls. Robert requested extra tofu for his, which they were happy to do! Our meal was tasty goodness. And was MUCH appreciated by our tummies and pancreases, LOL.

After that we did a bit of shopping, which was fun. :) We didn't buy anything, but it's fun to watch other people spend their money, ha ha.

By this time, the cousins had realized that we had already done IOA and Universal that day, and that there was a reason we were moving so slowly! No one really wanted to walk all the way back anywhere for Illuminations, so we decided to ignore it, and just head on out of the park.

Whenever we all caravanned together, Eamon would ride with them or their son would ride with us. It made them very happy to do that. So it was allowed one more time, and then the goodbyes had to be said again. :(

Eventually it was all said and tears were wiped and hugs were had...and they went on home and we went to sleep exhaustedly.

[bumbershoot]

Gosh was that Marilyn?:rolleyes1


Oh that is not cool about the black dress. Not cool at all.

Yep. And poor Marilyn, she was being ignored!

I was so upset about the black dye...still am.


I'm hoping to do more report tonight, but we're having a late weekend movie evening, and Eamon must be put to bed now.

Today he had gymnastics today, which he FINALLY got into again, and Robert and I worked out, FINALLY, again. We upgraded our Y membership so that Robert can use the one up near his work. Poor guy got to take a new passport picture the other day (having run his 2 year old passport through the washer and dryer which DESTROYED it), and he was not happy at all with the picture, so he's motivated like heck right now. Motivated is GOOD!

[bumbershoot]

September 26th!

I woke up very very early, because we had laundry to do. The laundry room was next door to the foodcourt building, across the pool area. As much as I do not like being up early in the morning, it was quite lovely.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5131.jpg


This is the laundry room.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5132.jpg


I sat there for a couple hours, doing the laundry, reading, talking with my aunt on the phone. We had been thinking about her coming out, but we decided that it was best for her to focus on the big move they were making, and on relaxing at home.

The pool looked wonderful that early. I wished that I had put my suit on so I could take a dip. I called DH's cell to try to wake them up and have them come down to swim, but they were too asleep.


After doing the laundry I took it back, then we went to get breakfast since they were up by then. Since we didn't have coffee anymore, but I still had a caffeine addiction, I decided to buy a refillable mug, because it would be a souvenir AND I could get a few coffees that I would get anyway.

They were (are? not sure) doing the big RFID chip testing in the mugs at THAT resort, but the CM didn't ask me how long I was staying. So how could a chip have been set for my stay, I wonder? (and no I wasn't using my KTTW, I just showed my TIW card for the discount, and my visa card to pay) I'm kinda sorta thinkin' that they weren't really *setting* anything, but just having the chips good for a generic amount of time.

Moot anyway, as the chip isn't valid for the coffee machine anyway! I considered getting a soda just to check, but wasn't interested in drinking it, and wasn't interested in wasting a soda.


The food is decent there. It's kind of neat to be at a big food court like that; nice and impersonal and you can just be with your family and not get bothered every 5 minutes by a server... I'm sure that's not the normal view of food courts, but I'm not a normal person. :cool2:


We had an ADR for Tusker House for lunch, which meant we would be going to Animal Kingdom. But we saw that pool and just had to play in it. So, without waiting any time after eating, we just got our suits on and went to swim! It was very very nice. Didn't have the Boardwalk slide, but it was nice for swimming because at that time of day (high noon, pretty much) there weren't many people in there. OK...there weren't that many people *swimming* in there, but there were a couple couples that were just way too close to each other...yuck. We had a great time for an hour or so, then had to get ready for AK.

We got there a bit late for our ADR. And we needed to wait. But that was good, because it gave us a chance to get a bit hungry! Nothing like going to lunch at a delicious buffet when it hasn't been that long since breakfast, right?

But we rallied, and we took our time, and relaxed, and didn't take up stomach space with alcohol like we did in December...and it was good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5134.jpg


And on that note, I must go to sleep. :goodvibes

[kaoden39]

Oh wow you had a crazy time finding dinner didn't you?


That resort looks so cute! I think the value resort are really cute in the way they are themed.

[kaoden39]

I wanted to share a picture of Scotty from his race today. I like to call his costume Richard Simmons on a bender.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p63/kaoden39/2011-11-20084822-1.jpg


It was so rainy he had to wear his jacket and all that. At least he wore it underneath. And he didn't take his long pants of for the picture either.

[bumbershoot]

After Tusker House, we decided to check out the Safari ride.

In December, we were barely in line with our group of 11 (other cousins came too) when CMs asked if we wanted to join up with a group with a wheelchair, so they could send out a full vehicle. Of course we said yes.

So here we were, mid-day with no fastpasses, and little likelihood of being asked to join another group. But what else was there to do? We wanted to ride it, so off we went. We were happily surprised to find very little line.

Turns out they were doing some work in the theming around the queue, which cracked me up because this actually looks, to me, like an elephant.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5136.jpg


I'm not going to bore you with 8000 animal pictures, but I do have a couple.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5152.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5163.jpg


Once again, yay for the zoom feature on my camera, because these guys were well inside the trees. (has anyone else seen The Wild? because I have, and whenever I see a wildebeest I think of it and start wanting to dance)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5169.jpg


We actually got to see this dude walk over to the mud and choose to wallow in it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5175.jpg


Meow.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5179.jpg

Big Meow.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5181.jpg


While we were on the ride the weather (what a surprise!) started to change, and by the time we got off the ride it was a serious deluge. We ran (why did we keep leaving our ponchos?) to a sheltered area in the line, and stood there for awhile. But finally that got annoying. It's just water. And we had to use the facilities. By the time we came to this decision the rain was nearly over, though, so we didn't get totally soaked.


Once it was down to somewhere between a drizzle and a trickle, we noticed that we were near the Rafiki's Planet Watch area. I really really wanted to see this, and I managed to win out over requests for Expedition Everest again. To get there, you get on a little train. From the train, you can see some of the backstage elements of AK, like the really sad and boring shelters for the animals.

There's actually a rhino in this picture. You can see his legs sticking down from the horizontal lines of the inner pen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5191.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5192.jpg


Once at the train stop, you walk into the area. There were some conservation-info-giving CMs there, and E did the activity while I chatted with them. Finally we moved along.

R&E went into a pen to see goats. I didn't have much interest in that, so I stayed out and got to meet a big snake carried by a CM. Despite having a horrible phobia against things with 8 legs (I actually woke up crying the other night because I had a dream of our holiday-time tree having some awful-looking 8-legged creatures in it). The goat area got closed really fast because someone sent the word that there was lightning in the area.

So we went inside. I'd never gotten much of a sense of what this place was. It's a big, open, nice area, with things to see and do. There are some booths with either movies or audio things in it, which we didn't do. We came upon a meet and greet with Pocahontas and Jiminy Cricket (odd combo), which we didn't take part in (and now I hear they are being moved from that spot). They had lots of glassed-in areas where I suppose CMs work during more worktime hours. They were empty when we were there, though.

I tried to take pictures of most of the place, starting from the far wall to the left as we walked in, and continuing in a counter-clockwise direction. I have skipped the part with arachnids, however, as I was thankfully steered nicely away from it (Robert not wanting to deal with me waking up with nightmares).


If you are phobic about snake-like creatures, beware! There's a close-up picture of a skink's face (a weird snake/lizard creature...snake with legs, basically) in this group of pictures!!!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5195.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5196.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5197.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5198.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5199.jpg


A skink.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5200.jpg


Iguana-dude.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5201.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5202.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5204.jpg



It was definitely time to go, as the day was getting late and it was still threatening rain.

Since AK closes earlier than the other parks, and we still had not seen Wishes (Hallowishes, sure, but not Wishes) AND I wanted a chance of them seeing the light parade, we had decided to head over to Magic Kingdom for the evening.

On the way out, of course, I took pictures.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5206.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5207.jpg


I want this color scheme for a door in a house whenever we have a house.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5209.jpg


So finally we got out, managed to get on a tram at the last minute before it left, and went on our way.

[bumbershoot]

Hi Michele, didn't see you there! Isn't that a FUN outfit? The hair is great. :)


Yes, dinner was a chore. The bright side was that when he asked for more tofu, they made up some new stir fry right there for him. With that, we realized that the tofu noodle bowl is just stir fry with broth. And with that, we realized that if one day we aren't in the mood for a soup, we could just ask for the stir fry.

[kaoden39]

I would love to go on that safari!! That is a great picture of the skink and the iguana.

[kaoden39]

Hi Molly!


Yeah it was fun. It would have been more fun without the rain but he had a ball!!



That was nice about them to do that. At least someone realizes that not everyone wants meat in their meal.

[bumbershoot]

By the time we got over to Magic Kingdom's parking lot (how I think of it, though I believe it's officially the Ticket and Transportation Center?) there wasn't much rain, but it was enough for people to have already left MK! When you go into a parking lot that late, there's no one telling you where to go anymore, and we were able to go right up to the front of the lot, where there were many empty spots.

This made for an easy walk along the sidewalk up to the monorail, which we took to get over to MK!


As we walked in, the light parade had just started. So we weren't able to get any sort of primo spots, but they got to see about half of it, anyway. To me, it sounded like they changed the sound of the music, if that makes sense. It used to, in my memory, sound sort of twangier, a bit harsher. But now it sounds soft and even.

BUT! I have problems with my ears that I really do have to figure out. So who knows if my memory or current experience are correct?



After that, we moved over into Tomorrowland. First off, snagged a FP for Buzz. I had no interest in Space Mountain, but they did. So I waited outside for them, finding a dry spot under the monorail (I think). People-watching is obviously a favorite pasttime of mine. :) The line wasn't listed as being very long, but for some reason it felt like ages that they were inside. I'm not sure why I didn't just go into the giftshop, but I do recall being just sick and tired of buying stuff.

We went over and two of us rode the Speedway; Eamon gets better and better at driving every time! After that, the FPs were ready, and so we went on Buzz. I much prefer Disneyland's version. I like being able to properly aim.

While I was on Speedway with Eamon, Robert had done a little shopping. He got a little chocolate bar to share among us, and he got me a 40th anniversary pin, as thanks for the trip. Awwwwww.

We were basically trying to get in as many rides as we could before Wishes. Now...if we'd known that Wishes was going to be delayed by something like an hour (along with park closing), we could have done more, but...didn't know it at the time!

So we checked out Big Thunder, maybe the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, maybe the Carousel, and I think the Mad Tea Party again. I know for sure we went on it's a small world, and then we headed over to Pooh.

There was pretty much no line, but we lingered to play anyway.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5211.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5212.jpg

Some little tug of war thing:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5214.jpg


The wall of honey:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5215.jpg

I told the guys that I'd heard if you wipe the touchscreen enough, you could uncover an image below the dripping honey. They tried their best.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5216.jpg



Eventually we went to get spots for the fireworks. We found relatively decent ones, near the castle. And so, we waited.....

At long last, after some delays (the weather, I guess, had messed with the timing), they started The Magic The Memories and You.

All I gotta say, and this isn't what most people feel, is ughhhhhhhhhh. Boring. A big yawn.

Robert and I discussed it yesterday, and he said he disliked it as well. Said that it was like an ad for Disney. But we were AT Disney. Standing near the castle, hard to be MORE at Disney. To me, it just felt like drek (however you spell that). A timewaster.

Gosh, I think I disliked it! Not even Eamon enjoyed it, and he likes cheesy stuff (as does Robert).

Then there was another wait.

We had a nice spot on the rail edge of a path with benches lined up. We were not ON the benches, as the benches were wet. We were standing. Directly after TMTM&You, CMs came by and rudely told us that we had to move, as it was "about to become a pathway" (ah, yes, it was, but there were those benches you know). The CMs were in a clump, and they were blocking our path to move, so we waited for them to move. And they got snarky because we weren't moving. I actually said "you'll need to move so we can"...but they still refused to admit that they were being weird. There were also people passing by (they were blocking things, not us!) who were blocking us from moving.

So we moved...forward to the "front" side of the path (literally, before, we had a low fence along our butts, and now we had a low fence along the front side of our, um, butts), that's how "far" we moved). This was deemed OK by the CMs.

And 2 seconds after we moved and the CMs moved, tons of people moved in and stood EXACTLY IN OUR FORMER SPOTS. :headache:


So after what felt like years, Wishes started. It was very pretty.

And then about 5 minutes into it I started waiting for it to stop. The songs, the little voiceovers, the all that stuff, just stopppppppppp please.

I really like HalloWishes. But Wishes is just too long for my tastes.

Or maybe I'm just a big grump. Maybe I need to see fireworks on a good day towards the beginning of the trip. Maybe there's a reason so many people do MK on their *first* days. Who knows?


So then it was over and the long walk out had to start.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5218.jpg


The monorail line seemed tremendously long, so we headed to the ferry.

That line was nasty, too, but one ferry can hold a LOT of people! And they'd brought out three boats, which was nice. We didn't wait all that long, and we were at the front of the clump (a line in a holding pen, LOL). Once the boat got to us and the gate was opened, we were easily able to get to the front of the boat AND get seats on a bench, so that was nice.

One ferry leaving, one ferry waiting (and another ferry was way over at the other side)...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5222.jpg



By the time we got back to TTC and to our car, it was getting pretty late! We headed back to the hotel. We realized that they had an arcade that was open for a bit longer, so we headed in there and bought a card. Eamon played MADLY. There are a whole lot of games in there that give you tickets, and you can turn those tickets in for stuff. Kinda neat. The mad playing continued up until about a minute before closing, and the CM there was VERY nice, and let Eamon redeem even a little bit after closing. He got a big ring that *could* be seen as something for a "princess", but HE sees it as pirate booty. Also some other random stuff. Kids appreciate those little things; they are almost as good as a proper souvenir...or at least E does, so that's helpful for him feeling fully "souvenired". :)


By then it was late, so we went over to the food court, that we knew was still open (they have different areas to order food, and different areas have different hours, which we had checked out at breakfast). Although we hated eating this late, I'll admit it...we had dinner at 11pm. Yikes.

Good night!

[bumbershoot]

The safari is neat...it's got a storyline involving poaching and stuff like that, but they took the BIG poacher chase out of it, and it all seems sort of silly. Do I want them to stop the storyline at all? Nah, it's fun. But it's still goofy. :)

[kaoden39]

Sometimes I wonder about the CMs. Some of them act so stupid and you have to wonder if it is a power trip on their part. I am a bad Disney person I don't like to sit and watch the fireworks. I know they are the best and blah, blah, blah but you know it just isn't that high on my list.


Just as I don't do the tours.:rolleyes1

[kaoden39]

Well, the storyline on the Jungle Cruise is silly but I would never change it.

[bumbershoot]

(I added in some arcade stuff to the end of the 26th there)


The next day we were up early, and I went to get food to bring back to the room. I think that was a total of 2 caffeinated coffees and 2 decafs for me in just under 2 days, which would have been nearly $12 on their own, so the mug-as-souvenir was pretty cheap, if you take those coffees into account. :)

Things were packed, the car was stuffed, we cleaned up the watery mess our cheap styrofoam cooler had left. :headache: We'd bought it in one of our confused "let's not waste time time-wasting moments", thinking that maybe we wouldn't get into our room yet, where we would have a fridge b/c of Robert's medication, but it was just useless.

While helping to pack up the car and noticing the people outside the rooms and along the hallway, I'd noticed that our housekeeper was Muslim by her headscarf, so when I left things out with a note inviting her to take them (lots of candy that we don't eat, a ton of laundry detergent, etc), I didn't put the leftover beer on the table as well. Left that near the garbage, figuring she probably wouldn't want it for herself.

Finally we were packed up and had tipped and we were ready to head on out!

Got to the airport and got Robert all squared away for his trip to the northeast. Got us all squared away for our trip to the northwest. Then we realized that United and Delta are on opposite sides of the airport, so he was going through one side's security line and were going on the other. And he was inside 2 hours from his flight, but we were 3 hours out. Sigh.

As we said goodbye, I shocked everyone, and got all weepy! Learned a valuable lesson...don't have someone leave from the trip for work, because it takes away from the vacation feel. Robert wished that we had just left earlier, then he could have flown back out 2 days later, because I got so sad, and it all felt like such a letdown.

E and I passed the time in a very deserted United gate area, listening to families who felt that a whole week was WAY too long (kids hopped up on sugar, by their behaviour and what they were eating), and wanted to start drinking at 10am. Finally we boarded, and go to O'Hare in due time. Had a nice solid layover there, and got a nice latte for me along with a warm pesto, mozzarella, tomato panini to share (and some croissants). E needed me to take the tomato out...I needed far less mozzarella (just NOT a fan of the "real" stuff, never have been)...it all worked out. O'Hare is so huge and so fun! I hadn't been there in over a decade, and we only saw a small part of the United terminal, but it went on and on and on and on...just an amazingly big airport. Of course, I'm sure most of you know this already!


Got back to Seattle, where we had a mess to take care of with our car. Almost immediately after parking the car at the park/sleep/fly place, we lost the parking stub. I'd looked for it, off and on, the entire trip.

So when Robert had gotten to his destination before we were even in Chicago, he started making phone calls to work it out. I'm not on the title of the car, and Robert and I have different last names. It looked like it was going to be VERY difficult, but I did have our insurance card with me. I just like having it if I'm driving, even though I've learned it isn't needed if you're not driving your car (which confuses me so I bring it). Robert was going to fax over a copy of his license with a note giving me permission to take it, and the insurance card would be showed. Well, in the meantime, the car people had looked in the glove box and found the OLD insurance cards that I hadn't taken out of there, so they were actually all good, after receiving the fax from Robert.

Still felt like a mess to me!

We got home, relaxed, etc. I'm always amazed at how alien the highways at home feel when we get back. Depending on the time of year, I'll be amazed at how green it all is...I'm always amazed by the evergreens. It always just feels different, but homey, driving or riding home from the airport after a long trip.


And thus began the long time of Robert first being in the northeast, coming home, going to the midwest, coming home, then going to Europe....lonely lonely! But now he's home for a bit, so we can get back into the husband-at-home thing. Whew. Especially helpful for our continued family goals, LOL.



So that was our trip! :wizard:

[kaoden39]

I would have gotten emotional too. I am not sure I could handle Scotty traveling as much as Robert does.

[bumbershoot]

Sometimes I wonder about the CMs. Some of them act so stupid and you have to wonder if it is a power trip on their part. I am a bad Disney person I don't like to sit and watch the fireworks. I know they are the best and blah, blah, blah but you know it just isn't that high on my list.


Just as I don't do the tours.:rolleyes1

Glad to know I'm not the only one that can have a hard time with some of the extras at Disney. It's funny to love it SO much, but at the same time be so "meh" about other things that people absolutely go mad for. Just comes down to a personality thing, I think.




Forgot to show this. Glad to know that if there had been "something...on the wing...of the plane!" (William Shatner, Twilight Zone) that they would have been in direct violation of THIS:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/mollyeilis/WDW%202011/IMG_5226.jpg

[bumbershoot]

I would have gotten emotional too. I am not sure I could handle Scotty traveling as much as Robert does.

This summer, and a bit of spring and a bit of fall, was BRUTAL. They've hired a few more people as a result, and I'm glad of it. They'd actually lost two employees at the beginning of the year, and I can only assume that if those two hadn't left that the schedule wouldn't have been quite as horrid.

I don't think management liked it, and none of the guys liked it. Though I've just realized...if Robert had come back with us, then gone back out, we would have hit the next mini-level that United has (two regional upgrades). And if he'd traveled a few trips more, he would have hit the next FULL level for United, which would have been his level for all of 2012, which would have been great. As it is he gets upgrades when possible, and he gets THREE free bags to check....amazing.


And those three free bags are why....when we take our next family trip...to first Disneyland and then Universal Orlando (I did mention the upgrade to APs?)...in February...we'll be taking United with his miles.


:3dglasses:dance3::cheer2::littleangel::santa:

[kaoden39]

It has been so many years since I have flown anywhere. I don't remember ever seeing anything like that on the wings.

[bumbershoot]

[during these 3+ weeks of E and I having a lingering cold, and during this last few days of trying to pound out this trip report, I've been avoiding looking at my Private Messages, and I'm going to get to them tonight!!!!]

[kaoden39]

Oh that upgrade is nice. I really like that. Baggage is so expensive.


I am glad to hear that hired more people. I think that much travel has to be brutal on Robert's body.

[nancy drew]

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip report, as always!!

So your trip is coming up soon, and then you are going back in Feb? Nice!

Did you guys visit the dinosaur skeleton in the United terminal? We always fly United, so we always have to stop and look at the dinosaur bones. Also, if you're remotely into popcorn, next time you have a layover at O'Hare buy a bag of Garrett's (http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/) at the airport. People wait in endlessly long lines for this stuff downtown (as shown on the website; that is not an exaggeration), but they sell it at the airport as well, in the United terminal. I'm a little weirded out by the ingredient list (http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/service/nutritional-information/), seeing as how the caramel popcorn has milk in it but the "Buttery" flavor is dairy-free (:headache: ) but still it is SOOOOO good! I've been staying away because I assumed I couldn't have it, but knowing I can have the butter flavor I might just have to stop in there next time I'm nearby.

[bumbershoot]

The trip timing was based on stock grants (and time to cancel in case something floopy happens), proximity to R's birthday, and staying far away from the travel season. With the December trip then September, both of which impacted DH's team, we've now been told to stay away from those times. Doesn't help us that we took, you know, ALL of his vacation each time. They'd prefer shorter vacations. :)


I did not see a dinosaur skeleton! We'll have to look for it, since I think we go back through there again. Of course, February...weather might not be so nice as it was in September (when it was raining cats and dogs outside the gate window).





Remembered while sitting here that we did indeed go on Aladdin's carpet ride (to paraphrase the name), and we also sat through the new/old Tiki Room! It's different in fun ways and the same in fun ways, as at Disneyland, ever since they got Gilbert Gottfried OUT of it. Whew. I guess the fire they had combined with his ill-timed tsunami joke (though really, he's a shock-type comedian, should we have expected anything different? I think not) caused them to get rid of the "new management", but whatever the reason, I'm glad.

What's funny is that so many people now miss the "new management", it seems.

I knew I'd remember other stuff....

[kaoden39]

Molly, When is February?

[bumbershoot]

We'll already be gone from Anaheim by the time you're there. :(

Which is just weird to think about. You guys have put so much planning into your trip, and I usually do too, but here I am, practically winging it, LOL.




The other reason we chose Spring was for weather reasons in Orlando.

And you wouldn't believe the vacations we were thinking about before we went *down* to this one...omg the things we were trying to talk ourselves into. :rotfl: (and I love airline miles)

[kaoden39]

Oh too bad. I haven't really planned that much. It just looks like that.:rotfl:


I would choose Spring for Florida too. I do not think I could do Florida hot.

[nancy drew]

The dino is in the B terminal, not sure whether you were in C or B. B is easily accessible from C via a trippy underground tunnel with multiple loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg moving walkways. If you used that tunnel, you'll know what I mean. If you have a longish layover and want to explore, you don't have to go through security to go back and forth between the two terminals.

I feel like I know too much about O'Hare, but it is our home airport.

And I agree that spring in FL is way better than summer. We used to go down to my mom's in August, and even though her house was right on the water and I could sit 50 feet from the gulf, where the temperature was 5-10* cooler, it was still HOT.

The cool thing, though, was that those storms that hit you guys every day would spend the day hanging over the mainland, so if we turned east you could see huge thunderheads. But if we turned west, toward the gulf, it was clear and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Then at about 5pm the rain would move over the island and drench us, then by about 8 it moved west over the gulf. I'd go sit on the beach with a beer and watch the massive storm over the water. It was like watching a fireworks show in a wall of clouds, just a constant display of lightning up in the clouds. Constant! One of the coolest things ever (and I'm not a fan of lightning).

[bumbershoot]

I do believe I've been in that tunnel. Does it, or did it used to, have funky neon going along it?

If so, I've been in that at the tender age of 18, on a true red-eye, for my first real (not as a toddler with mom) flight, from Seattle to Miami. Definitely trippy. Made a strong memory!

[nancy drew]

Yes! It has neon lighting up overhead as you travel through, and weird "relaxing" music. It is totally the type of thing where if you've done it, you remember it.

[bumbershoot]

Isn't it amazing that they haven't changed it since '88 at least?

[nancy drew]

I remember when they built it, it was a big deal. And yeah, I don't think it has changed since then!

[QueenDoOver]

Well, geesh Molly. I am such a dweeb. I really don't know how to manage my disboard threads at all! Anyhow, just wanted to say I just read the entire report and got a lot of great ideas for my August trip. I have to say that the heat actually is terrifying to me. Yikes! Remember my friends Scott and Carrie and Jack? They are going in August with us. I am very excited. I just told her all about your tea party at the Grand Floridian and we are for sure taking her little girls for tea. They will be 6 and 4 at that time. Thanks for all the great tips in your report!