I'd Walk a Mile for a Cupcake- an SSR Quickie! 4/4-4/7/11 FINISHED!! 6/29

[dizneeat]

OMG Ellen, Tyler's reaction is just priceless!
Unbelieving at first and the smile on his face is just fun to see - I LOVE how Timmy "pipes" in from the back seat!
So much fun to see his reaction, or lack of it. Just how I would imagine my pupils would react to a surprise - being cool about it!

 

[podsnel]

I just found your TR (actually saw that you had one on Dawn's Dining report and went looking for it) and I am looking forward to hearing more about your trip! So glad you were able to take both boys, that must have been fun for you to have some mother/son time.

We are staying at SSR in May so I was glad to see your pics of the resort. We have a 2BR and my Dad has a studio. I really hope to be able to get to The Earl when we are there. We do have ressies at Fulton's for one night, I saw Fulton's in the background of your pics when you were there, is the boat dock right near there?

Hi there! Thanks for coming over! Fultons is kind of in-between the boat dock at PI (where the SSR boat goes now) and the dock at Marketplace (where it doesn't go anymore). Good restaurant! Have fun at SSR- it's a very relaxing resort!

Uhhhh.....HELL YEAH! That sounds like a perfect lunch date! Disney theater and a DTD restaurant? Perfection! When is it supposed to open? By summer, ya think? I haven't seen the Lion King either but I think Tom would divorce me if I even thought of seeing it without him. We'll see though.....we'll definitely plan something soon!

I don't know when it's opening- we'll have to keep our ears open! Hopefully by summer- hope to see you soon!

Yum! I love EOS. Can't wait to hear more!

Me too! Photobucket is giving me a hard time- hopefully I'll be able to post today-

I can't believe how big they look. I think time is speeding up.
I am already starting to panic a little about Jason. He will be going to highschool too. We are already trying to figure out what we are going to do when he hit 18 and we have 5 yrs to go yet.
Avy is doing Okay her vision is going so we are learning braille here. It is a whole new world for us. She is so excited about going on her wish trip.
I think I have this trip planned out way better then Jason's so it should be wonderful. Plus Ella is really in to all the princesses so hopefully she doesn't spend the whole trip crying like she did last time
We are so excited to be going back to Give Kids the World. The kids are talking about that more then Disney

I am so sad about Avy's vision- what a trooper that little girl is! I am so excited for all of them to go on that Wish trip!! I bet Ella will be better this time- they have an easier time soaking it all in as they grow, I think- she looked so cute holding up her dress from last time in your PTR!!!! GKTW must really be amazing- I'm very, very glad you all get to go again.

Sounds like a great tip!

We did have so much fun!

Joining in... I love your TRs and want to hear it all!

Well, thank-you SO MUCH!! I will do my best to tell it all, when photobucket starts letting me see something other than my first page of pics!

NO PRACTICE? Good thing you took Tyler
I wish you were on this one, Too!



Thanks, having a ressiee just in case is a good idea

Oh yea- I would have gone INSANE on Pods if they had not had practice and tyler had stayed home for it!

 

[podsnel]

I love watching those Disney Surprise reactions on Youtube, I always tend to get a little misty-eyed. How cool of a surprise would that be!!!

Boys tend to show their excitement differently though it seems hehe.

He did seem quite surprised and happy to me

That's funny, Ellen! He could hardly contain his excitement!

Yes, he was happy about it- typical teenage boy happy, though!

 

[podsnel]

Hi Ellen,
In reply to your post from "over there", "Mickey's Not So Scar...", we are going to Disney twice this summer. Sarah and I are going from June 26th until July 1st. The class she is attending is "Wild by Nature" and I am really looking forward to it. Sarah is also but she is still unaware of how cool it is going to be. Then we are taking a family trip in August (12-20) to celebrate Rob's birthday (my excuse to get to go again). During the August trip Sarah is signed up for another "YES" class, "Ocean Discoveries". Rob wants to accompany her to that class so I guess I will sleep-in or something.

Wow- you're EVERYWHERE!!! Those sound like great experiences- I hope they continue this program into the fall-

Enjoying the TR! DH and I spent our honeymoon at SSR back in 08! Ahh the memories..LOL

How lovely!! I hope you took advantage of the Spa while you were there!

Tyler was so ecstatic he was speechless Teenage boys. They are all the same! I am so glad he was able to join you, because, you're right, next year the fun starts. The - you can't miss any school until you graduate - fun!

Yeah to the springs! I hoped you liked SSR. I think the furniture needs an update, but I really do love the complex. It's so pretty.

I can't wait to read all about your trip.

My VWL contract finally passed and I made my first reservation for December. We are actually going to take Nick out of school for a couple days, so its basically a 4 day weekend. Better than nothing. Darn school interferes with everything.

Hey MEK!!! I thought about you SO MUCH while we were there- I kept on imagining you running on all the paths everywhere. I can totally see why you love it, especially as a runner.
How incredible you were able to book VWL for December!!!!! Isn't that the best one at Christmas? I really need to stay there sometime- it's the only one I haven't experienced yet. Well, and the treehouses. But I don't know if I could be that far removed from civilization. Plus I would have a hard time scoring one without SSR points.

And 4 days was how long this trip was for us- you can really accomplish a LOT in 4 days, if you try- especially if you fly out on the last plane, which we did- so we felt like we had a full day on Thursday.

yah--what he said...what a great quote!

That's very Tyler...

I love the way his eyes about popped out of his head when you told him

You're RIGHT! They DID!

Awww that was cute! He's such a 13 year old boy! But a good 13-year old boy! At least he didn't react like the kid who thought they were going to Dick's house....
My favorite is how excited you were when you told him!

I was OUT OF MY MIND excited!! It was soooooo hard not to blurt it out before hand- I'm glad you could tell in the vid. You should have heard me right after I booked his ticket and added him to our room- I was FREAKISH!!

 

[podsnel]

Ok....I wrote this then managed to somehow erase it, so let me try again.....

We headed over to DHS on our first night, because the FIRST ride Timmy wanted to go on in WDW was RnRC. Pretty sure Tyler felt the same way about it.

That night was EMH, and miraculously, the park was fairly empty. We opted to do the Single Rider line (and yes, Nikki, I made them sing the song with me!) and that made RnRC LITERALLY a walk-on. I got the last row for my first ride- talk about kicking the vacation off in a BIG way!

Before we took off, I asked the woman next to me if she liked riding in the last row- she was like, "Why? Is it different?" I said, Hang on, lady- you goin' for a RIDE!!! Tim & Ty were in the limo behind me-

We ended up riding two more times, both in the front row!! While we were there, we texted Mark, our favorite CM. Mark is my friend Joan's hubby's cousin, and from our hometown. He is the engineer for RnRC, and the soundsystem of the ride is his baby. How cool is he?? He really is a nice guy- and not just an employee, he is SOOOOOOO Disney! That night, he would be working until 7am- he explained after the parks close, ALL of the attractions are inspected, every inch of them, so they are not only safe, but are absolute perfection for the next day's guests. One of the many, many ways Disney is so magical. The boys thought he was awesome!

He actually just got promoted, and will soon be one of the CMs overseeing this nighttime activity at WDW. YAY MARK!!! We said our goodbye's, and went in search of some waters (we were super thirsty after all the screaming on RnRC!). For the first time ever, we saw this open-

I know it is only open seasonally, and I guess the seasons we usually come are not busy enough. Anyway, here's a couple of pics-

I was very curious about those tube-sandwiches (I think Cory mentioned them on the podcast), but still full from EOS, so not today, folks. While we were chugging our waters, someone handed us FPs for TSM ...so that's where we went next! On the way....

Cont'd next post-

 

[podsnel]

Tyler got into 3-D mode....

The CMs were hammin' it up for the camera-

I rode by myself....and i did ok! Kicked my boys' butts!!

From there, we actually left the park...because tonight was the BIG basketball game, and Timmy did NOT want to miss UConn win March Madness!

But, instead of going right back to our room, we hopped on the first nearby bus (which was OKW) and then hopped on a DTD bus from there, because we were ALL in the mood for some ice cream!!

The place was PACKED, but we only waited about 15 minutes for our ice cream.

Timmy got his usual, which is a vanilla cone with sprinkles-

Tyler had The Golden Gate - Banana Split - A trio of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream each paired with perfect toppings - crushed pineapple, sliced strawberries, and homemade chocolate syrup. All finished with fresh bananas, whipped cream, chopped almonds, and a cherry $8.95

And I had to have The Gold Rush - Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Sundae - Vanilla ice cream with freshly homemade hot fudge and melted peanut butter throughout. Topped with whipped cream, chopped almonds, a cherry and Ghirardelli Squares milk chocolate $8.95

It was yummy....but I think I like the No Way Jose better. The NWJ peanut sauce is yummier, I think. A LOT of people stopped us to ask where we got the ice cream from- I actually ended up handing one of them the menu I had snagged, and WOW were they happy!! I have to say, on this trip, we met MANY MANY nice people- on every bus, in every line- the parks were filled that week with really good tourists- so much so, that my kids were questioning just how many strangers I was going to talk to! There was an entertainer leading the crowd in some dances over here-

Those people looked like they were having fun, but we couldn't join them, we were already late for the game. We got to the line for the boat, and who did we run into, but friends from home who were staying at SSR, too!! It's always fun to run into people you know on vacation, isn't it? Well, while we were staying at SSR, there were 4 other families from town who were staying at SSR, too- I WISH I would have remembered to take pics! I love the Webers, and Judy is so funny! Anyway, it made for a nice ride back to the resort. Those two families were over in the Grandstand (they both own SSR points and usually vacation here together in a GV, although this time they were seperate), and when we docked the boys took off for the villa, while I went to the store with my friends (who knew all the CMs VERY well!) to pick up a bottle of wine for the room. Later that night, Timmy celebrated the UConn victory-

Tomorrow....I think we'll be heading to Epcot!

 

[podsnel]

Wow- so you book Disney properties on Expedia and get rates like that?!?!? I'll have to check that out. And then upgraded on top of it! How awesome!!!

I'm still paying for the one time like 5 years ago we got a PIN for pretty much any Deluxe for $199/nt (inc. AKL/Savannah view- which is what Ron wanted) but I overruled him b/c I had always wanted to stay @ the Contemporary..and this was before the reno and it was butt ugly back then. It had scary early 90's looking bright & bold urban patterns on the bedspreads and draperies! Of course no upgrades for us...we had a Garden Wing Parking Lot view willy. LOL!

Hopefully you can rub some of your upgrade luck on us. We've never gotten one, not on land or sea.


[/color]

Yep, lol. Well, we don't *never* stay on property (that sounds unbelievably grammatically incorrect!)... We have stayed @ the Contemporary (pre-renovation see above ) , CSR (which we loved), and Pop (which we enjoyed but we can't all fit in just one of those rooms anymore...double beds- ick!). I am totally cool with trying out each and every resort. The ones I am most interested in are BC/YC, AKV/Kidani/ of course BLT, and the retroist in me wants to try the Poly since I didn't learn my lesson @ CR. I just have to deal with Mr. I'd-rather-be-on-a-cruise...




Jacket?!?! You silly goose! I've been in shorts since December!
It was horrid hot at DHS last weekend I'm hoping I don't melt in May!!!
Can't wait to see you either!!!! Just a few weeks now, where does time go?

Hey- I don't care WHAT you say, 50 degrees is jacket weather!!! It was cool at night!!

OMG I am cracking up at Tyler's reaction! And then listening to Timmy in the backseat made me laugh even harder!!! I guess I'm sooooo not used to boys, young TEENAGE boys, at that, cause little girls just go nuts!

BTW, what was Tyler looking at in his lap? Was he texting?

Yea- it's very, VERY different with boys. He was looking at his i touch- I feel lucky he looked up long ebnough to make eye contact when I told him he was going on vacation. It MUST have been exciting for him!

Is there two different threads to this or am I crazy?

You're not crazy- I sometimes post here and on the DVC Mousecellaneous because alot of DVC people don't look for TRs on this board- they just do the DVC ones over there, I think.

Hi there! We are going 11/10-11/15, I'm not sure where we are staying yet I've changed my mind several times already. My ds19 attends the Developmental Learning Center in New Providence. We went through the guardianship process it was'nt the easiest thing emotionally speaking, but easier than what we face next year when my ds graduates he will be 20 in June. I have a friend at work who has dvc ownership at SSR and loves it. I added Earl of Sandwich to our list for restaurants in November. I'm looking forward to reading more about your trip. Linda

Hi Linda! Do you know Alexis Lorenz? She works at DLC as an aide and is Sean's home tutor- she went into special ed because of him, she was our first babysitter. Be sure to say hi if you see me in the parks in November- we're there from the 9th to the 14th. It will be the first time we are all staying at BCV together, I can't wait- Sean loves it there. Before DVC we always stayed at the BC, so he has always loved Stormalong Bay.

Love the reaction! Really he was all happy dancing on the inside.

Hi Sally! Yes, I believe he was!

I went home on Sunday, and you were there the next day. I did come back Wednesday though with dh for his convention. we were over at the Ritz again, poor poor me.

I know you had great weather, and the days later, started getting too hot.

Really? I'm so sad we missed each other! The Ritz, huh? So you were slumming it again! Poor, poor girl- how's your training going?

 

[podsnel]

OMG Ellen, Tyler's reaction is just priceless!
Unbelieving at first and the smile on his face is just fun to see - I LOVE how Timmy "pipes" in from the back seat!
So much fun to see his reaction, or lack of it. Just how I would imagine my pupils would react to a surprise - being cool about it!

Well, you of all people would understand his reaction- you know more about teenage boys than pretty much anyone. He is just sooooo cool, of course...

 

[tinkmom2]

That Ghiradellis (excuse the spelling) looks awesome! My oldest commented she wants that sundae! We booked our ADR's this week and plan on hitting DTD our second day. I also want to try WPE thanks to Karin's posts We are going to CRT for the first time during the MVMCP too. That should be a blast!

 

[francis6306]

I can't wait to ride the RnRRC! I have never done that- since I was pregnant in Dec when we went and I haven't been the HS since it was MGM in the 90's... Looks like the boys thoroughly enjoyed their first night and OMG, that ice cream looks delish! It was WAY too cold for Ice Cream in Dec when we went...

 

[dizneeat]

Wow! You did A LOT on that day! I am tired just reading about it!
Ghirardelli's looked PACKED! I guess Tom and I would not even have considered waiting and ordering.

Can't wait for more!

Oh, and btw, I loved hearing your voice in the little video!

 

[tinytreasures]

Yummy that ice cream looks so good.
We plan to take the boys on the RnRC this time. I bet they will love it. Ohh and Toy Story Mania can you believe we didn't know about that ride on Jason's trip. I thought I was a good Diser till I got home and found out after we got home what it was

 

[Queenofallthings]

What a cool job Mark has! I can see why the boys would be in awe!

Nothing better than Ghiradelli's ice cream is there? My daughter's fav is the NWJ at Beaches and Cream...I'll have to tell her about this one now!

 

[podsnel]

That Ghiradellis (excuse the spelling) looks awesome! My oldest commented she wants that sundae! We booked our ADR's this week and plan on hitting DTD our second day. I also want to try WPE thanks to Karin's posts We are going to CRT for the first time during the MVMCP too. That should be a blast!

I have never been to CRT- largely because of the boy issue. But they were asking about it this time- they wanted to now what was in the castle and why we have never eaten there! I was SHOCKED!!! When they heard there was prime rib, they were even MORE interested. So I may have to book it for November. Which will make me VERY happy- Cindy has been my favorite since I was FOUR.

I can't wait to ride the RnRRC! I have never done that- since I was pregnant in Dec when we went and I haven't been the HS since it was MGM in the 90's... Looks like the boys thoroughly enjoyed their first night and OMG, that ice cream looks delish! It was WAY too cold for Ice Cream in Dec when we went...

It's really a fun ride. The take off is the BEST, and it all goes with the music SO WELL- it's all of our favorite ride, I hope you like it, too!

Wow! You did A LOT on that day! I am tired just reading about it!
Ghirardelli's looked PACKED! I guess Tom and I would not even have considered waiting and ordering.

Can't wait for more!

Oh, and btw, I loved hearing your voice in the little video!

Well, when you only have 3 nights, you have to make the most of ALL your minutes!! Oh, and btw, I HATED hearing my voice in the little video! UGH...isn't hearing your own voice just the WORST??? I wonder how Celine Dion feels when she listens to her own records- or is it just the speaking voice that is so hard to handle. UGH. Well, I'm glad it made YOU happy-

Yummy that ice cream looks so good.
We plan to take the boys on the RnRC this time. I bet they will love it. Ohh and Toy Story Mania can you believe we didn't know about that ride on Jason's trip. I thought I was a good Diser till I got home and found out after we got home what it was

They will LOVE IT!!! It is soooooo fast, and sooooo fun!!

What a cool job Mark has! I can see why the boys would be in awe!

Nothing better than Ghiradelli's ice cream is there? My daughter's fav is the NWJ at Beaches and Cream...I'll have to tell her about this one now!

I agree with your daughter- NWJ is the BEST ice cream sundae in the world!!! This one at Ghirardellis is very good- but it lacks Hot Fudge and chocolate & peanut butter chips- but it does have peanuts- PB & chocolate is my favorite combo, so it's all good!

 

[podsnel]

I woke up first on Tuesday morning (and Wednesday morning and Thursday morning....) and made my way over to AP to fill my newly purchased mug with java. It was overcast, but not raining yet. Both boys were still snoozing- but I woke Tyler up before I left so he could start showering- he takes very loooooooooong showers, and I wanted to get to a park BEFORE the fireworks began today. Here's our balcony-

It is the one on the third floor-

I love being at the end of the hallway, right next to the stairs! While I walked over, I saw....

Breakfast offerings (but we were having croissant sausage sandwiches I had brought, frozen in a cooler, from home)-

SSR has resort specific merchandise-

I meant to buy one of those shirts when I was there, they were on sale for like $14. Oops! Actually, alot of that merchandise was on sale. I needed to go to the front desk, I had left my medication at home and my neighbor had overnighted it to me. (I take celebrex for inflammatory arthritis, and this weather today was NOT helping). On the way-

My package had not arrived yet, but the rain sure had!! It was pouring when I ran back to the room!!

With the rain came thunder and lightning- which my kids refused to go out in...so we had a little time to kill before the thunder faded, and I convinced them it was safe to go out. Originally, we had planned to go to MK on this day- but the rain changed our minds- and we chose Epcot instead. I don't know- I just hate to go to MK in the rain- I need a BIG blue sky behind that castle, KWIM? But rain at Epcot? I guess I've experienced it so many times, it almost feels weird for the sun to shine when I'm there! My boys-

I LOVED the new Toy Story topiaries!! I think they looked GREAT!!

We hustled over to Soarin to pick up some FPs, then headed over to Innoventions to ride the Sum of all Thrills.

Up next....the sum of all stupidity- courtesy of yours truly.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Nice Updates, Ellen! So cool you got to ride RNRC so much and then got FP to TSM! You are the queen of good things happenin' But I think you deserve it! The ice cream looks so yummy. I have to try it in SF - haven't yet. I'm glad Timmy's team won!

IKWYM about MK in the rain. I think there are so many inside escapes at Epcot - good choice!

 

[tinytreasures]

UGH a cliff hanger

hope your meds came I don't want to think about it if I forgot Hayden's arthritis meds Sorry you have it too

 

[OhMari]

I always try and get extra fast passes, especially when I am with my dh. I always give them away. Training is going good, I had a private trainer show me a few exercises at the Ritz's Spa to help me strengthen my back,arms, stomach. Had to use the spa for something.

I remember seeing the weather in Florida on Tuesday and I was glad that we opted to fly in early Wed. Morning. We were going to fly in after work on Tuesday.

 

[manntra]

Hello there chica!!! So happy you started another TR
EOS looks delicious on a Sunday am!! It's not to early for a Sammie is it?!!I can't wait to see all of those topiaries in TWO weeks!!!! I am so excited

Tracy

 

[elizabethswan]

just checkin in! glad i found another of your great trip reports! i agree with the previous poster who said it was cool to hear your voice on the video with tyler. we've all been enjoying your trip reports and it was funny to hear a human voice. anyway, thanks for allowing us to vicariously enjoy disney when we can't be there, plus it helps us to plan for all the great disfood that we might otherwise not know about for our own trips! your tr's are always a blast.