I Can't See a Thing and Tiger Lady, Oh My! A Nov Mother & Daughter TR Update 5/7

[PhoenixStrength]

I agree that the pic of you and your Mom close-up is a really good one!

I've been lucky to avoid Camel spit every trip. I have gotten close to getting hit, but never a direct hit.

I love Jungle Cruise and all of the cheesiness too! And I was slightly underwhelmed by the new mermaid effects on PotC too. Though I guess you can't expect too much when they only took one night to put in!

 

[KatMark]

I love that close-up PP pic of you and your mom.

I totally forgot about the mermaids in POTC when we were there and will have to keep my eye out for them.

I love your mom's new sweatshirt.

I'm not a fan of Dole Whips either; I'm with you...give me chocolate.

 

[brandihead2012]

Love the pictures of you and your mom!!!

I am super excited to try some dole whip. But now so nervous because I love me some chocolate!

I got so excited reading your report today. Pirates ride is one of the first rides I do. Sooo Close!

 

[ronnmel]

It is a very nice picture of you and your mom.

I love love love chocolate and chocolate ice cream, but I do love the vanilla Dole Whip.

 

[Pluto0809]

I agree that the pic of you and your Mom close-up is a really good one!

I've been lucky to avoid Camel spit every trip. I have gotten close to getting hit, but never a direct hit.

I love Jungle Cruise and all of the cheesiness too! And I was slightly underwhelmed by the new mermaid effects on PotC too. Though I guess you can't expect too much when they only took one night to put in!

Thanks! I love that picture. Mom doesn't though because her glasses were dark. Unfortunately there are very few where they aren't dark.

That's the first time the camels have gotten me. I swear the second time they were targeting me!

Jungle Cruise is one of my favorites. I've never ridden it at night so I'm hoping to do that this next trip.

I love that close-up PP pic of you and your mom.

I totally forgot about the mermaids in POTC when we were there and will have to keep my eye out for them.

I love your mom's new sweatshirt.

I'm not a fan of Dole Whips either; I'm with you...give me chocolate.

You didn't miss much on POTC! But next time, when you first hear the Mermaid's singing, look over the side of the boat. You will "see" them swim by.

Mom has come to love her sweatshirt. She she told me she's worn it to work a few times this winter.

I can't think of any dessert that is not chocolate that I like.

Love the pictures of you and your mom!!!

I am super excited to try some dole whip. But now so nervous because I love me some chocolate!

I got so excited reading your report today. Pirates ride is one of the first rides I do. Sooo Close!

I knew going in I wouldn't like the Dole Whip too much so I wasn't disappointed. It just has to be chocolate for me.

Don't forget to look for the Mermaids at the beginning! I wasn't all that impressed with them but it is something new to see.

It is a very nice picture of you and your mom.

I love love love chocolate and chocolate ice cream, but I do love the vanilla Dole Whip.

Thanks! Yep, it's all chocolate all the time for me!

 

[Pluto0809]

I am going to be at WDW in less than 3 days! Which means I better finish up this PTR pretty quickly.

I'm mostly packed although I'm wondering if I should add some long sleeve shirts or a third hoodie to the pile. It's going to be a lot cooler than I thought it would be. Lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. At least there is no rain predicted as of right now!

Sunday I will be headed to HS for the day. I plan to head there very early so I can make rope drop. I'm not sure what to do about meals on this day. I have an earlier dinner ADR so I can go to Fantasmic. I really want to try a Starring Rolls Peanut Butter/Chocolate cupcake but they are so big I could eat just that for lunch. So I was thinking about using a CS credit to get a bigger breakfast. But I hate wasting a credit for breakfast because you don't get as much value.

I'll be heading with the crowd straight to TSM. I'll probably ride and then grab a fast pass for later. I'll head to ToT and RnRC next and then maybe Star Tours to round out the thrill rides. I was not impressed with the new Star Tours last time but I think I'll give it another try.

Once I get all the thrill rides done, I'll probably slow down and catch The Great Movie Ride. It's a must do for me. I also want to ride the Backlot Tour in case the rumors are true that it is being replaced by Carsland. Oh, and I definitely want to catch the new Pirates experience. I've never done the animation class and am going to do one this time. Maybe the Muppets movie too although it is not a must do.

As for the shows at HS, I have no real desire to see any of them this trip. I have seen them all twice during my last three trips except for B&TB. I haven't seen that one since 2010, so maybe just B&TB or none at all.

Like I said above, I don't know if I will eat a large breakfast or grab lunch somewhere in HS. None of the CS places in HS thrill me. I thought about heading to the Beach Club for Beaches and Cream but I need to be careful or I will have CS credits left over at the end.

Dinner is at my old favorite, Mama Melrose. My ADR is for 4:50 pm so I can make sure to catch the 7:00 pm Fantasmic. I have thought about grabbing a Starring Rolls cupcake before dinner to eat during Fantasmic but I don't know if I want to carry one around that long. Disney recently added a second Fantasmic this night at 8:30 pm so I have another option if the 7:00 pm one is full.

HS is only open till 8:30 pm so if I'm not too tired, I may hop to MK. MK has EMH till 12 am.

 

[Pluto0809]

My last full day, Monday, I'll be heading back to Epcot. I'll head straight to the Land building for Soarin' FP and then have breakfast at Sunshine Seasons. I love that food court.

Future World must dos are Soarin', LWTL, everything in the Seas building, TT and Figment. I also plan on seeing Captain EO this time around. Yes, I know it's supposed to be awful but I like to try everything once. Probably will be the last time but who knows. I am a child of the 80s so maybe it will make sense to me. I may wait in line at the Character Spot if it's not too long. I have no desire to do Ellen (that sentence is wrong on so many levels) or Mission Space.

I have a lunch ADR at Coral Reef at 1:15 pm. Coral Reef is another old favorite. I love watching the fish while I eat.

I'm not sure at this point what I'm going to do with my afternoon and evening. It will depend on how much I got done in the World Showcase in Epcot on Thursday. I may end up hopping to AK or MK in the afternoon. At this moment I have a Via Napoli ADR at 7:00 pm but I'm most likely going to cancel it. The only reason I haven't done so yet is just in case I don't make The Plaza ADR I have on Saturday. I will be cancelling one of those two ADRs.

Where ever I end up I know I will have fun and try to stay out as late as possible again. MK is open til 12 am.

I included Tuesday in this post because there is really nothing to report. My plane leaves at 11:30 am so I'm expecting to have to catch ME at 8:30 am. No time for anything this morning except packing and breakfast. If I get out of bed early enough, I may get some time to walk around the All Star resorts to take some pictures.

I land back in Atlanta at 1:00 pm and should be home by 2 pm. Then it will be time catching up on laundry, bills and sleep!

That's the end of the PTR, I'm hoping to get a few more updates on the TR done this week before I leave. Might even get one done this afternoon but I have to teach a class at 2 pm. Not my favorite thing in the world!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

You leave in THREE DAYS! I just love all your plans. A solo trip is sounding so awesome, simply for the amount of things you can fit into a few days. Someday...

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Wow, 3 days away!!! Your plans all sound great, except for seeing Captain EO! I saw it for the first time this past trip and it made no sense at all to me and I thought it was a huge waste of time. And I'm a child of the 80s! But maybe you will enjoy it more!

 

[brandihead2012]

love the PTR, still so bummed we dont have any of the same says... and really bummed about the weather drop. It is 80 right now!!!!!! I started packing last night and threw in a sweatshirt and jeans... hoping it changes!

 

[ttcl516]

Arriving the same day you are....kind of bummed about the weather. Can't it just be 72 and sunny the whole time were there?? Hope you have a magical time!!

 

[Pluto0809]

You leave in THREE DAYS! I just love all your plans. A solo trip is sounding so awesome, simply for the amount of things you can fit into a few days. Someday...

I am so excited!! I just finished the class I had to teach. I had to lead three meetings and teach two classes in the last week. I did not sleep much this week! I really hate doing those so now I'm . I can relax and get caught up on some other stuff before my trip.

Wow, 3 days away!!! Your plans all sound great, except for seeing Captain EO! I saw it for the first time this past trip and it made no sense at all to me and I thought it was a huge waste of time. And I'm a child of the 80s! But maybe you will enjoy it more!

I have a feeling that it will be my first and last viewing of Captain EO. I'm just too curious about it to not see it once.

love the PTR, still so bummed we dont have any of the same says... and really bummed about the weather drop. It is 80 right now!!!!!! I started packing last night and threw in a sweatshirt and jeans... hoping it changes!

Yeah the weather is a little of a bummer. But at least there is no rain forecasted as of now. I prefer cooler weather to really hot so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Arriving the same day you are....kind of bummed about the weather. Can't it just be 72 and sunny the whole time were there?? Hope you have a magical time!!

72 and sunny would be perfect! I don't handle heat very well so I'd rather be a little cold than too hot. Hope you have a great time too! If you see me, come up and say hi!

 

[Pluto0809]

After getting our FP for BTMR we headed towards the Haunted Mansion to ride. Despite the cold, we got distracted by a Mickey Ice Cream cart and stopped for a quick snack. Once again, I had a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich and Mom had a Mickey Ice Cream Bar and I didn’t take pictures. We also stopped in the pin store in Fronterland where they had the pin wash board out but no Pluto pins.

Then we headed to the Haunted Mansion.

I had seen the new interactive line in May 2011 but Mom hadn’t so we turned left into the graveyard. We had a blast playing with all of the interactive features. First we tried to figure out who killed who:

Read some funny gravestones:

Doesn’t this picture look spooky?

We played some music:

Right when we got to this point:

The ride must have broke down or stopped for a bit because we were stuck for about 10 minutes. Luckily we were just far enough out of range of the Captain because he “sneezes” and water comes out. The people in front of us got wet a few times.

I thought the fish on the corners of the tombstone were creepy:

We finally got moving again and found Master Gracey:

And also the ring in the ground:

I didn’t take a picture but Mom had a good time with the riddle game. She was really good at answering the riddles. I finally had to drag her away because she was holding up the line.

We enjoyed the ride but did end up stopping a total of three times. Each stop was brief so they were probably just for loading.

We shopped at the little cart outside right outside of the ride and I bought a HM T-shirt. It was a ladies cut and I got an XL but it was way too small on me and I returned it later in the week. I have no idea who could actually wear those shirts!

I have a large gap in pictures here. I think I put my camera away for a while because it was getting dark and it doesn’t take good pictures at night. I know I tried to get a picture of Mr. Toad in the Pet Cemetery (I miss that ride!) but it didn’t come out.

We spent a few minutes in Liberty Square. Mom wanted to go into the dump store for the Hall of Presidents. She was looking for something Americana for my brother but there was very little in the store for her to look at. Almost everything for sale was Christmas items. We also walked quickly through the actual Christmas store but they didn’t have anything we hadn’t seen in the HS Christmas store.

We then went and used our FP for BTMR. It was a lot of fun to ride at night. We both loved the party going on in the saloon that you can only see at night.

We were pretty much done at that point with everything we wanted to do at MK except for some shopping on Main Street. Our feet were a bit tired so we hopped onto the Train for a ride around to Main Street. It was weird seeing no line for Splash Mountain.

This was our first glimpse of the Castle with the Christmas lights on and boy was is spectacular! It was so beautiful it almost took your breath away. I tried to take some pictures from the train station but they are really bad.

We walked up Main Street which was very crowded because the MSEP was going to start in less than ½ hour. I wanted to get some PP pictures so we made our way towards the castle.

Love these wreaths!

I tried to get some more pictures but they all turned out so dark (nice forehead in the first one):

Looking the other way on Main Street, you can see the crowds we were fighting through:

We stopped at several different PP photographers:

I wish we would have gone a little closer to the castle for some more but it was getting too close to MSEP time and we didn’t want to get trapped. Since we had already shopped in the Emporium, we headed towards the stores on the other side of the street.

Up next: I finally Buy a Dooney & Bourke!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I have a feeling that it will be my first and last viewing of Captain EO. I'm just too curious about it to not see it once.

Oh! Let me tell you about OUR Capt. EO experience.... I grew up down there, so I have been to Disney tons. I only remember thinking it was really cheesy the first time around. Well, when they brought it back I was talking to my older brother about it. He worked at Epcot back in the day. He proceeds to go on and on about how great it was. How he used to go see it after he got off work, etc. So then I started thinking, well, maybe I remembered wrong. Drug my husband and kids to see it... guess what... I was right the first time. So Cheesy!!! But you should definitely see it for yourself and make your own judgement call!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I like your shots of the interactive que for HM. I went thru it once, but didn't get a lot of pictures as the line was moving fast.

Your Christmas pictures turned out very nice too!!

 

[ronnmel]

What party in the saloon?

So lucky, no Christmas tree hiding the beautiful castle!

 

[Pluto0809]

Oh! Let me tell you about OUR Capt. EO experience.... I grew up down there, so I have been to Disney tons. I only remember thinking it was really cheesy the first time around. Well, when they brought it back I was talking to my older brother about it. He worked at Epcot back in the day. He proceeds to go on and on about how great it was. How he used to go see it after he got off work, etc. So then I started thinking, well, maybe I remembered wrong. Drug my husband and kids to see it... guess what... I was right the first time. So Cheesy!!! But you should definitely see it for yourself and make your own judgement call!

I am going into it knowing that I'll be wishing for that time back but at least I'll know for sure. I have read a very few number of reviews that actually liked it.

I like your shots of the interactive que for HM. I went thru it once, but didn't get a lot of pictures as the line was moving fast.

Your Christmas pictures turned out very nice too!!

We were actually moving pretty fast too except for the place we got stuck for a while. I barely had time to take the pictures that I did.

Thanks, I wish my Christmas pictures were a little better. I finally figured out on Friday that if I turned my flash off, I got better pictures of the lights. A little late at that point since we left on Saturday.

What party in the saloon?

So lucky, no Christmas tree hiding the beautiful castle!

There is a section on BTMR where you go through a little valley area with some scenery. There's a saloon in that area. Only at night, there is a lighting effect that makes it look like a big party is going on inside the saloon. You can see the shadows of people dancing and having a good time.

We missed the MK Christmas tree by a few days. They don't put it up till after the parade taping. I guess it's all perspective but I was bummed we didn't get to see the tree. I never thought about it blocking the view of the castle.

 

[ronnmel]

There is a section on BTMR where you go through a little valley area with some scenery. There's a saloon in that area. Only at night, there is a lighting effect that makes it look like a big party is going on inside the saloon. You can see the shadows of people dancing and having a good time.

We missed the MK Christmas tree by a few days. They don't put it up till after the parade taping. I guess it's all perspective but I was bummed we didn't get to see the tree. I never thought about it blocking the view of the castle.

I had no idea that saloon/party existed. Yay! Something new to look for next time!

I might not have such harsh feelings for the tree if 1. our first night didn't go so bad with the super restricted view of Holiday Wishes from behind the tree and if 2. they didn't leave the tree until January 9. I was done with Christmas by then and was really hoping to enjoy my regular Main Street. Also after seeing the tree at AK, the one in MK paled in comparison. I might have been bummed if I hadn't seen it, though I don't even remember if the Epcot tree was up so maybe not?

 

[Pluto0809]

I had no idea that saloon/party existed. Yay! Something new to look for next time!

I might not have such harsh feelings for the tree if 1. our first night didn't go so bad with the super restricted view of Holiday Wishes from behind the tree and if 2. they didn't leave the tree until January 9. I was done with Christmas by then and was really hoping to enjoy my regular Main Street. Also after seeing the tree at AK, the one in MK paled in comparison. I might have been bummed if I hadn't seen it, though I don't even remember if the Epcot tree was up so maybe not?

I didn't know about the saloon until I read about it on the DIS. There always seems to be something new to see at WDW.

I totally understand your frustration with the MK tree. From pictures I have seen I have to agree that it didn't look as nice as the AK one. I think the AK one was my favorite although I liked the ones at AK Lodge and Wilderness Lodge too.

 

[Pluto0809]

At this time tomorrow I will be at WDW!! I will probably not get another update done on this TR till for about two weeks so here's one more till then. Let's finish off our MK day....

When we finally made it through the crowds on Main Street, I poked my head into the Bakery but the line was out the door. I guess everyone was getting a snack to eat during the parade and Wishes. We went onto the Glass Shop and I spent some more time agonizing over the Pluto items. I still didn’t buy anything because I just could not decide. I finally got something on our very last day. We’ll get to that later.

Then we headed to the Jewelry store. I think this is the most dangerous store in all of Disney World for me. And I ended up dropping some money while we were there. I got a Tinkerbell Charm for my Pandora bracelet and also picked out a gold Mickey watch. Mom grabbed the gold watch from me and bought it for me for Christmas. She even took it home with her so I didn’t get to wear it till after Christmas!

And I finally got my Dooney & Bourke Purse! I was going to be mean and not post the big reveal till the end with the rest of my souvenirs but I just can’t do that to you guys! So what did I get? Was it the Charms design I was looking for? Nope. I looked at about 50 of those throughout the week and never found one with Pluto on the front. Was it the dark brown Sketch bag that was my second choice? Nope. I never saw this bag. The only style I saw in that design was the wristlet. So what did I end up getting? I got this bag:

It’s called Disney Icons or buttons style. Here’s the back:

And a close up of Pluto on the front (you didn’t really think I’d get one without Pluto did you?):

I will admit that I sort of settled for this bag, Mom actually talked me into it. It wasn’t what I really wanted but I’ve since fallen totally in love with it. It took me weeks before I noticed all the details. I love the fact that it has Tink, Dumbo and the characters from Song of the South on the front. And the “It all started with a mouse” at the top makes me smile every time I look at it. I’ve gotten a lot of complements on the bag. My boss even said “Wow, that’s pretty classy for a Disney purse”. I’ll take it from someone who is not into Disney whatsoever.

We were in the Jewelry store for a while picking out the items and because they needed to take some links out of the watch. I’ve got skinny wrists (I’m sure you really needed to know that about me). While we were waiting, the MSEP passed by. I caught a few glimpses out the door and enjoyed the music. The MSEP is one thing I remember vividly from my childhood visits. I used to have a record with the music from the parade and I would play it over and over. I have it on CD now and still listen to it often.

After the jewelry store, we stopped in the Confectionary for a minute. I wanted to get some chocolate fudge but one look at the line and I said forget it. The MSEP had just ended and I think everyone decided to go get some candy. So we headed out of the park. I think it was about 7:30 – 7:45 and we had an ADR at the Wilderness Lodge at 8:45 pm. I wanted to beat the Wishes crowds to the boats.

We got to the boat dock and it was very crowded. I guess a lot of people had the same idea I did. We got on the next boat but ended up sitting in the open part in the back. It was a very cold ride but I guess it wouldn’t have been any better standing on the dock waiting for the next boat.

We got to Wilderness Lodge right at 8:00 pm. I know this because Wishes was going off. We couldn’t see much though because of all the trees. The Geyser was also erupting but we were too cold to care and headed straight into the lodge. I took some pictures as we walked in, unfortunately they are pretty dark. I’ll post them any way.

We were pretty early so we stopped for some PP pictures by the tree:

We also walked around the store for a while. They had a few Dooney & Bourke purses. I was surprised to see them there because the Wilderness Lodge was not on the list of places that carry them that I found on the internet. The CM told me that they had just started carrying them that week. Despite the fact that I just bought a purse, I checked out what they had. I figured if I found the original one I wanted, I might return the one I bought. As you know, that never happened.

We checked into Whispering Canyon about 15 minutes early and they could not find my reservation. Luckily I had printed all my confirmation numbers on a small card which I laminated and carried in my bag. With that, the CM found the reservation. For some weird reason, the reservation went under my maiden name. No idea how that happened, I haven’t gone by my maiden name for 14 years. This was the only reservation I made using the Mobile App so maybe it had something to do with that? I’m sure glad I had my confirmation numbers and will never go without them now.

We waited for a few minutes for our table and I was very tempted to play with the Lincoln Logs (ah, childhood memories. I probably shouldn’t admit this but the thing I remember most about Lincoln Logs was the weird taste.):

A pretty tree in the corner of the waiting area:

We were seated pretty quickly and since they only have a family style menu now, we ordered immediately. You could pick three meats, we choose Chicken, Fish and Beef (I think the other two choices were pork ribs and sausage). The meal also came with Corn bread, veggies, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

Our food came right away and we were so hungry we forgot to take pictures before we dug in. Mom was upset and asked if I wanted to put the platter back together. She was really into the food pictures by this time. I said no it would be ok, and just took a picture of my plate:

I’ve got beef, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, chicken and a piece of the fish. And here’s what was left of the platter after we attacked it:

The only thing you didn’t see on my plate was the veggies. Oh, and here’s the corn bread:

There were a lot of shenanigans going on around us but our waitress was pretty subdued. I think she was just a good judge of character and realized that Mom and I were more on the quiet side. We did enjoy watching everything though. Lots of ketchup got passed around. One family got really mad about all the ketchup bottles, party poopers. If someone was on a cell phone, one of the waiters would steal it and start talking to the person on the other end. Most people were just laughing but one girl got mad and chased him all over the restaurant. She was with a big party and they were all laughing at her. We also saw someone who got the extra large second drink with about 20 straws in it.

I guess I need to review the food too. It was wonderful! The chicken and fish was delicious and the corn on the cob was some of the best I’ve ever had. I’m not sure if it was the actual corn or the type of butter but it was so sweet and juicy. I liked the mashed potatoes but Mom didn’t care for them. They did have a unique taste that I couldn’t quite place. Mom also loved the corn bread and the veggies which I did not taste. The beef was probably my least favorite. Although it was still good, there was nothing special about it and I think next time we will try the ribs. We ended up ranking this meal second only to Le Cellier. We are already talking about going back to eat there again soon.

We polished off everything on the platter and thought about getting seconds but decided to save room for dessert. Oh my gosh did we get a lot of dessert for two people!

From left to right, apple-cranberry buckle, Whispering Canyon chocolate cake and jalapeno-lime cheesecake. As you can see, we dug in again before I remembered to take a picture. Since I really only like chocolate desserts, Mom took a little piece of the chocolate cake and I ate the rest. Well, all but the strawberry layers, I picked those out. It was very good. Mom tried a bite of the apple stuff but she doesn’t really like apple desserts so I couldn’t really tell you what it was like. Now the jalapeno-lime cheesecake, she couldn’t get enough of. She said it was delicious and despite being pretty full, ate most of it.

At the end, I remembered to take a few pictures of the restaurant. We really liked the Cowboys and Indians chairs:

Pretty light fixture. Too bad it came out so dark.

It was pretty late when we were done, I don’t remember the exact time but probably around 10 pm. All of the parks were closed so we were planning to transfer through DTD to get back to CBR. We walked down to the bus stop but after a minute of freezing, we walked back up to the front and ordered a cab. We were just too tired and it was too cold to stand around waiting for a bus. A cab came right away before we ever saw a bus, and for about $20 with tip we went straight back to CBR. The driver was very nice and dropped us right at the front of Jamaica and we were back in our room and off to bed pretty quickly.

Up Next: Epcot and Visiting an Old Friend