Surprised the kids, wife, and my readers w/ a 2 week trip to AoA!(*NEW* 11-7)

Sounds like an excellent choice to me.



Way to take one for the team! :goodvibes

I've had Kona's Pipeline Porter before. That's a good one.
our local stores have started to stock there beers so we have been able to make variety packs of all there offerings, and they are all pretty good.

kona longboard is still prob in the lead though.

Mmmm...cheese soup...

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Too bad they didn't serve you the pretzel bread with it. That really completes it. :thumbsup2



Those are cool. I don't remember seeing them before. Maybe I need to pay more attention in the gift shops.:rolleyes1
hmm, i would have liked to try that, i am a fan of pretzel bread, wonder if they would bring that out to the booths? but maybe not for fear it would get hard to quick and not store as well as some of hte other dishes.


we usually never go in gift shops, this day we went in the most we have ever been to but mostly because it revolved around the kid cot stations or because the weather turned a little bit...i would like to explore them more in the future but will just have to see how the kids like that plan.:rolleyes:

Glad you were able to move Parker’s party indoors.
Ooh I like the bunk bed in the resort.
The coaster did look like of Primevel Whirl.
The video of the ride looked like fun.
LOL. The moose car.
Cute dolls she got.
thanks scott, it was a really fun trip, i was glad to have the water camera to catch more things that we normally would not have pictures of.

I love boat rides at Disney.
Looked like a nice time with Chip n’ Dale.
Love front row on Soarin’. I always ask for it. LOl
We always go right when we enter World Showcase.
Cute pics with Duffy.
we always ask for front row of soarin as well, the view is much better that way.

that because you like to be closer to your grey goose slushie:thumbsup2

Glad Parker enjoyed Grand Fiesta Tour.
Nice riding Soarin’ three times.
The red dots look like something else. ROTF
Oh I love that soup from Canada. I make it at home and it is so good.
I am all caught up. Fun updates and pics.
someone else texted me and said that about the dots, i didnt even notice it, but it is funny now that i looked for it.
:rotfl:

care to share the soup recipe? where did you get it from?




I'm caught up again.

That sandwich in Hawaii looks absolutely yummy. I do love pork so that is right up my alley.

I must say Candi's Mai Tai looks very good too. :)

I wish Canada would have a counter service area where you could just get the soup and the pretzel bread. As much as we used to love eating there, our last visit was very disappointing and, now that we have found Yachtsman Steakhouse, we won't be going back to LeCellier.

it was good pork, not tough at all.

it was very good i just had a very small sip as i knew she loved it and didnt want to take too much away from her.

i have never eaten at either so i cant compare them.

what was the major factor for you to switch over.
 
love how Noelle warmed up to the characters!

I wonder if all the items with the DP logo next to them on the F&W boards are considered snack credits? I noticed one dish was close to $6. (Would not be worth using a QS credit for, but that would be a fantastic deal if it's a snack credit!)

Nice choice on the beer! If you ever get a chance to try the Abita Harvest (strawberry beer, it's seasonal) definitely give it a shot. I live only 20 minutes from the Abita Brewery :thumbsup2

yep everything with that little logo is the snack credit logo...the filet was $6.50 and a snack credit so very worth it.

if you notice on the desert booth each individual item was $1.50 or one snack credit, the tri of snacks was something like $4.00 or 1 snack credit, so if using a credit it is a no brainer to get the sample for the same price.

going to the festival with all those snack credits is really nice, only thing we paid for was the booze but we had gift cards from birthdays etc...so it was pretty much like getting it all for free.

that sounds like a good beer, when is that seasonal? in the fall? i looked it up and seems our store has it less than a mile away...will look for it.
thanks for the heads up.




Love Duffy. We actually had a great encounter with our son during our trip. He got on the ground and hugged my son. I have never seen a character do that before.

F&W is looking good. Looks like the prices in Canada keep going up!
thats awesome i love when the characters take extra time to do fun stuff like that, really makes a great memory


i never saw the prices before so not sure how much they went up, was it a lot?



Love your TR! Your kiddos are adorable!
I really enjoyed the mushroom filet at Le Cellier last time we went. Might have to try that soup next time!

:welcome: thanks for joining in, and for the comments.

thing i really liked about the soup is that it was not really heavy, so it was great for the florida weather.
 
:welcome: thanks for coming out of lurkdom and joining in.

im hoping with parker starting school the teachers will be cool with us sometimes taking him out for a week or so. but we will see how it goes.

do you mind if kids take off of school for vacation?


congrats on the new addition that is on the way.

Thanks for the congrats! Life is going to get crazy soon!!

I teach high school, so my kids going on vacation is different than if you pulled Parker for a week. It can be tough to gather everything they'll need if they ask for work to bring, then finding dates for them to make up missed tests and quizzes is another issue. But it gets worked out and the disciplined students do what they need to do to get everything done.
 
what was the major factor for you to switch over.

A combination of things. The ambiance is much better at Yachtsman; the service much better, and the steak much better. LeCellier, when they went signature, I found the quality of the food to go down, you couldn't make substitutions like you used to. Just was not a pleasant last experience at LC.
 


We are going to the Boardwalk in August and just decided to book a day before at Art of Animation. Your pictures reassured me we made the right choice. It looks fantastic!!
 
OMG I love your report. You have a lovely family! You know how to vacation! I have been going to WDW for years with my family - 4 children (all grown now) and am taking my first trip with my 20 mo old grandchild this month. You plan beautifully - taking time to rest and to play, letting your children set the tone. Your son is beautiful and reminds me of mine when he was that age. It took him a while to get used to loud, dark rides but he eventually did come around. Hearing about what rides you've taken your daughter on has helped me in planning on what I can take my grandson on - I would have never thought I could bring him on TSM but he will love it!! I can't wait to hear what happens next - thank you for writing such a wonderful trip report.
 
Thanks for the congrats! Life is going to get crazy soon!!

I teach high school, so my kids going on vacation is different than if you pulled Parker for a week. It can be tough to gather everything they'll need if they ask for work to bring, then finding dates for them to make up missed tests and quizzes is another issue. But it gets worked out and the disciplined students do what they need to do to get everything done.
but crazy for the better:thumbsup2

yeah i can see that, i think the oldest i was when my parents took me out of school was 6th grade.

thats good that you still will work with to get things done, even though it is a little more work on your part. kudos for that.:thumbsup2

A combination of things. The ambiance is much better at Yachtsman; the service much better, and the steak much better. LeCellier, when they went signature, I found the quality of the food to go down, you couldn't make substitutions like you used to. Just was not a pleasant last experience at LC.

i wonder if they just figured they had a name for themselves they didnt need to put all the extra work into it like they used to.

glad you found a good sub for it though.


We are going to the Boardwalk in August and just decided to book a day before at Art of Animation. Your pictures reassured me we made the right choice. It looks fantastic!!
:welcome: glad you are giving AoA a chance and staying there, i think you will love it, are you planning for that day to be a aresort day? it is a great place to explore the pools and just relax and have fun.


OMG I love your report. You have a lovely family! You know how to vacation! I have been going to WDW for years with my family - 4 children (all grown now) and am taking my first trip with my 20 mo old grandchild this month. You plan beautifully - taking time to rest and to play, letting your children set the tone. Your son is beautiful and reminds me of mine when he was that age. It took him a while to get used to loud, dark rides but he eventually did come around. Hearing about what rides you've taken your daughter on has helped me in planning on what I can take my grandson on - I would have never thought I could bring him on TSM but he will love it!! I can't wait to hear what happens next - thank you for writing such a wonderful trip report.

:welcome:
thanks, glad you are enjoying it, while we are still a little tired after we leave from being in disney and doing alot, you dont want to get home from a vacation and feel that you NEED a vacation. :rotfl:

glad you are getting some good tips out of it, i have learned a TON from other peoples reports on here, and glad to give back a little tip and advice of my own.

TSM is fun for them, just have to hold onto them when the vehicle is going between scenes, it does move fast...I found that if you hold them tight to your body and have a hand on the side of there head it will be perfectly fine, i did that just to keep them from moving to much and so they didnt get scared from the vehicle moving quickly between scenese....neither kid had an issue with it.

parker was 8 months his first time on it, noelle was about 14 months on it.

hope you continue to enjoy it.
 


glad she liked the rides after you took her on them.

is this the first time you have been then?
did you qualify for the free dinning dates they announced?


that is a great time to go.

Yes this is our first time going this time of year. Our first trip was in Feb 2011. We did get free dinning.
 
Hawaii was one of the other booths I wanted to try but didn't. DH and I both turn 40 on our next bdays, and I keep hinting that an adults-only WDW trip would be great...during F&W would be even better! I'll keep working on him... :scratchin

I did have a bowl of the soup while waiting for Illuminations our first night. We'd been there once before, and I'd enjoyed it. Someone usually makes it and brings it to the Indy DIS meet, so I can have it there, too - and it's usually almost as good! I love how your kids try this stuff. Mine almost turned into chicken nuggets this trip because they ate so many!
 
Sorry I missed your last update till now !!! I have only eaten at Le Cellier once and while everything was good , I wouldn't say it is worth2 TS credits . I loved the cheese soup!!
 
sorry i havent posted in a while, been really busy around these parts.


Yes this is our first time going this time of year. Our first trip was in Feb 2011. We did get free dinning.
thats awesome you will love it....of course being disney how could you not.
Happy Mother's Day to Candi.




thanks i will share this with her, she had a great day.

Hawaii was one of the other booths I wanted to try but didn't. DH and I both turn 40 on our next bdays, and I keep hinting that an adults-only WDW trip would be great...during F&W would be even better! I'll keep working on him... :scratchin

I did have a bowl of the soup while waiting for Illuminations our first night. We'd been there once before, and I'd enjoyed it. Someone usually makes it and brings it to the Indy DIS meet, so I can have it there, too - and it's usually almost as good! I love how your kids try this stuff. Mine almost turned into chicken nuggets this trip because they ate so many!
that would great if you could pull that off just you two.

noelle is more adventurous than parker, but ill get him swung around in the right direction.

it would be fun to get to the indy meet, but our weekends are usually always slammed.

and when they are not we dont do anything but relax around the house:)

Sorry I missed your last update till now !!! I have only eaten at Le Cellier once and while everything was good , I wouldn't say it is worth2 TS credits . I loved the cheese soup!!

i have never eaten there and dont think it is worth two credits. i save my 2 credits for shows like the luau :thumbsup2 2 credits to me is using one of those for the free beer refills they offer.::yes:: so one for the meal one for free refills. :rotfl:

Dan you know me to well about the going right for a slushie. LOL
::yes::
 
Chapter 53. More Country Hopping and we make a friend.

Leaving the good old UK we head across the pond to the France, but not before the photopass guy stopped us to get a nice sweaty picture of me and candi in that ackward kiss each other for the camera and try not to smile position.

It is a great shot, you are all sweaty from the parks, you probably dont smell the best in the heat, and you are to hold a kiss with your loved one, while sweat appears and makes it that much better.:laughing: but who am i to turn down any sort of kiss from my lovely bride.

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I have just started to notice this area the last trip after seeing pictures of it so i thought to take my own now.
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We continue on into France

Here is where the france booth is for an idea of the area.
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And of course there menu board, but we did not purchase anything here this time.
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We did stop for another family picture by the fountain, parker was still enjoying his crackers so they came into the picture and caused a non teeth smile from him, noelle just looks honked off and isnt smiling for anyone

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We left the fountain and all the people who were letting there kids put there feet in the water, not sure if that is frowned upon by disney or not, maybe next time ill bring my blow up pool chair and see what they think of that one.
:)

we went straight back to the kid cot station in france so parker could get another stamp there, but first a stop to play with the ring toss game.
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then it was time to get his stamp and name written in french.
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i wont be signing noelle up anytime soon for a horseshoe tournament that little one didn't get anywhere close to the target, she even hit me once.
:duck:

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up next was a booth we were stopping at.

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candi loves waffles so figured she would really like them here.

here is the booth complete with a guy in the bottom corner smiling in the picture.

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he has inspired me to on future trips if i know that i will be in the background of someones picture to smile for the camera, it cracked me up.

while getting her waffle i yelled to her that we would go find a spot to sit down in the seating area, and that if she wanted i would take a beer flight...i mean if you look at the pricing individual ones are $3.50 and the flight is $8.50

so basically simple math tells me that the third beer is about 2/3 off so almost free and i had to take advantage of that steller deal.

i told her to get the godiva chocolate liqueur iced coffee but she came back to the table with out it and said she was just going to share my beers :headache: i didnt realize that was an option.

here is candis waffle.
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she said it was nothing special she liked our homeade ones better and said she would not get it again if she had the chance.

Here is my beer flight complete with handy dandy holder to carry all three while walking.

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if you see a hand up above the beer flight that is our friend that we sat with while enjoying our break,

she was from the great state of connecticute...and was down there at her families time share and participated in the race that weekend at disney the tower or terror race i believe it was.

she was a very nice lady we of course talked disney with her for about 20 minutes and stayed put under the umbrella of the table as it had started raining while we were there one of those disney 15 minute hard showers, luckily we stayed somewhat dry from the big umbrella and the one we brought with us.

after the died down we bid farewell from our new friend, and suggested a few of the food options that we had already tried from that way she was coming from the other direction so she gave us her imput on the food she tried so far.

we next came to new zealand and you can see the wet ground.

i was tempted by the lamb meatball but passed on it at the time having not seen any pictures before we came on the trip of it.

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Morocco was our next stop, and i was trying something here.

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i went for the kefta pocket, any time you tell me pita pocket and beef in the same sentence im all for it.

this pita pocket had a nice little hidden gem in it, there was a slaw in the bottom of it that was very good with the beef.

i have to be honest this snack was awesome the seasoning on the beef was fabulous i would get it again in a heart beat.

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while i followed along the kids went into the morocco kid station to get a stamp and a name writing there as well.
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parker was proud of the duffy traveling around the countries.
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noelle just wanted to tour the countries and find some intstruments to bang on, she found the little bongo type drums here.
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after our visit we ventured on to singapore, and almost was this close to getting the beef rendang with jasmine rice, but passed for some reason, i wonder how it was?
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we had a mission that candi was pumped to get to but i will save that for next time....hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the weather if it is nice by you.
 
great update Dan!

yeah..that kiss does look awkward. :lmao:

I think Noelle was mad that she didn't get to put her feet in the fountain too :sad:

I like the pic with the smiling guy. But what I noticed first was the older gentlemen to the left of the beer booth. He looks just like the guy who owns Jurassic Park in the movie! At least from far away. Hat and all.

That waffle really didn't LOOK like anything special, so I'm not surprised that Candi was not thrilled with it.

C'mon Dan, the coffee would have been $7.50 and 18 oz of beer was only $1 more! Sounds like Miss Godiva is overcharging :rotfl:

Actually I'd go for a gray goose slush over any of the above. But the beer looked pretty good too. Bet that was really refreshing! Good choice.

Did Noelle have her name written in the different languages as well, or just Parker? I would like to collect the stamps & have the names written in the countries for Harper if it's something we can do rather quickly, since it will make a nice piece of memorabilia from her first trip.

can't wait to see what Candi's mission is!
 
The beef rendang with jasmine rice nearly killed me! It was the end of the night and I think we got to the end of the batch and it was super concentrated! Holy cow!

Jill in CO
 
Great Update Dan !!No escargot for you ???>?:lmao: I would have tried them , but if they had frog legs I would have run the other way:rotfl2:
 
That kefta pocket looks yummy! I'm putting that on the food list for this year. Yum!

I totally agree with your theory on the beer flight! Works for me! :thumbsup2

I think the kid-cot stations are so great!

Another fun update. Cute family picture in front of the fountain!
 
Duffy is adorable! And so soft!

Yum! All this good looking/sounding food is making me hungry! Aww, Noelle is so cute! Aww, glad that Parker perked up and liked the ride!

YUM! Le Cellier food. I have to say that the filet and the soup was definitely the best ever, especially once you have the pretzel bread to dip in the soup, ACH! Best ever.

That pita looks delicious! Now all I want is to be at food and wine in Epcot! Hahaha!
 

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