Birthdays, surprises, Magic & Merriment *3/25 New PTR Link We leave in 47 days*

[RunningGirl]

LOVE the castle at Christmas! Those lights are so pretty.

Glad you had fun with DIS friends. It's amazing to me the friendships that can begin via the internet!

[tazdev3225]

Great first couple of days. I love Disney at Christmas time. I'm tryiing to figure out if I can squeeze one ion this year. We are going for 8 days in August so it may be a little tough.

[Tinker_Tam]

What a great update! I love that Castle shot. I must tell you, I cried like a baby when we watched the castle lighting. Than again, I think I cried like a baby just about the whole time!

[Rozz]

Wow, what a fantastic update! That skycap made a great start to your trip. You made a great start to someone else’s trip, helping them find ME. Beautiful flowers waiting for you from Bill and wonderful friends to spend the evening with. Doesn’t get much better than that! By the way, great photos of the castle!

[Montana_Disney_Fan]

[IheartDDuck]

Tracy,
I'm glad that I found your report! Can't wait to hear more.

[Hedy]

So sorry so late!
I hope I'm not spoiling anything, but I noticed that a certain party was referred to as Bill's fiancee in Kathy's post on WDW Fan Zone-belated congrats!

[Montana_Disney_Fan]

bump

[jcc0621]

Originally Posted by Montana_Disney_Fan

Originally Posted by Montana_Disney_Fan

bump

Is this???? Could this be???? Is it you????

[mrsksomeday]

Originally Posted by jcc0621

I'm late I'm sorry. Forgive me

I read everything, let's see what I remember since I didn't quote...

1 - Awesome about the Skycap not making you wait in line
2 - Way to spread the pixie dust for the newbies
3 - How did you wind up liking the '80's. 2 of the 3 times we stayed at Pop that's where we stayed. I liked it better than the 50's
4 - So glad you had such a great DisMeet
5 - Bill has awesome taste, those flowers were beautiful!
6 - You have done so much in 1 1/2 days

Can't wait to read more and I promise to be on time for the next installment

Hi Janet!! No apology necessary, you are an extremely busy person, thanks for dropping by!!

I don't think we would have minded the 80's location if it hadn't gotten so cold. Bill was an icicle some nights by the time we made it to the room.

Originally Posted by KathyRN137

I had a similar cookie sandwich from the Main St. Bakery and ate the entire thing myself!! Yummy!

The Castle picture at night is stunning!

Seeing the toy soldiers is one of my favorite parts of the parade, too!
As you can see from my NEW ticker (below) I'm planning to see the parade this December with my Billy!!


Kathy

Well when I said "we" about the cookie, he tried a bit of the cookie part then let me have it .

I could sit and stare at that castle for hours. We really enjoy the soldiers.

I am so very happy about you getting to take Billy to WDW, have you told him yet?

Originally Posted by englishrose47

That reflection pix of the Castle is Postcard worthy !!Just AWESOME!!!!

Thanks Rosie!

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

I feel the same way Heidi!! Reading about everyone's holiday trips has really got me trying to figure out how to pull off a Nov/Dec trip sometime in the near future! I just have to figure out how...

We talked about trying it again in that time frame this year, but it looks like an earlier date won out .

[mrsksomeday]

Originally Posted by RunningGirl

LOVE the castle at Christmas! Those lights are so pretty.

Glad you had fun with DIS friends. It's amazing to me the friendships that can begin via the internet!

Friendships can really blossom from the internet, so can other relationships. Bill and I met online .

Originally Posted by tazdev3225

Great first couple of days. I love Disney at Christmas time. I'm tryiing to figure out if I can squeeze one ion this year. We are going for 8 days in August so it may be a little tough.

Have fun in August, I think I would melt if we went during that time of year.

Originally Posted by Tinker_Tam

What a great update! I love that Castle shot. I must tell you, I cried like a baby when we watched the castle lighting. Than again, I think I cried like a baby just about the whole time!

Thanks Tammy . I cried too, I do every time I see it and when I see Wishes.

Originally Posted by Rozz

Wow, what a fantastic update! That skycap made a great start to your trip. You made a great start to someone else’s trip, helping them find ME. Beautiful flowers waiting for you from Bill and wonderful friends to spend the evening with. Doesn’t get much better than that! By the way, great photos of the castle!

It was a fantastic start to our trip.

Originally Posted by Montana_Disney_Fan

Hiya stranger!!

Originally Posted by IheartDDuck

Tracy,
I'm glad that I found your report! Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for joining us!

Originally Posted by Hedy

So sorry so late!
I hope I'm not spoiling anything, but I noticed that a certain party was referred to as Bill's fiancee in Kathy's post on WDW Fan Zone-belated congrats!

Hi Hedy!! I don't think you are spoiling anything, I have had a ring for about 5 years . We will be eternally engaged unless one of us wins the lottery due to his disability and government red tape.

Originally Posted by Montana_Disney_Fan

bump

Ok, I will do an update. I finish my reports, unlike some people .

Originally Posted by jcc0621

Is this???? Could this be???? Is it you????

I think it is, I was happily surprised to see them posting!!

[mrsksomeday]

The Mad Hatter: Well. The entire world is falling to ruins and poor Cheshire's off his tea.


December 1st, 2010

Terry and I had been texting the morning of Toni’s birthday. The plan had been to meet them at Epcot, give her the birthday present I had gotten her and watch his surprise to her unfold. Then he texted me a change of plans, he had a better idea and wanted to know if we wanted to go over to Magic Kingdom instead, he had a great plan, but in the end we decided to not intrude. It was going to be a very special moment that we thought would be better shared with just them.

Bill and I proceeded to go to Epcot, according to my facebook posting we got there around 10:30, I said “A chilly but beautiful day at Epcot”.

Oh, hmmm, I bet you are wondering what Terry’s surprise was? Seems I am being mysterious about it aren’t I? Well I don’t want to ruin their TR so I will keep mum for now until they post what happened on that day. If you want to know what the heck happened you have to read her TR….back to Bill and me.

We love the topiaries at Epcot, well all over WDW property:



First mission, to go see Captain EO, neither of us had seen it. I had never been to WDW before 2006 so it was way gone before I was there. We were told the accessible slots were full and we could wait for the next show, so we did. We were first in line for the next one. After we were seated and the show began we were laughing at the retro-ness of it (I know it isn’t a word, but work with me). We thought it was hilarious and Bill loved that he could feel the effects in the floor. Very often he misses out on the extra things WDW does for shows because he isn’t sitting in a seat, so this was a great surprise.

Then it was time to ride Figment, I know many people don’t care for this ride, but for Bill and me it holds a special memory. We got stuck on it in 2008 and they had to call the Reedy Creek Fire Department before they would let us off. That is the policy when it involves a wheelchair. Sometimes out of the blue one of us will look at the other and just say… IMAGINATION, because we heard that song for 15 minutes straight over and over again waiting to be rescued. On facebook I said: “A line at Figment? Never saw that before.” It wasn’t much of a line, but we have always just walked right through the queue and onto the ride.



After Figment, we knew we better go do some personal care then head over to Italy for our ADR. Pictures from the walk:



The new La Hacienda de San Angel, very pretty:



We decided to ride the boat across so I took more pictures while we waited:





After our boat ride, we made our way to Tutto Italia. We had not eaten here since it was Alfredo’s. The staff was so nice, the hostess said she was taking us to a table but if that wasn’t satisfactory they would seat us elsewhere. They first took us to a two topper that wouldn’t work, it was way too cramped for Bill to get into the space and as I always tell the staff, I prefer to sit next to him since it is easier to help him that way. They then took us to the first table on the way into the restaurant, it was fine with us.

I posted this to FB:



Our server was Teresa Marie, and Bill was smitten. She was gorgeous, sweet, and very friendly. How could you not love her. She was going to New York City for Christmas and so excited. We really enjoyed talking to her and we loved her accent.

She brought out the bread:



Then it was time for the entrees, first Bill’s. Now I don’t see it listed on the menu at AllEars, because I swear it was Lobster Ravioli with Shrimp, so here is a picture:



I ordered Costata Di Maiale Alla Valdostana - breaded pork chop, stuffed with prociutto ham, and fontina cheese:



Teresa Marie on the left and the lovely hostess on the right:



Her smile lit up the room. By the end of our dinner I think we both had a crush on her.

Then it was time for desserts, Bill got what looks like Strawberry Cheesecake, imagine that:



I got the dessert trio:



O
M
G

We both loved our entrees and desserts. We left her a huge tip, wished her safe travels, and were on our way. We wanted to see if we could catch some storytellers and were in luck. La Befana from Italy would be there soon, I took some pictures while we waited:





Then she arrived, with a story to tell with her lovely voice and animated gestures:






After she was done she stayed for pictures:



We then looked at our times guide and saw it was almost time for Helga the storyteller from Germany, so we made our way over there.

Can’t stop myself from taking pictures of the miniature train set:





We explored the new Caramel shop, wouldn’t you if you had the time?





We then went to wait for Helga and found her adorable little stage:






CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

[mrsksomeday]

Now here is when a pet peeve of mine kicked in. At WDW they put up ropes for reasons, to keep people out of an area. Some of the storytellers areas are roped off until they arrive, but for some reason, a lot of parents just didn’t care about the rope and would tell their kids to climb over it so they could get a picture. This ANNOYED the you know what out of me. It was all I could do to not say something.

Then Helga showed up and I forgot about all the rule breaking parents. She talked about the many traditions they have in Germany:







At the end a Nutcracker comes out and wouldn’t leave Bill alone until they fist bumped:



Of course Bill wanted a picture with Helga:



Toni texted me and let me know they were in Epcot and she wasn’t too far from Japan so we decided to meet her there, she had the great idea to buy some snacks from all the countries to send to Jordan, our fantastic DIS friend. I had her birthday present with us so we met up with her, Terry was off somewhere. We gave her a little gift bag, inside was a pearl carriage, a gift certificate, and a Mickey spatula, since I knew she had wanted to get Mickey stuff for her kitchen. The gift card was so she could get a pearl and the rest of the money on it was to get some kitchen things she wanted. She seemed to like it which made us happy. We hugged her then she went off to be with Terry while we made our way to the accessible location by Germany for Illuminations.

By the time we got there it was getting colder and colder and we debated staying, I can’t believe we did this but we actually made the adult decision to leave. Can you believe that?? That is the reason for the quote, our World fell into FREEZING ruins and we decided to go. I snapped some not so good pictures on the way out:









Ahhh Mexico, yes it was freezing but the frozen margarita stand called my name. I hadn’t had a chance to get my beloved Grey Goose Slushie and the margaritas here were my consolation prize. I figured if I sucked it down fast enough it would turn from freezing into warm drunken fuzziness. Well I was half right, I wasn’t drunk but by the time we got to the exit I had downed about half of it and was feeling warmer.

BTW a little fact I didn’t know, you can’t carry alcohol out of the park well unless you are Nebo and Smidgy and have either a SunnyD container or a fuzzy cup, but since I had neither I didn’t get to. A CM asked me what I was drinking and foolishly I told them the truth. They told me I either had to drink it or throw it away. I almost decided to down it but figured that it would make me cold all over again to reluctantly threw it away.

As we were walking toward the exits I heard a familiar voice, about 20 feet in front of us was TnT, I pointed them out to Bill and he took off after them. HELLO what about me??? I knew I would catch up because he had forgotten about the metal gates and I would have to help him get through, not like anyone around him would be nice enough to hold it open for him. So I caught up with him there, let him through and he TOOK OFF on me again determined to catch up with them. He was flying, honking his horn and they turned around and started laughing. They waited for my fat butt to catch up and we all went to the bus stop together talking about our day to each other, it was a fun surprise to run into them like that, even though now they must have thought Bill was a stalker.

Now I knew Epcot had changed the way they set up the bus queue for the wheelchairs/ECV’s. They have them go through the regular line until they get close to the front of the line then they split off to the side. I had heard horror stories here on the boards about it, so I was worried. There really wasn’t an issue this night because we left before Illuminations.

It would be an entirely different story on the 3rd. DUH DUH DUHHHHH!!!!!

Next installment.. Meeting a Pirate and a Princess

[Mickey_Mom]

Bill's flowers were so beautiful! I confess I read that update a while ago but am just getting back here now to post.... it brought tears to my eyes to see the charm. Sigh!

Why oh why did I not take a picture when I ran into you all?? Not just once... twice!

I love your beautiful castle picture - just gorgeous! All those TnT sightings! I have to get back over to their TR (though I know the surprise from Facebook I can't wait to hear all about it!) ... I know I'm probably an update or two behind already.

Despite the chilliness, sounds like a fun day at Epcot! Love how you're both crushing on your Tutto server -- your dinners look delicious!!

[Tinkermom76]

I love how you give us little cliffhangers for Toni's TR, since you do that would you be so kind as to tell her to hurry her butt up and catch up so we can all be on the same page here geez

Sounds like you guys had a great day at Epcot. We didn't do CaptainEO, I think I forgot it was there