Been There, Done That and ThenSome:Timandlesley Do Disneyfor18days!11/2 TR IS UP!pg79

[Lil'DisneyMom]

Welcome Back Lesley!! That sure was an awesome MK morning. Good thing you went on IASW when you did, those lines sure did pile up!!

 

[alice325]

Welcome back, Leslie! Totally enjoyed the update! MK in the early morning with no crowds is awesome! Sorry Tim wasn't up to joining you that morning. Oh, how I would love an early morning at MK and an evening at Epcot right now. My two very favorite places to be at those times of the day.

I love the cheesy Jungle Cruise too. We went on it at night this summer and that was a lot of fun. Abby got to "pilot" the boat. Got her out of her grumpy mood for a few minutes. I know, I know, who can be grumpy at WDW? (Besides one of Snow White's dwarves) A tired almost-13-year-old, that's who. Luckily that was our only grumpy moment on that trip.

Sophie read your update for her reading homework last night. She had finished a book the night before and couldn't find anything in our vast library of kid's books that she wanted to read. She saw me reading your report and asked if she could read that instead of trying to find a book. Of course I said yes! So what can you do about getting another one up there for us for tonight?! Ha ha!

Hang in there and we'll just be happy to get another update whenever you or Tim have time to get it out there for all of us.

 

[scottny]

Hi,
All caught up and way too much to comment on. AKL looks wonderful.

Your pics are great.

Sorry Tim's knee was bothering him.

The day with boys and girls looked like fun.

Should stay caught up, I do go tot he World in 2 weeks but only for 5 days.

We did go to Europe. If you want to read the tr click the link in my signature. Of course we did Disneyland Paris.

 

[alebisi]

I love your trip report! hoping you are doing one for the halloween trip!
Anyways... the teddy bear lady you talk about at Gran Floridian (I'm not sure if it was Grand Floridian) ???

 

[ladybugmom]

GREAT update!! Looks like you had a fabulous day at MK! Claire's favorite ride it IASW, too!! Ooooh--dinner at Le Cellier--that's on our list for next time! The food looks awesome!! So sorry you had such a horrible bus driver! That's awful! I hope they really did do something about it--not really the magical experience you're expecting, huh?!

 

[timandlesley]

Wow what a crazy bus driver! But Im glad that didn't ruin your great disney day! I can't wait to be there in 2 weeks!!

It was crazy, nope, couldn't ruin our Disney day. Hope you have fun!!!

An update from Lesley, an update from Lesley!!
I loved it, take no offense tim, you did GREAT
while Les was away!! Wow, all I can say is you
guys have the BEST trips ever, I enjoy reading
each and every experience, the pictures are
awesome, all of them!!! Another trip soon, sigh,
hope your planning a TR on that one as well!!!

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks! Yes, I will do a TR on that one : )

What a great Disney day! Too bad it ended poorly with the CRAZY bus driver! I'll bet you made up for it the next day though, huh?

It was a great day, sure did!!!

Oh, Lesley... I am feeling SOOOO Swamped, like you. Can we PLEASE have the summer back?!!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to do a generic reply to the past two updates.

First.. LOVE Tim's update... it is 11:23 at night, and I'm on the computer laughing out loud! It sounds like the heat was just BRUTAL! Glad you guys were able to have a good time in spite of it.

The Japanese restaurant looked wonderful. And how special that you got to share your last time with Diane and family. You all got to make some truly special DisMemories!

Thanks for squeezing in another update. I know how hard that is! (I did one tonight.. hence, the late hour) Cannot BELIEVE Fred the bus driver. I just can't imagine that really happening, but I don't know you to be a liar.. so I'm gonna go ahead and believe it!!

Hope things are going well!

I know, bring summer back now please. Glad you loved both updates. Fred was AWFUL!

Another great update as usual


It sound like you had such an awesome day.

I could not believe how big the line for Small World got within minutes...that is nuts



LeCellier looks so good


I can't believe what a crazy driver Fred was....am so glad they reported him

Glad you enjoyed it, yes LeCellier is to die for.

Great update!

I'm sorry to hear that school is still crazy-busy. Sometimes it does get better, but sometimes you just have to wait out the year!

Thanks, yeah just gonna be one of those years : )

Great updates from both you and Tim! I'm sorry they are about to come to an end. Any chance you will do a TR for your Oct trip?

Glad you enjoyed them. Yes, I'll do one for Oct. no worries ; )

Hi Lesley! Another great update. Thank you for sharing with us. I do have a question, which villa did you prefer, the AKV or SSV? Which one did you think had more room? We are on a quest for a DVC timeshare and are having a hard time deciding which one. Thanks for the answers.

Glad you enjoyed it. I definitely preferred AKV for tons of reasons, I compare them in this TR on our first SSR day.

Dumbo first thing in the morning. Sweet.
Definitely the only way to do fantasyland. I have similar feelings on the carousel. Last time I sat there waiting for the ride to start, looked at the smile on the kids faces, and the great view of the castle. Took a pic with the tent of the carousel "framing" a shot of the back of the castle.
Thanks for increasing the desire for Le Cellier, Love that place.
The fun of the World showcase shows. Love them all!

It certainly was a magical day. Glad you enjoyed the update.

I can't believe that driver was so horrible! That's very un-Disney-like! I hope Fred has gone on to drive somewhere else.

But on a happier note, it sounds like an INCREDIBLE day at Disney World! I've never ridden Dumbo either, maybe we will this trip... And I must say, Epcot is my VERY favorite park too What an awesome day!

It was a horrible driver but yes an INCREDIBLE day. Hope you get to do Dumbo before they change it.

Great update as always. Love the MK pics especially the ones from Cinderella's carousel. Looks like a great night in Epcot. We love Le Cellier. Lauren looks adorable and I love her dress too. Glad Luke was able to complete all the KP missions.

Sounded like a great Disney Day!!

I love that pretzel bread!!! The really exciting thing is I found a place to buy it at home. They sell it at Whole Foods in the bakery, it's amazing!!!


-nat

The pretzel bread is amazing, do they really have it at Whole Foods??

Hey Leslie!!! Thanks for updating us even though you have been swamped. I am so sorry it has been such a busy time at work. At least you can keep an eye on the prize of Disney in like 37 days or so.

It looks like a great morning at MK nothing like walking on to Dumbo. Your night also looked great at EPCOT despite the crazy bus driver.

Glad you enjoyed the update, yes, the countdown for October is ON!!!

 

[timandlesley]

Hi, Lesley! We've missed you, too!

Lauren is too cute with "pixie dust" in her hair and all ready to open the Magic Kingdom! I think we need Mickey confetti to start everyday!

I could just feel the early morning peace as you rode Dumbo and gazed at the Castle! So perfect!

A five-minute wait for the Jungle Cruise? You were rockin' and rollin' that morning!

Le Cellier always looks so good -- I think I may need to try that chocolate whiskey cake!

Hurray for Luke completing all the missions! That's awesome!

I absolutely cannot believe that bus driver!!! I am so glad Tim and the other guy reported him because that is unacceptable driving and behavior!

Thanks, it was nice to be missed. Yes, we were rockin' and rollin' that morning. Luke was VERY proud : )

Looks like a perfect Disney day to me! Start with rope drop and end with Le Cellier's mushroom filet! Great!

We can just try and skip over the crazy driver....only remembering the good parts!

The mushroom fillet is the BEST!!!

OMG where did you get that shirt?????

New York Disney Store (Diane hooked me up prior to our trip and I gave it to Tim for Father's Day

What a wonderful update and a true Disney Day!! Yikes on the bus though! I am so glad that Tim went and said something. YOu all looked like you had a great evening at Le Cellier and with KP! I can't wait to try the KP Missions next week! We skipped them over our June/July trip, so I am looking forward to trying it out this time.

Can't wait to hear about the Towing??!!

Glad you enjoyed it. Towing coming up today.

Great updates Tim and Lesley !

Tim - your updates are just hysterical.
Lesley - I know exactly what you mean by closing your eyes and trying to savor a vacation moment. One that will get you threw bad days. I do the same thing on vacation.

Glad you enjoyed both updates. Thanks for reading/posting.

Yay Leslie is back!!! Enjoyed the update from Tim also!!. Looks like you had a wonderful day. I love your comment about the ducks in Epcot. I always feel the same way when I see them. I want to come back as a duck & live at Disney World!! Ah Le Cellier my favorite!! What a great day you had!!

Thanks for the warm welcome back, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, let's come back as ducks : )

You two make a great pair!!
What fantastic days you shared with us. AND what's great is, that even after 17 days at Disney, everyone still looks like they've just arrived! I was hoping my sister and her family would've fallen in love with our beloved Disney World, but alas, they just had fun. Not LOVEY LOVE LOVED it, can't wait to go back kinda fun. Not spend 21 days kinda fun, go back twice/three times a year kinda fun.
Looking forward to more fun filled Tiim and Lesley days! Sorry you had the driver from Harry Potter driving you home that night! Did he have a shrunken head hanging from the rearview mirror???

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Sorry about your sister and her family, just don't gt that. No, no shrunken head : )

Boy you had some really great days this time. Sounds like a fantastic trip. I know you are getting so excited about October!

We did have a great trip. SOOOO excited about October, 26 days baby!!!

loving the update Lesley!!! It has me so very excited!! We leave tomorrow!!!

Glad you enjoyed it, HAVE A GREAT TRIP!!!

Reading you report just makes me want to go to WDW even more. Wish my DH was onboard...

Glad you enjoyed it, get your DH on board baby! : )

Just have to say, I've haven't been back in a while, b/c I've been busy and (the real reason) I don't want it to end.

We're moving this week, in fact I'm losing my internet for a few days then i be here to read r-e-a-l s-l-o-w!

Welcome back, I only have a few updates left, one more coming tonight.

Sounds like a perfect Disney Day!!!!!!!!!!

So glad they reported that bus driver! I would have been so mad too!

Glad you enjoyed it.

What a great Magic Kingdom morning. I am glad you got to ride Dumbo, I love that ride.

It was a wonderful morning!

Great Update! What a wonderful MK day! I'm sorry about that driver - I can't believe how scarey that is! I'm glad Tim reported him, and I hope he was fired immediately! It is bad enough that there are not seat belts or car seats for the children, yet alone someone driving like that.

Thanks for taking the time to post!

It was such a great day, glad you enjoyed the update, thanks for reading/posting.

All caught up! What a great couple of Disney days!! I am so jealous- you guys had such a great time!

Can't get over the difference between Fantasyland before and after lunch! Goodness that line for IASW grew!!

Sorry about all that heat. I am getting a bit concerned about the humidity for my upcoming trip but heck I'll put the hair in a ponytail and order a slushie.

Hurrah for completing all the KP missions. Do you or Luke have a favorite? If I can only do one, which should I choose?

I will keep an eye out for Fred the bus driver... hope I don't see him.

Glad you enjoyed the updates. If I could only choose one I would choose France, but they are all SO great!!!

 

[timandlesley]

Welcome Back Lesley!! That sure was an awesome MK morning. Good thing you went on IASW when you did, those lines sure did pile up!!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Welcome back, Leslie! Totally enjoyed the update! MK in the early morning with no crowds is awesome! Sorry Tim wasn't up to joining you that morning. Oh, how I would love an early morning at MK and an evening at Epcot right now. My two very favorite places to be at those times of the day.

I love the cheesy Jungle Cruise too. We went on it at night this summer and that was a lot of fun. Abby got to "pilot" the boat. Got her out of her grumpy mood for a few minutes. I know, I know, who can be grumpy at WDW? (Besides one of Snow White's dwarves) A tired almost-13-year-old, that's who. Luckily that was our only grumpy moment on that trip.

Sophie read your update for her reading homework last night. She had finished a book the night before and couldn't find anything in our vast library of kid's books that she wanted to read. She saw me reading your report and asked if she could read that instead of trying to find a book. Of course I said yes! So what can you do about getting another one up there for us for tonight?! Ha ha!

Hang in there and we'll just be happy to get another update whenever you or Tim have time to get it out there for all of us.

Hi Alice, I am not looking forward to those teen years with our kids, glad it snapped her out of it. Too funny about Sophie and her homework, another update coming tonight : )

Hi,
All caught up and way too much to comment on. AKL looks wonderful.

Your pics are great.

Sorry Tim's knee was bothering him.

The day with boys and girls looked like fun.

Should stay caught up, I do go tot he World in 2 weeks but only for 5 days.

We did go to Europe. If you want to read the tr click the link in my signature. Of course we did Disneyland Paris.

Glad you are all caught up, another update coming tonight. Have fun in the World, bet Europe was amazing!

I love your trip report! hoping you are doing one for the halloween trip!
Anyways... the teddy bear lady you talk about at Gran Floridian (I'm not sure if it was Grand Floridian) ???

So glad you are enjoying it, yes I'll do one for the October trip, coming up SOON!!!

GREAT update!! Looks like you had a fabulous day at MK! Claire's favorite ride it IASW, too!! Ooooh--dinner at Le Cellier--that's on our list for next time! The food looks awesome!! So sorry you had such a horrible bus driver! That's awful! I hope they really did do something about it--not really the magical experience you're expecting, huh?!

Glad you enjoyed the update, just love Small World! Definitely put LeCellier on your list!

 

[timandlesley]

Day 17 of our 18 day Adventure
On this morning the alarm went off at 8:00 a.m. and we had breakfast in the room and headed to the bus stop. When I opened the door I found this and my heart sank:

The bus was FULL this morning and it stopped at all stops and Typhoon Lagoon so we didn’t get to Animal Kingdom until 9:30.

When we got there Tim hobbled off to get his ECV (we decided it was a must in this very large park with the current condition with his knee). The kids and I enjoyed some of the strolling CM’s with animals, this morning it was Madagascar hissing cockroaches, the kids got a kick out of that:

Now that we all had the creepy crawlies we entered the extremely crowded park:

The kids and I headed to Expedition Everest and Tim took his ECV to get us Fast passes for the Safari and we were going to meet at Expedition Everest and ride in the standby line if it wasn’t too long. Here was Luke on our trek back

The standby line was only 15 minutes and I was getting frustrated because it was taking Tim FOREVER. I kept calling but he didn’t answer his cell. It literally took about 25 minutes for him to get back there and the wait time kept increasing. When he finally came around the corner I saw what the hold up was, he was given the WORLDS SLOWEST ECV ever!!! He told me it had completely stalled out a few times. Well, we left it and hurried up to ride the ride. The standby line was only 20 minutes and it went quickly.

How educational…………..

The boys in line:

My boy enjoying the ride…. HANDS UP!!!

OH NO, THE TRACK IS OUT!!!!

My brave little girl on the ride:

It was a great ride as always, and we were pleasantly surprised to see they had fixed the Yeti and he was now moving around and functional, very cool!

After our ride Tim found a phone in the gift shop and told them about his ECV, he had to wait for them to bring some sort of an ECV tow truck out and haul his other one away and bring him a new one. While he was doing that the kids and I scored an ice cream snack, it was SO hot!

Lauren and her MESS of a melting ice cream:

Tim finally had a functional ECV and so we headed over to Kali River Rapids to get Fast Passes for that. Once we had Fast Passes in hand we headed to use our Fast Passes for the safari. We stopped along the way to cool off:

And passed the beautiful Tree of Life:

We got our Fast passes out and headed in in line for the safari:

The safari was GREAT, I don’t remember seeing this many animals as close to the path ever before, it was WONDERFUL! Here are some of our photo’s:

Hippo’s in the water:

Can you see the giraffes?

Lauren’s favorite animals, flamingo’s (because they are pink OF COURSE : )

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!

 

[timandlesley]

They always have those ostrich eggs that they talk about that I always assume are fake, but this is the first time we actually saw ostriches:

After the safari we saw our buddy Terk from the movie Tarzan:

Then we headed over to Kali River Rapids fast passes in hand:

We could barely squeeze by all the Brazilian tour groups, they were EVERYWHERE!!!

It was a VERY hot and sticky day so we headed to Kali hoping to get soaked:

Luke and Lauren on the ride before I had to quickly put my camera away:

Lauren and I got COMPLETELY DRENCHED!!!! Well, actually we all did. Here is Lauren DRENCHED after the ride:

A soaking wet Tim:

Then we headed for lunch , on the way over to Flame Tree BBQ the sky OPENED UP and POURED. We didn’t care because we were already soaked to the bone, so we forged on in the pouring rain while onlookers wondered why we were the crazy ones o.k. with getting wet. Hey people, I was HUNGRY!
We got our food and headed to the tables. This is hands down the best counterservice bang for your buck on property. Here was our food. My yummy Pulled BBQ sandwich and key lime pie that is YUMMY:

Tim got a half slab of ribs, they are so good and great deal for the counterservice meal credit on the dining plan (would have been 10.50 if we paid out of pocket for Tim’s meal and that doesn’t include the desert and a drink). On this particular day we were SURROUNDED by birds,

And I mean SURROUNDED, there were small children crying around us:

Shoot, Tim was crying too ; )

After we survived the birds and our bellies were full with delicious food we headed to the park exit. On our way out I heard some fun music, it was the Village Beatniks.

Talk about a FUN show, we’d never seen them before. Once again Lauren had a shy streak and wouldn’t participate but Luke got RIGHT in and participated with the Boomwackers:

After the great show we headed to the exit, here is my handsome boy on the way out of the park:

As we headed towards the bus stops SCARY skies were looming behind us, they were pitch black:

Look who was scared now:

The sky opened up and it was raining SIDEWAYS!

There was a ton of thunder and lightening too, sure glad we made it to the bus stop when we did.
When we got back to the room I called down for room charges because we’d be settling our bill to leave tomorrow and I changed our Magical Express time to make it a little earlier so that we wouldn’t have the same issue we had last year that ruined the end of our vacation- trying my best to make sure it ended on a magical note.
We got all dressed up and headed to dinner at Narcosse’s. I was so excited to try it, we had never been and heard so many wonderful reviews. We got there via a DownTown Disney bus and it didn’t take too long, it was POURING down rain so I figured that was the best way to get there (bus from SSR to DownTown Disney and bus to Grand Floridian) without getting too wet and it worked out well.
When we got there the teddy bear lady was there AGAIN in the same spot. Tim and I began talking, there was no way she could be staying there, there must be a story, so we planned on asking our server at dinner. We stopped and asked a nice CM where Narcosse’s was and he started giving us directions and we walked away and he said “hold on a minute, I can take you in my golf cart if you’d like?” YEAH!!!!
So we headed outside to wait for our chariot:

He was sooooo nice, talking to us about the resort and how wonderful Narcosse’s was. It would have been a hike if we had walked and a wet one at that so we were very thankful:

Some photo’s I snapped along the way:

Continued in Next Post

 

[timandlesley]

It is such a beautiful resort.

When we arrived to the beautiful restaurant we were seated by the window:

We had an amazing server, she was so nice. Tim asked her if she knew about the Teddy Bear lady in the lobby, she said she had heard of her and would ask in the back and get back to us.
The food was AMAZING! Here are the kids appetizers. Luke had lobster bisque that he loved:

Lauren had fresh fruit, best of the trip by far, even fresh raspberries and blackberries in the bowl:

I ordered some wine and what I LOVED about our server was she was VERY generous with the wine. I only ordered one glass of red and she poured my VERY generous glass and then said “well, we might as well just finish off the bottle and poured the rest into Tim’s glass:

Tim doesn’t drink wine, so I had his too, let’s just say I was WAY tipsy by the end of this incredible meal!
Our server came back and said she had found out about the Teddy Bear lady. She said that she is there all of the time, her story is that she and her husband were huge Disney lovers and came to travel there all of the time in their married life. They would give teddy bears to children on their travels and they would stay at the Grand Floridian. Her husband passed away several years ago and now she has mental illness of some sort it was apparent but she has family that takes her to the lobby daily where she sits with her teddy bears and still gives them away to children. She said you could google her “the teddy bear lady at the Grand Floridian” and see the story, which we did and it led us to a link at the Dis from a family member of hers. Very sad sad story and it broke our hearts.
O.K., back to the meal. This place is so incredible. Tim and I both ordered surf and turf, the Filet Mignon and lobster and it was AMAZING:

The kids each had steak too:

Then it was time for desert. Luke ordered the Smore’s, look how they come, SO cute!

He REALLY enjoyed his desert:

Tim ordered the Strawberry shortcake, it tasted as good as it looked, the presentation of these deserts were incredible:

I had the cheesecake, YUMMY!!!

Lauren had a brownie sundae:

That was my favorite meal of the trip, don’t know if it was the wine talking… ; ) but it was SOOOO good.
After dinner we decided to take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom to take the bus back to Saratoga. There was a rainbow in the sky as we headed to the boat:

My beautiful Lauren on the boat ride:

After we got back to the resort we headed out to settle the bill, return the life vests and movies. I took some pictures of the resort as we walked around:
The arcade area by the pool:

Luke in front of the Springs pool:

One of two hot tubs in the Springs pool (this one is close to the big slide):

Here is the spa:

Tim and the kids in front of Artist Pallette

Inside of the TINY foodcourt (this really needs to be bigger):

Kids by one of the horses on display:

So now our bills were settled and we knew this was our last night in Disney beds. I was so sad to see it coming to a close. I could live in Disney FOREVER. Tim was ready to go, the 4 of us staying in a small hotel room for 18 days was getting to him. On our way back to the room there were several security officers outside and 3 sherrifs cars and 2 Disney security cars, Tim inquired and they told us it was something domestic in nature. How terribly sad, you take your family to Disney world and have some sort of a domestic dispute, my heart ached as I wondered if kids had been witnesses to whatever had happened. Disney was supposed to be a magical getaway for families.
We headed up to the room and I decided I didn’t have it in me to pack, I’d get up before everyone else and pack in the morning. Our last night of Disney sleep……………… it was comforting to me knowing that as DVC members we’d be back and soon, also knowing we had a bit of magic left before we left in the morning.

Coming Up:
The final installment of our TR and planning for our return to Disney in LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!!

 

[Trentmom]

I can't believe it is almost over

So glad you had a nice last day

Looks like you guys had a great time at AK and meal at Flame Tree looks delicious


Meal at narcosses sounds so good. I love the dessert presentations, too. so pretty

Like you said, you will be back in a few weeks......so Yay for that

 

[tmkinney]

Great update! Narcossee's sounds YUMMY!!! Such a sad story about the teddy bear lady.

Hate the TR is coming to an end, but happy there is another coming up soon!!

 

[ampc3]

soo sad it's almost over, but glad it's taken you so long, so I could catch up

How did you do standby at Everest with the kids? Did you get lucky to all ride together??

Also is narcosse's 2 credits?? that meal looked amazing!!!

so sad about the teddy bear lady

 

[ladybugmom]

WOW!! Great update!! I can't believe your TR is coming to an end! But I'm looking forward to hearing about your next trip! Narcosse's looks amazing!! I haven't heard much about it--the dessert pics are TDF!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Another wonderful update! I really don't want your TR to end -- your 18 days of fun has definitely spoiled me!

Not the Magical Express envelope!!!

The picture with the giraffes in the trees is very cool!

Those storm clouds as you were leaving Animal Kingdom were sooo dark!!! Glad you made it back to the hotel safely.

Your dinner at Narcoosee's looks absolutely delicious!!!

The last night is always so bittersweet -- I could so live at Disney as well!

 

[Nicole786]

Great chapter, I've never had a desire to stay at SSR but now it seems really nice almost GF-esque!

 

[PittypatBR]

Great update and interesting stories. That meal at Narcossee's looked fabulous! What a wonderful trip you had, all the way around! I am very excited for you - no one deserves it more. It is very gratifying to see a "normal" family who works hard and cherishes their kids and is able to enjoy their love of WDW. I hope your school year settles down a bit and you have a little more free time. Teaching school while taking care of your own kids is very demanding, though - I did it too so I know!

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Great update! I like that you guys are going out in style...eating at Narcoossees! It really is a touching story about the teddy bear lady! I just can not believe this 18 day adventure is coming to an end!!!

 

[MagicShell]

That looks like a pretty nasty storm. I'm glad you made it to shelter before the rain started. It is sad to see your trip ending, I have enjoyed reading it and seeing all your pictures.