Celebrating my big 4-0 with the Big Cheese - Update 11/13, page 19

[Lady Lallie]

I'll admit I am not the biggest Star Wars fans but that is a cool birthday cake/cupcake set up!!!

 

[DWGal210]

VERY cool cake and cupcakes! COOL!

Girl, we NEED to make a plan and meet soon. We are SO close to each other. Let's make a plan to do that before the summer is up. I'd be happy to drive down to you, have lunch, do some shopping, visit, whatever.

Have a great night!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

my DS12 would LOVE that cake, I will have to show him that picture tomorrow. We saw Cars today - loved it!

 

[Megablocks]

Love the cake! My Star Wars loving boyfriend would definitely approve too

 

[lmillercrew]

Joining in from Jen's PTR! Can't wait to read all about your 15 day trip!!!

 

[kschafer]

I'll admit I am not the biggest Star Wars fans but that is a cool birthday cake/cupcake set up!!!

I confess to knowing very little about SW as well (most of what I know, the boys have taught me) but I do enjoy watching them light up over it!

VERY cool cake and cupcakes! COOL!

Girl, we NEED to make a plan and meet soon. We are SO close to each other. Let's make a plan to do that before the summer is up. I'd be happy to drive down to you, have lunch, do some shopping, visit, whatever.

Have a great night!

It does seem silly that we are only 1 hour from each other and haven't met yet! I'm afraid M'town doesn't hold much to do though Maybe I can find a day to sneek away and come to you

my DS12 would LOVE that cake, I will have to show him that picture tomorrow. We saw Cars today - loved it!

We haven't made it to Cars yet. Maybe we should go today since it will be too hot to do anything else

Love the cake! My Star Wars loving boyfriend would definitely approve too

I told Patrick to look online for an easy idea and this is what he found. The hardest part was the lightsabers because my first and second ideas didn't work out.

Joining in from Jen's PTR! Can't wait to read all about your 15 day trip!!!

I recognize you from mutual friends TR's. Glad to have you here!

 

[kschafer]

Alrighty then…let’s get this going shall we!!

Day 1 - Tuesday, June 7

Our day began with the alarm going off at 2:30 am. Greg and I both took quick showers, brewed a pot of coffee, and did the last minute house preparations. Everything had been loaded up in the van the night before. About 3:15, we shook the boys…Patrick sat upright quickly and asked “DisneyWorld?” Yep baby…let’s go!!

I anticipated the boys would just crawl into the van and fall back asleep but apparently they were too excited and they were awake for the next several hours. We picked up my parents who dropped us off at the airport. The airport was surprisingly busy at the wee hours of 5:00 am and we waited in line a bit before checking in. Luckily, security went quickly and we were soon at our gate ready to board!

I won’t do this throughout the TR but I thought I would share our pattern of picture taking during this trip:
“Daniel, smile”
CLICK

“Now this time look at me”
CLICK again

And so it went for the next 2 weeks! Luckily, Patrick was more cooperative

Our first leg was quick and painless, only 1 hour to Milwaukee. We were scheduled to have a ½ hour layover but found our plane was delayed an hour. Oh well, what can you do? We killed some time looking through the gift shop.

Then were on our way once again. Patrick and I watched a movie and Daniel and Greg napped on the 2 ½ hour flight to Orlando. We arrived and excitedly made our way onto the faux monorail

We breezed through the ME line and were led right onto the bus!

We enjoyed the video and anticipated the sight of that colorful arch

The first stop was at CBR then we were on to

The bus we had ridden was themed

Things were a little crazy at check-in but the boys kept busy while I waited in line

Turns out the computer systems were down and we weren’t able to formally check-in yet. We were given our welcome package and told our room was in building 5. We were also given comp park tickets to use since they couldn’t issue our package tickets yet. We had no plans to head to a park that night but they came in handy later on!

Our room was not ready but we had anticipated that so we headed to the pool since we packed the boys swimsuits in our carry-ons.

And we waited for our text message that the room was ready. And we waited, and waited. The phone buzzed several times but it was always someone else! After about 1 ½ hours, it was time for us to get ready for our dinner ADR’s and we hadn’t heard about our room. The boys changed again and we dropped our bags at bell services and headed out.

I can’t remember which park we changed buses at (I’m thinking DHS but surprisingly, I have no photo evidence of this). Before long, we were being dropped off here

It wasn’t quite dinner time yet but we killed some time looking around, browsing the gift shop and making wishes.

 

[kschafer]

And I played with the panoramic setting on my camera

We checked in and were immediately seated for my much anticipated dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe

We all ordered the skillet. It stared with cornbread and salad (with shakes to drink)

Soon followed by the main meal

Although the boys both got the skillet too, they got their own plates and sides

And for dessert, Greg got the apple pie with a mocha

And I chose the smores cheesecake

The verdict? The boys and I all loved the air of the place (Greg wasn’t swayed yet by all the fun but Daniel told me a couple days ago it was his favorite restaurant because he and the waiter had a game of poking each other ). The salad and cornbread were both excellent and the potatoes to die for! The desserts were fine but the meats were much too heavily spiced for my taste and I’m sad to say I was a bit let down by this much anticipated meal. I suspect though I would find myself here again given the right circumstances in order to enjoy the atmosphere and those rockin potatoes! Perhaps for lunch when they have sandwiches and such

After dinner, the plan was to take the boat over to MK to pick up the bus back to POP. I knew the geyser went off at the top of the hour but we weren’t really sure where it was and I had feared we’d missed it. We stopped and grabbed a couple pics

and were making our way past the pool when we heard the geyser start so we ran toward the sound

As you can see, the boys really enjoyed this!

Then we rode the boat

And got our first glimpse of the glorious MK!!

We briefly contemplated using those comp park tickets but decided to make it an early night instead so we returned to POP

We still hadn’t heard about our room yet, turns out, it had long been ready but the system was still down and we had failed to get our notice. Luckily, we arrived to find all our bags waiting for us! Daniel was excited to find this little guy also waiting for us

We unpacked, put on jammies and set the alarm to get us to rope drop the next morning

 

[jenjolt]

Love it!!!! I think we were having the exact same problem as you except we were at Vero!! Our room had been ready for awhile too but we never got a notice about it!!!

Hmmmm...that smores cheesecake looks delightful!! I want some for bkfast LOL!!!!! Glad you guys had a good meal!!!!

Swimming...definitely a great way to spend the afternoon!!!

Can't wait for more!!!

 

[Happy Elf]

Great start! The pics at the airport are great! I bet the boys love the pool! Well your dinner looked wonderful, sorry it wasn't all that you hoped it would be. I'm impressed you were able to walk away from MK, I think the temptation would have been too much for me!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hurrah! We are in WDW!! so excited to hear all about your trip.

Sorry you were underwhelmed by WCC. I have forgotten - did you guys do the dining plan? Thanks for the look around. Such a pretty resort!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Okay...but let's talk about the Smores cheesecake more. Seriously, is it good enough to eat at WCC? I have been obsessed with that Smores cheesecake for YEARS but I haven't made my way over to WCC yet....I'm very tempted to in January but I don't know. I was thinking lunch for us, thoughts?

The text message system doesn't seem to be reliable, it has never worked for me when I'm waiting to hear on my room.

I can't believe how much more grownup your boys look from your last trip with them!

 

[sunny_stace]

I have absolutely no faith in the text message alert system...two years running now I didn't ever get a message and I've heard the same from so many others....they should work on that! But at least you knew you had a room and your luggage was in it when you arrived! (I've also had my luggage go to the wrong room!)

Greg looks seriously relaxed on ME and the boys look like they are having the time of their lives! It sure seems like things are off to a good start!

I'm sorry to hear you were underwhelmed with WCC. I know you were really looking forward to it. I knew you would like the cornbread at least! I agree that the chicken had a little bit of a bite to it. The shakes are good too though! And it looks like you had fun at least! I'm glad the poking game went over well! Too cute! Oh your boys are so adorable!

 

[manntra]

Okay...but let's talk about the Smores cheesecake more.

I was thinking the same thing....ummm there really wasn't a proper description there Katie!! I love smores....I remember having the smores dessert at Primetime...soo good!!

Love the carpeting on the floor at Pop...would love that in my basement

Yep, baby let's go!!! Love it!! I would have popped right out of bed too!!

Tracy

 

[rndmr2]

Great start! I found your PTR but it was like the day you left so I waited for the real TR started to reply. Looks like you are having a nice trip so far. Your boys are cute. We liked WCC last year when DH and I went. It was good but not as much fun as I thought it would be, the only fun was the ketchup and then when they "sang" Happy B-day to DH. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

 

[Native NYer]

What a great first day at Disney!
The smores cheesecake looks delicious.

 

[lmillercrew]

Mmmm... potatoes... Since we pay OOP for our meals, I don't get to eat at many TS restaurants. I don't want to pay the $ for the meal plans, and I don't want to have to take that time away from park time, so I live my meal dreams through others. Thank you for sharing your food porn.

 

[SoonerGirl]

I think it's ridiculously cute that in the two pictures you posted of Patrick and Greg together, they have the exact same smile

How irritating that you never got the notice that your room was ready

Sorry WCC didn't live up to your expectations. We really liked it when we ate there, but it was also Christmas day and they had a traditional holiday menu that night, not their normal one.

 

[kschafer]

Love it!!!! I think we were having the exact same problem as you except we were at Vero!! Our room had been ready for awhile too but we never got a notice about it!!!

Hmmmm...that smores cheesecake looks delightful!! I want some for bkfast LOL!!!!! Glad you guys had a good meal!!!!

Swimming...definitely a great way to spend the afternoon!!!

Can't wait for more!!!

Last year, my room was ready at check-in but the trip before that the notice system also failed. Sounds like it's a bigger problem than I realized or I would have asked after swimming instead of dropping our bags at bell services. Oh well, if that's the worst thing that happens on vacation, you're doing pretty good!!

Greg and I knew we would be tired and the boys would be itching to swim. It was a great start to the trip!

Great start! The pics at the airport are great! I bet the boys love the pool! Well your dinner looked wonderful, sorry it wasn't all that you hoped it would be. I'm impressed you were able to walk away from MK, I think the temptation would have been too much for me!

Can't wait to hear more!

It really was Greg's decision, I would have gone in if it was up to me but I knew we had 10 day tickets ahead of us and it was a good choice, we HAD been up since 2 am after all!

Hurrah! We are in WDW!! so excited to hear all about your trip.

Sorry you were underwhelmed by WCC. I have forgotten - did you guys do the dining plan? Thanks for the look around. Such a pretty resort!!

We did do the dining plan. When the bill came, Greg about fell out of his chair (we actually paid OOP for this meal since we didn't have our package tickets yet. We were reimbursed once the system was back up again) I had to remind him several times on this vacation that we were only paying about $35/day for our food since we got the QS plan free and we only paid to upgrade. I know free dining isn't exactly "free" but for us, staying at a value resort, it was the best deal for sure!!

WL is probably my second choice dream resort (behind BC) It's very much my style and if it's location was comprable to BC, it would probably be first in my book

Okay...but let's talk about the Smores cheesecake more. Seriously, is it good enough to eat at WCC? I have been obsessed with that Smores cheesecake for YEARS but I haven't made my way over to WCC yet....I'm very tempted to in January but I don't know. I was thinking lunch for us, thoughts?

The text message system doesn't seem to be reliable, it has never worked for me when I'm waiting to hear on my room.

I can't believe how much more grownup your boys look from your last trip with them!

LL, you are too funny! I was pretty stuffed by the time dessert came around and I know I didn't eat it all but not because it wasn't good (in fact, I'm pretty sure before I gave up that I ate the top portion of it )

My disappointment in this meal is purely personal taste. The meats were just too spiced for my family's palate. The boys and I really enjoyed the atmosphere and all the sides were good. I really do think I would give it another try but go for something other than the skillet.

Yes, this trip was very different from the 2008 one with the boys being older! I'm so glad we got to do both trips and I'm sure our next one will be entirely different again

I have absolutely no faith in the text message alert system...two years running now I didn't ever get a message and I've heard the same from so many others....they should work on that! But at least you knew you had a room and your luggage was in it when you arrived! (I've also had my luggage go to the wrong room!)

Greg looks seriously relaxed on ME and the boys look like they are having the time of their lives! It sure seems like things are off to a good start!

I'm sorry to hear you were underwhelmed with WCC. I know you were really looking forward to it. I knew you would like the cornbread at least! I agree that the chicken had a little bit of a bite to it. The shakes are good too though! And it looks like you had fun at least! I'm glad the poking game went over well! Too cute! Oh your boys are so adorable!

Greg really took a "I'm on vacation" attitude on this trip. It was really nice to see him relax and enjoy himself, he doen't do that easily in real life

It wasn't our favorite meal but that's OK, we had lots of others that were great to make up for it. And yes, the cornbread was yummy! Greg told me a story about when he was a kid, they had a meal at school with cornbread and lots of other kids would give him theirs and he would end up with 6 or 8 pieces. It was his favorite meal but he couldn't tell you what else was served with it

 

[kschafer]

I was thinking the same thing....ummm there really wasn't a proper description there Katie!! I love smores....I remember having the smores dessert at Primetime...soo good!!

Love the carpeting on the floor at Pop...would love that in my basement

Yep, baby let's go!!! Love it!! I would have popped right out of bed too!!

Tracy

My favorite part of smores is the chocolate so it was definitely more cheesecake than smores but it was yummy. might have been better if they had toasted the marshmallows

The rooms at POP were really nice with the recent refurb. The carpet looked cool but was wierd to walk on in barefeet because those different parts in the pattern were also different textures so it was a strange sensation on the feet

Great start! I found your PTR but it was like the day you left so I waited for the real TR started to reply. Looks like you are having a nice trip so far. Your boys are cute. We liked WCC last year when DH and I went. It was good but not as much fun as I thought it would be, the only fun was the ketchup and then when they "sang" Happy B-day to DH. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

Happy to see you again!! Looks like you've had a return trip since last spring too.

The boys got the biggest kick out of the ketchup thing. They would have been happier with burgers I think so they could play along! Patrick was being a bit of a grump when they did the hokey pokey and our waiter tried to make him do it solo but he made a good choice to drop it when Patrick resisted!

What a great first day at Disney!
The smores cheesecake looks delicious.

It was a wonderfully relaxing start to our trip. Thank goodness for the blessing of time that allowed us to have a "do nothing" arrival day!

Mmmm... potatoes... Since we pay OOP for our meals, I don't get to eat at many TS restaurants. I don't want to pay the $ for the meal plans, and I don't want to have to take that time away from park time, so I live my meal dreams through others. Thank you for sharing your food porn.

I realize the dining plan isn't truly the most economical way to eat at Disney but I like the idea of paying up front and not worrying about it. I hate a vaction where you feel like you are continuously pulling out your wallet. I like having "permission" to order whatever sounds good and not just what is the best deal!

I do get the time away thing though! When we did deluxe dining last year, that was a definite disadvantage...several hours a day for just food is hard when there are parks calling your name

I think it's ridiculously cute that in the two pictures you posted of Patrick and Greg together, they have the exact same smile

How irritating that you never got the notice that your room was ready

Sorry WCC didn't live up to your expectations. We really liked it when we ate there, but it was also Christmas day and they had a traditional holiday menu that night, not their normal one.

Yes, Patrick is my mini-Greg! One of the disadvantages of not having a relationship with my in-laws is no baby pictures. I have only ever seen 1 picture of Greg at about Patrick's age and even that has been lost Daniel really favors me so it's fun to have one of each of us.

It's funny that it's not just looks, it's personality too. Patrick is very determined and strong-willed like Greg (with both the good and bad aspects that go with that) while Daniel is much more laid back in most aspects of life (both good and bad )

It's not that we didn't like WCC, the meats were just not to our taste and of course that was the main part of the meal. I'm glad we got there at last though!