Celebrating the end of my 3rd decade Disney Style: March '12 TR (COMPLETE 6/5!)

[kittylady1972]

We arrived in Disney late Saturday night (3/3) and we hit the ground running! There was no time to waste...we were getting the most out of this adults-only vacation! I'm here now watching the sights and listening to the sounds of the Boardwalk as I begin to put together this trip report...a work in progress since I'm here now! Any questions, I'll try to answer them!

Up next...Our very first RIDE...AKA The Flight!

 

[kittylady1972]

Mar 3: Our First Ride...AKA The Flight

We were packed and ready to go on Saturday. After dropping our kids off at their basketball end of season ceremony, we stuck around for a little while and then headed out to the airport. We left just before 5:30pm and by about ten minutes before 6pm we were sitting at the gate for our flight...LOVE being so close to the airport!

There was an airplane at the gate but it was not long before that plane...LEFT! We were scheduled for a 7pm flight. I LOVED this little table and chairs setup for the kids:

There was a woman that arrived not too long after we did and she had a stroller and three small kids...all age 6 and under I believe. The younger one kept wandering off, but the two older ones were sitting at the table. The woman had to go change the diaper of the youngest one and actually asked if we would keep an eye on her other two...to which I said sure. After all, we were leaving our own three kids at home for this trip! Besides if you can't trust a person with nails like this:

who can you trust?


Before long, the cattle lineup began for Southwest...which my husband Frank very much dislikes! It wasn't too horrible though, we ended up with a B27 number and got on the plane to find an empty row near the back and did not end up with anybody in the row with us. We probably had one of three empty seats on the whole plane in our row due to what Frank calls "the evil staredown". Soon I was looking at this view...before my husband said "put that away...we are about to takeoff".

With all the tornado storms on the east coast, we were told to expect a bumpy ride...and that is just what we got! They did serve us drinks and snacks but then the flight attendants were in their seats for about half of our 2 hour flight. We could even see the lightning storms off in the distance from our flight...which was pretty cool. We jumped up and down a lot despite our captain's attempt to go around the storms. We were a bit late at landing, but not by much.

Once we were on the ground, we rushed right off to the rental car agency to get our vehicle. It's been quite a while since I've done a vehicle rental...which was obvious when I had to RE-activate my frequent renter card a few weeks before the trip. Things have changed...we got to pick out whatever full-sized vehilce we wanted. I wanted to go for a nice reliable foreign car (since that's all I have ever owned) like the Nissans they had there, but Frank insisted on a Chevy Malibu. We finally escaped from the airport and we were on our way!

We arrived at the Boardwalk Resort close to 10:30pm, walked up to the desk, got our welcome packet (we had done online checkin) and soon we walked up to this:

And our room:

And of course the view to outside. We had a small balcony and we overlooked the central courtyard and looking to the left you could see the Boardwalk.

It was still early though and there was no time time waste on vacation...we dropped our stuff and hit the Boardwalk. I was thinking for a Saturday evening the Boardwalk would be happening!

Well we got outside...and it was actually pretty quiet overall. We walked down toward Atlantic Dancehall and considered going into Jellyrolls...but just couldn't bring ourselves to pay the $12 cover charge...EACH!

Instead we went into Atlantic Dancehall (no cover) where Frank put down about $20 at the bar for two drinks. He ordered a beer for himself and "a girlie drink" and the bartender whipped something up for me that had some rum...and some fruit...and was blue. It was yummy!

It was so yummy the girl at the bar asked me what it was...but I didn't know and just told her that my husband had ordered something "girlie" so she asked the bartender to make her the same thing!

We drank our drink and mostly people watched, not brave enough to hit the dance floor with our one drink and it being kinda empty...plus the music just wasn't our style. They did show a video and play Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" which had everybody in the place (not that there were that many people) singing along...including ourselves.

There was just no real desire to stick around for too long, so we went back to our room and climbed into bed. We would be even more ready for the next day...our first REAL full day!

 

[kittylady1972]

Ok I'll pick up this report as soon as I can, but I've also started a dining report here:

Over a dozen visits & still new restaurants to try: 2 Adults March '12 Dining Review

 

[kittylady1972]

March 4: The Cold and Rain will not put a damper on my vacation!

We woke up somewhat early Sunday morning, ready to conquer the WORLD! I glanced outside and watched people jogging along the Boardwalk...the cold and rainy Boardwalk:

It was not going to ruin my vacation...so we threw on our jeans and fleece and headed out! Since we had no food in our room, we decided first order of business would be to find food and we stumbled upon and decided to try Kouzzina. Now I should say that during a visit a few years ago (when we stayed at Beach Club) we found Spoodles (Kouzzina's former tenant) one morning for breakfast and LOVED it! We were so hoping Kouzzina would measure up...and if you want you can read my review here: Kouzzina Breakfast

With breakfast out of the way, we headed to the dock (which you can see from our room) and decided to catch a boat to Hollywood Studios. We JUST missed a boat...but it was for EPCOT. So we waited...in the cold (no rain at least) and wind for our boat. Do we look warm here?

(Note my stylish Birthday Button....it was given to me the night before when we checked into our resort. I wore it EVERY SINGLE DAY of my trip and the Happy Birthday greetings never did get old!)

I took some pictures:

Finally the boat arrived and it was so nice to be in that nice and toasty inside of the boat. Now of course the Friendship boat is a whole 'nother experience in the warmer weather...back in June it was a long and hot ride as shown here:

Anyway...back to March! We arrived at Hollywood Studios just after park opening of 9am. I was not worried, as I had explained to Frank about the new rope drop procedures...but he didn't listen (go figure!) and he was still trying to rush us to TSM and the Fastpass machines. Of course, there was no real line there...so we walked over and secured a Fastpass for later and then rode the ride.

There was a slight snafu with the Fastpass machine though...as it turns out my ticket REFUSED to cooperate. I had an annual pass that of course I had not used since June...and the CM put it into the machine twice...no Fastpass...and then a third time and it ATE my ticket!! He got it out and then handed me a card...it was good for all day long for Fastpasses and only for that park for that day. So I would have to make it a point to get my pass fixed if I went to another park.

So we got in line for TSM which went pretty quickly. Before long, we were here:

and then here:

The game was ON and after each round Frank would glance down at our scores...and each round I was a little bit ahead of him so it was a close competition. Sure enough, the scores at the end showed the better player did win:

Yes, that would be my score on the left in blue! Needless to say, a rematch would be in order later!

However next up was Star Tours since we had yet to experience the new version. So off we were and the line was short...yippee! Before long we had some more shades:

And we were taking off and I was happy to find that I enjoyed the ride and I did not feel the slightest bit sick...at all! Yippee! Since we knew there were more scenes to discover, we exited the ride and went right back on again. And then again. Three times in a row and finally got a new first scene on our 3rd ride and a new final scene on our third ride and we had some different middle scenes throughout the rides. It was so cool...and best part was that I felt GREAT after all of them! I was feeling pretty hopeful that my intolerance for simulator rides was maybe not as bad any more!

After that, we headed over to Muppetvision 3D...where we would put on ANOTHER pair of glasses of course, and walk through here:

I loved this:

And I took this one for my son, who LOVES fish!

I was snapping a few more NON-FLASH photos like this:

When Frank told me to STOP! Ok, okay.

Muppets out of our system, we exited and we were now HUNGRY...but our Fastpass time for TSM was ready so we had one more ride there. So time to put on yet ANOTHER pair of glasses....and the score would be:

Yep that's me in blue on the left again! I proceeded to rub it IN of course!

And now we were STARVING and it was time for some food. We decided to try to walk into 50s Prime Time Cafe. Yes that's right...no ADRs that was how we were rolling for MOST of this trip!

Did we succeed??? Stay tuned (HA HA HA...slight 50s Prime Time reference).....

 

[kittylady1972]

March 4 Cont'd: I didn't know it could do THAT!

We headed off towards 50s Prime Time Cafe for lunch and panic hit me...I could NOT go in THERE with my birthday button on...that would just be ASKING for attention in a restaurant that already likes to call attention to people. I was going to remove it and Frank said "No Way...you need to get the FULL EXPERIENCE" and so I left it on. What would happen?

We arrived (without our ADR) and put our name on the list but only waited a few minutes before being seated. We did not get a tv table but we were next to one. Our waitress seemed nice...but she didn't even ask us to set up our table. Should have been my first clue that I was safe I guess. There were two other tables in our little room...and I really didn't hear her giving anybody a hard time at all. So much for that experience. I told Frank I thought we should share the sampler platter, figuring it would be more than enough food for both of us. He also ordered the chicken noodle soup and I got the wedge salad. You can find the full review here. I also ordered myself a rootbeer float...but saved it for after dinner.

Lunch was finished without any attention at all for the most part. The waitress was good and efficient...but that's about it. I was okay with that though. I was getting plenty of attention already with my birthday button in the parks!

Bellies nice and full, we exited the restaurant and ran into these guys performing:

We have seen them before...they are great! We stayed and watched for a while, giving our food a little more time to digest before our next stop: Tower of Terror!

We checked the Lines app to find out which ride had the longest wait between Tower and Rock N'Roller Coaster, and I believe Tower was the shorter wait so we got Fastpasses for Rock n'Roller Coaster and hit Tower. I think the outside showed 25 or 30 minutes...but we pretty much walked right up to the point just outside the lobby and we were in here soon:

It was one of the BEST rides yet...lots of ups and downs and pretty long...AWESOME!

There was not too much left here so we decided to go ahead and leave the park.

I made us pause and take photos like this one, looking like we were holding hands with Mickey:

We caught a boat over to EPCOT:

We walked around the World Showcase area and happened to stumble upon a crowd assembling near Japan when I realized it was Miyuki the Candy Lady. I have always wanted to see her...so we stopped and watched:

Her creations are so cool:

We continued around and found these guys near the American Pavillion:

And behind them we found him:

This is when I heard a woman proclaiming "Oh look...a big CARE BEAR" as she dragged her family over to view Lotso. Oh some people are just not Disney people I guess!

I think we continued to walk around for a bit and decided to hit Mexico since we knew we wanted to try La Cava del Tequila. Frank ordered the Jalapeno Margarita and I got the Pomegranite one. They were very good...and they definitely had some kick to them!

At some point we also wandered near Germany and came across Karamell-Kuche so we decided to grab a snack. I got in line and got us each a bottle of smart water and a caramel. We got one dark chocolate covered salted caramel and one milk chocolate salted caramel. I thought perhaps we'd save them for the room later...but instead we sat down on a bench and proceeded to devour them!

As we were sitting, we glanced over and notice that the bridge near Mexico in the World Showcase was up...we didn't even know it DID that??

They were bringing out the barges for Illuminations, so we sat and watched:

Again, something we've never even seen. We would later walk over that bridge and you can't even tell it is designed to lift like that...pretty cool!

It wasn't long before the long day on our feet, and the margaritas, were kicking in so we decided to hop back on the boat and head to our hotel for a while.

I loved driving by the Beach Club...definitely want to stay there again someday:

We got back to the room and decided a short nap would be in order. Our only plans would be late dining at Rose and Crown Pub so we had a few hours until our 7:50pm reservation!

 

[kittylady1972]

March 4 (cont'd): Sticky Toffee Pudding!!!

So when we last left off, we had returned to our room for a little afternoon siesta before heading back out for more park time. I think we actually stopped inside the little market shop right on Boardwalk first and bought some breakfast items for the next few days. I was HOPING for some hard boiled eggs as that has been my breakfast of choice as of late, but no such luck. We chose to just buy a package of eggs, some bacon, some english muffins, some butter and a small container of milk.

I think I got about 30 minutes or so of sleep and then I woke up feeling much more refreshed. Frank had decided not to sleep and I think he was just hanging out playing on his phone or his Nook Color. We were having a terrible time keeping it connected to the wireless network in our room...but we managed okay!

My poor brain does not recall what we did at EPCOT this evening. I seem to recall checking on Maelstrom...but it had a huge wait time. We didn't have to be at Rose & Crown Pub until 7:50pm.

We stopped and watched these guys for about ONE song:

Then my husband was getting a bit embarrased by my attempts at song and dance and moved us AWAY and back towards Rose & Crown Pub.

Anyway I do recall that my husband was regretting not taking that nap...and he ended up here:

It was pretty hopping on a chilly night like this night!

Then my husband decided we should something we have never done probably in about 15 years...see O' Canada! There was no line there for the ride and I honestly did not remember it at all. We had a short wait for the next show and then we were inside...where it was warm and toasty!

It was a cute show and yes, I admit, now I want to go to Canada as some of that scenery was breathtaking. I really DO want to go see Niagra Falls at some point since I've never been and I've read that it's better on the Canada side. Maybe someday!

After the show finished, we checked into Rose and Crown Pub and we TRIED calling some of the phone booths but we didn't have any success with that. Pretty soon we were being called to our table.

Now I will admit I made this reservation HOPING for an outside patio table to watch Illuminations...but on this night I was HAPPY that we were inside...next to a (not working) fireplace. I knew I wasn't terribly hungry so I got Frank to agree to split his meal with me!

We did order the scotch eggs as I was looking forward to that...but I thought there were more of them on the platter. It wasn't much more than a snack for us. DH got a beer that he had been wanting to have again since leaving England a few months ago...then complained because they served it the american way which was cold...when it should be served warm!

For our meal we split the fish and chips and we were pretty disappointed as it really was not a lot of food. I think we get more from the counter service outside of the Rose & Crown Pub...for half the price! I tried not to eat too much of his very small portion of fish and fill up with a few more fries.

Then came the whole REASON for this restaurant...DESSERT! Would the Sticky Toffee Pudding measure up to what Frank had had months ago???? Stay tuned....

 

[kittylady1972]

March 4 (cont'd): Let's go for THREE!!

Ok, before I continue my story, I forgot that at some point we must have been at the front of EPCOT...probably earlier in the day and we rode Spaceship Earth...I do remember that. Plus we had to get a photo:

Now back to our Sticky Toffee Pudding story. So Frank was telling the waitress about his quest for S.T.P. and where he last had it and asked her if it compared...and she assured him that it would measure up.

Well you be the judge:

I should tell you that I did have a small bite of this:

before it was GONE but that was okay. We were finishing up dinner right about 8:45pm and Illuminations would be starting at 9pm. We paid our bill and then asked our waitress about viewing Illuminations before we left. She said that she would be right back...and then escorted us right outside to an empty patio table!

Let me tell you...it was COLD out there and I am guessing the people sitting out there must have REALLY wanted those tables. They had some heaters up but it really was NOT enough! In fact, one was right next to the table where she seated us and I sat on the side right next to heater and Frank was right across from me...at a SMALL table...and then I encouraged him to move over to my side and sit NEXT to me so we could both stay warm!

It was worth it though, for this view:

We watched the whole show and then exited the restaurant...as we were off to our THIRD park of the day which was open until 11pm!

As we walked to the front of the park, the lines for the monorail were out of this world of course, since Illuminations had just ended. Those monorail attendants were packing them in there though! As we stood in our little monorail "area" I was telling Frank I wasn't going to rush in and get a seat since I could stand and there were older people around us who would need the seats.

Well little did I know how PACKED that car would actually be for us. I've been in the monorails when people were standing...but NEVER EVER like this!

Not only were there lots of people but also I think two strollers and let me tell you it was the LONGEST monorail ride EVER! I didn't even have a real solid place to stand or anything to hold onto very well and I lost Frank in the car with me! I was standing very closely to a man holding a child in his arms and he kept shifting the child and I was doing all I could to maintain the standing position, sure I'd end up in the lap of the people that were seated right next to me! It was madness!

It was worth it once we got out and walked into here though:

My plan was to ride a few rides and try to find myself some mouse ears. I had looked at some at the other parks but didn't find any that really spoke to me. I was hoping at MK I'd find a better selection!

Our first ride was Jungle Cruise...at night! Never been on it at night and we walked right onto the boat of course. Well our boat had to wait a bit before it could take off and the captain was entertaining us by singing...poorly! Then she asked (and she had a strong southern accent) if there were any birthdays on board...and Frank ratted me right out by pointing to me! I had my button on already, and then she had the WHOLE boat sing Happy Birthday to ME! It was so funny!

Once off the boat, we had to head to Pirates next and ride that one. Then our last ride was to be Haunted Mansion...awesome! After that, we were ready to call it a night and I was ready to do a little shopping. We hit a few stores on our way out, looking for the perfect ears.

These were not it:

Frank also wanted a hat or some ears...but not this one:

I had to snap this next picture...a photo FROM the castle looking down towards Main Street. It looks like Walt and Mickey are watching people leave the park and waving:

Finally I decided on some classic Mickey Mouse Ears, got my name engraved on them, and we left the park. Three parks in one day...that was quite a good first full day I think!

 

[Lidian]

I'm here! Finally!

I loved your picture of the big Care Bear. Did you get to meet him in person or just the bush?

You take really crisp pictures! I'm a bit jealous.

Off to a great start!

Oh... I have to ask ... do you recall your 50s server's name? Did it start with a J? (I ask because it sounds like the server we had in May, and her name was J--- I forget. Judy? Judith? I dunno. Ordinary server, great service, but ordinary.)

 

[kittylady1972]

I'm here! Finally!

I loved your picture of the big Care Bear. Did you get to meet him in person or just the bush?

Yippee you made it...I have ONE reader finally! And sadly, just the bush!!

You take really crisp pictures! I'm a bit jealous.

Off to a great start!

Most of them are taken with one of my two Canon cameras. I think a lot of the candy lady photos are with my Canon SX120 that I've had for about a year. The others are with my Canon Elph SD1200 (that I just bought used on Ebay a few weeks ago) and the darker photos are my Android phone!

Oh... I have to ask ... do you recall your 50s server's name? Did it start with a J? (I ask because it sounds like the server we had in May, and her name was J--- I forget. Judy? Judith? I dunno. Ordinary server, great service, but ordinary.)

You know...that might be right. I wonder of the server name is on the receipt? I'll have to try to remember to check later! She was good...just not "fun" for sure!

 

[kittylady1972]

Mar 5: Watch for the RUNNING of the Guests!

We woke up early on March 5th as we had to report for our tour at the Magic Kingdom by 8:15am. I had told Frank we should be fine with catching a bus there as long as we caught it by 7:30am or so, which means no time for breakfast out. I had mentioned we bought eggs before because I wanted a hard boiled egg. Frank did some research on the internet and read about a way to cook a hard boiled egg in the microwave.

WARNING: Don't believe everything you read on the internet!

So he was to cut a small hole in the top of the egg for steam to escape, we put in a cup so that it was sitting upright, hole at the top, and surrounded it with a napkin to keep it that way. Time for cooking was supposed to be 2 minutes.

After about a minute we heard a loud BANG...the microwave JUMPED...and we looked inside. Hopefully the people in the room next to us didn't assume we were hurting each other...but who knows? Here is the mug:

And of course the microwave:

My dear husband left me with the honor of cleaning up (hey it was HIS idea to try this!) and I was also texting with my 11 year old son back home (who was on the bus on his way to school) about the whole thing! I sent him this photo, with his dad in the background fixing his own breakfast now:

I would be sporting my new ears as much as possible on my trip...but man do I look TIRED in this photo! Clearly it's morning...and I don't drink coffee!

I cleaned it up and then fixed myself an english muffin with butter instead...and we headed for the bus stop just after 7:15am or so.

We waited for quite some time for a bus here:

Eventually it showed up and we also made stops at the Dolphin and Swan before heading to MK, but we still arrived in plenty of time. It was so cool to walk in while the rest of the crowd waited outside for the official park opening. We checked in for our tour and received our tour kit with headphones and ID and also pre-ordered our lunch at Columbia Harbour house. I spent the rest of the time taking photos of the nearly empty park:

I then made Frank some over and get some photos of us on the nearly empty Main Street. There was a crowd of corporate-looking people walking down the street as well. New employees maybe?

And we waited a little more and I took this one:

Our tour guide was Trent and he was AWESOME! He arrived and we gathered our group of about 12 or so together. We started with introductions where we gave our name and our favorite Disney movie OR character! Mine was The Rescuers (loved that movie as a kid) and I don't remember what Frank said. We started down Main Street right around 8:30am and not long after we ducked down in a little area off to the right for a bit. This was because it was getting close to park opening and soon we could glance down from our little hideaway and watch "The Running of the Park Guests" as they headed down Main Street! We waited for that to slow down a bit then headed out. Now we all head headsets so we could hear what he was saying as we walked but mine kept going in and out early on which was getting annoying. I didn't miss too much but at the next stop I would get a new one from Trent which worked much better!

I didn't take ANY photos on the tour, even though we were allowed in the OPEN areas but not backstage areas. I will say that it was a 4+ hour tour and I enjoyed all of it. The interesting facts about the park and some of Trent's own stories just made it fun. We rode Jungle Cruise at one point where we learned interesting facts about that ride itself...so Trent was our narrator and the boat "captain" just sat back and watched and listened himself! The other ride we did get on after getting information about was Haunted Mansion and that was cool too. Soon after that we gathered at Columbia Harbour House for our lunch.

They had all of our food sitting out for us at tables when we arrived and went upstairs. We were seated with a father and son and they were very nice. We got into the topic of DVC Membership as the dad has been a member since the beginning. We told of the places we had stayed and about other fun stuff. It is so nice to be among other Disney geeks! We mentioned that this was our first time on this tour and we'd be doing the EPCOT Segway tour later in the week, which they didn't know existed.

Seated at the table next to us was a woman and her parents. She had overheard our DVC talk and asked if it was worth it as she was trying to talk THEM into it. Again we all agreed that it was and shared our experiences and I basically told them all to just agree to take the quick DVC tour if they were at all interested. It is not high-pressure AT ALL like most timeshare sales presentations and they'd get something free out of it for sure. I wonder if they did but of course I'll never know.

Our tour took us on many backstage areas, we saw all of the parade floats and where they were stored and even had a guy climb into one of the driver areas of the smaller "bug" floats like you see in Spectromagic and showed us how they drive them...which was cool! That was something even our tourguide had never seen...this guy just happened to be there and offer to show us and we were so thrilled! The final part of the tour was the utilidors area of course, which was cool as well. Honestly it just really made me WANT to work there even more...now if only I can convince DH to let us retire there!

The tour ended after about 5 hours or so. We turned in all of our stuff and thanked Trent. Then I convinced DH, since it was such a nice day, we should go get some Dole Whips before leaving the park for the day. While we found a spot to sit and eat them, a Photopass guy came over and said he was taking photos for the Castle Show that evening and snapped our picture:

We didn't see the show that night so I have no idea if it was up there!

Anyway on our way out after our snack, we did stop and watch these guys for a bit:

The Dapper Dans were very entertaining. Since the monorail was not running (it would be out of operations between 11am and 6pm most of our week there...so we got a lot of time on buses and boats) we hopped on the boat and headed back to the TTC.

Then we hopped on the monorail over to EPCOT and once inside the gates we stopped for a photo with this guy:

I can't recall what we did here for sure, but I think we checked out some ride times. The single ride liner at this ride was pretty quick, so that's what we did...we went on this one:

Doesn't he look thrilled? We actually ended up in the same vehicle, me in front with two other people and him in back with two other people.

We then decided to do Mission: Space on the intense side. I am not terribly fond of this one but I suck it up and deal with it. I can say that after it was done, I was not feeling too great though.

I think at this point we were near Club Cool and I told DH there was this GREAT drink he had to try called Beverly. "Really? It's that good?" was his response, and he was serious. I was having a hard time keeping a straight face but of course he tried it...and he LIKED it but he also likes just plain tonic water. Blech! Kinda took the fun out of it but we did take our time and sample a few more drinks before heading out.

After that, I think we headed back to the room for some naps before dinner. I let DH sleep for quite some time, but I wasn't too tired and just ended up on the internet on my netbook for a while. Dinner would be that evening at the Flying Fish Cafe!

 

[dara00]

just read your trip description so far - sounds great! I'm going for my b.day this year without kids too!

 

[Lidian]

Yippee you made it...I have ONE reader finally! And sadly, just the bush!!

Most of them are taken with one of my two Canon cameras. I think a lot of the candy lady photos are with my Canon SX120 that I've had for about a year. The others are with my Canon Elph SD1200 (that I just bought used on Ebay a few weeks ago) and the darker photos are my Android phone!

You know...that might be right. I wonder of the server name is on the receipt? I'll have to try to remember to check later! She was good...just not "fun" for sure!

I can't believe your DH egg-sploded and egg. (No, I'm not corny at all.)

I'd love to do the tour... but I couldn't go alone, and the kids are too young for it (not that I want the magic spoiled for them, yet, anyways).

You are very brave for going Orange team ... I can't do it. The Green team makes me ill. I'd hate to see what the Orange side would be like.

The more I used my Canon, the more I liked it. I'm still not real sure what settings are best, but I did learn that if I didn't like how a picture turned out, to adjust the programmed settings.

Server names are generally on receipts, so anxious to hear if we had the same one. She took great care of us, but didn't play the part at all.

 

[kittylady1972]

just read your trip description so far - sounds great! I'm going for my b.day this year without kids too!

Yeah thanks for joining! It was a GREAT birthday trip!

 

[kittylady1972]

I can't believe your DH egg-sploded and egg. (No, I'm not corny at all.)

I'd love to do the tour... but I couldn't go alone, and the kids are too young for it (not that I want the magic spoiled for them, yet, anyways).

You are very brave for going Orange team ... I can't do it. The Green team makes me ill. I'd hate to see what the Orange side would be like.

The more I used my Canon, the more I liked it. I'm still not real sure what settings are best, but I did learn that if I didn't like how a picture turned out, to adjust the programmed settings.

Server names are generally on receipts, so anxious to hear if we had the same one. She took great care of us, but didn't play the part at all.

EGG-Splosion...love it! Yes it was pretty funny.

I think my kids would really appreciate the tours one day as well. I may have to make those their 16th birthday gifts!

I barely survive Mission: Space let me tell you. It's definitely something I can only do ONCE!

Glad the Canon is growing on you. I have loved all of mine!

Totally forgot to check my receipts last night as I wasn't on the computer at all. I'll try to remember today!

 

[kittylady1972]

Mar 5 (cont'd): Who's your Rebel Spy?

After a bit of relaxing in our room, it was finally time to make our way out to dinner...which would be at the Flying Fish Cafe...just a very short walk outside of our room.

We arrived and were given a pager and since I had left my birthday button behind...the front counter at checkin gave me a new one!

We wandered over to the bar and sat down to order two drinks...and then the pager went off...but of course!

I left Frank behind to get the drinks and pay the tab and I walked back up front to turn in the pager. The hostess led me to our table and we picked up Frank along the way! We were seated near the back of the restaurant between a family of five and a nice couple. I don't recall our waiter's name but he was very nice with some kind of accent too.

We had drinks already so we perused the menu. You can read my review here.

At some point during our meal I do recall the couple next to us where the woman was on the phone and then she apologized...to us...for being on the phone. She really wasn't even loud about it, but she mentioned their older kids were back home and I guess she was checking in, but she hated when people talked on the phone in restaurants I guess. We said it was fine...and of course were feeling guilty because I'm not sure we had even called our own kids yet that evening!

Dinner was done and it was still pretty early...so what would we do? We decided to hit Hollywood Studios since it was open until 11pm! We had never made the walk over from our resort but we found it easily enough. As we were walking, we were having a friendly argument about something...that I can't recall...but we were obviously being loud enough about it that another couple strolling the walkway to HS near us was enjoying it. I do recall that whatever it was the man of that couple seemed to be agreeing with my husband...the NERVE!

Anyway, it was a nice little stroll over to the park and at that point my husband was a bit annoyed because he was having some serious chafing issues...and really was uncomfortable. He was in need of something, so I went on the hunt for baby powder for him, thinking I could find some in the childcare area. Unfortunately there was nothing there, but the woman in there pointed me to a small counter near the front where they did have the required item....so I bought that and handed it to my husband, who disappeared into the men's room to apply the necessary soothing item. Good thing he doesn't read this, right??

Now what would we do with our time in the park? The line for both RnRC, Tower and TSM were all pretty long. We decided on this instead:

I really love this ride. Our kids are not too fond of it due to the Alien scene so we had skipped it back in June. I recall that our driver/guide/whatever was very dry though...he almost sounded like he was reading from a script. It was quite amusing.

Another bad shot from the ride:

Then it was off to do Star Tours, where we were just determined to be the Rebel Spy at some point. We actually had to flash our room keys at the ride entrance here because of course it was after regular park hours.

After riding it this time I was feeling a bit off. And nope, we still were not the Rebel Spy! For some reason we did decide to try to ride it one more time, because I felt I could probably tolerate that. We did...and I did...but barely! So much for being over my inability to tolerate simulator rides! This time Frank ended up being seated RIGHT NEXT to the Rebel Spy though...so close!!

We had some photos snapped:

According to our touring apps, the lines for Tower and RnRC were still long, so we decided to call it a night at that point. I think we caught the boat back to our resort, which was a nice evening ride back.

 

[Lidian]

The nerve of that stranger agreeing with your DH! Everyone knows you were right, even though we don't have a clue what the topic was or what your claim was.

Sorry your DH had some "issues".

And sorry you were struggling with simulator rides. Did you try Bonine or anything? It's what I have to take to survive anything.

The Great Movie Ride is one of my favorites! We've always had dry, monotone (except when they talk about themselves) guides ... except this last time. She was a bit.... over the top excited. I didn't like it at all. And I think she was in training, or being reviewed or something ... because there was another guy up there with a clipboard who kept writing notes. I struggle with the Alien scene, and I usually close my eyes (or bury my face into whoever sits next to me -- pending it's not a stranger ).... however, this year, they had SO MUCH SMOKE, you couldn't see anything. I even looked!!! Nothing. Just smoke. Sheesh!

 

[kittylady1972]

The nerve of that stranger agreeing with your DH! Everyone knows you were right, even though we don't have a clue what the topic was or what your claim was.

And sorry you were struggling with simulator rides. Did you try Bonine or anything? It's what I have to take to survive anything.

The Great Movie Ride is one of my favorites! We've always had dry, monotone (except when they talk about themselves) guides ... except this last time. She was a bit.... over the top excited. I didn't like it at all. And I think she was in training, or being reviewed or something ... because there was another guy up there with a clipboard who kept writing notes. I struggle with the Alien scene, and I usually close my eyes (or bury my face into whoever sits next to me -- pending it's not a stranger ).... however, this year, they had SO MUCH SMOKE, you couldn't see anything. I even looked!!! Nothing. Just smoke. Sheesh!

Well thanks for agreeing that I most definitely was RIGHT...about whatever it was again!

I don't take anything for motion sickness since it is so rare and really ONLY on simulator or spinning rides which I do TRY to avoid most of the time! I usually bounce back rather quickly so I just deal with it.

We enjoy GMR as well. We'll have to see if the kids brave it in November!

 

[kittylady1972]

A NO UPDATE update

Ok, so I'm struggling a bit right now on completing this trip report for one reason...the photos. So I have some webspace where I have stored my photos...forever. Unfortunately there is a very good chance that webspace might disappear in as early as a few months.

So...anyone know where I could host some photos for free. I've dabbled a bit in Photobucket...the free version. I'm thinking about trying that. I just can't do an update without photos!

Of course, the longer I wait the worse my memory becomes too!

 

[Lidian]

A NO UPDATE update

Ok, so I'm struggling a bit right now on completing this trip report for one reason...the photos. So I have some webspace where I have stored my photos...forever. Unfortunately there is a very good chance that webspace might disappear in as early as a few months.

So...anyone know where I could host some photos for free. I've dabbled a bit in Photobucket...the free version. I'm thinking about trying that. I just can't do an update without photos!

Of course, the longer I wait the worse my memory becomes too!

I use photobucket. It crashes ALL the time when I'm doing my updates ... but it's better than nothing. Does your internet provider not offer webspace? Mine does, but not sure how to use it. I don't know of any other sites ... but I know photobucket isn't the only one. (I actually have a paid sub with photobucket).

 

[Armando625]

Well that was such a fabulous way to celebrate. I'm so happy that I've got this one Because it has delivered some new Ideas so We can Also use this way to celebrate the end.