"I'm NOT a Princess, I'm Izzy!" - May '15 Land/Sea ~ Updated 6/4: Link to Disneyland TR!!!

[Leshaface]

Oh, really, you DID get charged? We got the impression from the CM we spoke to that it wouldn't have been an issue. Glad we called!

Yep! I guess the system took the time modification as a double reservation. I mean, there was no problem at all with them reserving the charges once I noticed it on the bill, but will definitely be calling next time to avoid the hassle!

Well, maybe this is the answer to how you get DH there!

How did I not think of that!? Thank you!

I've heard that the longer you're with your SO, the more alike you start to become. Clearly they've been together for decades! So cute and love that they have a Disney Date every week. DH and I have talked about how often we would visit if we liked 10 minutes from WDW. I think we agreed upon once every other week for a dinner date (but i'd go once a week just to visit )

We like to get at least one ornament to commemorate every trip

Same! Unfortunately, my one ornament turns into like 5, especially now that I inherited an additional tree from DM who deemed it too small so now it's our Disney tree!

Didn’t get it, but maybe I should’ve – could have been a collector item, since SWW no longer exists.

Aw man that's too bad.

And Izzy found the Minnies (dressed like the couple from the bus! ):

Good eye!

Holy smokes I've got to try this!

Then we came across a CM blowing bubbles outside the toy store and that was a thrill for Izzy :

Thank God for these Bubble Blowin' CM's DS was always excited to see one too this trip!

Our last stop before heading out was the spice area at Mickey’s Pantry. We always like to pick up a few seasonings to bring home.

I had never noticed the spice area until this trip they have some cool seasonings!

She confidently responded with, “I’m NOT a Princess, I’m Izzy!” This cracked the CM and his colleagues up. He said he’d never gotten that response before, but he liked it. Another CM brought her some Mickey stickers for giving them a laugh:

How perfect is that?! What's so funny is that every once in a while I call DS my 'honey bunny' and he promptly states, "I'm not honey bunny, i'm Calvin."

This was just sitting on our counter. How cool! I posted on the SWW thread to see if they were doing this for everyone and nobody else had gotten one. I guess we were pixie dusted! That was a nice little bit of magic to end our day.

Woah very cool!

 

[amazingact21]

I love that Izzy has a Disney buddy that she gets to see and hang out with most of the time she goes to the parks. Hopefully, you guys will continue to be able to do that.


That response to princess is awesome! Good for Izzy for already owning and being proud of who she is! She's awesome.


What a cool little surprise waiting for you in your room. ALMOST makes you forget about those 4 bathroom trips at dinner, eh? ....

 

[princessemsmom]

Enjoying your trip report. We were at WDW last year at the same time! I am thinking about doing land/sea next year so am excited to read all about your experience.

 

[afwdwfan]

Izzy and I knew Lauren and Aria from past trips, but Dug hadn’t met them until now. And we had never met Lynda and Aron before this trip. But, within minutes, I’d say we all felt like we’d known each other for a long time. Lynda was extremely friendly and we were chatting away.

Cool! Isn't it awesome how that seems to work?

It was a tasty drink too. We passed things around and sampled the other flavor as well. I offered Izzy some of my cotton candy (prior to pouring alcohol on it), but I don’t think she believed that it was actually food, so wouldn’t touch it.

Looks interesting! And our kids are the same way with cotton candy. I don't think we've ever even convinced them to try it. Which when I say it that way, it sounds like we're bad parents trying to talk our kids into eating sugar.

During this meal, Izzy demanded several trips to the potty. I took her the first time, she got in there, then said, “I changed my mind!” Dug took her the second time. I think she changed her mind on him too. I took her the third time and I think she actually used the potty. But then she got mad after that because she wanted to go AGAIN :

That just drives me nuts. DS will use that tactic when he gets bored and just wants to get up. He's old enough now that I'm always willing to call his bluff. If we're in a restaurant and I know he has just gone, he doesn't get to go until he finishes his food.

And here’s one token Star Wars Lego picture for you:

Thank you.

We made a brief stop into the Coop, as I’d been hearing lots of good things about it. We wandered around and I have to say that I really didn’t get what the fuss was about. But, then again, I’m not much of a shopper.

This is kind of me about all of Disney Springs. I'm not a shopper. I'll go to World of Disney or the Lego Store, but I just don't care much about the rest of it. Good food is about all that ever brings me there.

I was happy to see a Miles from Tomorrowland section (remember, this was last May, so it was fairly new):

Cool! I honestly don't remember seeing much of Miles when we were there. And I know we were watching for it because DS loves Miles.

It was about 7:40pm by now and time for Izzy to do the carousel with Daddy before heading out.

So it looks like she won.

This was just sitting on our counter. How cool! I posted on the SWW thread to see if they were doing this for everyone and nobody else had gotten one. I guess we were pixie dusted! That was a nice little bit of magic to end our day.

Cool! And kind of creepy.

 

[Dugette]

Glad the dinner and drinks at TRex were enjoyable even with all of the bathroom visits! It's so hard when you want to encourage them but also don't want to spend your entire night in the restroom!

Yes, it's challenging to strike a balance when you just don't know if they are on the verge of an accident or not. That was a tough thing about her being so newly potty-trained on that trip.

Love the R2MK ornament. That's a perfect keepsake from a SWW! And what a great surprise waiting for you back in your room!

It's a really cool ornament. And that was quite a surprise to find that Photopass picture waiting in our room.

Ugh that song.... worst earworm EVER.

Thanks! Now if I can only finish my todo list today!

Hope things have gone well.

It looks like he is licking your head!

Getting it ready to chomp.

You mean parents you!

We're really meanies.

YOu know, neither did we.

Glad I'm not the only one. I kept wondering what I was missing.

Ooh that looks interesting! I've never heard of that type of alcoholic drink before!

I never had either, but it was pretty fun!

Wow that's cool! They really seemed to do a great job designing the restaurant! I'll have to try and get there one day...

It's pretty impressively themed.

Nice! Always a plus!

Oh my gosh! I have never noticed him up there before! Thanks for the tip lol, I will have to look for him this summer!

It's amazing how Disney thinks to theme the ceilings.

Love this, and I love her confidence!

Me too!

Nice! What a great sprinkle of pixie dust to end the day!

Nice surprise.

No shoes...No Problem! That little girl was on vaca and knows how to live it up! She is so adorable!!!!! And what a great view you guys had for lunch -- very cool -- and perfect timing since they were doing a feeding.

Thanks! And we have always enjoyed our views at Sanaa. The feeding was really cool, though, as we saw so many animals parade on by.

I love your story about the proud American couple on the bus to Downtown Disney -- they were precious. And then Izzy finding the matching Mickey and Minnie in the Christmas Store definitely topped it off. What are the chances... LOL....Hee hee!!

They were just so sweet and adorable!

Such a great surprise to have a Photopass Picture waiting for you in your room. Pixie Dust is the BEST! Izzy is so sweet posing there with that Ewok. Awesome memories for your guys

We were very surprised. But it was a nice bonus!

Glad you got to meet up with Lauren and crew ... and that everyone got along!

I'm so glad we got to have dinner together - we had a great time chatting with everyone.

Also, glad to hear you gave Izzy the cotton candy before you poured the alcohol on it ... based on the "after" from the video The drink looks pretty cool though I would imagine it was sweet (which I tend to not enjoy in my drinks)

I love sweet drinks, so this worked for me.

We've never done T-Rex - my kids found it far to loud - but that cheese platter looks really good! Since, you know, cheese!

I can never say no to cheese! And it was REALLY good.

That's so great how that CM responded to Izzy telling them she wasn't a princess! Olivia's done that when we do her hair up in Princess Leia buns and people call her Leia ... plus, you may recall her not being a fan of me calling her "the Mayor"

I'm glad these girls have such strong identities and confidence.

What a neat surprise to come back to with that picture from SWW!

We were very surprised to find it. Especially when nobody else on the SWW thread said they got one. Guess we were special.

That cheese plate looked yummy! Glad you met up with Lauren and Crew- can't wait to hear her perspective in her tr- must be coming up, I'm guessing!

The cheese plate was delicious! Yes, hers is coming up, but it was towards the end of her visit.

Sorry that you still had a long night ahead of you!

Yeah, and not for reasons you think either.

 

[Dugette]

We had a great dinner. LOVE that cheese appetizer. I liked the pic above showing my lefty and your righty eating lol!

How did I never notice that Aria was a lefty?!?

Here are some photos, as I only grabbed a couple I guess. The girls had SO much fun meeting up again though, I know they were having a blast in line.

It was great to get them together again.

I have a few more I will post when I get to that day in my TR sneaky trying to steal some readers hahahahaha

Thanks for sharing the pictures. And, steal away! PSA: Everybody, go read Lauren's TR! It has things that this one doesn't. Like Disneyland Paris/France (well, the PTR part of it, until she gets to writing the TR). And a Disney Cruise (yes, I will eventually get to writing about ours, but hers is already written!)

Oh, that is too bad that you just missed meeting Dug! But the Boneyard looks like so much fun. I can see why Izzy wanted to stay there.

She could have happily stayed there all day. She loves a good playground.

Sanaa looks so good, and what a great view you had! I can’t wait to try it sometime. What is it with toddlers and taking their shoes off in restaurants?! Rory does the same thing!

Haha, glad she is in good company. I think it's hard for them to differentiate between coming into a house vs. a restaurant for dinner. Sanaa is great, I hope you get there soon.

Cute story about the couple on the bus to DTD. I would love to have a “Disney Day” every Saturday!

I know, wouldn't that be awesome? They were kind-of living the dream.

We do the ornament each trip, too. I love putting them all up at Christmastime and reliving each trip for a moment.

Same here. I can't believe how many Disney ornaments we've now amassed. But most have memories of certain trips and are fun to share with Izzy now too.

T-Rex looks really cool, and that is so fun that you guys had a meet-up! The cotton candy martini looks interesting (in a good way!).

It was a great meet up. Good company, good food, fun drink.

I love Izzy’s response to the cast member (and always love to hear the story behind a TR title!).

It was so great that he reacted like that too. Most CMs didn't really listen to what she said, so he was awesome to respond the way he did.

That’s cool that you received the photo – what a great surprise!

It was quite a surprise!

So cute! Luke gets upset too when we don't call him Luke. If we try to call him "Big Man"or Pumpkin or whatever, he'll say "No, I Luke!!".

Haha, he's in the strong-self-identity club too!

Sounds like dinner was a lot of fun!! I keep wanting to check out T-Rex because Paxton is a tad dinosaur obsessed but we never seem to venture out to Disney Springs often enough to go there for a meal.

I bet he'd enjoy it, just to see all the dinosaurs. Izzy loves dinosaurs too.

Glad the girls had fun being back together again. How fun to be raising the next generation of Disney lovers!!

It's pretty awesome to be sharing our Disney love with them at such a young age.

 

[Dugette]

Would that it were true.

That would be an awesome lifestyle.

Put feet up? In Disney? Is that even possible??

Indeed it is, at least in the Disney resorts and on the Peoplemover.

cute pic.

Thanks.

Disney knows it's clientele.

Cater to those preschoolers and they'll keep coming back for more...forever!

Really? Doesn't show.

She's such a serious child.

There isn't a kid alive who won't stop for drums.

Very true.

Geez Lady! You could've warned us before just blurting out the spoiler.
Now the whole TR is ruined! Ruined I say!

I know you were hoping for a nap cliffhanger...

So disappointing.


socks don't match.

Agghhh!!

The goofy had to come from somewhere.

Remember the drums comment?
This is worse.

Quite true.

They still exist?

Apparently so, they just don't get a whole area of the store devoted to them.

Cool!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that when I went to hang it up.

is right. DW likes to do that too.

Then you know my pain.

Did she make that connection?

I doubt it. To be honest, I don't remember if I did until I went through the pictures for that update.

Where Dug was promptly eaten by a pack of Raptors. Izzy and I carried on as the trip was already paid for.

Well, can't waste all that Disney money...

: Isn't that just the way with DIS meets?

It is and I'm so glad! Great to meet new friends that feel like old friends.

Not bad.

It's a decent deal. Though, as Dug pointed out, we got $25 free at Rainforest the other day, but they got us to spend $40 we wouldn't have otherwise.

Even better.

We have yet to use it, though. Rainforest was not crowded when we arrived, so everyone was being ushered right in.

Oh, well... Sounds like it wasn't too long anyway.
We've waited quite a while at that Mall of America Rainforest Café.

Huh, see above. Guess we lucked out. It was that awkward time between the lunch and dinner hour, though.

That's hysterical!

Gotta love the dinosaur jaws just hovering over you while you eat.

Cool! Never seen that used in a drink before.

Me either and it was awfully fun to try.

This is one of the few times in her life that she has turned down sugar.

Uh, oh. Spills?

I'm sure there were some, but I don't recall where/when. And, of course, when she does this it forces me into hyper-vigilance during the meal in case I need to use my mommy superpower of grabbing something just before it falls and makes a mess. Exhausting.

Oy.
Someone's restless. Someone else is getting tired of her restlessness.

Indeed.

Scarred! Scarred for life!

And who wouldn't be? I mean, everyone needs at least 4 potty breaks per meal, right?

That'll do it all right.
I feel the same way, sometimes.

Yes, lack of sleep is our enemy. For all of us.

Cool! What was it like?

I can't remember exactly, but noisy and bright, I guess? I know I've read TRs where they were seated in that room and annoyed because it got old fast and was really distracting.

Thanks!

Seriously, we have SO MANY pictures!

Don't think I know what it is.
Not being a shopper either, sounds like I don't really need to know.

Don't bother. I was bored.

Drums, Frozen merch and now this?
That's the trifecta of child distraction!

Disney's got it nailed!

So many bubbles...

I really have to start doing that.

Yes, I'm always amazed at the effort they put into the areas that most people never even notice.

Oh. I was just going to make a note of this and.... nah.

Yeah, just not the same.

There it is!

Took me long enough.

How could it not! That's a great line, Izzy.

The whole thing was pretty fun to watch. Love how confident she is.

That would really be a good thing.
It gets tough out there.

Nice! Pixie dust!

Sure was!

Awww... cute pic.

They were so cute together.

 

[Dugette]

Yep! I guess the system took the time modification as a double reservation. I mean, there was no problem at all with them reserving the charges once I noticed it on the bill, but will definitely be calling next time to avoid the hassle!

Wow, good to know that we made the right choice to call. Hassle now or hassle later, I guess.

How did I not think of that!? Thank you!

Happy to help.

We're so good at relaxing.

I've heard that the longer you're with your SO, the more alike you start to become. Clearly they've been together for decades! So cute and love that they have a Disney Date every week. DH and I have talked about how often we would visit if we liked 10 minutes from WDW. I think we agreed upon once every other week for a dinner date (but i'd go once a week just to visit )

I like your plan. I think we'd do a lot more date nights if we had all the Epcot restaurants at our disposal. I'd have to add a line to the budget.

Same! Unfortunately, my one ornament turns into like 5, especially now that I inherited an additional tree from DM who deemed it too small so now it's our Disney tree!

Nice! Yeah, we often end up with more than one per trip. This trip we got the one for SWW and we also got one on the cruise, since we had to commemorate both parts of the two-trips-in-one.

Aw man that's too bad.

Oh, well.

Good eye!

It's funny - if it were a bit closer to the 4th of July, it would have made more sense, but there was almost two months to go.

Holy smokes I've got to try this!

Yes, you do!

Thank God for these Bubble Blowin' CM's DS was always excited to see one too this trip!

They were great. We had one particularly wonderful one later in the trip.

I had never noticed the spice area until this trip they have some cool seasonings!

They really do. Lots of fun choices. And a little taste/reminder of Disney when you get home and use them.

How perfect is that?! What's so funny is that every once in a while I call DS my 'honey bunny' and he promptly states, "I'm not honey bunny, i'm Calvin."

Nice, same logic! Izzy does the same thing with any other nicknames (honey, sweetie, etc.) and even her actual name (Isabella). (Though she finally seems to understand that we still know she is Izzy and is more accepting of the variations lately).

Woah very cool!

I was really surprised that no one else had gotten one. I have no idea why we did.

I love that Izzy has a Disney buddy that she gets to see and hang out with most of the time she goes to the parks. Hopefully, you guys will continue to be able to do that.

That would be great. I'd love to see them riding the coasters together someday.

That response to princess is awesome! Good for Izzy for already owning and being proud of who she is! She's awesome.

Thanks, I love that she did that. She is Izzy and proud of it!

What a cool little surprise waiting for you in your room. ALMOST makes you forget about those 4 bathroom trips at dinner, eh? ....

Hahaha, yes, almost.

Enjoying your trip report. We were at WDW last year at the same time! I am thinking about doing land/sea next year so am excited to read all about your experience.

Oh, wow, wonder if we ever crossed paths? We really enjoyed the land/sea, but I think we overdid it a bit, trying to cram in EVERYTHING we wanted to do on one trip. We've already talked about, when/if we cruise again, we'd like to limit park time or even just have some resort time on each end, but make the focus the cruise. This trip started out about the cruise and then just grew and grew...

Cool! Isn't it awesome how that seems to work?

It sure is. We really loved spending time with them and chatting.

Looks interesting! And our kids are the same way with cotton candy. I don't think we've ever even convinced them to try it. Which when I say it that way, it sounds like we're bad parents trying to talk our kids into eating sugar.

I prefer to think of it as "helping them to experience something they will love".

That just drives me nuts. DS will use that tactic when he gets bored and just wants to get up. He's old enough now that I'm always willing to call his bluff. If we're in a restaurant and I know he has just gone, he doesn't get to go until he finishes his food.

Does he scream and cry for the rest of the meal? That's the hardest thing - she was a mess when we wouldn't take her back. Hopefully she's grown past that stage now...

Thank you.

You are welcome.

This is kind of me about all of Disney Springs. I'm not a shopper. I'll go to World of Disney or the Lego Store, but I just don't care much about the rest of it. Good food is about all that ever brings me there.

Same here. I think you and I think alike on many things. I believe I saw in another thread that you also don't like coffee, so we have that in common too.

Cool! I honestly don't remember seeing much of Miles when we were there. And I know we were watching for it because DS loves Miles.

I really want them to bring some Miles from Tomorrowland theming into Tomorrowland. Even if it's just adding a diorama to the Peoplemover or something.

So it looks like she won.

Yep, since it seemed like a good plan to keep her occupied while I went to Earl of Sandwich...which, of course, didn't pan out.

Cool! And kind of creepy.

I agree. Couldn't help but wonder who put it there and why. Those Magic Bands are impressive in that I'm assuming that's how they knew it was our picture and we were staying in that room. But, yes, creepy.

 

[Dugette]

And They Call This Quick Service?

After admiring our Chewie meet print, we decided to get Izzy in the bath. While we got that ready, she was being goofy with a Mickey towel hat:



She hated baths at the time, to a near-dangerous level, but we all survived (side note – she decided she likes showers recently, so that’s what we do now – much easier! ) She insisted on the same clothes after her bath and we went along with that. She then settled down to watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:







Oh, Toodles! We need our mouseketools!

Since it was now around 9:45pm and we hadn’t really had much dinner (and were finally getting hungry), I went down to the Boardwalk Bakery to find us a “second dinner” while Dug got Izzy to bed. I figured this would be a nice fast trip, as it’s just downstairs and a quick service. Well, not so much. Ended up being quite an ordeal.

One thing I knew I wanted to try (had seen pictures online) was the chocolate peanut butter bar. However, I didn’t see any in the display case, so decided to try the similar one with candied bacon and bananas. For the main course, I ordered us the special to split – which was basically meatballs and sauce in a bread bowl. Good comfort food. I paid and was disappointed that they didn’t offer any discounts – not even to AP holders. Oh, well. After paying, I stood aside to wait for our food. And wait I did. I was still standing there at 10:10pm, over 20 minutes after arriving. Ridiculous. Eventually, a CM came over and told me they had run out of meatballs. He said they would be getting more shortly, so I could either pick something different off the menu or else they would have it ready in about 20 minutes. Since I had already paid and it was still sounding better than the other things on the menu, I chose to go up to the room for a bit, then just stop back down to pick it up after 20 minutes.



And, another 20 or so minutes later, I was back down in my wonderful waiting spot, wondering what was going on:



A CM did eventually come over and tell me they had meatballs now. However, they hadn’t even started making it, so I had to wait for that to happen. In the meantime, the CM realized how long I’d waited for this and asked if I wanted a free cookie or something. Well, on the way in this time, I’d noticed they now had the chocolate peanut butter bar I’d wanted, so I asked for that and she got it for me (free). Then she kept prompting me to ask for more free stuff, basically suggesting other things she could give me. We didn’t really want much else, but I did ask for a couple of Diet Cokes. Why not? Eventually, my food was ready and I brought everything up to the room. It was 10:50pm by the time we sat down to eat. Over an hour since I had first gone down to grab some “quick service” food. So much for that “early night” we thought we were going to have.

Izzy was asleep by then, so Dug and I sat down at the dimly lit table and ate our hard-won food and treats, while sipping our free Diet Cokes. Everything was good, but not worth the ordeal. I especially enjoyed the bakery treats. Photos of all:







We had originally planned for this night to be Dug’s late night in the Magic Kingdom. However, he really wasn’t feeling it. He was already worn out, then this delay made it so late it didn’t feel worthwhile to consider. He decided to just skip it, since he was tired and we had an early morning ahead of us.

Up next: A Galactic Breakfast in a car!

 

[pkondz]

Indeed it is, at least in the Disney resorts and on the Peoplemover.

Ah yes. Mustn't forget the Peoplemover.

Cater to those preschoolers and they'll keep coming back for more...forever!

You mean the three or four who'll still be able to afford it?

I know you were hoping for a nap cliffhanger...

I was! I really was!

The goofy had to come from somewhere.

Goofy is as Goofy does.

Apparently so, they just don't get a whole area of the store devoted to them.

No one does anymore.

Well, can't waste all that Disney money...

Yeah, that was Izzy's college fund after all.

It is and I'm so glad! Great to meet new friends that feel like old friends.

Though, as Dug pointed out, we got $25 free at Rainforest the other day, but they got us to spend $40 we wouldn't have otherwise.

Sounds almost... Disney-ish.

This is one of the few times in her life that she has turned down sugar.

That happens?!?!?

I'm sure there were some, but I don't recall where/when. And, of course, when she does this it forces me into hyper-vigilance during the meal in case I need to use my mommy superpower of grabbing something just before it falls and makes a mess. Exhausting.

I hear you!
I remember doing that hyper vigilance. It looked like one of the DDs was about to spill something. But with lightning fast reflexes I reached out and grabbed.... uh... knocked over my own drink.
Hers was fine.

And who wouldn't be? I mean, everyone needs at least 4 potty breaks per meal, right?

I'll let you know as I get older.

I can't remember exactly, but noisy and bright, I guess? I know I've read TRs where they were seated in that room and annoyed because it got old fast and was really distracting.

Did it get old for you?

Don't bother. I was bored.

Check.

 

[Leshaface]

(side note – she decided she likes showers recently, so that’s what we do now – much easier! )

Way easier! DS has been taking showers since our WA/OR road trip last June and it's been great. Plus, we're trying to save as much water as possible around here so he's in there with DH

Love how clean and fresh they are after they're all cleaned up

I was still standing there at 10:10pm, over 20 minutes after arriving. Ridiculous. Eventually, a CM came over and told me they had run out of meatballs. He said they would be getting more shortly, so I could either pick something different off the menu or else they would have it ready in about 20 minutes. Since I had already paid and it was still sounding better than the other things on the menu, I chose to go up to the room for a bit, then just stop back down to pick it up after 20 minutes.

You have such patience

I’d noticed they now had the chocolate peanut butter bar I’d wanted, so I asked for that and she got it for me (free).

Well that's an upside to the waiting.

It was 10:50pm by the time we sat down to eat.

Oh heck! My stomach would die if I ate that late!

 

[pkondz]

And They Call This Quick Service?

Uh, oh. I don't like the sounds of this.

While we got that ready, she was being goofy with a Mickey towel hat:

Because by now the adults were being goofy while sipping from a mickey.

She hated baths at the time, to a near-dangerous level, but we all survived

Huh. Not many kids don't like baths.

Cute pic!

I went down to the Boardwalk Bakery to find us a “second dinner” while Dug got Izzy to bed. I figured this would be a nice fast trip, as it’s just downstairs and a quick service. Well, not so much. Ended up being quite an ordeal.

Here we go...

decided to try the similar one with candied bacon and bananas.

Mmmmm... bacon...

And wait I did. I was still standing there at 10:10pm, over 20 minutes after arriving.

Slow food.

Eventually, a CM came over and told me they had run out of meatballs.

It took 20 minutes for them to figure out they didn't have meatballs?!?!?

He said they would be getting more shortly,

Meatball fairy.

A CM did eventually come over and tell me they had meatballs now.

Great... How about cooking them instead of telling me you have them.

In the meantime, the CM realized how long I’d waited for this and asked if I wanted a free cookie or something.

That's it? How about comping the meal??

Well, on the way in this time, I’d noticed they now had the chocolate peanut butter bar I’d wanted, so I asked for that and she got it for me (free).

That's the least they could do.
I mean that. It's the least.

Then she kept prompting me to ask for more free stuff, basically suggesting other things she could give me.

"How about a nice in the Castle suite?"

Eventually, my food was ready and I brought everything up to the room. It was 10:50pm by the time we sat down to eat. Over an hour since I had first gone down to grab some “quick service” food. So much for that “early night” we thought we were going to have.

An hour. For "fast" food.
Dug must've been wondering if you got abducted by aliens.

Everything was good, but not worth the ordeal.

Darn. Not even the peanut butter bar?

He decided to just skip it, since he was tired and we had an early morning ahead of us.

The mind is willing but the body is weak.

 

[Imagineer5]

Oh my what a wait! That is crazy. At least the CM was really nice about offering up some free things (or prompting you to ask lol). Glad Izzy went to sleep in the meantime though. Funny to me that she hates baths so much although I guess not surprising since she wasn't too into the pool either. Aria def differs on that front! She is a water baby.

I think Dug made a good move to stay in, esp with an early breakfast the next day!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Ugh, that is so annoying you had to wait that long for your food! At least you got some well earned freebies due to the trouble.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's funny how kids can change with regards to their view of baths, etc. Emma used to hate baths and now she loves them and we often find her climbing into the tub whether there is water in there or not

What an ordeal for dinner - especially in light of wanting it to be an early night/Solo MK night for Dug. At least they eventually realized how long you were waiting and offered up the free stuff. I mean, things happen - but at least try to make it right.

 

[BlvInMagic]

Patience and politeness pays off! So glad to see they made good on having you wait and wait for the "quick service" food

 

[princessemsmom]

Oh, wow, wonder if we ever crossed paths? We really enjoyed the land/sea, but I think we overdid it a bit, trying to cram in EVERYTHING we wanted to do on one trip. We've already talked about, when/if we cruise again, we'd like to limit park time or even just have some resort time on each end, but make the focus the cruise. This trip started out about the cruise and then just grew and grew...

Isn't that how all Disney trips go?

 

[Dugette]

Off Topic – Where to Now?

Hi, all. I’ll get to responses soon, but time to venture away from May for a bit. I was thinking today about what a year we’ve had. I mean, in the span of like 9 months we spent 4 nights on a Disney cruise, 8 nights at Disney World, 5 nights at Disneyland, and 4 nights at Aulani. Doesn’t even feel real. In fact, strangely, it feels like we haven’t been to WDW in a long time (despite me still writing the first segment of this TR! ) I think the issue is that we have nothing definite planned going forward. Which is odd, as I’m used to having something coming down the pipeline to look forward to. So, just thought I'd do some musing about travel, followed by a brief recap of some Disney and Disney-like things recently.

So, the one thing we technically do have booked is another Disney Cruise that we reserved onboard this May cruise in order to lock in the onboard booking discount. However, I don’t really count this as a planned trip. It’s an option – and certainly not a terrible option – but we are not committed to it at all. We booked the exact same cruise again (4 night Dream out of Port Canaveral, even same room category again), but for early December of this year. We’d prefer to take a longer cruise and/or see different destinations, but that all costs more and we have a budget that won’t stretch that far. A couple points in favor, though: it will be a holiday cruise with extra decorations and they have added the Millennium Falcon to the Kids Club (which Izzy is now old enough to go to - and has been talking about how she is going to drive it). I know we’d have a great time cruising again. I know I haven’t gotten to it yet in this TR, but we loved it and could have stayed onboard for longer than 4 nights. There are a lot more things we could enjoy (or enjoy again).

Because it’s another Monday-Friday cruise, we’ve talked about adding some Disney resort time on the weekends. Not as extensive as the May trip, but getting a taste of WDW, quite possibly without park tickets. My thought was to get our park fill by going to the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party one night. Izzy might even hit 40 inches by then (she's 38" now, so could do Mine Train). Of course, with new things opening up in the other parks, it would take a ridiculous amount of restraint to not get tickets. Ugh. The other thoughts I had were to take advantage of the resorts. I’d love to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge again – and a non-park stay is ideal, since they are a bit obnoxious on the transportation front. We could stay there, enjoy the pool (weather dependent), watch the animals, eat at Boma for breakfast and Sanaa for lunch, get Zebra Domes to snack on, etc. So, put that on one weekend. For the other weekend, I was thinking Port Orleans French Quarter. We have always wanted to stay there, but never have. We could enjoy some beignets. Hopefully finally get to see Yehaa Bob over at POR. And take the boat over to Disney Springs. That whole scenario sounds really nice to me. Maybe we’ll even do it. But who knows?

Another option is changing or rescheduling our cruise. We can push it back as far as May 2017 and still get the onboard booking discount (10% off). So that’s a possibility too. Heck, I could copy @chunkymonkey and do a 40th birthday (!!! ) Disney cruise (early 2017).

But I see lots and lots of other options too. Our travel budget for the remainder of 2016 is $3800. The December cruise/non-park WDW trip above should fit into that. Any other Disney Cruise will just blow that away. 7 nights on the Fantasy is over $4k and that doesn’t even include extras, just the fares. I’d LOVE to do an Alaskan cruise, but those are way beyond that price point as well. So, I’m just not sure about cruising again soon, as much as we’d love to.

So, on a totally different note, we’ve talked about going to France instead. Izzy is obsessed with the Eiffel Tower and keeps talking about going to Disneyland Paris. I love that she’s 3 and she totally understands the difference between WDW, DLR, and DLP – even though many adults don’t. Dug’s parents are both retired French teachers and have been talking about going back to France without bringing a large group of high school kids, as they always did. Heck, MIL has told Izzy several times that she is going to take her to France sometime (um, I’d like to chaperone, please?) If Dug’s parents really do pull the trigger on this, we’d love to join/meet up with them. Wouldn’t be surprised if Dug’s sister and her husband would want to come too. Could be pretty awesome. However, I think it’s clear that will break our $3800 budget, but we could save that money (no 2016 trip) and add it to our 2017 budget ($4k), taking the trip sometime in 2017. I really like this idea, but it hadn’t really been that high on our list until recently. Something about having your 3-year-old go googly-eyed at pictures of the Eiffel Tower changes your priorities. I don’t know what all we’d do on this trip or where exactly we’d go, but clearly we’d have to at least see the Eiffel Tower and go to Disneyland Paris. So, that’s another possibility.

Greece was actually higher on our list until recently. Dug has been there (he travelled a lot before we met), but I have not. I’d love to go, but not sure I see it on the more immediate horizon. But, it’s out there. We do have a hook-up, as Dug used to work for someone that specializes in arranging trips to his homeland of Greece.

Another option that is fairly high on my list, and maybe more “realistic” than the overseas trips, is a combo of two lower-cost trips. You may remember that I have family in Portland, OR (cousins). Well, Sun Country Airlines recently added direct flights from MSP to Portland for very good prices (under $300/person for good days/times). It would be great to go out and visit everyone and they want us to join them out there. I think we could do a long-weekend for pretty cheap – just the airfare and hotel, really. We might be able to work in visits to some of Dug’s relatives in Washington too. So, that would be a nice trip. The second “smaller” trip is actually going to Cabo San Lucas. I know that doesn’t sound “small”, but we’ve had an open offer to join some (retired) friends of Dug’s that have wintered there for years. They always rent a large house and invite friends to come visit and stay free with them. It looks awesome. It’s just not worked out well for us in past years, timing wise, what with our other trips and such. But, if they go again this next winter (TBD), we feel like it would be ideal to take them up on the offer. Dug can now work remotely, so he could even get in time on the job there. I have some remote work flexibility, so I could do some work too, but most likely would just take vacation, as I have a big pile of time built up. Sun Country usually has deals to Cabo each winter, under $400/person. Plus, we have enough Delta Skymiles for 2 tickets right now, maybe more by then. So, lots of options and likely very low cost, considering.

The other thing I’ve been thinking about is piggybacking on Dug’s work travel/conferences. That’s what we did for Disneyland last month. There is a decent chance they go back to the same resort in Palm Springs next year – another chance for Disneyland? And who knows where else he will get to go. We considered having me and Izzy come along to a conference this spring in New Orleans, but decided against that (Dug wouldn’t be available at all to do stuff with us, which is not much of a family vacation – plus, he managed to get in on a shared AirBnB, which saved a lot of $, but only accommodates him, not us). But there are other conferences pending. Long shot, but maybe Ireland in the fall. Major stretch, but Dug applied to speak at a conference in Italy that pays travel costs for him and hotel that he can share with family, if accepted. If that panned out, it would move up high on the list.

So, these are some of the things swirling around in my head. If you have any thoughts/advice, feel free to share.

In the more immediate future, we’re considering visiting my Grandma in Wisconsin and tacking on a night or two at a waterpark resort in Wisconsin Dells on the way home, as Izzy’s daycare provider is on vacation for a few days (I have separate travel funds allocated to Grandma visit trips). So, that could be fun. We haven’t pulled the trigger, though, as Kitty (our 16 year old cat) has had some health issues and we aren’t sure about leaving her for a few days – we have until next month to decide, I guess. She seems to be doing well at this point, but needs daily supplements, so we'd have to figure that out.

So, enough blabbering about the future. Time to talk about the past, haha!

Dug attended another conference recently…and he flew into MCO! Yes, Orlando! But, alas, no Disney tickets. He did this conference on the cheap by staying with a co-worker that lives in the area (who we actually met up with on this past May trip). When they were driving to dinner, he caught site of this rocket launch (Space X):



Pretty cool! (Well, to Dug. His co-worker was like, “Yeah, we see that all the time.” )

However, after the conference, Dug did have a chance to get a little Disney Springs time in :



He had borrowed his co-worker’s car and got to try out the fancy new parking garage. He loved that it had displays to show you how many spots were left on each floor and in each row. He also appreciated the walking lanes designed to keep the people and cars apart. He had a quick and easy parking experience and said traffic flow was much better too. Then he wandered around and took lots of photos:











Um, yes, I made him stop there. He actually Facetimed me during this walk, so that I could feel like I was there. So, I had him custom make me a Mickey rice krispy bar with dark chocolate and Butterfinger. It made it home safe and I enjoyed every bite :



He also stopped into the Ganachery and got me the most expensive chocolate bar ever (I think like $8! ):



It is quite tasty, though (still have a piece or two left - okay now only one piece after doing this update...). Dug also just remembered that he had two small chocolate squares ($3 each! ), so we just ate those right now too!

He liked this shirt for Izzy, but passed on it:



As a side note, he scoured Disney Springs for Rey items/toys and couldn't find anything. That really needs to change - a female Star Wars hero should have tons of merchandise available!

More exploring:

















Dug considered having sushi at Morimoto's, but decided it was very expensive for fairly basic sushi options, so he moved on.



He had a great time, just wandering around and taking it all in. Seeing all the new things was fun too. The main reason he went to Disney Springs was to see how it all came together and he loved it. The atmosphere seemed much more vibrant, there was constant live music, places were open later - it felt like one continuous place along the water vs. several separate areas like Downtown Disney.

He ended up here for some dinner/snack:

















This was the Reggie's Revenge. When the waiter dropped it off, he said, "Careful with that drink - some people find it constricting."

Sometime after that, he found a gelato shop:



Apparently, they had my favorite flavor that I remembered from our Italian honeymoon: Bacio! Yum, add that as a plus to the potential cruise trip’s Disney Springs time! He got part Bacio and part Pistachio:



He saw some entertainment and enjoyed the music:



Dug said that there was constant live music - right when you get out of earshot of one, there is another.

More window shopping:





He also went to the theater and saw Daredevil and got some more food (theater serves meals). He had a Bison burger, after finding the menu online wasn't the same as what was available. They forgot to bring his drink until partway through the movie, then forgot to bring the refill until the very end. He enjoyed it, but said it was a distracted movie watching experience, due to waiters scurrying around and such.

Overall, he had a great time getting a quick taste of Disney. And, soon, he was back at good ol’ MCO:



Continued in next post…

 

[Dugette]

Continued from Previous Post...

So, moving on to the Disney-like things. We were in a local mall recently for Dug to get new glasses and found lots of fun things for Izzy and I to do to pass the time. There was a double-decker carousel. Izzy wanted to go upstairs:



So, we did. She enjoyed her spin:



And she got to enjoy a different kind of spin on the second ride. They had spinning teacups on the carousel:



Fun time! She could have gone on over and over all day. (It was like $1.50/ride and I was free, so not bad! )

We also noticed a little train making laps around the mall:



So, we had to take a spin on that too:





It was a cute ride. Who knew malls have turned into toddler amusement parks? Guess I don’t go to enough malls.

On the way out, Izzy had to pretend to drive the racecar (strollers):



And, speaking of malls, we also went to the Mall of America recently. I mentioned in the TR update that I got a $25 birthday gift certificate for being a Landry’s Club member – we chose to use it at Rainforest Café. We had been there once before and not had a great experience, but decided to give it another shot. Before heading over there for a late lunch, though, Izzy had been promised another ride on the Log Chute (think mini Splash Mountain – but pretty fun!) The line turned out to be really long:



Guess we’ve been spoiled just walking right on during past visits. Izzy wanted to wait, though – if she’s learned anything from Disney trips, it’s that she has to wait patiently in line for her turn. We had another very fun ride! I feel like this one goes faster than Splash and the drops are more extreme. Might be the smaller logs and the lack of restraints that make it feel like that, though. Glad Izzy loves the thrill rides!

After we exited the ride, Izzy spotted a character meet going on. I’m fairly certain she had no idea who SpongeBob was, but she wanted to meet him anyway (and there were only 2 people in line, so why not?) She had a blast with him:









And the video:

(click to watch)

After that, we were off to the Rainforest Café. Failed attempt at family selfie (before Dug's new non-broken glasses came in, apparently):



I admit that I made Dug rush it because we were already being led back to get seated (didn’t even need to use our “priority seating” as there was no line). We had a table pretty much in the middle of the restaurant and Izzy appreciated the view of the sky:





It changed colors and had a moon, so she was mesmerized. Looks like Dug appreciated the views as well:



As did I:



Lots to look at. Seemed like a lot smaller space than they used to have, but worked (they had relocated within the mall recently). We enjoyed seeing the apes dance and all that stuff. And the rainstorms, etc. We had a bizarre tag team of two servers, almost as if they were in competition for our table. But, whatever, at least we had people to help us.

We ordered the queso appetizer, which was tasty:



I got this fancy looking drink:



I think it was a rainbow something or other? Don’t remember. It was good. We shared (Dug and I, there was alcohol in it).

Izzy ordered the mac and cheese kids meal, no surprise there:



Dug and I split the fajitas:



Everything was very tasty and this was a much better experience than our previous one (bad food and so-so service last time).

We used my $25 credit and got out of there for about $40. Not terrible. I will never feel the need to go to Rainforest in Disney, having one right here, though. But it was a nice taste of Disney-like theming.

And that’s about it, as of lately. Hope you enjoyed and I’ll be back to your regularly scheduled nearly year-old trip report shortly!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Wow you're lucky you have so many options! I think I pretty much blew into our travel budget for the year with our cruise and wdw vacation. LOL. Well, not quite but close. We also have a week planned with family somewhere this summer (no one can make up their minds so we may just do a road trip but the initial plan was vegas). We're definitely going to California to visit DH's family (which means Disneyland!!!) maybe September, and we have a week in Oahu in November.

I totally vote you move your cruise to 2017 and take the SWDAS cruise!! I think you guys will enjoy it and it is 7 nights which gives you more time on the Fantasy!

I also like the idea of tagging along on your DH's work trips! Italy and Ireland both sound really cool! Looks like he had fun at Disney Springs! Glad he was able to go to Jock Lindsey's!