Ooh, the monorail DOES smell funny... (almost finished!) [11/30-12/17, 2010]

[kaoden39]

I have seen HP, I also think that it is the best movie since the first one. The beginning of the movie with Hermione and her parents made me cry. And the end with Dobby I said a bad word under my breath and Loren heard me, causing him to laugh at an inappropriate moment. That was actually a pretty good thing.

I still haven't seen Tangled, I want to but I think that True Grit will win in taht battle. Tron is not even in the running.

 

[bumbershoot]

That was the first cry I had in the movie, the Hermione+parents scene. Just the thought... And when I think of what's to come....

 

[kaoden39]

That was the first cry I had in the movie, the Hermione+parents scene. Just the thought... And when I think of what's to come....

I know. And I feel like I know these people and I empathize with them. Scotty laughs at me.

 

[bumbershoot]

I know. And I feel like I know these people...

Thinking about that...

I love reading mysteries. Usually the "cozy" kind vs police procedurals. I started a series about 2 years ago, just picked up several of one author at the library. Loved the first story, so I requested all of the series, then read them all in a row.

I was just madly in love with the characters. The male protagonist was so awesome. His wife, incredible. His children, amazing. The way they all spoke to each other...not very realistic, but awesome all the same. And I fell in love with Martha's Vineyard thanks to the books.

I'd read 3 or 4 books, and was enjoying his progression (first book he's single, for example), and I went to the author's website...only to find out he'd died not too long ago.

I was sad for the author, I was sad for the author's wife, and I seriously mourned the mystery series. I still had several more books to go, and I read each one with enthusiasm and love, but with dread as well, because each book I read was a book closer to the end. I didn't want to say goodbye to those people, not one little bit.


Similar is the one Dick Francis character that appears in more than one book, Sid Halley. Now that DF has died, I'll never get a new story about that loyal and strong-willed man. Sad for DF, his family, the characters, and me. Sigh.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh that is sad.

I love the cozy sort of mystery sometimes and one of my authors is this funny older woman named Lillian Jackson Braun. I dread the day that she dies.

 

[bumbershoot]

Is she one of the cat writers?

I also love Elizabeth Peters, and she's not a spring chicken but still writing a 30-something year old character (Vicky Bliss*) perfectly!



*she usually writes about Amelia Peabody, who is a bit older than that, but I've recently been reading the short Vicky Bliss series, which she started in the 70s!

 

[kaoden39]

Yes, she writes about Koko and Yum Yum. I started reading years ago when I was going cross country on a bus. I didn't have a book with me so I bought my first one at the LA bus station. They are my fluff books.

 

[bumbershoot]

December 3, day 4 continued again​

Once again, there is no reason for this to be taking this long. Sorry in advance!

See, so far we got to the park not that long after opening, but my receipt (I found the bottom of it that shows the time finally) shows me that we paid for lunch at 2:13pm! HOW, how I ask you? How did it take that long to do that little? Meh, lots of family talk-talk I suppose, getting to know each other, strolling along... Nothin' wrong with that!


After Living with the Land, we sauntered out of the building, had another bathroom break, chatted...and at some point in there it was decided that Robert and cousin's hubby (I've abandoned the stupid nicknames as they were driving me bonkers) had Things They Wanted To Do, and the womenfolk decided they had Slushies They Wanted To Drink.

Sidenote...they weren't going to let me buy them booze, and they were going to forgo it, until Robert said "Molly had a separate line item in her budget for booze, so please let her use it". LOL. Not totally true, but not false either! I HIGHLY recommend having an entirely separate giftcard for those spur of the moment drinkie-poo purchases. Takes the guilt entirely away.

So anyway, the kids came with us, since Eamon wanted to be with the cousins, cousin-E didn't want to do the rides, and little missie cousin (see, I've already forgotten what I started calling her) is too little.

We slowly wandered, meandered, sauntered (again with the sauntering?), and even maybe mosied through some paths. If you look back at that epcot map I posted 18 years ago you'll see some paths off sort of between Mission Space and Test Track, and they just wander in and out, so we took those. I think we took ALL of those. Then we got onto a path that finally came out near something called the Odyssey Center that looks like it was a restaurant but is now baby care etc. Lots of paths; I think I'm still dizzy from all the twists and turns we took.

Of course, we wanted to visit France, so that's just not the right place. Make a right turn, and continue!




Duck!

Not a duck!

More freeloaders...

Eamon is shocked, SHOCKED, at his premonition that we were not destined to go *into* the Canada Pavilion on this trip. (true story)

So shocked, he tried to run away in the UK Pavilion. However, he was trapped in a maze. Those clever British people...

At this point there was some sort of mother-daughter friction going on (a normal thing with them) and I was distancing myself, and that's how E&E ended up in the maze.

At last things were worked out, and we continued along. Crossed the bridge to France, and saw Marie! With three character-loving kids, we had to get into that line.

As we got into the line, I took a look around, and in the distance in her own line was Aurora. Oh boy. The chicklet's FAVE princess (right now). I pretty much used pig latin to let my cousin know what I saw, and that we should do our darndest to make the meet/greet with Miss Kitty short and sweet, so that the kids could meet the Sleepygirl. She agreed.

E wanted a hug, but she made him kiss her hand first. Which he had just sort of done.

E and I fled to Aurora to be in line. Then we were joined by the others (thankfully no one non-related showed up until after they joined us). At this point the chicklet noticed Aurora and was SO excited. I don't feel comfy showing faces of the cousins, but if you just picture a sweetheart 3 year old girly-girl about to meet her FAVE princess for the FIRST time...well, you can just imagine her face.


Eamon took off his hat for Sleeping Beauty. Nice boy.

OK maybe I had him do that, but the point is, he DID it, and felt good about it, so that's good.

Little side-story for those new to my trip reports... Back in December '07, when he was 3, we went to Disneyland. He wanted to meet some princesses (because they are pretty, he said, and still says), so we braved the Princess Fantasy Faire. He was the only solo boy; all other boys were dragged there by sisters and family unity. He met Belle, Pocahontas, and Princess Minnie. Then he wanted to go to the storytime they had, and he was so kind to the character attendants and "ladies in waiting" (he got their autographs as he thought they were just as special as the princesses), that one of the ladies in waiting got him a spot to DANCE with the princess who would be telling her story.

The princess came out and it was Sleeping Beauty! When she came to the once upon a dream song, she had him come out and sway with her. He was so tired and just really confused, and sadly my camera blurred all the pictures, and he doesn't really remember it, but we do and we remind him of dancing with SB.

The other pictures with her are on photopass, and I haven't ordered that CD yet.



E and chicklet started to dance in France, we were all talking, then we saw some performers outside, um...one of the restaurants in France.

That dude stacks the chairs and climbs them as he goes, then climbs down and unstacks them as he goes. Haven't a clue how you learn to do that...


While watching them, with my kid in good hands, I ducked away to find the slushie stand.... Woo, found it! Right near there. OH thank goodness. Once the performers were done, we made our way over there.

And then...the "chemicals" talk began...

Cousin E can get, well, stuck on things. And while his family is religious, part of his father's family is super-religious. One of the ones that restricts alcohol entirely, and holidays and whatnot. And I guess one of the relatives likes to talk in front of him. All of this was told to us by my cousin, as her son started to talk FIRMLY AND LOUDLY about how we were drinking CHEMICALS and they were BAD for us and we were going to get DRUNK....

All while waiting in line for one glass of wine (aunt) and two Grand Marnier slushies (me and cuz).

OK so I deal with Eamon making little comments, and then they got worse because he saw me after I went to a beer festival with my brother (turns out the equivalent of four beers is TOO MUCH for me)...sigh. But he doesn't get as bad as his second cousin did. And I was told that this wasn't the first time cousin-boy had done this, not by a long shot. His mom was so annoyed at that...

Oh well, we survived, with the help of the slushies, which were DELICIOUS. And you can keep the plastic glass, too. We tried to, but then my aunt threw them out, and when I got another later on, I threw it away at the airport b/c it cracked. Darnit.


Well by this time, as you can imagine b/c we walked the distance you can see on the map from Mission Space-ish area to France, it was after 5.

Wait, 5? Not 3? 3:30? Seriously, 5???? What the heck did you DO all that time?

Yes, I can hear you asking those questions.

I think we entered the same time warp vortex black hole that R, E, and I entered between Santa Cruz and Anaheim during our road trip in September '07. A 6/7 hour drive turned into 13, and we did NOT make any huge long stops. Very odd, will never be explained.

So here it is, after 5, and we were wondering where on earth the men were! Finally finally they got in touch, and then they took the boat across the water, which plopped them in Morocco, I think, and then we met up.

They'd done Mission Space twice, once on the green and once on the orange. Since we had told them we didn't want to hear about it, if they went on Orange shortly after eating lunch, and were ill, they were very very quiet about how the Orange ride went.... Later we were told that, yeah, it made 'em a bit queasy. Mmmhmm, a bit.


We were going to start wandering, but then Eamon was HUNGRY. We were in Morocco, so I figured I'd pop into Tangeirine Cafe to get couscous, as was my plan... Thwarted, as they don't sell PLAIN couscous! They suggested that I go to Marrakesh (a table service place) to get it.

Half an hour, one exception by the manager, and $25 later...I had a styrofoam container of Moroccan vegetables and another container of a massive amount of plain couscous. Sat at a table in Morocco and E snarfed. Then the adults swooped on the veggies and rest of the couscous. So there ya go.

That's the one "meal" I do not have a receipt for, and I paid cash. It's like a blank spot in a well documented trip, expenditure-wise.


Once that was done, it was dark, it was getting cold, and there were some tired feet. We decided to slowly make our way out.

After we left the turnstiles, we saw the coffee place and decided that it would be yummo. Bought decaf for me and caf for robert and auntie. It's Joffrey's Coffee&Tea coffee, and the lattes were tasty. Also got a cookie, which was put into my purse and forgotten about until 3 days later. Whoops!


Went back to our fabulous 2 bedroom, people ate bagels and whatnot. I was going to go to the store, but was trounced on by my paranoid aunt because shopping trips at night are too dangerous for words to describe. Augh. Finally Robert went, did a whirlwind Publix shopping trip. Got some Amy's frozen meals, got some Haagen Dasz chocolate dipped ice cream treats (b/c R and E can't have Mickey Bars thanks to the corn syrup content), got some chemicals, er, beers, Morningstar Farms, coffee filters, more bagels, some coffee, that sort of thing.

And then the GPS shunted him onto the highway (when that wasn't needed at all, and he should have known that b/c the store was right across from Olive Garden, but he'd forgotten how we got there), and worse it was a TOLL highway, and worse he didn't have any cash and the give-change lanes were closed!

But they have envelopes for such situations. He took one, I sent in a check with license plate info and all that, and it was actually cashed (it was an entire dollar), so hopefully that will be that.


After that, there was more talking, kids being put to bed, and finally adults putting their own selves to bed. Before that, it was decided that the next day would be a Resort Day. Interesting, that means different things to different people!

Goodnight, Day 4!!!!

 

[kaoden39]

I could so go for some couscous and veggies. Yummy. I understand losing time meandering around.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

The first picture of the fountain is the "upside down waterfall" by the Journey into your Imagination pavilion. If you look closely you will see that the water is falling up.

And don't you love being lectured by a child on the use of "chemicals" (love that name!) by adults? My DD12 always gives her Godmother a hard time if she has a glass of wine but it is all in good fun.

Great trip report - keep it coming!

 

[bumbershoot]

omg it IS going up! Hilarious! I was too focused on the cute kids that I didn't even notice that.

WOW, that must take a lot of water pressure!


When DS gets on my case, he's being silly, and I know it bothered him to see me too tipsy after the beer festival I went to with my brother.

But the cousin...he was dead serious about it. His relatives had really done a number on him! Thing is, he'll probably be like his dad, and just not drink. His mom is just like me, with an occasional drink out like that (OK I have a beer every couple nights at home, but not a $10 drink). There's just no abuse in the household, and he's probably not going to be an adult that drinks IMO. So there's just no need for his other relatives to do this, unless they wanted him to torture his mom and aunt...

And then it prompted the adults in the group to get too close to the edge of making fun of him, an 8 year old, for the "chemicals" stuff...I didn't really like that, but their family teases and my family doesn't, so I'm just sensitive about teasing and making fun...

 

[bumbershoot]

December 4, Day 5​

We'd set this day as a rest day, a day to spend at the resort.

But when we awoke, it turned into a day to spend at resortS.

I didn't mind either one, though I was bummed we would be missing the things OKW had to do most days. For example, that day was a Saturday. Here's the list of activities:


11:15am-12:15pm Beach Balls. Color your own beach ball. (extra cost)

12:15pm-1:15pm Tie Dye T-Shirts. Come create a psychedelic new look to show all those groovy guys and gals back home. (extra cost)

2pm-2:45pm Suncatchers. Stop by Community Hall and let your imagination run wild to design a decorate sun catcher for your window. (extra cost)

3pm-4pm BINGO. Get Bingo B-4 anyone else to win! Meet at the Main Pool Deck.

4pm-5pm Name that Tune. Test your music knowledge of songs from the 60s through today's hottest hits. Join us on the Main Pool deck.

5pm-6pm Family Game Night. Join us in the Community Hall and challenge your family and friends to games of all sorts.

7pm-8pm Campfire. Enjoy the warm gooey goodness of s'mores [obviously we wouldn't be doing that] and toasted marshmallows [or that] at the campfire behind the volleyball courts.


Fun, right? There were activities pretty much all day; some free, some not, on every single day.



But somehow the day was morphed into checking out the other resorts. I was cool with this...Robert was not. He was hurting (the leg injury from the 1st) and really wanted to relax at OKW. I felt bad for him, but the consensus was that it *should* be relaxing and we wanted to do it.


Here is a link to the overview map of WDW, for the newbies lurking. OKW is #17, near DownTown Disney. I did not realize just HOW close until I saw that map last night (I must have had my eyes shut for my year of planning, honestly). No wonder we were urged to take the boat over to DTD, but alas it just felt like it would be far too cold to do that open boat ride.



I got up early, as is usual for me at Disney parks. I went off to procure more breakfast foods, and food was made for everyone.

The Chicklet had, by this time, warmed up to everyone (you should have seen the glares she was giving Robert the first day or so) and wanted to huggle (hug and cuddle) with her bigger cousin. You can see the deathgrip she had on his neck!

We finally got out the door, and caught a bus to Magic Kingdom, so we could catch the monorail to the resorts.

I should mention that Eamon had a drastically loose tooth. It was loose at home, and efforts were made by E to not let it come out before WDW, because I mentioned that it would be fun to have it come out there. However, I thought that this tooth would take as long as the other teeth. Even from his period of gestation and his part in our labor together, up to learning to read and teeth coming out and growing in, he takes his own sweet time. But not THIS time! His tooth was seriously loose and it was getting difficult to look at! He could stick it straight out LOL.

He was bugging that tooth on this ride...

The experts we were following learned a valuable lesson about other ways to do this on that day, when they realized they could have caught the resort monorail at the Ticket and Transportation Center, which would have alleviated any stress caused in the newbies or kids at having to walk right by the Magic Kingdom on our way from the bus stop....

We got on the monorail. Oh my goodness, it DOES have a stink! Very very weird smell there.

Traveled through the Contemporary, which was weird, and I saw a glimpse of the Polynesian...

Went to the Grand Floridian. My cousin feels really out of place there. Nervous, doesn't want to touch anything. I tried to let her know that they shouldn't feel intimidated, but she (and her husband and my aunt) do, and it raised the tension for that short visit.

I liked the roof from the monorail platform.

Took a couple other pictures and then got yelled at because we had to get off the platform so the monorail could leave. Gosh people, how am I supposed to know that? Not MY fault you don't have a FENCE... I hate being yelled at when there's just no way for me to have known the rules...


Holymoly that's a big tree!

We wandered to the gingerbread area. Didn't smell like real gingerbread and didn't smell good to me. The lady was decorating a small g'bread house. Wasn't very interesting IMO. I got E involved in some photopass pix in front of the tree, and while chatting with the photographer, pretty much was told in no certain terms (really vaguely) that YES he used to be "friends" with Jack Sparrow, and would love it if JS would come back on a bigger scale. And that's when I found out that the new movie release date had just that day been shared.

There was some family drama involving "don't touch anything!" and we all moved along quickly. Went outside, where I admired the outside architecture, though I wasn't the biggest drooling fan of the inside's architecture.

I was a Bad Influence, as I led them down to the beach and promptly slipped off my shoes (Lands End MaryJanes in pink that I got for an absolute song thanks to the Budget Board). The children followed my example, but two of them were chastised as that is not proper. Again, how am I supposed to know the rules (of the other family) so I can not lead them into temptation LOL, if you don't tell me ahead of time?


That day was sunny, though not overly warm, but I threw some sunscreen on the three of us anyway and was glad I did. Finally got sunscreen that seemed to work, Coppertone Sport in the blue bottle. Not only did it work, but it smells nice and makes my skin all soft. Yay for that!

Well I guess that's all there was to do at Grand Floridian, so we left.

 

[bumbershoot]

December 4, Day 5 continued​

We decided to visit Wilderness Lodge next. Not sure how the decision was made, but it seemed to work.

Instead of continuing on the monorail the whole trip, we went back to MK, came down the long ramp (long ramp up to the m'rails, long ramp down from them...when WDW-only peeps visit DLR, no wonder they think it's so small! the reality is, WDW is huge. DLR is normal-sized. Ha.), and went towards the boats.

While waiting in line, we noticed that someone had left a full diaper just sitting there on the bench. There were garbage cans all around. There were garbage cans on the boat they were going to get on! Seriously, don't leave diapers! I never would have, since we used cloth and those are expensive. But even with throwaways, your family used them, so your family needs to properly dispose of them. Ugh at the mysterious "your family" that did this. As we boarded, I told the CMs (once I could interrupt their personal conversation to do so) and pointed the diaper out wh, and they *said* thanks, but who knows if they really cared or would do something about it.




Weren't we just there?

The boat ride was fun. There was a large bird in shore-water near the dock. You walk along a path made similar to what I remember of the wooden plank paths at Yellowstone, and you pass by the pool (surprisingly UN private!) and then you make your way inside.

Family went off to fill mugs with the Disney "hot chocolate", which had interesting effects on the kids drinking it, each and EVERY time, but the adults in charge of them didn't seem to notice it. Lest you think I'm judging by commenting on the mugs...OK well I might be, LOL, but Robert got a coffee fill-up with his. I have the same feeling of "glad I didn't get one so I don't have to deal with that moral dilemma each time I'm thirsty!" with him.


I thought I'd dislike it on the same level as the Grand Californian, but I liked it a bit more. Here's the incredibly oversized fireplace. Once with flash, once without, you can choose which you like best.

Cousin shopped a little bit, then all the other adults disappeared while I got the photopass people to take some pix of E in front of the tree. Then the adults came back and saw this, and sent their kids to do it too, and they were all involved doing this so I didn't get to wander at all. At the time, this was NOT a problem. Now that I think about it, though, I might have liked to check out the giftshops, etc, as well. OH well.

That's all the wandering we did, and we decided to head on back! There were some strong thoughts of getting back while it was still light out so that people could swim, and that sounded good to me!

We admired the geyser, which spouted as we got up to it. Got a picture of The Biggest Bee In The World, seriously, it was enormous. Robert got a shot of a large bird up in a tree. We'd noticed birds the entire time we had been there; stood outside of the Chase bank on the 1st just staring into the sky at the enormous birds of prey all circling far up above. And this was a hidden, but large, bird.

In my pictures, I'm impressed by the foliage around the Wilderness Lodge. It's really hidden away, at least to my (possibly clueless) eyes. It reminded me more of the lodge at Yellowstone (where I've stayed) than the Grand, and I liked it for that.

We went back to the boat dock, and crankiness showed up. Thankfully I had packed a bunch of Clif brand bars in my bag. The Z-bars are peanut free, so I made sure it was OK and gave the Chicklet one of those, and the others for the most part had Mojos (which we all kept away from her as they have peanuts). E was halfway through his when something of his fell out....

Apart from being excited that his scary tooth was now out, the ride was uneventful.

I don't remember the bus ride back to OKW at all, isn't that odd? (some of you are saying "no, not odd, I'm not sure how you remember ANY of this you scatterbrained hobbit")


We got back, we got changed into swimsuits! Robert was hurting and so was my aunt, so they stayed home to relax.

It was NOT WARM, not by a long shot, but we dealt with it. Cousin and hubby liked the pool slide, and did that quite a bit. I got lots of huggles from my little cousins, one of whom doesn't really swim yet, and the other can swim but gets nervous. Eamon just splashed around us, swimming, treading water, etc. Having fun. I probably had the least "fun", but I enjoyed being there. The big pool is fairly pretty, they were playing the Name That Tune game, and it was nice to just be there with family.

But with kids, sooner rather than later, lips start turning blue, and it's time to get out. Cousin's hubby got out first, and ran to the hot tub area. Hot tub? Jacuzzi? Spa? Whatever YOUR word is for water-filled hole in the ground with serious heaters and bubble jets, use that. He came back a few minutes later, not shivering in the cold! He convinced us that if you go into the hot water, you heat up your core, and then you can stand the cold a bit more to get dried off.

Sounded good, why not? So this marked the first time E was in a spa. He started slowly, but ended up LOVING it. And it worked. We were able to walk slowly to our stuff, dry off without shivering, and pop clothes on (over suits) without freaking out from the chilliness.

Drove back home and it was time for dinner....

 

[kaoden39]

E is so cute with his tooth. I can remember the kids with playing with loose teeth. Heck I remember doing it myself.

I have to tell you every time I get notification for your trip report in my email I automatically think of the song by America, called A Horse With No Name.

It all looks so beautiful. Honestly I love taking my shoes off when I walk on the beach, so I probably would have done it too. Shame on us.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh, the barefoot beach thing was purely a family problem. I'm still not entirely sure why they didn't want the kids to be barefoot. It's probably just the issue of not feeling comfortable at GF.


Robert's on another work trip, hum dee dum.... Is it any wonder I have more time to spend typing and thinking?

 

[bumbershoot]

December 4, Day 5 continued again​

As I mentioned, it was time for dinner. And that was going to be at DTD! We also had some Lego Store business to conduct.



Interrupted by SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will be back later. It's probably not going to stick, so if E and I want to experience it, we gotta get outside now. Snow!!!!!

Meanwhile, Robert's plane is about to land in the middle of summer.

 

[kaoden39]

Enjoy your snow time!! How fun!!

 

[bumbershoot]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...


No no. The snow was pretty, tickly on my face, wet, and COLD. It was a nice little walk, but now the insides of my ears feel even worse (my aunt in Florida is having the EXACT SAME symptoms as I have been having, but hers has been going on longer, and she says that most of the news anchors in the area sound the same as she does (and I do)...what the heck do we have?) and I'm fairly certain that my lungs froze. Drat. Hate when that happens.

December 4, Day 5 continued again part deux​

As I mentioned, it was time for dinner. And that was going to be at DTD! We also had some Lego Store business to conduct.

I know that we took the bus home, so we obviously took the bus there. It was too cold to think of taking the boat there, but in retrospect it would have been fun. The loose plan was dinner at Raglan Road and then shopping. And that's exactly what happened.

The only thing that was unexpected was the LOUD Irish band playing right next to our table. They have a tall table-looking stage in the middle of the room, and they have Irish dancing up there. Pretty cool.

Robert got extra special "permission" from Eamon to have the fish and chips that night. Since E has been vegetarian his entire life, it really weirds him out when Robert eats fish (he's never seen me eat it, and in fact it's been about 2 years since that happened and I don't plan on it happening again, just too gross), and he makes comments. So the request was made for a comment-free meal, and that was given to Robert. He also had a hard cider. I had the risotto made with veg stock, and a White Rascal beer. Eamon had the quite tasty mac and cheese.

They give the fish/chips in a presentation that makes it look like a LOT of food. They did the same with the kid's meal (and you should have seen the fish and chicken 'n chips for the other two kids at the table! HUGE! I actually think they gave the Girlie an adult portion, and the tiny mite of a thing ate almost all of it). But with MINE, they put a perfectly sizable portion into a HUGE plate/bowl, which made the actual food look tiny. I looked at the plate thinking "this is it?"

Now by the time I got halfway through it, I realized it was too much. But why do that with your plating; why disappoint people up front like that?

It was very good, though it looked bland as bland can be.

My aunt had their portabello burger, and an organic beer from the local Orlando Brewery. I didn't realize they had that there, or I would have tried it! She said it was quite good.

The meal was good, company fun, and the room was boisterous. Too boisterous. I gave up in trying to hear and just sat back and watched everyone.

From there it was the madness of the Lego Store. I thought the Anaheim one was bad, but this store is ugly like a warehouse, chaotic, way too packed, and crazy. I did not enjoy my time there. I will welcome a visit to the Anaheim DTD store in the future.

E got a game, Minotaurus, cousin E got a pickabrick container, and we all left. Then Tinkerbell called and asked me to get something for E b/c of his tooth, so I got a Harry Potter minifig keychain.

At that point it was pretty late, and we'd gone swimming that day which takes energy from you, so we slowly and painfully made our way back.

Goodnight wander-the-resorts-and-DTD day!

 

[Sherry E]

Did you get any photos of the gingerbread shop/house in the GF, even though it wasn't that impressive?

I really love the look of the GF, both inside and outside - although I don't know if I think that the inside architecture is necessarily consistent (thematically) with the outside architecture. I'm sure it is, somehow, but my mind just doesn't connect the dots btween the way it looks inside and the way it looks outside. But I like both looks!

And that is one gigantic tree in the GF! Wow! I wonder how big that tree is. I guess it's a matter of perspective from where you snapped the photo, but it looks way, way, way bigger (not just a little bit) than the GCH tree, even though the GCH ceiling is incredibly high.

Speaking of the GCH and the inevitable Wilderness Lodge comparisons...I can see in your WL photos where the similarities between the look/design of the WL and the GCH are made. But I have to say that, so far, I think I like the GCH a bit more. Maybe it's because I'm used to it and because I have not seen the WL in all its glory up close and personal. But just the specific fireplace areas alone looks better at the GCH, in my opinion.

Poor E with his little tooth! Gosh, I remember those days of having loose, flopping teeth. Ick. I'd be trying to chew food and I'd bite down on the loose tooth because it got in the way. I cringe just thinking about it. It was so annoying. And then when a tooth finally got loose enough to come out, it was always a daunting task to have to yank it or get it out somehow. It wasn't fun.

 

[bumbershoot]

I didn't get any pictures, and I could barely see a thing towards the gingerbread house stuff, b/c of the crowds. I'm not even sure I saw what I was supposed to see; my attention went towards the chef lady talking in her microphone and decorating a little house. And then my attention went towards "are all the kids present and accounted for" and then I saw the Jack Sparrow double photopass guy and I turned away from the gingerbread madness entirely.

I did catch a photo looking up where you could see a sort of spiral of balconies, not unsimilar (dissimilar?) from the style of your sorcerer hat photos. Guess we were thinking along the same lines during our trips!


The thing that's nice about Disney is that they don't just have one resort style. So I can be happier at WL than at the Grand, and you can be the opposite, etc etc. And it's funny that you feel the rooms at the PPH are dim, because I always feel that they are sunny and bright! But I always throw the drapes open until nighttime, so maybe that helps, and maybe I've had sunny weather each time I've stayed.