Shopaholic, Workaholic & Bargain Betty Take On WDW A DM/DD TR-Last Day!

[dawnbu40]

So while Dale and Caitlin were soaring over DTD I hit the shops!

When we were there last year I had wanted one of the polos with the Mickey heads embroidered on it but I didn't get one. Well, when we went back in Dec I had made up my mind to get one but they weren't carrying them. So my mission this morning was to find one! I not only found the polo I also found a matching purse and flip flops! So I used my solo shopping trip as a time to spoil myself

When they got back down to Earth they texted me and we met up at Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch. The place was nearly empty!

Caitlin was eager to have their chicken and mashed potatos again and Dale and I thought we'd share something. (we were having a big dinner later and wanted to make sure we'd be hungry!) We decided on the Italian chopped salad. Caitlin loved her lunch again but we were disappointed. We assumed it would have salami or pepperoni or ham....or some kind of meat. It didn't It was just a basic salad. We did add some of Cait's chicken to it and that helped make it a little more filling and tastier. We passed on the desserts at WPE so we could go over to Goofy's and get something.

I find Goofy's a little overwhelming. It is usually packed and there is so much in there that I just can't make up my mind. Caitlin knew she wanted to make a rice krispie square so Dale and I decided we'd make one and split it. I asked him what he wanted on it and then... I marked what I wanted on it. Bad move!
I guess I pictured that like half would have his choices and half would have mine? Well it was just layered with everything and looked disgusting!

We ended up scraping a lot of stuff off of it and then it didn't taste too bad
We looked around DTD some more when we finished and then we decided to take the boat back to POFQ.
The boat ride was wonderful! We got to see the newly refurbbed TreeHouses along the way. These look really cool! (sorry no pic)
At one point our driver (is that what you call him? ) stopped our boat and said the space shuttle would be launching momentarily and hopefully we'd see it! We sat... and sat... and sat. But no luck! All those pretty, puffy white clouds were blocking our view.
As we neared our resort Dale did get these pics of POR and POFQ though...

When we got back to POFQ we strolled around the grounds a bit

and hit the arcade. The arcade is not real impressive but it does have my favorite old school game- Ms PacMan! We played a few games and then headed back to dress for our Signature Dinner .

**Up next...our Signature Dinner and EMH!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Will you be posting a picture of the polo, purse, and flip flops???? I may have a slight addiction to shopping in the world Great upodate!!

Can't wait to try WPE, I am very excited about that

 

[dawnbu40]

happy july 4th everyone!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Happy 4th of July! We are finally getting some sun here so hopefully we can enjoy some summer activities!!

Congratulations to Caitlin for the pagent & the scholarship that comes along with it! That's fantastic!!

I LOVE the pictures from the hot air balloon ride - what an amazing experience. I don't know if I'd be able to deal with the height though... Zachary was watching over my shoulder and asked if we could do that ride.

Great ADRs for your upcoming trip. I think a short trip is the perfect opportunity to upgrade your dining plan! And using your snack credits for the F&W Festival is really smart!! I wouldn't have thought of that ahead of time. I've seen the HDDR twice - once on my very first trip when I was 9 and then again when DH & I went after we were married, but before kids. I think my kids are at an age now that they would enjoy it. I'll have to try to book it for our next trip... not sure if we'll get to stay onsite again though, which could make it hard to book. I hope they eventually go back to 180 days - it seems like people are a much harder time getting good ADRs at 90 days.

Dawn - It looks like you had some fun at DTD too... I know exactly which polo shirt you were looking for. Zachary has a red one that we purchased in 2007 that he is just outgrowing now. He wore it for one of his school pictures.

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[MEK]

Nice update. I love the POFQ pictures. I have decided it is my favorite moderate resort! So pretty. I also love the boat to DTD. Now I want to see a picture of your flip flops!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Wishing you all a very happy 4th of July....enjoy your holiday!!!!

 

[MagicShell]

I was wondering how you like POFQ. We received a pin from Disney and are considering going in Nov. or Dec. and we were thinking of trying to stay at POFQ. We usually stay at the value level.

 

[dawnbu40]

I was wondering how you like POFQ. We received a pin from Disney and are considering going in Nov. or Dec. and we were thinking of trying to stay at POFQ. We usually stay at the value level.

All 3 of us love the mods! We enjoyed POFQ with its small size and the boat to DTD. I was not crazy about the bus system since it also picks up POR and it takes quite awhile to hit all those stops! Elliot Dison in the lounge is another great feature of POFQ! My favorite mod is CSR. I liked the Spanish theming and IMO the resort has a deluxe feel. We were in one of the refurbbed rooms (in fact the first guests in that room after the redo) and loved its bigger beds and decor! I love WDW at Christmas! The decorations and activities make it even more magical!

 

[WrightFamily06]

I'm a little late but we went back home for a week so I'm just catching up now on where I left off Congrats Catlin on your win ! You must be a very proud mama , she looked stunning !

The balloon pictures are just gorgeous !

Your upcoming ADR's look great , sorry that you didn't get everything you wanted . The Flying Fish sounds very good we had an ADR there in April but cancelled because I was afraid of how the kiddies would act and plus I'm not to much for dressing up . LOL

Sounds like you had a blast shopping all us Mom's need to treat ourselves every once in a while . LOL Beautiful pictures of POR & POFQ , we absolutely love those resorts !

 

[MagicShell]

All 3 of us love the mods! We enjoyed POFQ with its small size and the boat to DTD. I was not crazy about the bus system since it also picks up POR and it takes quite awhile to hit all those stops! Elliot Dison in the lounge is another great feature of POFQ! My favorite mod is CSR. I liked the Spanish theming and IMO the resort has a deluxe feel. We were in one of the refurbbed rooms (in fact the first guests in that room after the redo) and loved its bigger beds and decor! I love WDW at Christmas! The decorations and activities make it even more magical!

I hadn't thought about the bus system picking up at POR as well. We drive to Disney and a lot of time just go in our own vehicle to the parks. I am not a patient person so I don't like waiting on buses. I think that CSR looks very pretty as well. Thanks for the information.

 

[dawnbu40]

[/SIZE]

Happy 4th of July! We are finally getting some sun here so hopefully we can enjoy some summer activities!!

Congratulations to Caitlin for the pagent & the scholarship that comes along with it! That's fantastic!!

I LOVE the pictures from the hot air balloon ride - what an amazing experience. I don't know if I'd be able to deal with the height though... Zachary was watching over my shoulder and asked if we could do that ride.

Great ADRs for your upcoming trip. I think a short trip is the perfect opportunity to upgrade your dining plan! And using your snack credits for the F&W Festival is really smart!! I wouldn't have thought of that ahead of time. I've seen the HDDR twice - once on my very first trip when I was 9 and then again when DH & I went after we were married, but before kids. I think my kids are at an age now that they would enjoy it. I'll have to try to book it for our next trip... not sure if we'll get to stay onsite again though, which could make it hard to book. I hope they eventually go back to 180 days - it seems like people are a much harder time getting good ADRs at 90 days.

Dawn - It looks like you had some fun at DTD too... I know exactly which polo shirt you were looking for. Zachary has a red one that we purchased in 2007 that he is just outgrowing now. He wore it for one of his school pictures.

Can't wait to read more!!

On behalf of Caitlin, THANK YOU! Zachary sounds like a thrill seeker The idea of the balloon ride freaked me out! I do not want to be that high up and I certainly wouldn't want to look down! I agree I'd like it if it went back to 180 days for adrs. If not they need to re-think the online system because it allows people to book too many adrs for any given day. We had an easier time getting adrs for our Christmas trip!

I'm a little late but we went back home for a week so I'm just catching up now on where I left off Congrats Catlin on your win ! You must be a very proud mama , she looked stunning !

The balloon pictures are just gorgeous !

Your upcoming ADR's look great , sorry that you didn't get everything you wanted . The Flying Fish sounds very good we had an ADR there in April but cancelled because I was afraid of how the kiddies would act and plus I'm not to much for dressing up . LOL

Sounds like you had a blast shopping all us Mom's need to treat ourselves every once in a while . LOL Beautiful pictures of POR & POFQ , we absolutely love those resorts !

Hope you had a nice visit back home! I'd noticed you hadn't posted on anyone's trip lately and figured you were on vacation!
You're right I'm very proud and Caitlin says THANK YOU!
The adrs were a pain but I've juggled things around a bit and I'm pretty happy with them now.

 

[dawnbu40]

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! Ours was very eventful. Caitlin had to volunteer at our community festival all weekend to "earn" her scholarship money. She sold raffle tickets to help the vets, judged the beautiful baby contest and welcomed visitors to name a few things. Prior to the weekend though, on Thursday, she and her bf got it into their heads that they should adopt a dog. Now we already have 2 and Bryan's landlord won't let him have one so they thought they'd adopt and it could live with us. If we have 2 what's 1 more? So they decided to visit the Humane Society just to look around. I knew that was dangerous so I decided to go with them and be the "voice of reason". Little did I know that I would be the first one to fall in love with a dog. We saw Riley through the glass and when she looked up at me with those big brown eyes I melted. Yeah I know I was supposed to be the NO WAY JOSE vote....We played with her and she was a sweetheart and all 56 pounds of her kept trying to get on my lap . We went home to "think about it" and talk to Dale (and hope someone adopted her quickly!) We went back the next day to "visit her" and she was gone Caitlin was crushed and heartbroken and I was misty eyed. I told myself that if it was meant to be she'd be there and that this was a sign she didn't belong with us. Later that afternoon, when Caitlin went off to do her festival duties, Bryan decided to go see if he could find out if she had been adopted or what had happened to her since we hadn't talked to anyone earlier. Well lo and behold..guess who he found? That's right Riley was still there! Well we then knew we had to take her home and be one big family! So here is our newest family member Riley

And here she is with her proud "parents"

She's adjusted so quickly its amazing! The other 2 dogs accepted her immediately and they all get along fine and she is well trained and house broken.


**Thats the news from our house...we should have a trip update tomorrow where we finish day 6 and then we'll only have our last day left! I've been trying to stretch it out in hopes that our Photopass cd would arrive. Hopefully our share leader will have those mailed out soon!

 

[WrightFamily06]

Hope you had a nice visit back home! I'd noticed you hadn't posted on anyone's trip lately and figured you were on vacation!
You're right I'm very proud and Caitlin says THANK YOU!
The adrs were a pain but I've juggled things around a bit and I'm pretty happy with them now.

Thanks , we did have a great visit back home Caitlin is very welcome , she deserves it ! I'm glad that you got a handle on your ADR's and have got things that make you happy I changed my ADR's alot this year too just couldn't seem to remain happy with everything I chose . LOL The new addition to the family is such a beautiful dog congratulations ! I wish our dog would let us have another but she just seems not to like anyone but herself and humans . LOL

 

[MEK]

Congrats on your new baby, Riley! I can't see her now, but I bet she is very cute! I thought the Humane Society made you go through all kinds of background checks before you could adopt a pet. Do you have her already?

I used to go to the SPCA all the time to look at the animals. One day, while there with my youngest son, who was probably 7 or 8 at the time, we saw the most pathetic looking cat. For some reason, my son really liked this cat. I made the mistake of saying, "Oh that cat isn't going to last very long before they put it to sleep". Sheesh! Numb thing to say, but I thought my son knew all about putting animals to sleep. We had talked about it a lot during previous visits. Well, after we left he started to cry. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he was sad because that cat was going to die. He was still upset about it the next day. So I told him I called the SPCA to ask about the cat and its owner had already come to pick it up! He was so happy and I felt horrible for my lie. After that, I stopped going to see the animals! Now I will only ever go again when I am in a position to adopt!

 

[dawnbu40]

[/COLOR]

Thanks , we did have a great visit back home Caitlin is very welcome , she deserves it ! I'm glad that you got a handle on your ADR's and have got things that make you happy I changed my ADR's alot this year too just couldn't seem to remain happy with everything I chose . LOL The new addition to the family is such a beautiful dog congratulations ! I wish our dog would let us have another but she just seems not to like anyone but herself and humans . LOL

I understand changing adrs a lot! It is so hard to figure out 90 or 180 days in advance where you want to eat and what you want to do everyday. I really preferred it back in the day where you just walked up to the restaurants and didn't have to have reservations! Thanks for the dog congrats! We are all enjoying her and that includes our other dogs!

Congrats on your new baby, Riley! I can't see her now, but I bet she is very cute! I thought the Humane Society made you go through all kinds of background checks before you could adopt a pet. Do you have her already?

I used to go to the SPCA all the time to look at the animals. One day, while there with my youngest son, who was probably 7 or 8 at the time, we saw the most pathetic looking cat. For some reason, my son really liked this cat. I made the mistake of saying, "Oh that cat isn't going to last very long before they put it to sleep". Sheesh! Numb thing to say, but I thought my son knew all about putting animals to sleep. We had talked about it a lot during previous visits. Well, after we left he started to cry. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he was sad because that cat was going to die. He was still upset about it the next day. So I told him I called the SPCA to ask about the cat and its owner had already come to pick it up! He was so happy and I felt horrible for my lie. After that, I stopped going to see the animals! Now I will only ever go again when I am in a position to adopt!

I too was suprised that there was no background check or credit check or anything. Bryan actually "adopted her" since he had signed in to visit her but they didn't even check if he had a job or anything All they wanted to know was he had a place to live. They are having a huge problem right now with people surrendering their 4-6 yr old pets so I don't know if that's caused them to loosen their regulations? But all he had to do was sign off on her and pay the adoption fees and she left with us after about 20 minutes. I do think though she was near her end with them though since they told us she'd been there "too long" and that they had contacted an Irish Setter rescue group to see if they could get her a home. I agree it is very hard to go to a shelter knowing so many pets need homes and that so many won't make it! Our local shelter was filled and it was almost all older dogs and cats. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it would be to give up a pet you'd had in the family for 5 years! As for your "lie" ,you did it to protect your son's feelings and give him a happy ending, so you shouldn't feel guilty!

 

[dawnbu40]

A few of you had asked to see what I bought myself so here's the picture.

I must say I the polo and wear it all the time! (in fact I just ordered myself some sterling silver Mickey head earrings to go with it!) They had the polo in other colors and I wish I had picked up at least one more. It fits well and washes up nicely! Maybe in Sept I'll pick up another?

I have been less than thrilled with the flip flops though! After one wearing the bottoms were all scuffed up and they have no traction. I slip and slide everytime I wear them!

 

[dawnbu40]

When we last left off we were going back to our room to dress for dinner. We never dress up at WDW so for our special meal I had packed dresses for myself and Caitlin and a linen shirt and pants for Dale. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating! I thought it was much too hot for my dress and Dale was not about to put on pants. Instead he wore his nicer shorts with a polo and I wore a skort with my new Mickey polo. (not the ff tho lol) Caitlin's dress was short and very lightweight so she did "dress" for dinner. Our destination was the Grand Floridian so we allowed ourselves an hour to reach our destination. That was much too long! We arrived at Narcossee's at least a half hour before our adr and it wasn't open yet so we sat outside....in the heat and humidity! Caitlin was excited about this meal not only for the food but because she knew we had ordered her a special dessert. As we were sitting outside waiting we see a GF CM come walking up carrying a chocolate Mickey and tuxedo strawberries. Her dessert! She asked us if that was hers and of course we said "no" but she knew and our suprise was out! When the restaurant opened we were quickly seated and we were starving!

We started with 2 apps that we paid oop for ...

Dale ordered the cheeses

While Cait and I got the crab cakes

The crab cakes were delicious! And the coleslaw underneath it was wonderful!

This meal was off to such a great start that I could not wait for our entrees!
Dale and I both got the steak and lobster. When it arrived was a little unsure how I would like the sauce since I am kind of a picky eater but it was tneder and delicious! The lobster was perfect too!

Caitlin had the whole lobster which she too loved!

We finished this meal stuffed and declined ordering dessert since we knew this was coming

We all ate the strawberries and had a few bites of Mickey but we were stuffed! They boxed him up nicely and we took him with us and Caitlin took the rest home to her bf who managed to finish him off

***FYI-If you order any of the special desserts be careful! We paid cash oop for the Mickey and the slipper, the day before, and when we got home discovered they had also charged our credit card! You must leave a cc when you order and for some reason they double charged us! Once we figured out the problem Disney reimbursed us fairly quickly but if we hadn't noticed we'd have been out some money!***

When we finished eating my plan had been to go to the MK and see Spectro and Wishes BUT...my family had other ideas. Dale wanted to ride TSM AGAIN and Caitlin wanted to go and see if the UP characters had arrived. We decided to do that since we'd be spending the whole next day (our last) at MK.

It was EMH at DHS and the crowds again weren't too bad. Our first stop was the TOT and they rode with a 20 min wait and picked up fp for a return ride. Our next stop was the Animation Bldg but the UP guys weren't there. We were told they'd be arriving on Friday but we were leaving Wed (Dale and I will meet them in Sept tho! )

You know where we went next...TSM for our 8th ride of the trip! There were no fp left so we did stand-by but the wait was under 20 mins so not too bad!

We then returned to TOT and they rode twice more with no wait!

The shops all closed at 8 so I sat and people watched while they rode. When they finished we grabbed some popcorn and headed out. We needed a good nights sleep so we could hit rope drop for our last day

They then

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Couple comments:

Dinner was amazing!
I am extremely jealous I don't get to meet the UP! characters
TOT at night is soo amazing! They were watering the flowers around queue so our walk up was through this misty fog and it looked soo cool!

 

[WrightFamily06]

Great update the food at Narcoossee's looks delicious ! Sounds like you had alot of fun on TSM on this trip , I wish we would have got to ride it as many times as you guys

 

[dawnbu40]

We started our day bright and early so we could make rope drop at my very favorite park! Of course we were headed to MK and I was so excited to be spending our last day there! Our bus ride there however was MISERABLE and although we were stressed when we arrived, we did not let that dampen our moods! We arrived early enough to have a spot near the front and after we were greeted by Mickey and the Gang we were ready for some magic! When we walked in I spotted an empty trolley waiting for some passengers. This was something I'd never done in my 12 trips to WDW so I asked the family if we could take a trolley ride up Main Street to the castle.

They agreed and we boarded. I must say I absolutely loved riding this at rope drop! My dream has always been to be in a parade at the MK and this was the next best thing! As we rode the crowd magically parted and people waved! I felt like a Princess! While I was enjoying my "parade" Dale was taking pics of the shop windows...

And too quickly our ride ended and we got off in front of the castle

We visited Fantasyland first so we could hit the rides we had missed earlier in the week. Our first stop was Peter Pan but we were told the ride was broken so we grabbed fast passes. As luck would have it, the ride was magically fixed right after we got our fp so we walked right on!
Our next stop was to be Snow White but on our way we made a detour to the Pooh Playground. We'd never been there before (since it wasn't there when Caitlin was little) so we thought we'd check it out. The playground was empty that early in the morning and we had fun looking around!
Since no one was there we even took advantage of a little photo op

After we were done there we rode Snow White's ride and at 9:30 we got in line for the Tinkerbell rope drop. We were first in line and had a nice chat with a CM from Michigan while we waited. At 9:45 they lead us to the meet and greet for the fairies. We were their first visitors of the day! We enjoyed meeting Tink and Iridessa but Rosetta was our favorite! She was adorable,very animated and very funny!

When we left the fairies we decided to ride the Barnstormer. Dale and I had never ridden this so it was "something new". I thought the theming of this ride was really cute but those seats are pretty small!

Our next stop was to see the main mouse himself! We were off to the judges tent to meet Mickey! We were suprised to find that his gal pal Minnie was with him!

M&M both liked the Mickey's on Caitlin's dress

When we left Mickey and Minnie we headed back toward Fantasyland and decided to use our Peter Pan fast passes. I am a Disney geek and I must admit I love the original rides. When I ride PP or IASW I am 6 years old and visiting for the first time. I love it!
After PP it was already getting very hot and muggy! Caitlin wanted to cool off with a drink so she got a Tink slushie and we sat in the shade while she drank it. We wanted to make sure we saw the first Move It Shake It Celebrate It of the day so Caitlin and Dale went and got us a spot while I headed over to get fp for Buzz.
They got a spot (in the sun, ugh! ) near the hub which I'd read was the preferred viewing location. I have to say this is one of the most fun Disney parades ever! We really enjoyed ourselves! We even got to dance in the street with Baloo! ( in fact he ran into me and almost knocked me over )

When the parade ended we were all very hungry! All that dancing really works up an appetite! (plus we'd only had muffins for breakfast)
Our lunch destination was the Poly. Caitlin wanted to try the sushi at Capt Cook's and we needed to use up our remaining cs credits! We got in line for the monorail and when it arrived the driver asked if we wanted to sit up front! We of course said "YES! " since we'd never done that! In fact before the disboards I didn't even know you could do that! We enjoyed riding up front (our driver was very friendly) and getting our "official" license! When we got to the Poly we took a few pics...

and then headed to eat. The menu didn't appeal to Dale or me so we just shared some carrots and celery while Caitlin ate. She really enjoyed the sushi and it was a great use of a cs credit since her meal was over $16!

When she finished we decided to head over to the Contemporary and try out their counter service. We were really glad we did too! Dale and I both had sandwiches with very yummy cupcakes for dessert! We also enjoyed being in the air conditioning since it was getting unbearably hot outside!

After we finished eating we needed to decide what to do next....should we go back to MK?...Epcot?....Ak since we were only there once or DHS? Hmmmm you'll have to wait for our next post to find out