Tut, Tut, It Looks Like Rain, A Very Merry Thanksgiving TR Updated 4/28!!

[Chicago Mo]

They are getting big and YES they do look like twins! so adorable!
Why aren't we in Disney right now???

 

[NJlauren]

Just binged on your report I've had it tagged for a bit, as I read your Disneyland report in preparation for our upcoming Trip!
Enjoying following along! Hope all is well

 

[PrncessA]

I am so sorry I have really slacked off on the trip report, I have just been so dang busy, but life is what it is, so we gotta move on!

After our morning and early afternoon in Future World, it was already near 2pm and we had an ADR at Trattoria Al Forno for 5:05. We knew that we needed longer than three hours to make around the World Showcase at the pace we wanted, so I called Disney Dining and was able to push back to around 6:30pm.

With that finished we started our tour around the world with Mexico. Where of course I started my tour with a margarita!

We headed inside and the kids took off to do their Agent P mission, which means we obviously stopped to pick up a phone before we headed into the WS.

This was our first time doing the Mexico mission and the kids really like it. We got to see the skeleton dance, which was funny!

After they defeated Doofenshmurtz, we took a ride.

I just love the design of the Mexico pavilion, it is so cool with the pyramid and the twilight.

We headed out after our ride and came across a Photopass photographer, and of course we had to stop.

He was fantastic! He kept trying to scan Lorelai’s band and would move her hand like it was magnetic away. He had us all cracking up!

Lorelai decided she might need a new hat, but it kept falling over her eyes. LOL

Last year it was the tiny sombrero and this year the huge one, when will Goldylocks find one that is “Just Right!”

The best moment in Mexico was when E found the drums and tried to figure out how to use the strap.

 

[PrncessA]

After Mexico we made our way over to Norway, where I was sad that Malestrom was gone.

Ethan is VERY proud of his Viking Heritage. Erik’s great grandparents were immigrants and his great-grandmother immigrated from Norway, his great-grandfather came from Germany. His mother’s parents were also German. I’m a bit of a mutt, I can trace one branch of my tree to Scotland and another to England, I also have some Dutch and American Indian, oh and throw in some Irish. I’m all over the place! Anyways, the kids love that they can say that they are German and Norwegian.

And apparently Lorelai is part Snowman, the resemblance is uncanny!

After Norway of course we headed to China.

Where we FINALLY found the stone army guys. I say finally because I had overlooked them on every prior trip, and on this last trip in July they were gone…

We spent quite a bit of time in China, as Ethan was busy doing another Agent P mission. I don’t have any photos of him in China, he would reappear for seconds, then disappear again. Lorelai however took advantage of the KidKot.

Then we did a bit of shopping. My PePa (grandfather) had a pair of the musical Chinese relaxation balls, and I played with them all the time when I was a child. I almost bought a pair, but I ended up not pulling the trigger.

Lorelai became infatuated with decorated fans. She decided that she wanted one and that it was worth using her own money.

She ended up buying a blue one and had her name written on it in Chinese.

After E had successfully thwarted Doofenshmirtz for what felt like the 100th time, we continued on. Lorelai was getting a bit hungry and when we passed the Outpost with her favorite meal on the menu… Hot Dog, Chips and Lemonade, we just had to stop. They also let us get an additional lemonade slush for the dessert. I believe we also got an extra bag of chips for Ethan, as he said he wasn’t that hungry.

We stopped long enough for her to eat, but Erik and I had other plans for food…

Instead of a meal we opted to use a meal credit and get one of each of the snacks/sides, the noodle gratin, the potato salad and a pretzel.

E was all about the pretzel until it tried it and declared it was NOT a Disney pretzel. Well no… it is a German Pretzel. This was basically his reaction (although a photo from earlier).

A bit of a funny observation. Ethan was wearing his hoodie around his waist, which is very uncommon for him. He has like 0% body fat, and is cold all the time. He usually wears pants year round. He must have really been working up a sweat if he was hot and I was wearing my hoodie!

I have to say the clear winner was the noodle gratin! YUMM!!!! I dream about that stuff! I made some at home with some schnitzel and it was delish, not the same as Disney, but almost.

 

[PrncessA]

We did our WS routine:

Erik and I shopped for a bit

Ethan played his Agent P game

and Lorelai visited the KidKot.

And helped E a bit.

E selfie! He loved the round Mickey heads with Santa hats.

The rest of our tour around the world was pretty tame, usually repeating that sequence of events in each country, so I will let the photos tell the story.

 

[PrncessA]

Finally at around quarter to 6 we decided to head over to our dinner ADR. We considered taking the Friendship Boat, but we had time so we made the walk over to the Boardwalk.

Our destination was here:

I could have sworn that I took photos of our meal, but I can’t find a single one and without the photos I have no idea what the kids ate, probably a pizza and spaghetti. I know that I got the risotto and Erik had the steak and it was DELISH! The best part of the meal was our waitress, Andrea. She was AMAZING! Erik and I loved her so much that when we came back in July we went back to Trattoria alForno and requested her, and spoiler she was just as amazing the second time!

After our wonderful meal, we contemplated what to do next, but we were tired (and cold) and we had had a full day at Epcot, so we were ready to put our feet up. We walked over to the dock, caught a boat to DHS and walked over to the bus stop for CSR (which happens to be the first bus stop).

I did get a photo of the kids in front of the DHS tree, since when we left the park the last time it was a monsoon!

We got back to the resort and hit the sheets! I think I did a load of laundry this night, although it could have been another night. I know the kids watched multiple episodes of the Mickey cartoons before we declared it bed time!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Last year it was the tiny sombrero and this year the huge one, when will Goldylocks find one that is “Just Right!”

I think i need to buy this and put in eye holes...

All i hear in my mind is BA BA LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GO RICKY!!! LOL

Aww your video! it was awesome to hear some Disney loop music too!!!

And apparently Lorelai is part Snowman, the resemblance is uncanny!

I am in love with this picture.

kids watched multiple episodes of the Mickey cartoons before we declared it bed time!

Isn't that awesome!!! My kids do the same. I think when in Disney you must watch Stacy and mickey Cartoons!! Well peanut MUST WATCH DUFFY

 

[MissMaryQC]

Looks like fun filled evening in Epcot! I love that you all have different things you're able to do in each country in WS. Such a Disney thing that everyone has a different favorite activity, in the same place!

How great that you guys got the same waitress on the trip in July. I know you requested her, but still. The Boardwalk is so lovely all lit up like that. Que romantic!

Mickey cartoons before bed? I love it!! Hope all is well I your world!

 

[PrncessA]

For anyone who is still hanging in there, I haven't forgotten this trip report, but I have been WAY too busy to write. I am going to finish it up during Christmas break, when I have two whole weeks off of work and school!!

It doesn't surprise me that I dropped off of writing in September, when I began 2 extra classes, making my course load more than full time, on top of working and life in general. Then to make matters even busier, we found out on Oct. 31 that we would be moving. We had started packing on the 29th, just in case, but still we packed up our entire 4 bedroom tri-level in less than a week and moved! We officially moved in on the 6th and we hosted 22 people for Thanksgiving! I am still tired from it! School this semester has been particularly grueling, and I didn't think I would survive my 5 page ethics essay. My last class is tonight, and now I am just waiting for my grades to come in. If I made it through this semester with 5 A's I deserve a trip to Disney!

All this did however push back our plans to take a cruise when I get my degree in the Spring. Moving isn't cheap and neither is school, so our budget is a bit stretched at the moment. After things settle down in the spring, I am hoping we can announce our next trip is booked for Thanksgiving 2017. I would like to go the week before Thanksgiving if possible to avoid crowds and hit Food & Wine, but we will have to see how Ethan is doing in school...

If anyone is still out there, I promise I will finish asap!!

 

[disvisitorkim]

Following along!!

 

[PrncessA]

Following along!!

****************************

To all who still are reading, I am so sorry for the lack of closure over Christmas. I had every intention on finishing up, but life of course had other plans. After spending the first part of my vacation baking non-stop for 4 days, I started to feel like I had a bad cold coming on. It finally fully hit me on Christmas Eve. I made it through breakfast with Santa, but by the time we got home I felt like I was going to pass out. We ended up skipping Christmas Eve Service, which is all of our favorites of the year, but I really hoped one day of rest would help.

Christmas was great, the kids actually slept in which was nice. We spent the evening with friends and didn't get home till after 1am.



I literally could not get out of bed for the next 3 days. I felt like death! I did manage to pull it together for our New Years Eve Party! So needless to say, I didn't have a very productive vacation. I am working on writing the rest of the trip right now!

A bit of an exciting announcement.... I did 5 A's last semester! I am taking another 5 classes this semester, which Erik thinks is crazy! Either way I am getting my first degree this spring! It feels like I have been working toward this forever, and I am still not finished. Immediatly after I graduate, I start working toward my final goal and degree. Soooo, we know we are not going to be able to make it on a cruise or to WDW for graduation with the entire family, we are still kicking around November. So this past weekend Erik completely surprised me with the question... "Would you want to take a solo trip to WDW as a graduation present?" YUMMM YEAH

I am running the numbers right now, but I am thinking about heading down at the end of May. I am hoping Pandora will be open, plus I can eat at the Flower and Garden Festival! I will most likely get an annual pass rather than buying a ticket, since we are planning another trip in less than a year and the discounts make up for it!

 

[petals]

Joining way late. I followed one of your trip reports before and then dropped off disboards for a few months. It seems like loads of people have left and barely anyone follows trip reports now I still love it though.

I love your DS's little trip Mascot. I bring a trip mascot on there's pics of him in my trip report

I love your DD's skirts as well

 

[MissMaryQC]

Hi! Super sorry you were sick over the holidays but glad you still got to do some fun stuff with family and friends!

And super yay on school; straight As is awesome! I'm glad you're getting a solo trip in, hope you'll post a few details..

 

[Chicago Mo]

Hey there!
Love the tree picture.
i totally get it my house was sick over Christmas too.

CONGRATS on your grades!! WOOHOOOOOOO and a better way to celebrate than a trip to Disney!!! AWESOME NEWS!

 

[PrncessA]

The next morning you could tell we were wiped! My first photo of the morning is at 9:17am! So late for a Disney vacay! But today was our “off” day, so we decided to sleep in a bit.

We decided to eat breakfast at the Pepper Market, so we made the walk over. After some deliberation, Lorelai got OJ and fruit.

I got the Southwest Eggs I believe, basically eggs with salsa.

Ethan just wanted a cinnamon roll.

We ended up getting and extra one and a bagel as well. I think we got them instead of our drinks, since we had our mugs. And Erik got an omelet.

Our overall reaction…. Ehhh. Powdered eggs, yuck. But the CM’s were FANTASTIC. The one working the pastry section insisted on finding the biggest cinnamon rolls she could for us. We must have inhaled our food pretty quickly, because at 10:07 we had went back to the room, changed and were on our way to the pool!

We spent a good amount of time swimming, heading down the slide (even me!) and lounging in the hot tub.

We headed back to the room to get ready for our next adventure. We were at the bus stop by noon, and in no time we were headed to Disney Springs.

Lorelai’s name:

We started in the Christmas Shop where we picked up our ornament for this year, which of course I didn’t take a picture of.

Ethan was pretty bored here….

Then we headed over to Once Upon a Toy of course, because the kids had gift cards burning holes in their pockets and our trip was coming to a close.

Ethan is a pretty straight forward shopper. He knows how much he wants to spend, finds what he wants, and decides to get it. Lorelai, not so much! She wants everything, and NEVER looks at prices. That is exactly how this trip went.

Lorelai looked at everything in the store…

While Ethan considered a light saber, but decided on a few of the character Hot Wheel cars to add to his collection. I didn’t get a photo of them either!

I wanted these dolls! How cool are they??

I didn’t do well at taking photos at Disney Springs, because I know for a fact we went into the new Marketplace, and I don’t have one photo from it. The kids and Erik didn’t care for it so we didn’t stay there very long. We did spend some time in World of Disney of course.

Lorelai finally found what she wanted to spend her money on and I was not happy about her choice!

She fell in love with an Ariel purse and long glove set that was way too expensive for the quality. It looked like a Disney toy that you could pick up at the Dollar Tree. I begged her to think it over before she bought it, which brought on a round of tears that were awful. But in the end I won out, with a promise that if she wanted them after lunch, we would go back and get them. I also took the time to return my sunglasses and get the ones that I really wanted and I pick up a cool Disney World scarf to wear that night.

It was clear we were all ready for some food, so we headed toward lunch.

 

[PrncessA]

We were headed here:

This was one of the only places the kids had requested we return to. I had originally made an ADR for this day, but cancelled it because we have a Landry’s Select card and that usually gets you seated before guests with ADR’s. We checked in and requested the Ice Cave, per the kid’s request.

We waited less than 5 minutes and were shown to the Ice Cave, which I can tell you now, I will never set in again. The “ice” changing colors really gets to me, and I did not enjoy it.

We were not using our dining plan at this meal, since I had our Landry’s Select bonus and gift cards to use. Let me tell you the food pictures here were awful due to the lighting… I got a Raptor Rita

And the Chicken T-Rexadillas. They were not great, not bad but not great.

Erik got the Fish-n-Chips, which he liked.

Ethan got his favorite meal ever, Mega Mozzarella, and devoured them all.

Lorelai got her favorite the Prehistoric Pop'n Shrimp with a fruit cup, which I don’t have a photo of, because they brought her the chicken and not the shrimp. So it had to be sent back.

Overall I this meal was a real disappointment. The service was awful. Our waitress stopped by maybe twice the entire meal. And I know it has been a long time since the meal, but I am almost certain Erik called the manager over and complained. But I can guarantee you we will be back, because it is the kids’ favorite restaurant. In fact we are headed to Rainforest Café this weekend for Lorelai’s birthday for her favorite popcorn shrimp.

After our lackluster meal we headed over to the awesome Build-a-Dino, where that is exactly what we did.

There is nothing that my kids love more than building and dressing an incredibly overpriced stuffed animal!

We spent SOOO much time here, since Lorelai couldn’t make up her mind on which dino she wanted, then which outfit. We did convince them both to go with the dinos that were on sale. We gave them each a budget, so the cheaper the dino the more accessories you can get.

We made a stop in Goofy’s Candy Shop, and picked up some candy with snack credits. I know Erik and I got caffeine, Lorelai got some bagged candy and Ethan picked out cotton candy. Then we headed to the bus stop because we were running on low!

And to answer anyone’s questions if we stopped and got Lorelai the gloves:

We headed back to the resort to get cleaned up for our big night out! Instead of waiting on busses this night we headed to the lobby and request a cab and headed to the Poly where we dropped the kids off here:

Spoiler Alert they LOVED it!!!

And we hopped on the monorail and headed to the Contemporary for our dinner at California Grill!

We checked in and were escorted to the elevator and up to the top floor to check in again. They told us it would be a few minutes so we headed over to the bar for some drinks. Because:

I really slacked on the photos here, but I am sure I got a glass of Chardonnay and Erik probably got a beer. Exciting I know! We were seated pretty quickly with a window seat, but I had my back to the window, so I don’t know what Erik was looking at. I had a great view of the open kitchen though!

For an appetizer I we chose the Handcrafted Charcuterie, which I immediately regretted, as I am not a meat eater. Erik enjoyed it though.

So I ordered a Caesar Salad, that doesn’t seem to be on the menu any longer, in fact most of what we ordered is no longer on the menu.

Erik ordered the Bison Steak I believe, which he said was OK, but he liked Trattoria al Forno much better.

I ordered the vegetarian pasta dish and it was the star of my trip! It was AMAZING, like write home about it amazing. It was accompanied by a pumpkin seed brittle that was perfect. It is easily on the top of the best things I have ever eaten!

We decided to skip dessert and headed out to watch Wishes, which was different and cool. But not something I have to do again.

Was it worth the money, since we paid OOP for it? For Erik? No. For me overall? No. I would absolutely go back for the dish I had, but it was pulled from the menu pretty quickly after our meal. It was an extremely expensive meal, with lackluster service and for Erik, the food was “eh”.

We picked up the kids and instead of trying to head to the MK then back to resort we just caught another cab back to CSR. And catch a cab we did! Our cab driver was insane! She was all over the road, missed our exit and cut over at the last minute. She talked non-stop and then wanted us to go to our room and get cash to pay her instead of with our credit card on the machine. It was strange. We did not go get cash, we paid her with the credit card.

And that my friends was the end to our 8th day!

 

[Chicago Mo]

On an off day you really got a LOT accomplished! LOL
Yes i have to agree those build an extremely way over priced animal is crazy. peanut is a huge fan of those too. Takes forever.

Nope not a fan of rain forest.. Over priced for mediocre food. So what did they do in the lilo playhouse?

California Grill wasn't all that it's cracked up to be? I'm sorry to hear it!
I am not a huge fan of the marketplace in disney springs.. more like a mall rather Disney. I will stay by world of disney and all it's joy!
I would have paid her with the credit card too.. That's just seems strange. Good Call.

Oh what i would do to be in EPCOT TODAY!!! although my luck it would be storming.
Like they said a raining day in Disney will always beat a day here!

have a magical weekend my friend!

 

[PrncessA]

On an off day you really got a LOT accomplished! LOL
Yes i have to agree those build an extremely way over priced animal is crazy. peanut is a huge fan of those too. Takes forever.

Nope not a fan of rain forest.. Over priced for mediocre food. So what did they do in the lilo playhouse?

California Grill wasn't all that it's cracked up to be? I'm sorry to hear it!
I am not a huge fan of the marketplace in disney springs.. more like a mall rather Disney. I will stay by world of disney and all it's joy!
I would have paid her with the credit card too.. That's just seems strange. Good Call.

Oh what i would do to be in EPCOT TODAY!!! although my luck it would be storming.
Like they said a raining day in Disney will always beat a day here!

have a magical weekend my friend!

When we arrived at to pick them up they were both setting with the group of kids watching a movie, Lorelai was decked out in a princess costume. It surprised me that Ethan didn't want to leave watching a movie, usually we can't get him to sit still long enough to get through one at home. There apparently was also a really fun video game that he liked. Overall they both loved it!

Boy are you right about being at Disney. Mother Nature sure faked us out around here with spring like weather, then back to snow! People keep saying we shouldn't complain too much since it was a "mild" winter.... whatever, I want to be at Disney!!

*************************************

I cannot believe that I have drug this out this long! I really want to finish it up, but this semester is really dragging me down. I swear, if I had taken chemistry before my other college classes, I probably would have given up! It is soooooo time consuming and difficult. In addition I have three other classes that are pretty time consuming on their own, including a Lit class that requires a lot of reading and writing. BUT..... I have a light at the end of the tunnel people!

I officially booked my solo trip!!! May 31-June 4, Pop Century Resort!!! I will be down during the DIS anniversary, I am waiting to hear what some of the events are, and I might get to some!

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

 

[MissMaryQC]

I officially booked my solo trip!!! May 31-June 4, Pop Century Resort!!! I will be down during the DIS anniversary, I am waiting to hear what some of the events are, and I might get to some!

Woo-Hoo!! I know you're super busy with school, but I do hope you give us some details on that trip!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I am SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!
Sorry school is taking up all your time.. My jobs are taking up mine i am just exhausted. and my goofy family!
I need to go and update my report NOW my 180 day was yesterday!