*1/3 New Trip Report* Pole Dancing and Food Porn

[Happydog]

Hey! I thought I had already posted about your photos from Hallowishes but somehow I don't see it, so maybe I thought I posted?? Anyway I just wanted to tell you I really enjoyed those pics and the pics inside TSM and of the kids with the green army men at DHS...

Now of course the photopass CD pics are fun! I liked your MNSSHP pics! The borders are fun, aren't they!! Nice update and added photos!

 

[All7OfUs]

That was sure a nice set of the Photopass pix!! Yeah, Lily is sure hamming it up! LOL!

Why was I surprised to see Crabcakes, again???

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Great photopass pictures!! Love your matching Halloween shirts at MNSSHP!

 

[praisehisname]

Hope Lily is feelling better!

Sorry your server wasn't more into the "mood" of PTC. It seems like your meal was still pretty good, though.

Can't wait to hear more!

Denise

 

[manntra]

Awwww...those are such great Photo Pass pictures!! I really slacked off this time and only did like three and one at MNSSHP that didn't come out!! Maybe it was the heat

 

[shannn]

Great PhotoPass pics

WONDERFUL Photopass pics!!

Thanks y'all!!

Your commentary is cracking me up on some of those photo pass pix. I do love Lily's sultry poses!

Well, her poses were just too too funny!! She was looking at the photopass pictures with me, and she said, "Look Mama, I'm posing. Don't I look beautiful?" It was all I could do not to laugh out loud!

And Morgan has this "I'm coming to get you with a hatchet" look!

Hey! I thought I had already posted about your photos from Hallowishes but somehow I don't see it, so maybe I thought I posted?? Anyway I just wanted to tell you I really enjoyed those pics and the pics inside TSM and of the kids with the green army men at DHS...

Now of course the photopass CD pics are fun! I liked your MNSSHP pics! The borders are fun, aren't they!! Nice update and added photos!

The kids loved the green army man. The one standing by them was hilarious ~~ he was well chosen for his job.

I did have fun with the borders on the photopass pictures. I figured it was already paid for, so why not play with them!

That was sure a nice set of the Photopass pix!! Yeah, Lily is sure hamming it up! LOL!

Why was I surprised to see Crabcakes, again???

Yea, I think she quit trying with the crabcakes after that. I'm not sure, she might have tried them at one more place. I can't remember.

Great photopass pictures!! Love your matching Halloween shirts at MNSSHP!

Thanks! A fabulous ebay seller did those shirts for me. Aren't they great?? She worked with me and I thought they turned out so well. And I even got Sam to wear one!!

Hope Lily is feelling better!

Sorry your server wasn't more into the "mood" of PTC. It seems like your meal was still pretty good, though.

Can't wait to hear more!

Denise

Thanks. Lily is feeling better and she's loving having her stitches to show off. She even got a special "purple card" from her teacher because she was so brave at the ER.

Awwww...those are such great Photo Pass pictures!! I really slacked off this time and only did like three and one at MNSSHP that didn't come out!! Maybe it was the heat

Thanks Tracy. The main thing I like about Photopass is that Sam is actually in the pictures. Without it, you'd never know that he was on the trip with us!

 

[kate_wdw]

Thanks to Shann & DizneyDawn for explaining TSMM's appeal!

 

[shannn]

I'm so sorry I've been absent this week. Sam is in Mexico on business and Grammie hasn't been feeling well, so I'm parenting solo. On top of that, I'm getting a sinus infection & I feel like crap! But I'm determined to post an update today!

~~~~~~~

So, my original plan had us attending the American Idol finale this night. Now that we were going to change our rest time and take a before dinner nap, we decided to head off for the 2:00 show. There wasn't a big crowd although there was plenty of room in the queue for one. The CMs headed us and Grammie's ECV into the back row as usual. I wish the ECVers (is that a word?) didn't have to always sit in the back but I understand why.

The set was really similar to what you see on TV, and it had that same "bigger-than-life" feeling.

Our three contestants were 2 women and a man. The first woman sang a ballad (I can't remember which one!) and was fairly good. She kept her hand on her belly the whole time which was mildly irritating:

(I wondered if it was okay to post these pictures, but I figure they asked for it when they tried out. And besides, the pictures aren't that great so you really can't recognize them anyway. )

The second girl was from France originally, but lived in Georgia. She was dressed like she was 16, but well....bless her heart...she wasn't. She sang "I Will Survive" and it sounded like a French grandmother singing Disco... Lily, of course, heard her accent and that was it - she was her definite favorite:

(Once Morgan saw the Disco ball he was groovin' along too. Did I mention that the kids love to watch AI with me??)

The third guy had been auditioning that morning when we were waiting in line to get into DHS. The producer guy had actually made the crowd scream "We love you" for him, so I was completely prepared to hate him for the absolute cheesiness of that. The MC also informed us that his brother had won an earlier show so he was competing for the chance to go head-to-head with him that night. He sang "Sweet Home Alabama" and, unfortunately, he rocked.

Morgan was throwing his fist in the air and I hated to whisper to him that we didn't actually live in Alabama. (and that when Sam & I did live there, it, well, it wasn't our favorite place. )

Despite the cheese factor, I had to vote for the last guy. All of us but Lily voted for him and he won! Lily was disappointed, but later she saw the French chicky walking around the park and was able to go up to her and tell her how much she loved her, so that was cool. AI was fun, and I'd bet the finale show would be a lot of fun!

We headed from there back to The Little Mermaid, but once again the show had just begun, so TLM just wasn't meant to be on this trip. We decided to hike over to the HIStK playground. I had some cute pictures of the kids from last time there so I wanted to get some more (and we had some time to kill before our TSMM fast passes.)

When we got to the playground, I started to reach for my KttW card to buy a bottle of water and couldn't find it. I dumped out my entire park bag and realized not only was I missing that card, I was missing all the cards that I had kept after I got the fast passes. Aaack....I remembered pulling them out to find the right one to pay the bill at 50sPT and realized I must have left them there. I left everyone at the playground and rushed to see if I could find them.

Luckily, the waitress had left the whole stack of cards at the counter of the restaurant. With that crisis averted, I started to head back to the playground. But I realized that I was actually alone...without hub or children....so I headed back to the Star Tours store to get my shop on! I bought tshirts for the kids a Mickey Starfighter shirt for Morgan and a Minnie Leia shirt "I'd rather kiss a Wookie" for Lily. And then I saw THE shirt. Sam always says to our kids this quote from Star Wars "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." whenever they whine "but I tried" about anything. I found a shirt with this quote on the front and Yoda on the back. I ran back to the playground and showed it to Sam who absolutely loved it. He's the kind of person who doesn't buy a souvenier unless he just happens to find the perfect thing so he was really excited.

While I was gone, they were taking some pics at the playground:

(You can see that by this time I'd given up on the Leia braids.)

Isn't that a sweet picture? She just looks like she adores him, which she does.

When we left the playground, we headed back over to use our TSMM fast passes. It was just as much fun the second time, and I actually improved my score from 97k to 127k! We left the park then, stopping to take the photopass pictures that I posted above. It was about 4:00 when we left and got on a bus back to the Poly. Our ADR wasn't until 8:10 so we had plenty of time for napping.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Oh my gosh Shannon, the cards! That would have made me sick! We have been to the AI show more than once and have always loved it! They usually find some pretty good talent....

 

[ladybugmom]

Great update!! I enjoyed hearing about the AI show! Sweet Home Alabama--GREAT song choice!! (roll tide) Glad you were able to find your KTTW cards--that could have been bad!! The Star Wars shirts sound adorable!!

 

[All7OfUs]

That is such a sweet picture of Grammie with her obviouly adored grandson!! Very touching!! Great update, Shannon!! Sounds like you had a great time with AI.

Can't wait to hear how dinner goes!!!

 

[shannn]

Oh my gosh Shannon, the cards! That would have made me sick! We have been to the AI show more than once and have always loved it! They usually find some pretty good talent....

The cards did completely freak me out. When I was searching my bag, I kept thinking I'd found them and then pulling out yet another photopass card! I was trying to stay calm the whole time I was running back to 50sPT. Luckily, they had them right at the counter or I would have truly been a wreck!

Great update!! I enjoyed hearing about the AI show! Sweet Home Alabama--GREAT song choice!! (roll tide) Glad you were able to find your KTTW cards--that could have been bad!! The Star Wars shirts sound adorable!!

Sweet Home Alabama was a good song choice. The audience really got into it. (Hope I didn't sound too harsh about Alabama. We lived in Athens for a while, but we didn't really enjoy being that far away from our families. Although, I adored Decatur where I worked.

That is such a sweet picture of Grammie with her obviouly adored grandson!! Very touching!! Great update, Shannon!! Sounds like you had a great time with AI.

Can't wait to hear how dinner goes!!!

We really do enjoy DHS. I know a lot of people don't, but I'm a theatre girl and not a thrill-ride fan so it's a great park for me!

 

[shannn]

I'm so glad I still have readers after my week-long hiatus!

After a refreshing nap (I don't think I could do Disney without our afternoon naps. I don't know what we'll do when the kids get old enough not to want to nap...), we were ready to go and have our Ohana dinner. Lily gotten her shirt incredibly dirty that day, so she put back on her Minnie dress and we were on our way.

**Unfortunately, we didn't get food shots at Ohana. We'd been there before so we knew what was coming. And since Ohana is served family style there's not a lot in the way of presentation. ***

We got over to the GCH and checked in at about 8:00 for our 8:10 ADR. We were actually seated at 8:06. Last time we were at Ohana we waited a long time so this was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, this was our only pleasant surprise of the night. I don't know if it was because we tried so many other amazing restaurants this trip, but we just weren't as blown away with Ohana this time as we have been before. It probably won't be on our list when we return.

Our waiter came, asked us if we had been there before, and asked for our drink orders. After that, we pretty much didn't see him very often. He was completely inattentive and we waited for drink refills several times.

I do love the atmosphere at Ohana. They have captured the Polynesian feeling very well.

I did get a Lapu Lapu. Last time this was my favorite, but again this time I didn't like it as much. I'm definitely not a lightweight, but it was incredibly strong this time. All I could taste was the liquor.

It is definitely pretty though!

The food:
*Bread- same yummy pineapple bread and good butter
*Salad- I love this dressing. The honey/lime is addictive!
*Dumplings- same as I had at Kona
*broccoli & snap peas- The kids loved taking them out of the pods and eating
them...
*noodles- I thought they were gummy and overcooked, but Lily loved them. That's all she really ate.
*steak- I thought it was too chewy, but everyone else liked it.
*turkey- dry and flavorless
*pork- good, very moist
*shrimp- Sam only liked them with sauce, but I liked them.
*wings- Way too sweet for me, but Morgan loved them as you can see:

All in all, it was just rather disappointing.

*Bread pudding-- still AMAZINGLY yummy, and definitely the best part of the meal for me!!

Last time we were there, we sat in the back behind the fire, and the kids didn't really participate in any of the activities. This time we were right in the middle of the action so they did lots of parading and hula dancing.

parade

making a hula fish

teaching the hula dance to Granmouse & Grammie

Last time we were at Ohana (2006), we got these pictures which were some of my favorites from the trip (look how little Lily was!!)

So, of course, I had to get some this time to compare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, the kids had been begging all day to swim. They really wanted to swim at rest time, but we knew they needed their nap. We told them that we would swim after dinner if the pool was open. Lily ran up to the big group of lifeguards who were having a training and asked if the pool was open. She came back jumping up and down with big ol' eyes, "Its open ALL night and ALL day!!" was the answer. She was so impressed. The slide was closed, but that was all right with them.

She & Morgan ran up and put their swim suits on and finished the evening with a 10:00 pm swim! Only on vacation...

While they swam, I sat in a chair and watched the CMs returning chairs to their rightful places. I was enjoying being on vacation, but I was also rather contemplative on the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes at WDW. It reminded me of the people who can't understand what I have to do at school when the children aren't there. That's when my work really begins. I bet that's how it is at WDW. I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but at the end of MNSSHP I saw them assembling a cleaning team and giving orders. What amazing work goes on just so we can have a work-free fantasy vacation!!

Coming up next: Epcot morning

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Great update Shannon! I loved the pictures of the kids in 06 and yes, Lily was tiny!
I'm sorry you weren't blown away with Ohana. I wasn't either but Marc and Baylor love it. I think it's the caveman, meat eating thing.
That 10:00 swim looked like fun!
Not many people know how many hours teachers put in when the students aren't there. That is unless they have a teacher in the family or are close friends with a teacher. The same for Disney, I guess we just have these expectations and don't really consider how much after hours work it takes to keep the magic in place.

 

[manntra]

I was LOL when I was reading your first update about AI....how the woman kept her hand on her belly...and the other woman who was dressed a bit out of her generation. Exactly what I would have been thinking!!

I have never been to Ohana....looks like a fun place to eat but it seems that there is a lot of Asian influence in the food and I am not huge on the Asian food. Although....I have seen the wings before and they do look good as Morgan can attest to!

Aww love your comparison pictures!

Tracy

 

[ladybugmom]

Sweet Home Alabama was a good song choice. The audience really got into it. (Hope I didn't sound too harsh about Alabama. We lived in Athens for a while, but we didn't really enjoy being that far away from our families. Although, I adored Decatur where I worked.

No worries!! There are places in Alabama I wouldn't want to live either! My in-laws live in Jasper and there is just NOTHING there!!! We always have to drive to Birmingham to go shopping, etc. And I can understand wanting to be near family!!

 

[ladybugmom]

GREAT update!! So sorry your O'hana experience wasn't what you expected. I just LOVE O'hana!! It was my favorite meal of our our trip. But we didn't get to do the hula for some reason--just the coconut races. Maybe next time. And I really hope we get to swim in the Poly pool this time--we weren't able to due to all of the rain on our last trip.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I just happened on your report because the title intrigued me! I am hooked.

 

[praisehisname]

On top of that, I'm getting a sinus infection & I feel like crap!

Hope you're feeling better soon!

When we got to the playground, I started to reach for my KttW card to buy a bottle of water and couldn't find it.

So glad you found the cards!!!

Sam always says to our kids this quote from Star Wars "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." whenever they whine "but I tried" about anything.

I love that quote!

Sorry you were disappointed with your Ohana dinner.

Gotta love the night time swimming!

What amazing work goes on just so we can have a work-free fantasy vacation!!

So true, and I'm so grateful!

 

[kent285]

Love this TR!! I found it while doing a search for O'hana. I'm really enjoying your pictures, too. Your children look so polite at the character greetings. My kids never had grandparents, so it's fun to see yours with their grandmothers.