3 Years in the Making: Our return to WDW...with diapers! SAD NEWS 7/1 page 41

[punkin413]

Cute pictures of the guys looking at the fish. I think they are going to be pretty good buddies in the years ahead.

I think so too.

I hear ya with the Bruce pictures! We had the same experience when we went in May, except by the time all the kids finished cutting in front of us Everett was having a melt down and the picture did not turn out pretty. You did manage to get a very cute shot, so kudos to you!

Hmm... peach snaps and tea- sounds intriguing. Is this drink offered just during F&W, or will I have a shot at trying it out in Dec?

I agree that the macadamia nut mousse was a great choice, it was one of our favorite dessert offerings at the festival!

I don't know how we managed a decent shot. Well, yes, I do. I yelled at little kids and they were scared to come near me!

Nope, not special for F&W....it's there all the time, so you're in luck! You can get one in China at the little tea stand (think it's called "Joy of Tea" or something like that) on the right near the water if Norway is behind you.

I didn't realize the prices were cheaper during the week. We were there from 10/26 to 11/1.

I agree that Peach Snap is the BEST drink in Disney. I make sure I get at least one every trip.

Love the pic of Seth looking at the fish.

I didn't either until Ray noticed it on Wednesday! I didn't really like it too much when we realized it, either!

I Epcot Food and Wine, and your pictures made me hungry! I heartily approve of all your yummy choices!

Thanks....they were definitely yummy!

Great job on the race! That time is super!

We've started just skipping the photo with Bruce, since it's so hard with kids cutting in all the time.

I didn't realize Disney raised the prices of the F&W over the weekends. That's very interesting...

Thanks! Yeah, we didn't know about the prices being different either until Wednesday. Ray noticed it and after he said something I did, too. Not very nice!

Yumm-O Life is short - eat dessert first!
Sam Adams is a West Coast fav - very exotic (Imported out here) We are beer snobs out here Like the coffee snobs only more fun

I love the first pic of Seth with his sippy cup - looks like he's found his nose!

You would think some people would remember they are around other people's children and maybe you don't want that kind of language used.

Great pics of the detail on the Ball. Cute Bruce pic - too bad you had to shove the little kids out of the way to get it!

Sam Adams is a "premium" beer here, but you can find it anywhere really. Yeah, when that lady dropped the F bomb I was shocked, but thank goodness Seth is not at the age where he's picking up words yet. Although it's starting now but at that point he wasn't. If he was like 2 or 3 I probably would've said something like, "Can we watch the language around my child, please?" Then she probably would've threw a few F bombs at me too!

The picture of Seth looking at the Nemo fish is just precious. I love the expression on his face.

I would have never imagined that the prices were lower during the week! Good point to know.

Wow, your food choices looked delicious.

The price difference was a surprise to us, too. Craziness!

Love the update! I could not agree more about the lack of teaching kids manners and cutting in line business. Drives me crazy!

Seriously! At least there are some mommies and future mommies (you) who will teach their kids manners as they grow!

I don't understand the way that some people just let their children run around without supervision in places like Disney. It seems really frequent that kids do crazy stuff and I look around to see who they belong to and no adult is near or paying attention to what the kids are doing. For their own protection, it's a crazy world out there and just because you're at disney doesn't mean there can't be a crazy nearby waiting to snatch your kid when you're not looking. Children need to be watched, and directed, if not for improving their manners and character, for their own protection. That's the way I think about it at least.

Glad to see you started your day with dessert, my husband would never go for that. He refuses to eat sweet stuff before consuming something "breakfast regular food". Whatever that means... No worries though, I can find my way to the desserts any time of day all on my own

I totally agree. I'm like a hawk watching Seth and I'm sure it will just get worse as he grows and becomes more mobile and able to run around and away from me! Tell your husband that the "real food" exception applies while on vacation!

 

[punkin413]

Before I get to an update, I wanted to share some pictures from this fall.

First of all (I can't believe I didn't post these) here are some pictures from Seth's 1-year session. These were taken in mid September. There were so many good ones (if you live in the Atlanta area and need a good photographer, google Heather Horton....she's awesome!) but here are a few of my favorites....

And then we have some Halloween/fall pictures. Seth's school had a fall festival in mid October. Here he is getting his "Fair Hair"....

Trick-or-Treating at school (with his teacher).....he was a cheeseburger!

The Friday before Halloween everyone at my office brought their kids to Trick-or-Treat around the building. Here we have Griffin (Buzz Lightyear), Seth (my cheeseburger), Lauren (a ladybug), Sarah (a witch), Will (a cowboy), Jovie (a gnome), and Elliott (Thomas the Train).....

And here are pictures of Halloween night. I hate this picture of Seth but it's the only one with the entire costume....

Trick-or-Treating Ms. Anna....

This is how we went around the neighborhood....now that's the life! We had to add the hat b/c it was chilly that night!

Trick-or-Treating Mr. Ed, our next door neighbor....

He was walking at this point but that night he insisted on holding hands with one or both of us. I guess b/c it was dark and there were spooks about!

My friend Jen's kids, Evelyn and Lex. They were Hermione Granger and Harry Potter and I LOVED their costumes!

Continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43262095&postcount=183

 

[punkin413]

Seth with his loot!

Okay, so back to Disney.....

We had just finished with Nemo and we decided to call Anna to see what they were up to and then head back to WS for more F&W fun.

On our way in that direction.....

We stopped in Canada so I could get some cold milk for Seth from a snack place and Anna texted me back that they had just left the UK....

.... and were in France heading towards Morocco.....

Doesn't Luke look enthused?

He was too busy playing in the fountain for this one....

We started heading that way and we passed my favorite girl in the UK....

Of course I didn't want to make Seth wait in line for her (he'd be like, "Who is this blonde chick anyway?") so I got a pic from afar....

When we got to France I called Anna and they were in Morroco getting some ice cream, so we told her we'd meet her there.

We found them and decided to take a break with them....I'm glad b/c I love this pavilion! I could literally sit here for hours and just look around.

Luke having fun....

Seth and I having fun....

Cute....

After a nice break we headed towards Japan.....

And then on to America. We wanted a Lobster claw and another pumpkin mousse from the Hops & Barley kiosk. Ray went to wait in line for them while Anna, Luke, Seth and myself went towards the shaded area in America to let Luke explore the Kidcot area over there.

Seth and Luke playing.....(Really Luke was coloring his Duffy bear and letting Seth play with the markers he wasn't using with the lids on!)

Ray returned with this....yum!

Continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43262107&postcount=184

 

[punkin413]

We sat there for awhile and let the kids play while we ate the lobster and pumpkin mousse. Seth was in a daring mood that day and wanted to explore some walking on his own.....

He actually took a few steps right there in the America pavilion at EPCOT! He had only taken a couple of steps here and there at home, and this was the best he had done so far....I think it was about 5 or 6 steps. (Of course now he's all over the place and is getting faster and faster....I'm getting my share of chasing him around!)

Onward through WS.....

It was when we were in China that we decided we were toast and wanted to call it a day. Well, there was one problem. We had a reservation at Kouzzina at 6:35 and it was only about 5:00. So going back to the resort now wouldn't make sense - we'd just have to turn right back around and come back. So I called Disney Dining to see if anything else was available between 5:00-6:00 in the area. The only thing that came up was Biergarten and I knew Ray would really really hate that. So no luck for us!

We were sitting in the shaded area where the tables are in Norway when I was doing all this attempted rearranging and Seth had fallen asleep in his stroller, so we decided to just stay put for a few minutes. Ray went to grab one of these for us since I had been saying I wanted one....

It's the grilled beef skewer with Chimichurri sauce and Boniato puree from Argentina. Anna and I split it and was good, but my tummy didn't like about 30 minutes later.

Poor little sleepy dude....

We decided a few minutes to go ahead and walk towards the Boardwalk and check in early, hoping they could seat us early. On our way out.....

Love this fountain in Mexico!

Our destination....

Seth woke up somewhere along the Boardwalk. I went into Kouzzina to check in early while everyone else found a spot to wait. The guy at the hostess stand told me he couldn't check me in until about 6:10. It was 5:40.

So we just sat and waited and watched people along the Boardwalk....

Finally at 6:10 I went back to Kouzzina. He told me it would be a couple more minutes. So I waited a few minutes while NO ONE came into the restaurant. And then he said, "I can take 6:30 reservations now." We had 6:35 reservations. I asked and he told me it would be another 5 minutes. So I sat back down and texted Ray to tell him he could probably head over there since we would be sat soon. Well, in between the time I texted him and the time he got there, 593 people walked through the door, all of whom he checked in!!! I was so mad that the guy didn't take check us in before all those people walked in - now we were behind all of them! Anna could tell how P-O-ed I was so she took care of it from there b/c I didn't want to cuss someone at Disney (seriously). Luckily whatever she said worked b/c he sat us within about 10 minutes.

Continued in next post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43262113&postcount=185

 

[punkin413]

After we sat down Seth was getting pretty irritable. He wasn't being horrible but he was being loud and Ray said he saw several people staring at us. He HATES that....makes him totally uncomfortable. He ended up taking Seth outside while we ordered. We decided to get some appetizers to share and Luke got a kids meal.

I went outside to check on Ray and Seth and right then and there we decided that we didn't need to commit ourselves to every ADR we had. I decided I'd call and cancel them if it looked like we weren't going to make it. The only one we had that had a cancellation policy was the Fantasmic! dining package at Mama Melrose the next day. I called Disney Dining right then and cancelled it. Lesson learned: do not make commitments you can't keep with a 1-year-old. Having a not-so-rigid plan makes his and our lives so much easier!

So we head back into the restaurant and our food arrives shortly afterwards. We got calamari, spanakopita (not sure if I spelled that right) and garlic smashed potatoes to share.

Calamari....

Spanakopita.....

I looked down at a plate that our server had sat next to Luke's plate and it was full of new potatoes. I asked if that came with Luke's meal, and Anna said "No, I think those are the garlic smashed potatoes." Um.....okay. I didn't even get a picture....I guess I was so shocked I forgot. They were new potatoes (or maybe fingerling...they were pretty small) with salt on them. Not smashed. Not garlic-y. Something my 7-year-old niece could make. FOR REAL. The calamari breading had no taste and the calamari itself was rubbery. The spanakopita was just okay.

I was really, really disappointed with this meal. Being that Cat Cora is an Iron Chef (haha) I just thought the food would be really good. Not so. I know she's not there cooking but she created the menu and the recipes and they weren't good at all! And to top it off 3 appetizers (we got 2 orders of calamari....unfortunately), 1 side dish, a kids meal and 1 non-alcoholic beverage (Anna and I had water) cost us $62. So not worth it. (We had free dining at this part of the trip but we were saving our other 2 credits for the next day and thought getting appetizers instead of full meals would be the way to go here.)

So after our not-so-great dinner, Ray, Seth and I headed back to the car and back to All-Star Sports to call it a night while Anna and Luke had a good time exploring the Boardwalk.....

She thought it was so funny that they had TVs in the restrooms at the ESPN Club....

They took the boat back to EPCOT for Illumiantions.....

Anna indulged in the desserts Ray and I had got at the Desserts & Champagne kiosk and that we had bragged about so much earlier that day....

And then they enjoyed Illuminations....

Meanwhile back at All-Star Sports.....Seth and Daddy were having fun playing and relaxing....

(Turn up the volume....his laugh is hilarious!)



Next update.....Seth meets his first character!

 

[CandleontheWater]

Its so tough predicting what little ones will do! I hate being tied to dining also, but really, what other choice do you have. This new policy of having to cancel 1 day in advance for signature and character dining is going to make it even harder!

My DH gets really upset if Everett starts making any noise in a restaurant also, so I understand. He gets really embarrassed.

I'm also sorry to hear that your meal wasn't any good! We have an ADR there for Feb, now I'm thinking maybe we should try somewhere else. I really like Greek food, so the menu looked good, but if the execution is terrible, I'd rather go elsewhere.

At least you got to salvage the evening with Illuminations! Did Seth sleep through it, or did he get to watch some of the fireworks!

 

[xoktenox]

First off, Seth is adorableeeeee!! I just want to pinch his little cheeks and eat him up! Every picture he's smiling so big in his photoshoot and you got soooo many good ones. I love his cheeseburger costume, too!

Hmmm, that lobster claw looked gooood! I'm sad to hear Kouzzina was so bad...what the heck was the check-in thing all about?? I would have been pissed, too. And hearing that the food is bad is disappointing. Breakfast was really good for Chris and I but I know to stay away from there for dinner!

Luke and Anna look like they had fun at the Boardwalk and Epcot! I'm in a sweets kind of mood...I want all those desserts

 

[solana131]

Better late than never, right? I'm in Love that it seems you have a more laid back "touring plan". We are going for our first time in Feb and I haven't made any hardcore touring plans. Nice to see you can still relax and just go with the flow at Disney! Can't wait to see more. Seth is adorable!

 

[hlrababy]

Trick-or-Treating at school (with his teacher).....he was a cheeseburger!

Cutest picture ever!! Look at that sweet face!!!

My friend Jen's kids, Evelyn and Lex. They were Hermione Granger and Harry Potter and I LOVED their costumes!

I love their costume choices!!

 

[mickeyfan71]

Seth's pictures are adorable! He made a cute cheeseburger.
Can't wait to see how Seth did with his first character meets!

 

[punkin413]

Where is everyone??? Maybe it's selfish of me to say this, but logging in today and only seeing 5 comments is really discouraging. I think a lot of the readers of my previous reports have deserted the disboards. No fun!!!! Not asking for pity comments....just wondering what's going on?

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Seth's 1 year pictures turned out awesome, Dawn! He is seriously such a handsome little boy... and I love that smile of his!

Oh my goodness! I adore Seth's costume How cute is he as a cheeseburger? Precious!

His fair hair is adorable, too! He looks so grown up sitting there getting it done... like he does it everyday!

Sounds like a fun afternoon walking around World Showcase! It looks pretty crowded. Was going during Food & Wine Fest a big difference crowd wise?

I totally know what you mean about not wanting anything "committed" as far as meals go. You never with toddlers and it makes for a much better time if you don't force anything for sure!

That totally stinks that Kouzzina wasn't the best experience. I wanted to give it a try, but after your description, I don't think I want to anymore!

That video of his laugh is too stinkin' cute!

 

[BEloveDisney]

I'm a loyal lurker.


Maybe other people are doing the same?

 

[Poolrat]

This week is leaving me grabbing the Dis while I can ( Like at work )

Seth looks adorable in the his birthday photos. A cheeseburger for Halloween! What a great idea. He looks like he had a great time there too.


Too bad for Kouzzina. The whole check in thing and then being tired to boot did not make dinner any better.

I hope you got in the swing of things a bit later as you adjusted to having Seth along.

 

[nowellsl]

Where is everyone??? Maybe it's selfish of me to say this, but logging in today and only seeing 5 comments is really discouraging. I think a lot of the readers of my previous reports have deserted the disboards. No fun!!!! Not asking for pity comments....just wondering what's going on?

I don't know about anyone else, but my "go to last unread post" thingy isn't working. Now it just takes me to the end of a thread I didn't even realize you had posted an update until someone said something about the pictures. That has happened several times recently! I guess I'd better go back and check previous pages from now on. Your professional pictures are beautiful!! Your camera takes really good pictures as well!! Do you have an SLR camera? I am really enjoying your trip report!

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

Seth one year pics are adorable. He is getting so big! He also is the cutest cheeseburger I have ever seen. I am so sad I missed the Disney in October this year, first time since Brooklynn was a baby! Can't wait to be back in just a little over a month!

 

[glennbo123]

Awesome portraits of Seth!

Bummer that he was a little fussy at dinner. We were the same way as Ray, and always felt like everyone was staring at us if our kids got upset or were a little loud in a restaurant. It's tough traveling with a little tyke, but it does get better! (And more challenging in other ways, but that's a topic for another time. )

 

[Megablocks]

Seth's one year pictures came out great and I LOVE his cheeseburger costume!

That stinks that you had such a crappy experience at Kouzzina. I would have been seriously PO'd about that check-in incident, too

I can't wait to see Seth meeting his first character!

 

[winkers]

We loved Kouzzina when we tried it...but we didn't have any of the same things you tried.

I'm glad you decided to not make every adr.....I'm always frustrated by people who sit there with their kids crying or running wild durring dinner. I always wonder why they put the kids through a long sit down meal basically tourturing themselves, the child and everyone else.

I guess I should clarify that I mean kids who are really causing a scene not just the average fussing......

 

[KristinAnne]

Seth is just too cute. I'm enjoying reading your report. I'm really curious to know what it's like taking a 12-month old. I think I told you this, but as much as I want to go back, I think we're going to wait until we're done having kids and they'll be a little older.