8 Texans Return to Neverland - Day 5, 12/7 "This is called a break?"

[exwdwcm]

Wednesday, December 7

Me- Michelle, 32, marketing manager, married to a non-disney guy, no kids (but trying now!), former cast member (wdwcp in 1996), the pefectionist/organizer/trip NAZI

Mom- "MawMaw", 50s, married 35 years, recently retired, the generous one! Had brain surgery (pitutary gland)last year that might slow her down a bit this trip as she gets tired more

Dad- "PawPaw", 50s, along for the ride, our driver and constantly pulling out his wallet to pay for stuff!

Great Aunt- Marion or "Auntie", 60s, first time ever to WDW! recently retired as well!

Sister- Mandy, "NeNe", 28, special ed teacher, not big into disney, but loves to go with us, calls her "schmoopy" (boyfriend for those that don't get the Seinfeld reference) every night

Sister- Wendy, 30, paralegal, married with 2 year old, huge Disney NUT and the comedian of the family

Bro in Law- Mike, turned 30 on the trip, married to Wendy, and another comedian and great dad to little Ally

Ally- Mike and Wendy's little angel, 2.4 years old (terrible twos!!!), the first grandkid in our family and completely SPOILED ROTTEN (we love it!)

Today was supposed to be our ‘middle of vacation’ break day. Which meant not going to any parks, but did mean we really wouldn’t get much of a break! We slept in today, since we had a late night last night at the MVMCP. We were all up by 9 though and ready to go by 10am. Wendy and Mike were taking Ally on their own today to spend family time together.

The rest of us decided to start the day off with some beignets from the food court at the French quarter. We drove over and ordered a half dozen to split between my parents, Auntie, Mandy and I. We loved them so much, we had to go get a second order. We went and checked out the pool after breakfast and they all really thought the resort was pretty cute.

Next on the plan was the Grand Floridian. We had watched the special on the Food Network about Disney building the gingerbread house, so we had to see it firsthand. It was really cool. We heard you could buy gingerbread houses there for $25, so we stood in line to get one. Turns out they no longer had those and were only selling one that was like $60…….so we just got some gingerbread shingles instead. We explored the resort a bit and did some shopping there too.

Me at the gingerbread house

We then boarded the monorail on the second floor and and rode it over to the Polynesian. We saw the mini chocolate Poly hotel creation there. Very cool too. We took Auntie out to see the pool area and the beach area. We all love this resort, but haven’t gotten to stay here yet.

We did the monorail loop back around to the GF and then got in the van and drove to the Animal Kingdom lodge. This was a first for everyone but me. They all loved it. We checked out the animals outside and did more shopping here too. Then it was time for a break, I mean it is our ‘break day’ afterall! Wendy, Mike and Ally had gone to Downtown Disney after having to take multiple buses to get there, but they had a great lunch at Earle of Sandwich. Mike didn’t eat with us there on our first day and so this was his first time. He loved it- he had a bleu cheese/roast beef.

After resting and doing some laundry, we loaded up the van at about 5pm and headed to the Wilderness Lodge to explore it. This is my parent’s favorite resort and we will stay there one day- maybe next trip. It was beautiful. The creek that runs inside to outside was drained though. There were tons of people swimming outside too. We went out to watch the geyser go off which was fun. Then Ally saw the pool……and wanted to get in the water and broke down when we went back inside. Who can blame her, the water did look good!

We had reservations tonight for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. This is a dinner show we have done many times, the first time as a young family when I was a little kid and I still remember seeing it back then. So we drive to Fort Wilderness and get on the bus to Pioneer Hall, where I check us in. There was already a long line for the 7:15 show we were seeing. We then checked out the general store and hung out in the rocking chairs on the porch of Trail’s End. It was relaxing.

At 7:15, we followed the crowd in to get our preassigned table. We originally told we would be split up at two separate tables, but they got us at one and it was a great table- front and center. It was the large round one and the actors even danced around our table during the show. Salad and bread were already waiting on the table for us, and we chowed down. We were starving! Some of us ordered beer and Mandy tried the Sangria, but thought it was too strong. Ally absolutely loved the salad and ate a ton of it.

Next they brought out the fried chicken, rib, beans and corn and we all enjoyed the meal. The entertainment was great as always and Ally was giggling the whole time and clapping, she really got into it. At the end of the show, they choose 4 audience members to participate in a skit, usually a little boy, married guy, young 20 something and then an older guy. Well they picked Mandy for the 20 something looker! The actor came over and had just heard Mandy order another beer, so he told her not to worry, her beer would be waiting on her. She was to be a can can dancer in the skit. She teaches dance and runs the drill team at her high school where she teaches, so it was right up her alley. She had a great time up there and we loved seeing her up there.

The show also incorporated some Christmas songs too. Ally really seemed to have a ‘crush’ on one particular guy in the show, it was pretty funny- she would stare at him like he was so ‘dreamy’…..lol

The show was great and Auntie marked it as one of the favorite things of the whole trip. It was sprinkling by the time we left and we all were back at POR and in bed by 10 or so.

Look what mousekeeping did!
So what’s up for tomorrow? Is this a typhoon or what? Where’s my poncho? Will someone be asked to stand in the corner at 50s PrimeTime? Will security cart off the cheerleaders far far away from our room? Stay tuned!

 

[MaMa3Princess]

Great report keep them coming. Wow you all had great mousekeeping those towel figures are really creative. Hope you had some days that you did not need

 

[BbearRosenfeld]

I can't wait to read all the links, hurry up and post them!

 

[PrincessAurora]

Graet fun! Loving the reports!

 

[BbearRosenfeld]

This is the day that Mike, Ally and I were supposed to go to MK and hang out, but we were too tired and decided to sleep in some and make sure Ally got some good sleep. She actually asked to sleep in today! When we were all up and ready we headed to downtown disney. We go to the bus stop and first bus that comes by is a Magic Kingdom bus, so we saw that as a sign and thought to ourselves, maybe we should take that and just go to MK. So we got on and then on the bus decided we really needed to do downtown disney, because we know we would like Earle of Sandwich for lunch and it was cheap and also we needed to buy our souviners. Plus Mike hadn't done downtown disney this trip yet. Remember he was at Boardwalk drinking beer and watching the games on Saturday for his bday, while the rest of us did downtown disney. So after we got to MK we decided to get a bus for DTD, but to do that you have to be at a resort, so we took a monorail to Contemporary and waited there for a DTD bus. Once we got on it we made stops at GF and Poly, one of those resorts needed to board a wheelchair person and the person in the wheelchair was an older lady, that didn't realize what all was involved in being in a wheelchair on a bus. The bus driver, who never complained once and calmly and patiently loaded her up, strapped her in and all in all this took about 15 minutes to do. After she was all strapped in, the older lady in the wheelchair said gosh, if I would had known it would had involved all this, I would had gotten out of the wheelchair and we all laughed. I think she felt bad to the rest of us that it had taken so long, but as a paralegal and seeing some cases involving wheelchairs and auto accidents, I totally understand the safety precautions disney took and they were right in doing so. So after about an hour riding buses, monorails and more buses we are at DTD, which by the way is a boat ride away from our resort - we didn't realize this till later. So at DTD we go to Earle and get our lunch. Ally has her own tomato soup this time and I put her bib on her and she learns to blow on her own spoonful of soup and ate it herself like a big girl. Now mind you half the soup was in her bib holder thing, but that is okay, that is what it is for and she was learning something too.
All full, we go shopping around DTD. We did the World of Disney and I got a couple shirts, which I think I have worn 20 times since I have returned, yes that is right, sometimes I do wear them back to back, but at least I wash them each night! Mandy thinks I am such a fashion tragedy. After much shopping around DTD and avoiding the water fountains since it was chilling this day and didn't want Ally wet. We hop on a boat to our resort. Oh also, Mike and I stopped at the wood shop area and got a gift for Ally's room, it is her Name: Ally with her two favorite characters on either side to hang on her wall. Done in purple and pink, the colors of her room at home. The two characters are Cinderella and Tinkerbell. We get on the boat to go "home," and the whole way, Ally is looking in the water saying, "Ariel, where are you?" She assumes Ariel lives in any water, but personally I don't see how the ducks lived in that water, it was kinda gross on the sides by the grass. Then Ally passes out on my shoulder on the boat ride back. As soon as we got off the boat we headed inside to go back to the room. Good timing, cause I think it started to sprinkle at that time. We got back to the room and got Ally to nap with my sisters while I went to go do laundry. I finished my postcards to all my friends and coworkers, a total of 25 postcards! And two of the postcards never got to them! Sorry Kanada! Anyways, I did laundry while writing my postcards next to the quiet pool, eating my popcorn from the general store and drinking my drink from the foodcourt. Mike stops by to hang out with me and keep me company. I told him how excited I was that we still had all this time left on our trip! He went with me to the foodcourt to get more drink and drop off my postcards and while over by the drink fountain I noticed the little wooden box on the wall next to the TV and kids area that says, Mickey's Mailbox. Well, I needed to mail off my postcards, all 25 of them, so I drop them in and then realize after I see a little girl do the same thing for her little colored picture that that mailbox might really be for Mickey, not my postcards! So I find a CM and ask if she could assist me. I was embarrassed. I asked the lady if it was her first time having to unlock this to get them out and she just said yes. My husband stood over there shaking his head at me and laughing. So we go back to the laundry and get our clothes and head back to the room to get ready and get Ally up for Hoop de revue. The rest you read by Michelle above.
Make sure to stay tuned for Mike, Ally and my adventures when we wander off on our own at the end of the other days as well. Thanks!