~ A 21 month old, a celebrity sighting, & a whole lotta food~2 week trip~ 2/28 update

[sharonW]

oooh, the disneyland plans sounds great!!
I know how it is, life just gets in the way
of the dis but surely things will calm down
and you'll be posting another update soon!

 

[tinkgurl]

Aw Happy Late B-day Dylan! Did the doctor go okay? I hate taking the little guy to the doctor..especially when I know there's shots involved! He does like to flirt with the nurse though.

Disneyland sounds awesome! I've never been there, but I'd love to go and compare it to WDW.

 

[eandesmom]

First of all

Dylan!

And secondly, I hope life settles down after this week. I think even for us mere parents, it isn't until the 2nd FULL week of school that it settles in. We are getting there.

I might need to build that outlet mall into our next trip. We went there in 04 but not this time. Hmmmn!

DLR at Thanksgiving would be a blast! It has crossed my mind as well, especially when DH started making noises about visiting his Dad for turkey day since DSD will be away at a tourney. But they are NC so not exactly drivable. I do need to get there soon (soon as in next 2 years soon) we haven't been since 02! I need me some Mr. Toad!

 

[Porturican]

Man I havent commented on your reoprt in a while, but I have been on here reading along. I realllllly want to go to the outlets afer reading your report. I wish we had a car to go during our upcoming trip!

Disneyland at Thanksgiving I'm sure your son would love it esp since you guys just saw the characters earlier this year, he might even be more willing to walk up to them on his own, since he may be more comfortable around them.

I agree with the PP...I really like Mr Toads ride at DL but that lobby before the ride sure gets hot! (at least it was when we were there in December 08)

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hey girl, Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been reading along though. Great that you got some really good deals as the outlet mall. The Father's Day lunch looks absolutely yummy! Sorry, you've been busy lately and not able to Dis as much as you'd like. I totally know where you are coming from. Life has been hectic around our house too.

I'll be here when you get a chance to post more.

Lisa

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Happy Birthday Dylan! Yay for Disneyland!!!!! I want to get there....someday!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Oooh, how fun you are going to DISNEYLAND!!!! I really want to go back there.

 

[Upanova01]

Chiming in....

Loving your trip report so far!

Mlle Upanova

 

[Leslie63]

Happy Birthday, Dylan!I hope the party was awesome! I'm enjoying watching your little guy experience Disney, having had 3 boys myself. It brings back memories of when my guys were little.

DL sounds like a great idea for the holidays. We've never been there, but maybe someday...

I also agree with you about the outlet malls in Orlando. We went when we were there in June '08. Too many great stores to choose from! I know I left with a purse from Coach, shoes from Cole-Haan, tons of Under Armour for my son and a lot less $$$ Wouldn't have missed it though.

I hope your life settles down a bit so you can breath. I look forward to your next post!

Leslie

 

[aaaateamsgrandma]

Happy late Birthday Dylan. I hope your mommy and daddy got you everything you wanted and some things you didn't. If not you let me know and I'll take care of it.

How exciting. DL for just you three on a holiday. That would be fun and an easy trip for you alone.

It sounds like your schedule is very hectic for sure Alison. I'm here when you have time for us.

Ginny

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

oooh, the disneyland plans sounds great!!
I know how it is, life just gets in the way
of the dis but surely things will calm down
and you'll be posting another update soon!

I am so excited about Disneyland. There is nothing better than looking forward to a Disney trip when work it really tough. Thanks for sticking around!

Aw Happy Late B-day Dylan! Did the doctor go okay? I hate taking the little guy to the doctor..especially when I know there's shots involved! He does like to flirt with the nurse though.

Disneyland sounds awesome! I've never been there, but I'd love to go and compare it to WDW.

The doctor visit went great. There were no shots this time so it was just a normal check up. He is off the chart for his height. He was 38" tall! I've heard that you are supposed to double their height from when they are two years old and you will be able to tell how tall they will be as an adult. That will make him about 6' 4" ! Not sure how accurate that it but he will definitely be tall.

DL is so much fun. I hope you will get to visit it someday.

First of all

Dylan!

And secondly, I hope life settles down after this week. I think even for us mere parents, it isn't until the 2nd FULL week of school that it settles in. We are getting there.

I might need to build that outlet mall into our next trip. We went there in 04 but not this time. Hmmmn!

DLR at Thanksgiving would be a blast! It has crossed my mind as well, especially when DH started making noises about visiting his Dad for turkey day since DSD will be away at a tourney. But they are NC so not exactly drivable. I do need to get there soon (soon as in next 2 years soon) we haven't been since 02! I need me some Mr. Toad!

Thanks for the birthday wishes. The funny thing about the school year is that my job deals with all of the student money that pays for all of their activities. So we are in our 4th week of school and I'm still crazy busy. This week is especially hard due to Homecoming stuff. I love my job but this time of year is always like this and it is hard to keep up the pace.

Mr. Toad is a must for us too. We visited DL last year during Thanksigiving and they had just put up all of the Christmas decorations. It was very festive and it is a fun time of year to vist.

Man I havent commented on your reoprt in a while, but I have been on here reading along. I realllllly want to go to the outlets afer reading your report. I wish we had a car to go during our upcoming trip!

Disneyland at Thanksgiving I'm sure your son would love it esp since you guys just saw the characters earlier this year, he might even be more willing to walk up to them on his own, since he may be more comfortable around them.

I agree with the PP...I really like Mr Toads ride at DL but that lobby before the ride sure gets hot! (at least it was when we were there in December 08)

Are you really leaving on your trip in 1 day??? Have a wonderful trip!

I hope that Dylan will embrace the characters a little more this time. He definitely got more confident the longer that our trip went. It is funny because at my school's football games, our mascot (a wolf) walks around in the crowd and Dylan freaks out with excitement every time he sees him. So I'm taking that as a good sign.

We like Mr. Toad too. I'm so glad they have not gotten rid of it! Yes, that lobby gets hot. I think it's because there is so much stone inside there and it heats up.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Hey girl, Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been reading along though. Great that you got some really good deals as the outlet mall. The Father's Day lunch looks absolutely yummy! Sorry, you've been busy lately and not able to Dis as much as you'd like. I totally know where you are coming from. Life has been hectic around our house too.

I'll be here when you get a chance to post more.

Lisa

Thanks for sticking with me while I have been MIA. I think the school year catches everyone off-guard after the summer is so laid back.

Happy Birthday Dylan! Yay for Disneyland!!!!! I want to get there....someday!

I hope you will get to visit there too! It is such a different experience from WDW.

Chiming in....

Loving your trip report so far!

Mlle Upanova

Thanks for joining in. Another update is coming soon!

Happy Birthday, Dylan!I hope the party was awesome! I'm enjoying watching your little guy experience Disney, having had 3 boys myself. It brings back memories of when my guys were little.

DL sounds like a great idea for the holidays. We've never been there, but maybe someday...

I also agree with you about the outlet malls in Orlando. We went when we were there in June '08. Too many great stores to choose from! I know I left with a purse from Coach, shoes from Cole-Haan, tons of Under Armour for my son and a lot less $$$ Wouldn't have missed it though.

I hope your life settles down a bit so you can breath. I look forward to your next post!

Leslie

I will try to post some pics from Dylan's birthday soon. He had a blast. His little best friend came over and they had a ball playing together with some balloons and the tissue paper from the presents.

There never seems to be enough time to cover all of the stores at that outlet. We usually spend more money than we planned to, but there are too many good stores. We didn't even hit the little kid stores for Dylan since we had bought him some new clothes before the trip. That would have been an even bigger dent in the wallet!

Happy late Birthday Dylan. I hope your mommy and daddy got you everything you wanted and some things you didn't. If not you let me know and I'll take care of it.

How exciting. DL for just you three on a holiday. That would be fun and an easy trip for you alone.

It sounds like your schedule is very hectic for sure Alison. I'm here when you have time for us.

Ginny

We tried not to overboard with stuff for his birthday this year, but between us & my parents and all of our friends, he was still spoiled! I'm really looking forward to a trip with just the 3 of us. It will be very easy to plan and Todd and I are usually on the same wavelength so it will be more go-with-the-flow.

 

[tinkgurl]

I've heard that you are supposed to double their height from when they are two years old and you will be able to tell how tall they will be as an adult. That will make him about 6' 4" ! Not sure how accurate that it but he will definitely be tall.

Wow! He will be tall!!

 

[figment41]

I just finished your report and am having so much fun hearing about your trip.

We just returned on sept 5 and during our trip my husband dropped and broke my camera. So, I am in search of a new one. I really like your indoor shots and the fireworks can you tell me what your camera is. Do u like it?? TIA

looking forward to reading more

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I just finished your report and am having so much fun hearing about your trip.

We just returned on sept 5 and during our trip my husband dropped and broke my camera. So, I am in search of a new one. I really like your indoor shots and the fireworks can you tell me what your camera is. Do u like it?? TIA

looking forward to reading more

That is too bad about breaking your camera. At least you get to have a new one now!! The indoor shots were with my camera, and we have a Panasonic DMC-TZ4. We got it right before our trip and we messed with the settings quite a bit to figure it out. I really like the camera though. It's easy to use and fast to switch between settings if you are in a low light area.

My mom took the fireworks pictures with her camera. I don't know what camera she has, but I will check with her and get back to you.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

When I last left, everyone decided to take an afternoon nap and we woke up at 5:00. We got ready and were out the door by 5:30 for our evening. Our first order of business….more shopping. There are more outlets close by to our condo and we wanted to swing through and check them out. They are located on the SR535, not too far from the Super Walmart, but on the other side of the street.

When we got there, we realized that they were closing at 7:00 (because it was a Sunday) so we only visited a couple of places. We went into Aeropostale and got a couple of t-shirts for Todd. Then they had a Disney outlet there. It was a lot bigger than the one at the Premium Outlets but it had ½ of the merchandise. We were really disappointed with this outlet. It just did not have the type of stuff we were looking for and the quality of the products seemed less than “Disney standard”. We also buzzed through Old Navy before being shooed out the door by their staff.

At 7:00 we headed over to the Port Orleans – French Quarter resort on property. We love this resort and we have always wanted to visit New Orleans. Do you see a trend here? We never stay on property because we always use our timeshare, but we love all of the different Disney resorts and we get a lot of pleasure from just visiting and walking around the properties. Call us crazy, but that is what we like to do. We both are really into architecture and used to work in the interior design industry, and the hotels are a good blend of both of those things.

The entryway at POFQ is so pretty with all of the metal & glass. The fountain in the middle makes it feel so peaceful. Someday I would love to just get a drink and enjoy this area for a little while.

We checked out the food court but it was pretty busy so we decided to wait and eat somewhere else. We shopped in the main gift shop for a while. They have a lot of stuff in this store! I was surprised by the variety. They had the cutest monorail play set that I wanted to get Dylan but it was probably a little too old for him so we didn’t get it. The air conditioning felt good in the store because it was still extremely hot outside. My mom said, “All I want to do is go from air conditioning to air conditioning and life would be great.” My dad’s response, “Susie, you are such a pioneer.” LOL I don’t think anyone would ever accuse her of being a pioneer for anything, so I thought that was so funny.

We decided to walk by the river over to the Riverside hotel so we headed through the pool area and took some pictures along the way. This pool is really fun. If I was a kid, I would be wanting to spend all of my time on the slide!

As we started to walk, a boat had just shown up and it was heading over to Riverside, so we hustled down the walkway and got on it. It was such a pretty ride! I’m so glad that we were fortunate enough to catch the boat. We had never done it before and we were able to take some nice pictures on the way.

Riverside hotel was another first for us. What a cozy hotel! I really liked the overall feeling and it has a lot of details to discover. We headed inside and I went into the bathroom to change Dylan’s diaper. While I was in there I heard someone say, “Are those Crocs?” LOL. So I went into my whole speech about how much I love them and how they are great for work. I told her I work at a school and she said she was a teacher. They still have actual chalkboards in their classrooms and so the chalk ruins her shoes all the time. In the end, she decided to go to the Crocs outlet and get a pair. I told you that I should get commission from that company!

We shopped in the gift shop for a while. We got a little Christmas ornament that had something to do with the Celebrate theme that was going on. We also got Dylan a little toy monorail since he would get so excited and wave whenever he saw a real monorail.

We were all getting hungry by now so we started to walk back to the French Quarter hotel along the river. Again, such a pretty walk! I would love to stay here and take walks in the morning when it is cool and no one is out yet. That would be so peaceful!

On the walk back, Todd suggested to me that we go see a movie at DTD. I can’t remember if I mentioned this earlier, but I have a really hard time asking people to watch Dylan when we haven’t given them a lot of advanced warning. I think it’s rude to ask on the spur of the moment and possibly inconvenience someone else. His point was that we didn’t have a set plan and my parents probably wouldn’t mind. So I argued with him about it for a while but he was persistent so I gave in, but told him that he had to be the one to ask. LOL. My parents were fine with it, of course. I don’t know why I struggle with that… I get worried that they might have wanted to do something else and we were stopping them from having a nice evening. It would be much easier for me if they would just volunteer rather than having to ask them. I know, I can be lame sometimes!

We loaded Dylan up in their car and they went back to the condo. We headed to DTD and checked movie times. We had about 45 minutes until any movies started so we decided to get some dinner. We headed right across the walkway to Wolfgang Puck Express. We have eaten here before, as well as at the “nicer” part next door, and it has never disappointed. Tonight we shared the BBQ Chicken Pizza and it was so good. I have to say that there was nothing “express” about it on this night. There were only a few other people dining here and we waited probably 20 minutes for our food.

During the time that we were waiting, I called Disney Dining to try to get an earlier time for out ADR at O’hana. Our current ADR time was 9:20 pm. I forgot to call for ADRs at the 90 day mark and by the time I called, they had no normal times available for dinner during our entire trip. I knew that we all really wanted to eat there so I booked the later time, but I was hoping there would be something earlier that opened up. No such luck. The lady on the phone was very nice and I explained how we had a young child and it would be way too late to take him. She looked but there was nothing available. I had her look at the Kona Café during dinnertime for the same date and she said nothing was available there either. So I told her to leave the ADR as it was. We talked about it and decided to try putting Dylan down for a very late nap and going forward with the ADR as it was, while crossing our fingers that he would behave.

We finally got our pizza and it was delicious. It was just the right size for both of us to share, because we wanted to get some dessert later. We finished our meal and still had about 15 minutes until the movie started so we wandered around DTD and took pictures. I love when all of the lights are on. We are usually here during the day, so it was a nice treat to see everything lit up.

I have always loved this ceiling. So creative!

We stopped at the Candy Cauldron for some sugar. Oh my goodness! There are so many tempting choices here! The place was full of people but it didn’t take too long to get to the counter. We bought a huge rice crispy treat with chocolate on top to split and some chocolate-dipped pretzels for my parents. We ate the rice crispy treat during the movie and it was yummy!

I really wanted one of these but it would have been too messy to eat during the movie!

Look at the size of these ones!!

We walked over to the water looking towards Sarasota Springs and walked along the path that looped us back towards Wolfgang Pucks and the movie theater.

By now it was time for the movie to start and we went inside. We had decided to see Terminator : Salvation. We’d been looking forward to this movie for a long time and before this trip we had rented all of the old Terminator movies to refresh our memories of what had happened in them. This movie was soooo good. It was everything we hoped it would be. There was so much action that the movie just flew by. There are these big robots that will reach in and snatch people up and they made me jump every time. LOL I’m not usually jumpy during a movie.

It ended at 11:45 and we were home by midnight. Dylan was in bed when we got home and my mom said he was a good boy. They got food from Pizza Hut again and so he was stuffed full of pizza & cheese sticks. No wonder he was so good!

Todd called his dad to say Happy Father’s Day because it was only 9:00 in California. They talked for a little while and I wrote up my TR. We finally went to bed at 12:30.

 

[thechesters420]

Great update! I can't wait to hear about your dinner at Ohana.

 

[stacopp]

Great update as always! I too am looking forward to your report on Ohana as I have an ADR there for December.

 

[sharonW]

Another terrific update!!
How can a disney vacation be topped??
In my opinion, it can't!!!!

 

[tinkgurl]

Wow, POFQ looks pretty neat! I've never been there...just visited POR to eat one night.