A Disney-addicted mom braves the August (2010) heat! *11/28 Update!*

[-Hope-]

I meant to ask earlier and forgot- what time was your ADR @ LTT? I'm just trying to figure out how long your morning was because you got so much accomplished! It was an AM EMH and you got there about 15 min after RD, correct? Our MK day just looks so full but reading all you got accomplished gives me hope that we'll be okay.

 

[DrMomof3]

We had never eaten at Cape May Cafe so I was curious to see how we'd like it. In December we had breakfast at Chef Mickey. I thought it was ok. Typical breakfast fare and ok character interaction. I don't think Chef Mickey is a particularly nice destination other than the characters.

I liked Cape May. I thought the layout of the restaurant was nice. There was a bread/bagel and salmon area and then the main buffet. I made several trips to make sure I had food for everyone. The kids got juice and we had coffee and OJ. Our server was efficient. She wasn't super warm and fuzzy but she clearly had been working here awhile and knew her stuff. My DH and kids don't eat any pork products so I always worry that breakfast is a waste of $$$ but there was plenty of yummy smoked salmon for them! Plus, Zachary is still free for these buffets and he's consistently a good eater.

1st visitor: Goofy!

Notice Goofy's hand on Z's head?

Z wasn't so sure about that!

Let's try again!

Again, notice how the characters make sure that Nathaniel's in a picture!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

I meant to ask earlier and forgot- what time was your ADR @ LTT? I'm just trying to figure out how long your morning was because you got so much accomplished! It was an AM EMH and you got there about 15 min after RD, correct? Our MK day just looks so full but reading all you got accomplished gives me hope that we'll be okay.

Our ADR was 12:35pm - for lunch. We actually got there a little early. We missed Rope Drop by about 15 minutes and went straight to Dumbo.

Which reminds me! We rode tea cups before going on the Stinky Cars! I totally forgot! Tom waited for us because he gets sick on the tea cups.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

After Goofy we saw: Minnie Mouse!

Can you tell Zachary is a New Yorker with the bagel???

Again, Minnie sat next to Nathaniel when it was time to sign autograph books. I believe the "good" characters do that on purpose so we could get pics of her with Nathaniel!

After Minnie left, we waited for Donald. And waited. And waited. He was about 5 tables away and then he disappeared. The table next to us left without seeing him. Honestly, I'm not usually a pushy New Yorker but we were paying for the character interaction as much as the food. Again, we inquired if we'd be seeing Donald. Goofy and Minnie both passed our table again while we waited!!!

Finally, Donald appeared!!!

It seems that when you get missed and then ask for the character, it's not as good an interaction. That was the case with both June and Donald. At least we got to see the famous Duck!!!

Amanda

 

[lexmas]

Aww, Jessica is such a pretty princess! She must have felt special having a princess dinner for her. Akershus sounds like a great place to eat! I will have to add it to my "to do" list for the future! I like the fact that you can talk to the face characters as well. It just makes things easier. I always find myself telling DS to "say bye to" whoever just to avoid the awkward silence where we have run out of questions that can be answered without words! That said, we had excellent character interaction at Crystal Palace last time...really above and beyond, and DS was only 21 months, so it certainly wasn't necessary! So you never know what you'll get! Cute story about Ariel though. It's really sweet that the characters seem to be going out of their way to include Nathaniel.

Funny how time works like that at disney. I'm afraid we're making the same mistakes, but on the other end. I think we have a 8:30 pm reservation at Boma...my kids are completely night owls (and early risers...they're just good nappers) and at home, eating at that time wouldn't be a problem. Hopefully it will be fine at disney since it's only our 3rd day. I'm glad to know you liked Cape May, although it's a shame that you had another character skip you. It's never fun to have to ask to see a character. At disneyland I chased down either chip or dale (it escapes me now) with the baby to get a picture. And I normally wouldn't do that, but it drives me NUTS when they just skip a table. I don't even understand how that happens...don't they have a route that they take? The characters are so cute all dressed up though! And Jessica looks SO happy in that picture with Donald, so getting him to visit was worth it!

 

[dismagiclover]

We liked Cape May breakfast when we did it. The bathing suit costumes are just so cute My DH and kids have a meal scheduled there in January. I'm missing it because I'm running the marathon.

 

[-Hope-]

Our ADR was 12:35pm - for lunch. We actually got there a little early. We missed Rope Drop by about 15 minutes and went straight to Dumbo.

Which reminds me! We rode tea cups before going on the Stinky Cars! I totally forgot! Tom waited for us because he gets sick on the tea cups.

Amanda

Thank you! That helps SO much!

I love all the character interactions you guys had! Sorry Donald wasn't as great but it seems like Jessica had fun meeting him anyway- she's grinning from ear to ear!

 

[DrMomof3]

Aww, Jessica is such a pretty princess! She must have felt special having a princess dinner for her. Akershus sounds like a great place to eat! I will have to add it to my "to do" list for the future! I like the fact that you can talk to the face characters as well. It just makes things easier. I always find myself telling DS to "say bye to" whoever just to avoid the awkward silence where we have run out of questions that can be answered without words! That said, we had excellent character interaction at Crystal Palace last time...really above and beyond, and DS was only 21 months, so it certainly wasn't necessary! So you never know what you'll get! Cute story about Ariel though. It's really sweet that the characters seem to be going out of their way to include Nathaniel.

I like the character meals because they tend to spend a lot of time with the kids. I wish they had photopass photographers at the meal though. I find it hard to get really good pictures because of all the chaos!

Funny how time works like that at disney. I'm afraid we're making the same mistakes, but on the other end. I think we have a 8:30 pm reservation at Boma...my kids are completely night owls (and early risers...they're just good nappers) and at home, eating at that time wouldn't be a problem. Hopefully it will be fine at disney since it's only our 3rd day. I'm glad to know you liked Cape May, although it's a shame that you had another character skip you. It's never fun to have to ask to see a character. At disneyland I chased down either chip or dale (it escapes me now) with the baby to get a picture. And I normally wouldn't do that, but it drives me NUTS when they just skip a table. I don't even understand how that happens...don't they have a route that they take? The characters are so cute all dressed up though! And Jessica looks SO happy in that picture with Donald, so getting him to visit was worth it!

You'll probably be fine with a late dinner. My kids are usually asleep by 8:30pm (at home, anyway) so that would be a disaster for us. We found that the kids shifted their schedules to staying up later/sleeping later during the trip.
I feel so pushy asking to see a character that missed our table. But the kids would have been disappointed if we didn't see Donald.

We liked Cape May breakfast when we did it. The bathing suit costumes are just so cute My DH and kids have a meal scheduled there in January. I'm missing it because I'm running the marathon.

That's a good idea to have a character meal while you're running!

Thank you! That helps SO much!

Glad to help! We like LTT for lunch, especially if you stick to the sandwiches/burgers.

I love all the character interactions you guys had! Sorry Donald wasn't as great but it seems like Jessica had fun meeting him anyway- she's grinning from ear to ear!

Jessica is the perfect personality and age for the characters. And we had talked about how important this is for Zachary so she could feel like she was helping!

Amanda

 

[natebenma]

Looks like you had lots of fun at Cape May Cafe. We were going to go this year on our last morning, but our flight was rescheduled (by 2 1/2 hours and 1 city), so we had to skip it. This is our favorite character meal- last time we did it Chip and Dale were there too- they are so fun!

Your kids are such great ages for the characters, although I am sure it is a a day to day or even minute to minute change in reaction.

Good start to what I hope is another super day!

 

[Charlefours]

catching up today Amanda!! Great updates!! Jessica looks so cute in her Belle dress.

 

[DrMomof3]

Looks like you had lots of fun at Cape May Cafe. We were going to go this year on our last morning, but our flight was rescheduled (by 2 1/2 hours and 1 city), so we had to skip it. This is our favorite character meal- last time we did it Chip and Dale were there too- they are so fun!

Your kids are such great ages for the characters, although I am sure it is a a day to day or even minute to minute change in reaction.

Good start to what I hope is another super day!

I love the princess dinner but that obviously has a more limited audience. I think our favorite character interaction *this trip* was Garden Grill (which was our last night so yet to come!). I liked Cape May a lot and will definitely come back the next time we're staying in the Epcot area (probably next summer).
Nathaniel isn't really the right personality for characters. He's much better than he used to be but his nature is to be shy. Jessica is just perfect for characters (you'll notice she's most prominently in the character pics!). Zachary warmed up more and more during the trip. He's not shy at all but went through a fearful stage with the characters.

catching up today Amanda!! Great updates!! Jessica looks so cute in her Belle dress.

Thank you!!!!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

My parents bought my kids a jeep for Christmas 2 years ago. It has a battery and they love to drive it around the yard. Nathaniel is quite a good little driver. Jessica is abysmal. She spends more time checking out the scenery than watching where she's going. Zachary *loves* riding along with the kids. Today he climbed into the Jeep himself and announced that he was going (bye-bye mommy!) to Disney World to see Mickey Mouse!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

We finished breakfast a few minutes before 9am. I figured the kids needed to be on the dock by 9:15 or so. In my insanity I decided that we needed to run to Epcot and enter the park. I wanted to use the time during the cruise to grab FPs for Soarin' and you need to have entered the park to get FPs. So I needed the kids to walk into Epcot so we could get them FPs for later. I am well-aware that this sounds completely crazy to any sane person.
So we put the kids in the strollers and walked (quickly) to the IG. We went through bag check and entered the gate. We then "announced" that we had forgotten the diaper bag and would be back later. And then we rushed back to the YC to get the kids on the boat. Brilliant, no???
The kids got their life jackets and Jessica (in typical Jessica fashion) immediately made a new friend. A British friend, no less! We got the kids settled and they sailed off to collect treasure.

My kids are the 2 looking at the camera!

We decided to stop back in the room to use the bathroom, change diaper, and grab a few park essentials before heading the Epcot. When we got to the room, our lovely Mousekeeper was about to enter to clean. Since we were always gone in the morning and home in the afternoon, she thought she'd do our room 1st - even before the check-out rooms. So thoughtful!!!! We quickly left the room so we didn't discourage this new cleaning time!

It's amazing how easy life is when you only have one child and 2 adults! We walked over to Epcot with ONE stroller. Tom had a business call at 10:30am and I figured Zachary and I could ride Nemo again. Tom ran to get FPs for Soarin' and to scope out a quiet place for a phone call while Zachary and I headed back to The Seas. We had a nice ride on Nemo and then looked at some fish. I let him wander wherever he wanted. Tom's phone call went well and we met up again. I realized that we were running a little late for Albatross pick-up so we raced back to the IG and over to YC. At least my kids weren't the very last ones picked up!

Amanda

 

[cdotla]

Sounds like a great time in Akerhaus overall....minus having to hear that guest arguing about the tip. Good god....even if I had bad service, arguing about a tip is not how I would want to spend my vacation.

But then again, I know from experience, you end up seeing all types at WDW!

I agree with your comments about Cape May...wasn't a highlight for us either. But convenient and easy when staying at the Beach Club!

Looking forward to more!

 

[DrMomof3]

Sounds like a great time in Akerhaus overall....minus having to hear that guest arguing about the tip. Good god....even if I had bad service, arguing about a tip is not how I would want to spend my vacation.

But then again, I know from experience, you end up seeing all types at WDW!

I agree with your comments about Cape May...wasn't a highlight for us either. But convenient and easy when staying at the Beach Club!

Looking forward to more!

Thankfully I missed the tip argument. I was escorting the kids out of the restaurant and Tom overhead it!

We'd definitely return to Cape May again. And I wish we had tried dinner there one night. Next time....

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Some pics of our pirates!

Which begs the question, "Whose good idea was it to give my kids weapons???"

Again, weapons??? Really???

A few comments on the Albatross Cruise:
To this day I have absolutely NO idea what the kids did on the cruise. I know there was a snack (a choice of goldfish or pretzels, I think???). I know there was searching for pirate treasure. Not sure of the details. The kids definitely had fun and said they'd do it again!
I was a little surprised that there were far more girls than boys on the boat. I think there were only 3 boys, including Nathaniel. One of the boys seemed a bit older (and quite a bit bigger) and the other was probably closer to Jessica's age (4). This meant that Nathaniel and Jessica stuck together more than they might have.

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

Couldn't help but laugh at your scheme to get FP Soarin I actually think it was quite brilliant and wonder why it didn't occur to me to do that on our Albatross Cruise day. When I finally get to the Albatross Cruise in my trip report you may get a few more details about what they did. I don't have tons of insider info, but we stuck around the Epcot resort area so I saw them several times on the boat and at one of their stops. I was also there at the end when they do a boat chase with Stinky Feet. My boys loved it too and they also had a fabulous time with their weapons.

 

[DrMomof3]

Couldn't help but laugh at your scheme to get FP Soarin I actually think it was quite brilliant and wonder why it didn't occur to me to do that on our Albatross Cruise day. When I finally get to the Albatross Cruise in my trip report you may get a few more details about what they did. I don't have tons of insider info, but we stuck around the Epcot resort area so I saw them several times on the boat and at one of their stops. I was also there at the end when they do a boat chase with Stinky Feet. My boys loved it too and they also had a fabulous time with their weapons.

My DH thinks I'm insane. Ok, he knows I'm insane. My kids did mention something about Stinky Feet but I never got any details.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

So after we retrieved our children, we headed back to our room to drop off the pirate booty and pick up the double stroller. Not mention use the "facilities" prior to heading out. We return to our room to discover:

Our 1st towel animal.

Another view with all of Jessica's "stuff."

While we were waiting to go to the parks, Nathaniel drew this:

I made the kids lose the weapons and the pirate bags (but we kept the bandanas with us) and we decided to go grab some lunch at.... Beaches & Cream!!! Tom and I had a really fun meal there in April. It was right after his birthday and he was wearing a birthday button. After we ate, they dimmed the lights and sang Happy Birthday. They even brought him a balloon!

It was on the late side for lunch and the kids were pretty hungry. Luckily we were seated right away! I immediately recognized our waitress from our previous visit. When I told her about our last trip, she remembered us! She told us that she had thought we were newlyweds back in April so it was surprising to see us with our 3 kids!!!

One pic of Jessica at Beaches & Cream:

I wasn't that hungry so I just had a bowl of chili and a diet coke float. Tom has a burger and I think the kids had hot dogs. Jessica had a milk shake (the awesome waitress took the extra milk shake and put it in a little cup for Zachary). Nathaniel tried his first root beer float. BTW, our awesome waitress is named Maria from Mexico. She is great! Efficient, thoughtful, nice, etc.

Amanda

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

I'm getting caught up on all the updates and pics!! Can you believe that guy in Norway?! It says everywhere about the added tip if you have a big party. It says it when you make the ADRs and in the ADR emails it says it. It should be no surprise when you have the tip addded on! We have never not left a tip and if we left a lesser tip it was around 15-18%.

Nice pics at CM! When we were at Ohana last Dec we were in the same position. We had eaten and paid and had been at Ohana for almost 2 hours and were still waiting for Mickey. When he did finally come by, I put my arms out for a hug and he put his pointer finger at me and went to 4 other tables first. When he did come by he took a pic with my bro and I and walked away and we were like um wait, we'd like a family pic too so I totally know how you feel!!!!!!!!!