ABCs of Trip Reporting, Pt. 2-Life Can Be Crappy and Then You Move On (3/7)

[All7OfUs]

Not necessarily, I've only seen parts of it. Ernest Borgnine, Shelly Winters....the boat capsizes (the actual boat, not Shelly Winters). But the theme song was a huge hit in in the 70's (don't tell me you weren't listening to the radio in the 70's) and won an Oscar.

Hmmm.... ok. The kids just watched the Maltese Falcon last night with good ol' Humphrey, while I was putting up my blog post. We all ten to like those oldy moldys.

I was listening to the radio, and now HAVE to try to find teh song you're referring to...!!!!!

Speaking of Tate O'Patty....

Somehow, the subject Mr. Potatohead came up at home about a week ago and I told the kids that originally you didn't get a plastic potato with holes for arms, eyes, etc. You only got the arms and eyes and stuff and you were supposed to use an actual potato to stick them in. They were shocked beyond belief.

Kids these days...

that was just what your mom told you so you would poke holes in the potatoes she was going to use for dinner that night, so they would cook faster.

she actually had a stockpile of potato bodys hidden in her closet to keep you none the wiser.

I must use this from now on!!

 

[All7OfUs]

At least they were just potato bodies.

Now we know where the concept of the research "basement" came from!

and Gene Hackman....don't forget Gene Hackman.... I like the cheesy original much better....

Older versions are almost always better!!

Mother of the year is up...... our meet will be later tonight.

Read it last night, but ran out of steam to post... will be over in a bit!

Loved the Beaches & Cream update Liesa! I love that place, wonderful burgers and even better ice cream. We ordered the kitchen sink once. There were five of us, three of whom were teenagers who could eat an amazing amount of food and we still didn't come close to finishing it. It sure was fun trying though!

Terri

I don't think a party of 5 would have a CHANCE of even making a dent in that thing! But Yeah, I can see the fun in trying!!

Almost. The sump pump has been working hard for a few days now. The film canisters comprising the research station were nearly lost!

OH NO!!! NOT the film cannisters!!!!!!

 

[All7OfUs]

Love it!

We once went around twice on Small World...on purpose....Henry's choice! While I do enjoy the ride, we were DONE by the 2nd time! This past trip we got stuck for a few minutes at the end of the "Find Donald" ride in Mexico and that is just as annoying, if not more so!

Good job to Tate on driving the boat and safely docking at the Beach Club! Too bad your Owner went with your kinfolk instead of the onion rings.

yeah, "DONE" is a good way to describe a second spin on that, and I can TOTALLY see the Donald's Boat Ride an even WORSE one to get stuck on!! That entire ride is just annoying! I like it once every few years at best.

Tate's my main man! OH man, I could go for some properly done up onion rings RIGHT NOW!!

good point.

 

[jenb1023]

Great update Tate!

How nice for your 2nd mate to pose for a photo with you!

We would love to stay at Beach Club on our next trip! Thanks for the scoop on beaches and cream - that's another place on my to do list.

 

[eandesmom]

dropping by to say hi! I'm woefully behind but will do my best to get caught up over the long weekend!!!

 

[PirateKate]

Poor Tate, not even a nose to smell the frying flesh of his fellow potatoes. I don't think you all even gave Tate any ice cream to make up for the fries. I love that you all got bubbles to play with.

 

[All7OfUs]

Poor Tate, not even a nose to smell the frying flesh of his fellow potatoes. I don't think you all even gave Tate any ice cream to make up for the fries. I love that you all got bubbles to play with.

I know... but both grievances are very shortly remedied.... Tate was taken care of.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Well I'm thankful this TR isn't moving at it's usual speed or I would have had way to much catching up to do. Enjoyed a short vacation to MT involving a small fair and relaxing in a beautiful cabin on a river. Good food and family- love it!

I also got a little detoured by a thread of strange pictures that led me to a strange TR by a rugged cowboy named Colt- odd.

Anyway, I'm going to attempt a multi-quote!






Sure thing, just send me your social security number and your bank account numbers and I'll get right on that. I'll also need those numbers to deposit the 3 million dollars you've just won in the Sri Lankan lottery so don't delay!!

As for the hard working yard workers, I'd be happy to send them over for training if you promise to send them back with cheerful attitudes and a renewed spirit of dilligence. (Actually my 16 year old is quite handy with a lawn mower and he's cheerful- because we pay him!)

And check out the ticker



Planning has definitely begun!! I may drive my family crazy before our vacation gets here but they still love me- for now. I'm sure I'll have many questions. In fact here's one- can you watch Wishes from the Poly if you're not staying there?

Hi! I'm just back from vacation and didn't see if anyone else answered your question - I'm not reading all the clever conversation or I will never catch up!
Yes, you can go to the beach at Poly without staying there and watch wishes. They pipe the music in. You can also see it from Ohana and Kona(I think) We really enjoyed being at Ohana and watching with the music piped in. They turn down the lights and everything just kind of stops. You can even watch it from the TTS complete with music - we were leaving MK one night and stopped to watch and hear it from there just as we debarked from the boat.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Liesa - quick fly by. Got back yesterday. I'm not sure what has happened in your life yet -still trying to catch up. Hope it is well. By this time Andrew is safely at school, I know. I feel bad for his roomie and girlfriend, but he really has no responsibility in this - they will find some place to be, if that is what they choose, even if he lays down the law.

Love the updates so far - Wow - TSM 6 times! Love the shirts, too!
How fun you met up with Pat! Can't wait to see the food.
Fun to see the IASW update. Jim's worst nightmare! Funny it was just closed for repairs in April - you would not expect that to happen.

Well, I'm off to celebrate Ryan's 28th Birthday and little Evan's 1st, which I missed both while we traveled. I'll be back....

 

[englishrose47]

Just flying by too !! I leave work in 35 minutes so I need to finish up !!! Oh wait a minute there is nothing to do that is why I am on the Dis . Luckily Dan isn't on your TR so he wont know

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Stil here, still reading. Crazy life is getting in the way of my Dising. Planning birthday parties and getting my two little ones ready for their first experience with school is tiring both emotionally and physically.

Thanks for the fun update. My 2 year old DD was sitting with me earlier when I was reading it and she started singing the song!! Then she had to tell me who everyone was in the pictures. I think I'm doing a pretty good job at the brainwashing!!

I may not be posting much in the next week due to needing to finish cleaning, laundry, getting things ready for my DD's 3rd and DS's 1st birthday party next weekend and the joys of having an additional 5 people come stay in my ity-bity two bedroom condo for 5 days!! Can't wait to read more and please have happy thoughts for me that my sanity stays in tact after my mom, sister, 2 nieces and 1 nephew leave on Sept 5!! I'm going to need it!!

Have a great trip Sandra!!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Well, The English Patient won an Academy Award too, so their judgment remains suspect.

Yes, and let's not forget the amazing Chariots of Fire

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Okay, I'm back from dinner and all caught up. I've been asleep about 5 times - not because of boredom - just so exhausted after two weeks.
Tate, I'm so sorry you had to endure the horror at B&C. Funny that your traveling companions didn't enjoy the burgers overly much. I've heard such fabulous comments from others. Maybe they were super hungry and a shoe would have tasted delicious The ice cream experience is not to be missed on a hot evening outside after a day at Epcot, however

 

[Pimama]

Hi! I'm just back from vacation and didn't see if anyone else answered your question - I'm not reading all the clever conversation or I will never catch up!
Yes, you can go to the beach at Poly without staying there and watch wishes. They pipe the music in. You can also see it from Ohana and Kona(I think) We really enjoyed being at Ohana and watching with the music piped in. They turn down the lights and everything just kind of stops. You can even watch it from the TTS complete with music - we were leaving MK one night and stopped to watch and hear it from there just as we debarked from the boat.

Thanks! We will be there earlier for dinner at Ohana and assuming the little ones can make it, we will try to find a spot on the beach. Yeah.

Also, a few of you smart alecs answered my question about what's better at WDW with AK, HS, and Epcot- touche!! I am so excited about out trip and can't wait to check all the new lands that await! I do need to pull myself together and not obsess quite so much, I do still have 5 months and plenty of work to do. ....and yet here I am on the Dis again!

Tate looks like a wonderful travel companion, quite entertaining and lively even. I think I had a dream about that kitchen sink before, ice cream is just about my favorite food ever and I pride myself on eating as much as possible on vacation. Age is catching up to me a bit though and I think I'm a little intimidated by that one. Good thing there's no time this trip but I definitely see that in my future.

I'm busy preparing for another year of homeschooling as well as painting and redoing all the floors in our house so I must drag myself away. Must...go...scrub...walls......ugh.

(This is a selfish cheer to motivate me to get to work!)

 

[MEK]

Tate -

That was an excellent update! What a busy morning you had - navigating your own boat and helping the ladies order lunch at B&C. Good thing they didn't order the kitchen sink - you might get lost in there!

 

[All7OfUs]

Great update Tate!

How nice for your 2nd mate to pose for a photo with you!

We would love to stay at Beach Club on our next trip! Thanks for the scoop on beaches and cream - that's another place on my to do list.

Oh, all the crew that pilots the watercraft at Disney are so nice!! He was so nice to show me the ropes and let me have fun with the boat!!

And that was a nice play on words there, my dear!!

dropping by to say hi! I'm woefully behind but will do my best to get caught up over the long weekend!!!

So am I!! And now that school starts today, I have a bit more free time in my day until my own classes start in 3 weeks.

Hi Liesa - quick fly by. Got back yesterday. I'm not sure what has happened in your life yet -still trying to catch up. Hope it is well. By this time Andrew is safely at school, I know. I feel bad for his roomie and girlfriend, but he really has no responsibility in this - they will find some place to be, if that is what they choose, even if he lays down the law.

Love the updates so far - Wow - TSM 6 times! Love the shirts, too!
How fun you met up with Pat! Can't wait to see the food.
Fun to see the IASW update. Jim's worst nightmare! Funny it was just closed for repairs in April - you would not expect that to happen.

Well, I'm off to celebrate Ryan's 28th Birthday and little Evan's 1st, which I missed both while we traveled. I'll be back....

You are so right- he is at school and has a roommate that eats, lives and breathes sports. I told him he doesn't have to be in his room ALL day Saturday watching games he doesn't enjoy to see out other fun stuff.

We were having some great times at DHS that morning!! We did and saw a LOT, and the best bonus was meeting up with Pat!

Yeah, the unthinkable happened- getting stuck on IASW!! But we more than made up for it with som nomtastic dinner!!

 

[All7OfUs]

Just flying by too !! I leave work in 35 minutes so I need to finish up !!! Oh wait a minute there is nothing to do that is why I am on the Dis . Luckily Dan isn't on your TR so he wont know

haha, you have the cushiest job ever, Rosie!! Hope your weekend was fabulous!

Tate, I'm so sorry you had to endure the horror at B&C. Funny that your traveling companions didn't enjoy the burgers overly much. I've heard such fabulous comments from others. Maybe they were super hungry and a shoe would have tasted delicious The ice cream experience is not to be missed on a hot evening outside after a day at Epcot, however

Well, I had already eaten at some truly top notch places! Rose and Crown, Brown Derby and 'Ohana to name a few... the burgers just didn't compare to what we'd come from. And even comparing burgers to burgers, it wasn't like they could hold a candle to the Kobe Burger that Leslie raves about from where is it: Yak and Yeti? It really was just so-so.

Don't get me wrong... we DID have ice cream... just not quite yet.

Thanks! We will be there earlier for dinner at Ohana and assuming the little ones can make it, we will try to find a spot on the beach. Yeah.

Tate looks like a wonderful travel companion, quite entertaining and lively even. I think I had a dream about that kitchen sink before, ice cream is just about my favorite food ever and I pride myself on eating as much as possible on vacation. Age is catching up to me a bit though and I think I'm a little intimidated by that one. Good thing there's no time this trip but I definitely see that in my future.

I'm busy preparing for another year of homeschooling as well as painting and redoing all the floors in our house so I must drag myself away. Must...go...scrub...walls......ugh.

(This is a selfish cheer to motivate me to get to work!)

If you've already seen Wishes from Main Street , you won't be sorry seeing them from the beach too! It is so relaxing to see it from there!

Gather up a good-sized crowd! You'll need it if you try for that Kithchen Sink attempt!!

WOW! You sound like a home cleaning maniac these days!! How"d your walls turn out?? Just think of how nice your house will look when you're done!

Tate -

That was an excellent update! What a busy morning you had - navigating your own boat and helping the ladies order lunch at B&C. Good thing they didn't order the kitchen sink - you might get lost in there!

OH, why thank you! It was a busy morning, but I sure had fun being a good TaterCompanion! They rewarded me well for my efforts!! (Coming up in the next chapter...)

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Thanks! We will be there earlier for dinner at Ohana and assuming the little ones can make it, we will try to find a spot on the beach. Yeah.

Also, a few of you smart alecs answered my question about what's better at WDW with AK, HS, and Epcot- touche!! I am so excited about out trip and can't wait to check all the new lands that await! I do need to pull myself together and not obsess quite so much, I do still have 5 months and plenty of work to do. ....and yet here I am on the Dis again!

Tate looks like a wonderful travel companion, quite entertaining and lively even. I think I had a dream about that kitchen sink before, ice cream is just about my favorite food ever and I pride myself on eating as much as possible on vacation. Age is catching up to me a bit though and I think I'm a little intimidated by that one. Good thing there's no time this trip but I definitely see that in my future.

I'm busy preparing for another year of homeschooling as well as painting and redoing all the floors in our house so I must drag myself away. Must...go...scrub...walls......ugh.

(This is a selfish cheer to motivate me to get to work!)

You know the way I get through my excited, planning," what else can I plan" days is by reading the WDW Passporter - It has descriptions and planning pages galore.

 

[All7OfUs]

Usually, I start out every trip with a look-see around DTD, but the timing didn’t cater to that very well this time around. So, here we are on Day 6 of our trip, and finally getting around to doing what most girls do best: shop and eat ice cream. I guess I don’t fall into that category very well, because honestly I don’t LOVE ice cream and only eat it occasionally, and I just don’t love to shop. Well, ok, I do like to “shop”, but for most people I’d imagine that they would consider spending money part of that definition; I don’t. I like to window shop, and say to myself, “I’d love to take that home, but man, that is money I just don’t have”. I wish the Feds would say that more often, but that’s another story for another day. This story is all about what 3 ladies ended up doing with an entire afternoon wandering around Downtown Disney. And with that, all let Tate take over the keyboard while I run and get dinner on…

Tate, take it away…

Hmmm… Let’s see, where did I leave off?

Ahhh yes! With my lady friends scarfing up potato flesh, beholding obscene amounts of ice cream heaped in kitchen sink shaped vats, and admiring my skills at piloting Disney watercraft. I’d have liked to have tried my hand at that again, but it was feeling like it could come off at any time (once in a while tragedies like that happen to me). So instead I was packed into my cozy little bag and the girls took a bus over to one of 7’s favorite places- Downtown Disney. I was really looking forward to this too, as I have really BIG cousin who hangs out there often. In fact, I heard tell of a place that might be described as the Ozarks of Disney called Once Upon a Toy- LOTS and LOTS of my kinfolk there, and the genetics are rather dubious. Naturally, when we got off the bus, I suggested we head there first.

Being rather accommodating, they obliged and we headed that way. First off, let me introduce you to Big Spud, my cousin of large proportions. I think he’s been hitting the 12 packs a little hard lately, and sure could use some gym time, but hey, they say blood is thicker than water, so I took the time to grab a photo of us and warned him that he oughtta get out a little more often and mix up the accessories some (so he could be as cool as me).

Inside we met a few more of the kinfolk who live around these parts. (Anyone catch that? Barry, where are you?!) We took a group shot that I’m thinking of making my next Facebook profile picture. What do you think? I dunno, my relatives aren’t exactly fashionistas, but they do a pretty decent job at playing “barker”.

Soon it was time to jazz up my wardrobe, and 7 let me go wild and crazy with my box. WOW! She helped me stuff all kinds of awesome, cool and hip stuff (now we all know where that term really comes from, don’t we??) into that magical box! And let me tell ya, we were thinking that we were getting all kinds of high numbers of arms, legs, capes, masks, and other do-duds, but that was only until we got to the checkout counter where the most kind and amazing CM ever insisted on stuffing my box to overflowing. She was so kind and amazing that I can’t for the life of me remember her name, but she was great! Of course, the fact, that 7 had introduced us earlier probably went a long way in her being so generous! And then, she noticed my faux nose. She thought no one should have to live like MJ, and knew that our trip was at least in part all about stopping to smell the roses, so she marched over to the nose bin, sniffed around a bit and found this little beauty! Don’t you just love it??!

Ahhh, I can smell Ghiradellis right now! And I wish I was back there right now, scarfing up tantalizing treats such as we got that wonderful afternoon a year ago almost to the day!!!

LeeAnn and 7 decided to get a basic hot fudge sundae that was large enough for me to take a swim in, and maroo got the No Way Jose. It was practically big enough to bathe a horse in. And there we sat, we four, happily munching on these:

They didn’t look like that very long!

And all of a sudden the skies opened up and while there were no cats or dogs falling from the sky, it did look like this:

But we all know that Florida showers, as heavy as they can be, do not last long, and by the time we finished up it was all over, the air was fresh, but steamy. 7 had a bunch of shops on her list that she’d never been in, so I hopped back in the sack and dreamed up a million occasions to wear my new wardrobe pieces to.

Cont. in next post...

 

[All7OfUs]

Later back at the Poly that night showed me her pictures of all the places they’d gone, and I’ll just show you that way all the shops they enjoyed visiting.

The Christmas Shop

World of Sports (or whatever it’s called)

Basin

Arriba Brothers

After they were finished assaulting the Market Place, they needed to pick up the pace and head West, waaaaay west. Their final destination being almost as far at the other end of DTD as one can get, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to do or places to see on the way!

Here’s one of 7’s favorite shops, as it holds a special place in her memory of her first trip ever to WDW. Her kids were just that age when Legos hold a wonderful slice of magic in imagination. What kid from 2 to 102 wouldn’t be completely wonked out at how uberly cool this stuff is?? How do they DO that?!?

This next place I was told was thrown out of our dining agenda for the trip, but have the firm promise (and the HIGH recommendation of That’s Nice) for going back next time. I want mussels, baby!!

The girls stumbled across a really hip joint where they could see how cool they looked on a hog. I’d say they really need to get one muy pronto- the cool just oozes.

After a few more wanderings, and laments of the Adventurer’s Club being closed before we could check it out,

we had reached our destination. Would it be all that it was hyped up to be? Was it worth an evening off from the parks?? Was it worth the money that maroo had paid for this potentially stupendous gift she had given us?? Next up: A full-on review of what we thought!!