Adventures of a DisneyWORLDholic! Updated1/24 I was an unofficial WDW tour guide.

[jmskinner]

Hey, I am still here...just been reading along due to the craziness of my life here lately!! It sounds like this Dis Meet was a lot of fun!! That squishy thing looks so cool!! And I totally agree about that first castle pic....it looked to have eyes peeking out all over!

Going back a few: the January trip sounds great with the carriage ride!! I am teetering between POR and POFQ on our next trip....Keith just wants to be at "the place we were last year"! I hope to start a PTR soon....if I can get my life to slow down a bit!!

Glad you caught some time to rest. And yes, that is exactly what I thought of that pic, that eyes were watching us. Of course with all the camera's around WDW, I'm sure there were lots of eyes watching us.

Hopefully, both resorts will be refurbished by the time of your next trip. I'm still wondering if I will miss POR, but maybe the carriage ride will make up for that.

Hi Melissa!

All caught up now! Such a shame Jonas had to go, it must be a horrible feeling.

Loved the photo of him from Amsterdam - wonder how he managed to come across that particular tourist area? lol!

You got some great photos from MNSSHP - ours didn't turn out too good from the parade , still it just means we need to go back!

Nice camera work, even with all the cocktails!!

Di x

Thankfully Jonas will be home in two weeks. I wondered how that was the spot he found too.

Thanks, and I like your train of thought about reasoning to go back.

So, I got good photos and good drinks. Couldn't ask for anything more.

 

[jmskinner]

In my last post, I said a Dismeet was coming up, but that Dismeet was the week before the big MNSSHP gathering. I have even written about it. What makes this worse, I knew Jonas came home on a Friday, but for some reason had the 19th in my head. I then realized the 19th was a Sunday and thought, "Oh, he's coming in on Sunday then." Then he emailed me and asked if we could go see Harry Potter on the 18th. So, went back to his email, yup, he comes home on a Friday, the 17th. I'm really worried about myself at this point.

So, since we have already had the Dismeet with Dr. Finklestein, as far as I can tell my next Disney trip wasn't until 11/10/10. Now, this was a trip I had planned with Jonas. He was looking forward to this night, same as me. Yes, it was a Wednesday during the week, how do you go to WDW during a school week. Well, the 11th was Veteran's Day, no school. And what was going on Wednesday night that we were so excited about, Rick Springfield at the Food and Wine Festival. I loved this man growing up. Yes, I watched General Hospital. Even paid money to see his movie Hard to Hold. I remember before Jonas left thinking this was one of those things Jonas was going to miss. Also the Tron preview that I had reservations for.

This trip was also working out perfectly due to it being an early release day at Jacob's school. He got out at 2:15, so we could be at WDW by 3:30. Now it was also Jacob's 12th birthday which was on the 12th. Someone nicely told him it was his golden birthday since he was turning 12 on the 12th. Which he reminded me of, over and over ...and over again. I think the kid thought he should get a bar of gold or something on this day.

I knew Jacob wasn't really excited about seeing Rick Springfield, so I came up with another idea.



We made our 3:30 ADR. Which I had a hard time getting, and was shocked when I walked in to an empty restaurant, but I had forgotten you should call the restaurant itself and not use Disney's. We were in the ice room.




Loved how it changed colors.
Since it was a golden birthday, I allowed him to have a light up cup


Passed on the big tall one they offered. Where do you store the thing?

While waiting for food, I allowed Jacob to wander around with the camera:




He loved this booth:




Finally our food came:

This was a salad with cranberry's, strawberry's, and caramalized pecans. I had chicken added to. I love the chicken, it was cut extremely thin. It was a good salad, but not sure about $17 for it.

I think Jacob had the mac&cheese, but didn't eat much of it.

He went back to picture taking:










After our meal, we headed over to the Build a Dino Workshop










I think he was checking to see if his teeth needed brushed


Then he needed to name him and get his birth certificate:


While he did this, I found one I may go back and get myself


We paid and the CM squeezed his tail by accident, making the Dino roar (that is where Jacob put the noise maker). The CM said, "Oh, he doesn't like it when you mess with his tail." I thought it was cute.

After that, we headed to the truck to get to Epcot:




I missed Night Ranger, would I make it to see Rick?

 

[natebenma]

And what was going on Wednesday night that we were so excited about, Rick Springfield at the Food and Wine Festival. Passed on the big tall one they offered. Where do you store the thing?

While waiting for food, I allowed Jacob to wander around with the camera:

Finally our food came:



This was a salad with cranberry's, strawberry's, and caramalized pecans. I had chicken added to. I love the chicken, it was cut extremely thin. It was a good salad, but not sure about $17 for it.

Rick Springfield! Great, now I am going to have "Jessie's Girl" running through my head all day!

How awesome that Jacob's birthday and the day off from school and a mid-week trip all worked out for you.

T-Rex is a must do for us- well, for Ben, anyway. The food is good, but you are right- YIKES it is expensive! The salad looks yummy though. I considered getting that.

Where do you store the tall glass? I guess in the top of a cabinet in the kitchen. That's where ours is. Maybe I should fill it will colored sand or marbles or something and make it a decoration.

Jacob got some great pictures at the restaurant!

 

[TinksThree]

Oh yes T-Rex is tops with us! He did get some really good pictures!


I know, I know if you made it or not!!

 

[dismagiclover]

When I hear someone say Rick Springfield I immediately think of "Jessie's Girl". Hopefully you got to hear it!

 

[jmskinner]

Rick Springfield! Great, now I am going to have "Jessie's Girl" running through my head all day!

How awesome that Jacob's birthday and the day off from school and a mid-week trip all worked out for you.

T-Rex is a must do for us- well, for Ben, anyway. The food is good, but you are right- YIKES it is expensive! The salad looks yummy though. I considered getting that.

Where do you store the tall glass? I guess in the top of a cabinet in the kitchen. That's where ours is. Maybe I should fill it will colored sand or marbles or something and make it a decoration.

Jacob got some great pictures at the restaurant!

It did work out really well, just with Jonas could have been there.

That's a great idea about making the glass a decoration, a centerpiece.

Oh yes T-Rex is tops with us! He did get some really good pictures!


I know, I know if you made it or not!!

Thanks, I did enjoy T-Rex.

When I hear someone say Rick Springfield I immediately think of "Jessie's Girl". Hopefully you got to hear it!

I've heard it a lot on the radio since we got back.

And Rick is coming up! (Ok, I almost had the next chapter almost completed and somehow deleted it. Will get it done later.)

 

[jmskinner]

Would you believe, I just typed up the chapter yet again, clicked preview and the thing failed on me and I lost it yet again. Hmmm, guess they don't want me to show Rick. Ok, will do this in Word and then post it, but it will have to be later. I am not loving the Dis at this moment.

 

[TinksThree]

That has happened to me several times! It is so frustrating!! I finally began typing all of my big posts in word and then copying/pasting to post. It saved many angry fists throwing at my computer!!

 

[jmskinner]

Remember how it was still daylight at DTD when we left, here is what it looked like once we got to Epcot


Here is one of my many pics of Jacob where he is doing something he shouldn’t but I take a pic before telling him to get down

And I was surprised to see the tree already up

Now, one of the stipulations of getting Jacob to sit through this concert was he got to go to Japan to look at their selection of Transformers and Bakugan, guess T-Rex wasn’t enough.

We decided to go through the UK so I could grab Jonas some shortbread cookies. I was mailing him a box the following week with all kinds of goodies. Got the cookies, but forgot to mail them. At least he will have them for Christmas. From there it was Japan, but we made a quick stop in France for Jacob some ice cream. I never take pics of our snacks. Need to remember that next time, they count as food porn also. Then to Japan, thankfully Jacob has come to realize how expensive it is compared to Wal-Mart, so I got out of there without spending any money.

From there we headed to the concert stage. I knew there would be a line on the other side of the stage, but I saw a lot of people standing at the ropes in the middle of the area. The people in front of us said they would let the line in first and then they would drop the ropes for the rest of us. Turns out they had been to see every artist that performed at the Food and Wine Festival. They also can see Wishes from their front porch. My dream home!!!! Ok, my dream home would be actually on Disney property, but that is a close second. We waited and watched everyone in line find a seat and finally they let us in. By the way, the wait was long enough that those already in, if they left were given a little pass to get back in, so they didn’t have to wait with us to get back in, so it was a little bit of a wait. But finally we were let in.

We sat in the middle about 20 rows back. I did slide in to let some people that looked like they were having a hard time walking sit down instead of walking over us.

And here was my view


But wait, I had planned for just this instance and took the telephoto lens also



This lady got a lot of attention due to her beer








Rick saw this guy taking pictures and thought he should be in a pic.


He also pulled a couple of kids on stage, but I won’t post those since they are not my kids, but very cute and what a memory for Mom.

Now here is where I started kicking myself. When we were still waiting to be let in, I noticed a lot of people headed towards the side instead of the middle. This is why


He came out into the audience. He went all over the place, but he only came out this far


That is 3 rows in front of us!!! If only I had went a little closer. Even Jacob was excited at that point.

And this was my last pic of Rick


I always did like his smile. He only did 4 songs, which is the norm, but I can’t remember which songs he sang, because on the way home, I listened to him on my Ipod in the truck. Jacob didn’t appreciate that, but when he is old enough to drive, he can select the music. But, I do remember he ended with Jessie’s Girl. We were asked not to videotape, but when he started that song, the camcorders came out. I tried to do video on my phone, but without zoom, you just see lights and people’s hands, but you can at least here the song.

After the concert we headed out, one last pic of the tree


And I stopped in Mousegears to look for some stuff, but didn’t find anything I liked. Did find these for Jacob, but he didn’t want them


So tell me, do you think Rick looked 61?

 

[jmskinner]

That has happened to me several times! It is so frustrating!! I finally began typing all of my big posts in word and then copying/pasting to post. It saved many angry fists throwing at my computer!!

Finally got it to work. I did use Word this time, but having to switch from Word back to the internet window for my pics was making me nuts.

I almost used "cut" from Word instead of "copy". Just as I was about to click on "cut", a vision of losing it once again came to mind.

all goes smoothly on yours.

 

[dismagiclover]

Rick is still looking really good! Amazing! I guess all the concerts keep him in shape! So glad you got to hear Jessie's Girl. I bet he is sick of singing that song though

 

[TinksThree]

Wow! That looks like a good show! No he doesn't look 61! My parents are close to that age and...well, he doesn't look 61!

I always tell my kids when they get their own car they can then listen to what they want but if I am driving, I get to choose!! Usually they bring along their I-Pods to avoid the "torture"!!

BTW: my new PTR is now posted!! Thankfully it didn't disappear on me!

 

[jmskinner]

Rick is still looking really good! Amazing! I guess all the concerts keep him in shape! So glad you got to hear Jessie's Girl. I bet he is sick of singing that song though

He's doing the Strawberry Festival around here in February, I'd like to catch that also.

I always wonder if they get tired of singing the old songs, but the feel of the crowd when they perform something so loved must be amazing. Of course you have people like Madonna that are "above" their old stuff.

Wow! That looks like a good show! No he doesn't look 61! My parents are close to that age and...well, he doesn't look 61!

I always tell my kids when they get their own car they can then listen to what they want but if I am driving, I get to choose!! Usually they bring along their I-Pods to avoid the "torture"!!

BTW: my new PTR is now posted!! Thankfully it didn't disappear on me!

He really did put on a great show. I didn't realize his age until I had posted the pics on Facebook and someone gave his age. It didn't even hit me that he was 20 years older than me when I liked him back in the 80's, of course he is still 20 years older than me now.

I wish the hubby followed that rule of I'm driving so I get to hear my music. We've have many discussions about who can touch the radio.

I'll have to join the PTR and do another update.

 

[jmskinner]

Hadn't planned another trip to WDW so soon, but one of my Disfriends was surprised by one of her friends with a few days at WDW. Now, can't remember if I have said this, but I am normally very shy, don't like meeting new people, but the Dis and WDW have broken my shell and I get out more and more.

Now this Dis'er is one of those that was reading my TR, not sure if she still is though. Not sure if she wants me to say who she is, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want her picture posted because she says she doesn't look good, but I completely disagree. She had major surgery a month or so before this trip so it was great that she was getting to go to WDW and enjoy herself. I just had to go meet her.

Found out she was at DHS for the day, so Jacob and I headed that way. I'll never forget my parking on this day. I pulled in and started to go down a row when a CM stopped and said if you turn around we will put you in the second spot. Great location, but now I am trying to get into one of those slanted parking spots coming from the opposite direction and I am in my truck. I must have backed up and went forward 20 times. I'm not kidding. What made it worse, the van beside was trying to unload with two little kids. I was wanting to strangle a CM at this point. But finally got in decently, not going to say it was perfect. The BFF is probably laughing right now because she knows my parking abilities are not the greatest. But we made it:



My Dis friend said they were on TSMM so I texted that we would be right there. We waited a few minutes and there they were. It was funny because I pulled up her picture on my phone, showed Jacob and he spotted her first. Way to go Jacob!

Turns out she couldn't ride because of the way TSMM jerks you around. We headed back to the front of the park because her friend had left her refillable mug in one of the shops and wanted to see if she could find it. Now my Disfriend had rented a wheelchair because she realized after the first day she wasn't completely healed yet, but mainly just used it when standing in line. She made the mistake of telling Jacob she would push him in it:


Now my child is going to want to rent a wheelchair every time we go to WDW. Oh, and my Disfriend was very sweet and gave Jacob a gift card. I can hear Jacob now when I tell him we are going to meet a Disfriend, "Do they have a gift for me?" But it was very sweet of her to give him the gift.

The friend found her mug. and they were wanting to see Beauty and the Beast, of course Jacob didn't want to, so we split up, they went to see Beauty and we went to Tattioine Traders. Again spoiling the child.

Our last trip to DHS we noticed these footprints, don't know how we missed them before.



Also, check out how bare the park was. It wasn't bad at all that day.

Jacob decided to build a lightsaber with his gift card. That's what the kid needs, another lightsaber for his collection, but here he is


I wandered around and considered buying pins, I want all the Star Wars pins, but it was really weird, they didn't have a lot like they did in the summer. Wondering where they all went.

After Jacob had paid for the lightsaber we headed back to meet my Disfriend and her friend at Beauty. I tried to be all fancy and get a pic of ToT through one of the Christmas displays


Didn't work too well.

Once they were out of the show, we decided to check out some Christmas decorations at the resorts and headed over to the Yacht Club. Spotted her entertaining the crowd waiting on the non-parade Block Party.


When we got to the Yacht Club, my Disfriend was really surprised that they didn't have all the decorations up yet.


The ladies wanted to do some shopping so we found the store and then also proceeded to the little food area to see if there was any soft serve ice cream for Jacob. There wasn't and Jacob didn't want anything else.

We then stopped to take pics of the Gingerbread Carousel, which was absolute amazing, as you will see



















Did you notice Mickey and his friends?

Jacob wanted to head home and I felt it was a good idea because we needed to feed our dog before 8pm because she was having surgery the next day. I said goodbye to my Disfriend and her friend and Jacob and I headed for the boat. You know me, had to take more pics










The DHS tree




And the parking spot was nice and close to the tram and was much easier to get out of than it was in.

It was so great to meet yet another person I had been chatting with. Hope she is able to make it back before I move.

Next up, what would you do on Thanksgiving when the husband is away?

 

[TinksThree]

That gingerbread carousel looks so good! I can't imagine trying to put that thing together! Over Thanksgiving we went to the Biltmore in Asheville and they had a gingerbread replica of the Biltmore....it smelled divine and was so detailed! I tried to take a contraband picture but it didn't come out too well. I suppose that is what happens when you try to be sneaky! But it was no where close to the size of that carousel!!!

 

[agsmith]

can't wait

 

[jmskinner]

That gingerbread carousel looks so good! I can't imagine trying to put that thing together! Over Thanksgiving we went to the Biltmore in Asheville and they had a gingerbread replica of the Biltmore....it smelled divine and was so detailed! I tried to take a contraband picture but it didn't come out too well. I suppose that is what happens when you try to be sneaky! But it was no where close to the size of that carousel!!!

I can't imagine building it either. Hoping to go see some of the others around WDW this time of year. I've seen the one at Grand Floridian before and it is amazing. And the one in the American Pavilion at World Showcase.

And I have seen that one at Biltmore also. Jonas took me to Biltmore our first Christmas together after getting engaged. I was amazed by it also.

can't wait

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. Been kind of crazy around here. Jonas got home from Afghanistan Friday. Went to the doctor for my feet that have been bothering me and now am on steroids and had to get x-rays done. Haven't heard the result of the x-rays, but the steroids do seem to be helping.

Ok, on to the next WDW mini-TR.

 

[natebenma]

So glad to hear Jonas is back!!! Now you can focus on the holidays and your amazing upcoming trip!

I enjoyed your DIS-visit with a poster who will remain nameless and faceless. I think it is wonderful that you have made so many friends through your trip report!

Loved the pictures from your visit to my FAVORITE resort, the Yacht & Beach Club.

I have never been to the World during the Christmas season but I can only imagine how absolutely beautiful and unbelievable all of the decorations are.

I wish you and your family a very joyous holiday!

Dee

 

[jmskinner]

Once we learned Jonas would be gone at Thanksgiving, I really wondered what we would do. Ok, I really wondered what we would do at WDW. We hadn't made plans to go anywhere or for anyone to come see us and by this time everyone already had plans. Plus, our dog Bubblegum had to have surgery for a mass and I figured that week would be good since we would be home to keep an eye on her. So, that Monday she had surgery. She did just fine, but did not like the collar-of-shame at all.

Now, something else I had planned during Thanksgiving was to switch Jacob's medicine. Over the Summer we had to switch his ADHD medicine because I noticed a swallowing problem, he would lean his head forward to swallow. So right before school started we started him on a new medicine. As weeks passed, I realized this medicine wasn't helping him. He couldn't remember what his homework was or if he even had any. Also, trying to get him to focus in the evening on his homework was turning into a nightmare. I always choose long weekends or vacations for these changes, so I had spoken to his doctor and got a new prescription for him. He started on Tuesday and all seemed fine. Wednesday he was sick to his stomach so I didn't give it to him. Thinking he had caught a little stomach bug. Thursday we discussed if he felt well enough for WDW. He said he would like to go get their chicken nuggets. He loves WDW chicken nuggets, not the kids ones, but the adult ones. I gave him his medicine and off we went. When we were almost there, he was acting like he didn't feel well. I asked if he wanted to continue and he said he did.

We had decided to tour POR and POFQ just to look at Christmas decorations. We parked at DTD and rode the boat over to POR, I had to explain to Jacob that since we weren't resort guests we couldn't park at the resort. I always try to take some pics of SSR for the Duck:




Arrived at POFQ and exited the boat:


We headed to the food court, which I tried to get a pic of the front of, but a couple in their bathing suits stopped right in front of the door to talk and have a beer. So I skipped that pic.

Once we had our food, Jacob found a spot in front of the TV and we ate our lunch. Well I ate my lunch, I couldn't get Jacob to eat. Obviously this new medicine was effecting his appetite, one thing I didn't want to do since he is so skinny and such a picky eater as it is.

I tried and tried to get him to eat, but he wouldn't eat one nugget. I knew he wasn't being bad, just wasn't hungry. Before we could leave though, he wanted me to watch an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place to see if I knew who this guest was on the episode. Turns out it was Shakira, I told him he needed to show that episode to Jonas. Jonas loves Shakira. He was overseas 10 years ago, sitting in a meeting, and he said the meeting came to halt when one of her videos came on one of the TV's that was on. Must be nice to have that power.

I decided to get a couple of pics of POFQ lobby:







Jacob was super excited he was tall enough to touch that decoration. He doesn't notice his pants are too short because he has grown, but notices when he can reach up and touch things.

A boat had just left


So I told Jacob we should just walk to POR. It really is a beautiful walk. He didn't want to at first, but then agreed, plus I promised we would ride the boat back. As we were walking, a CM in a golf cart headed our way. Jacob asked if we could ask her for a ride. I told him no. Next thing I know, she pulls up next to us and asks where we are going, I told her POR and she said she was also and would we like a ride. Of course Jacob said yes, so she hoped out and fixed the back into a seat and we were on our way. She asked how we were enjoying our vacation and I told her we were just there for the day since my husband was overseas. That caused me to tear up a little bit. Guess I had been ignoring the thoughts. Told her we thought we would look at Christmas decorations. She went on to inform me that the decorations at POR had only be put up the night before. Boy did we have good timing.

She dropped us off up front, I thanked her and we headed through the main doors:




















After all my picture taking, we headed into the shop to look around. I just love shopping there at WDW. On our way out, a nice CM asked Jacob if he knew how to juggle and then proceeded to help him learn


Here he is juggling 5 balls


He joked when he saw me pull up my camera that I was going to blind him and ruin his act; I promised I wouldn't use the flash, that is why the picture is so yellow.

Continued in the next post:

 

[jmskinner]

After the juggling lesson, we headed back out to the boat and here is a photo tour of our way back to DTD:











I had tried to get a pic of that Swan on the way there, but he kept diving for fish, just as I would press the button. Got him this time though.





I love this shot


And I was feeling very patriotic and just had to get a pic of the flag on the back of the boat


One side note and a warning, our driver was fantastic on this trip back to DTD. He warned us to be careful if we ever stay at the Treehouse Villas. Seems a lot of people stay there and Disney has done such a great job of making people feel like they are out in the woods that they forget to pull the drapes closed at night. He said you wouldn't believe what all has been seen and reminded us of how late the boats travel down the river.

Jacob eventually got use to his medicine and now tells me what his homework is and his grades have improved. He gets his homework done without me having to constantly redirect him. It's always hard to go through this, but when I see him being more successful in school and with his friends, I know it is helping him.

Next up, another Dismeet and I finally get to see Mickey's Jingle Jungle Christmas Parade....is that what it is called.