All the Makings of a Disaster, The Wrap up 11/20

[luckylady]

All caught up now. Funny how father and son switched places on pouting. I will say tho for your DH, being from the North ya'll aren't used to the high temps with humidity. It tends to suck the life out of you if you don't drink a lot of water and duck into AC every once in a while. Love the shirts the boys wore to CP. Could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw them both, male teenagers, in Disney shirts. Love DS#2s shirt that is wicked looking. THe picture of the boys and nanny at CR priceless. It's ones like those they will cherish when grandparents are no longer there. Can't wait for more.

 

[lurkernj]

All caught up now. Funny how father and son switched places on pouting. I will say tho for your DH, being from the North ya'll aren't used to the high temps with humidity. It tends to suck the life out of you if you don't drink a lot of water and duck into AC every once in a while. Love the shirts the boys wore to CP. Could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw them both, male teenagers, in Disney shirts. Love DS#2s shirt that is wicked looking. THe picture of the boys and nanny at CR priceless. It's ones like those they will cherish when grandparents are no longer there. Can't wait for more.

Yeah, I guess the pouting thing is a learned behavior. Hope my boys don't pick up on it. We do drain quickly in the heat/humidity, though I have to say that NJ weather has gotten pretty bad in the summer over the past few years, but not Florida bad.

I know, I was surprised that the boys agreed to wear the shirts. I ordered them before the trip and when I showed them, they weren't all weirded out. I tried to pick "cool" shirts, so it wouldn't be such a big deal for them. I wanted everyone to wear a Disney shirt on that first day we were all together so we could get some good shots, but unfortunately we didn't get very many.

The boys are so good with their Nanny and Pop and love being with them, and vice versa.

 

[shalom]

I think a large part of this was that Chuck let them bring their laptops and they like to play computer games on there, especially Matt. I seriously think he has an addiction with these games as I often have to kick him off on the weekends to get him outside with his friends.

I'd totally not allow our kids to bring all their computer stuff on vacations, but their dad would never agree to it. Mostly because he won't give his up! I've got a bit of an addiction to Internet myself, but OTOH I enjoy being free of that on vacation, so not quite the same sort of addiction.

We separate at the parks, so staying by myself wouldn't be a big deal if I wanted to do it, but I know that not all families are cool with that. I can understand when people want to do the parks together, even though it's not my thing, but I don't get why people get grief for staying when everyone else is just going to crash anyhow. People are strange, that's what.

 

[lurkernj]

I'd totally not allow our kids to bring all their computer stuff on vacations, but their dad would never agree to it. Mostly because he won't give his up! I've got a bit of an addiction to Internet myself, but OTOH I enjoy being free of that on vacation, so not quite the same sort of addiction.

We separate at the parks, so staying by myself wouldn't be a big deal if I wanted to do it, but I know that not all families are cool with that. I can understand when people want to do the parks together, even though it's not my thing, but I don't get why people get grief for staying when everyone else is just going to crash anyhow. People are strange, that's what.

I hate when they bring their computers on vacation anywhere, it's too much of a draw for them. I do bring my ipad, but I dont spend much time on it at all, just uploading pics and checking mail, and maybe some disboards when I'm in Disney. This also prevented me from allowing mousekeeping in the room, as there were now three laptops and my ipad in there. I wasn't worried about mousekeeping stealing them, but sometimes the door wouldn't shut all the way without a pull to click the lock and I didn't want to chance that they wouldn't pull the door shut all the way.

Yeah, I agree with the separating in the parks thing. It's tough to stay together when some don't want to do something that someone else wants to do, then inevitably someone is just sitting around waiting for someone else.

 

[lurkernj]

By 4:15, Chuck was raring to go since he was excited for an evening in Epcot and some wine drinking, it was the soft opening of the food and wine festival.

The plan was to not have an actual dinner, since we had a bigger lunch, and just snack our way around the food/wine festival. By the time we got the boys up and everyone was ready, it was almost 5. We got the bus and through security, it was just about 5:30 before making it over to World showcase. Right at the entranceway are the cranberry bog guys.

We went the Canada route first. Matt loves steak, so he got the mushroom filet. I wish I would have gotten this too, as we ended up not getting many things and this looked good.

Next stop was Ireland. I knew I wanted that fishermans pie. This was pretty good.

Brian wanted a crepe in France (just the regular stand), so he got one of those. I didn't get a pic. We went over to the hops and barley booth because I wanted to get a lobster roll. They were only accepting cash as their computers were down. I wasn’t willing to fork over $7.50 when I had a boatload of snack credits.

Instead, we stopped somewhere, I can't remember where, maybe Japan?, and Brian got this Mahi Mahi. I snagged a taste and it was very very delicious. Wished I had gotten this as well.

I can’t recall the exact order of countries and when it rained, but somewhere in here I stopped at the Italy kiosk and got some ravioli and sausage/peppers. When I got in line, they said they’d be ready in 5 minutes. Well, after 15 minutes and about 40 people piled up waiting, the ravioli finally came out. While waiting I tried the sausage and peppers, so I didn't get a pic since I was squished in like a sardine. It was really good, but passed it over to Chuck so he could have some.

I told them not to wait and to go onto the Poland booth that the in-laws were dying to try since they are Polish. Pierogies were good, but nothing compared to Nanny’s homemade apparently. Chuck and Matt got the sausage on a pretzel in Germany while this was going on. I caught up when I got my ravioli. I ate two and gave the rest to Matt. I think there were 4 or 5 small ones in there, with a meat sauce.

I think right around here it started to pour. We hustled over to Japan figuring if I had to be stuck somewhere, it might as well be here since they have the coolest store. The kids picked out some of the weird candy, and I ended up doing the pick a pearl. We all got a kick out of the ceremony that goes along with this. Even the boys participated

Brian was pretty funny, his Godmother gave him some spending money and he saw a wallet he wanted. He kept himmin and hawin about whether it was worth $25. I told him if he liked it that much, just get it. I hadn't seen what it looked like yet, but he went over and purchased it. When I asked to see it, he pulled it out of the bag and it was a bright orange Dragon ball Z velcro wallet that was probably really worth $3. What a nerd. When we got back to the room later on, he swithced out all his stuff out of nice leather one he had and gave the leather one to me and asked me to hold onto it so he could have it back if he gets a girlfriend. I'm just picturing how sexy it would be for him to be whipping out his velcor Dragonball z wallet on a date I have a feeling he'll be single for a while.

Once we were bored with Japan, we sprinted to the American pavilion to do the show there. I’ve seen it before and liked it, but some of the group hadn’t seen it, and it was still raining pretty hard. When this was over, the boys wanted to venture out on their own and check out the rest of the booths, so off they went. I think they got a couple of things, but not much.

Nanny and Pop wanted to go to the germany booth, so we waited while they were getting their pretzel sausage creation. While we were waiting, Chuck mentioned how he wanted to go to the wine bar in Italy but needed to ditch his parents. I told him I’d go, but he needs to tell them. He said ok. They come back over to us and say “ok what’s next”. Chuck says nothing and we begin to walk with them. I think his mom figured out that he wanted to do something, probably because I’m staring at him waiting for him to speak, and she said they were getting tired and were going to head out.

So, off we went to Tutto Gusto for some wine. We each ordered a wine flight.

The bar wasn’t crowded at all and the bartender was very social and was telling us the history of some of the wines and some that came from his home region. Then the manager came over and was also talking about the different wines. Chuck jumped in to clarify that we are new to the wine scene and that we appreciate the information. We didn’t want them to think we knew what we were doing, since we were probably just nodding our heads with blank looks on our faces. This worked to our advantage as they started giving us some free samples of various wines while explaining the regions etc. I couldn’t tell you any of it now, but it seemed interesting at the time.

We left the bar(a little tipsy since we haven’t eaten much) around 8:25. The plan was to hit up a few more food booths on our way around, but everything was closed already except Mexico. We got a shrimp taco and a rib eye taco and shared them. The shrimp one was really good, but the rib eye was gross. The sauce on it was so overpowering.

So, overall, I was disappointed in my food and wine experience, as I only got to try three booths, and will definitely need a re-do here.

Chuck didn’t want to see the fireworks, so we got some skoolbread for breakfast, then headed out. We stopped by the photopass photog on our way out for a few pics.

Then got on the bus for a very unrestful ride. There was this kid that was screaming from the minute we got on the bus to the minute we got off. I don’t mean crying either, I mean screaming like he was being beaten. Everyone on the bus was looking at each other uncomfortably wondering why the parents aren’t trying to comfort/quiet the kid. We ended up getting off at the South depot so we could fill our mugs and get away from the noise.

I called the kids from the foodcourt to see if they were hungry. And they were since they only stopped at one more booth each. So I got a make your own pasta for Brian and I to split (he ended up eating almost all of it) and a Pizza for Matt. I got them each a brownie and chocolate milk for breakfast since Chuck and I had our skoolbread. Gotta love breakfast in Disney.

 

[wuzzy6]

DH and I are definitely going to have to go to the F&W Festival one of these days - it all looks so good!!!

I also want to try the Pick-A-Pearl! Did you choose a setting there? I'd love to see how it turned out - looks like you got a good one!

 

[lurkernj]

DH and I are definitely going to have to go to the F&W Festival one of these days - it all looks so good!!!

I also want to try the Pick-A-Pearl! Did you choose a setting there? I'd love to see how it turned out - looks like you got a good one!

I loved the f/w fest and wish I had more time there. I think my next trip will have to be during this time. I had a nice list of things I wanted to try and it just didn't work out this time, and I didn't have a single alcoholic beverage during the f/w fest (except what we got in Tutto gusto, but you can get that anytime).

The pick a pearl was fun. The salesperson said mine was pretty large. I didnt get a setting yet, as it was getting really crowded with the rain outside, so I'll have to plan to do that next time around.

 

[lurkernj]

This day has us up at 6:45 again. I want to be at the bus by 7:15 since it is EMH at DHS and the goal is to ride TSM as many times as we can fit in.

We get there about 7:40 and they don’t open til 7:55, no early (earlier) entry today. Brian and I take everyone’s cards and head back to get fastpasses. Just as we are done, the rest of them are moseying on over, so we get on the ride with maybe a 15 min wait. Our fastpasses are for 9-10a. I tried to get a photo with Matt wearing his potato head shirt with Mr. potato head, but the lighting didn't come out right, but here's the result

After we ride, the kids and I head over to TOT. The wait was only 10 minutes. Here's our redneck photo, we are in the front row to the right

After TOT, we head over to RnR and the wait says 30 min. The kids don’t want to wait. I ask if they want to get a fastpass, but they say no, they’d rather get the fastpass for TSM again. On the way back to TSM, we stopped for this photopass pic

Chuck and the in-laws went over to the muppet theater then met us back at TSM. So we head back and ride TSM again, then get another fastpass for 1:20-2:20.

Then we go on the Great movie ride and star tours.

Brian’s picture comes up during the star wars ride as he is named “the Rebel spy”. We all got a chuckle out of that as it was very unexpected.

We head back over to the muppets cause the kids want to go in there.

I apparently left my sunglasses in the theater somewhere. They weren't expensive or anything, I had ordered them off the internet because these were the ones with the readers on the bottom part so it was making it easy to read the park maps etc, but for the rest of the trip, I had the regular glasses on my head and the sunglasses on my eyes so I could do the switch

The in-laws opt out of the muppets and go in a gift shop. We head over to do the backlot tour (zzzzzz) to kill some time before our lunch res. Along the way we see these guys and get some photos

I have to say that everyone was really good about getting character photos. I don't think there were any complaints or eyerolls (that I saw, unless maybe that's what Matt is doing in this picture), I mean I wasn't asking them to stand with princesses or anything, so I guess they didnt' mind.

Now it’s time for our 50’s primetime lunch res. I hate the waiting area for this restaurant. It’s such a project and no matter where you stand, you’re in someone’s way. And they’re yelling names and you have no idea what they are saying unless they are next to you. We get our table about 15 min after our res time.

We get put in one of the back rooms, which I appreciate since it is at least quiet. I don’t remember our waitress’ name, but she was in character and funny. I kept getting in trouble for putting my elbows on the table and eventually she had Matt put these where my elbows go.

Here Matt is cracking up because he was trying to get me in trouble and smeared the ketchup on my elbow. I got even though and took the napkin and wiped it across his face. So now we were both covered in Ketchup Yep, real mature

Here's Chuck as he's seeing the Ketchup mele and waiting for us to get in trouble.

Luckily our waitress was pretty busy by this time and didn't have time to scold us, so we get away with one

After lunch, we rode Toy Story for the third time. I think I finally beat Brian here, but I can’t remember the scores.

Now it was after 2p and I needed to leave to go to Wide World of Sports to pick up the race packets for the Halloween 5k that was being held the next morning. Chuck said he wanted to come with me even though I wanted him to go nap since we had MNSSHP later that night and I didn’t want him having a meltdown and wrecking the party that I am so looking forward to.

I decided we’d take a cab instead of the bus switching ordeal so that we can get back sooner and he can get some sleep. This was the best $15 spent on the trip, as we were there in 10 minutes. I was thrilled when we picked up our stuff to see that our names were printed on our race bibs. They said the cut-off was August 1 to get your name on it, and I signed us up almost two weeks late, but it was there!!!

After we got our stuff, we went back to find the buses to the resorts. This was a little confusing as there weren’t signs and only a few resorts have regular buses to this area. The race buses were actually somewhere else entirely and none of the regular bus drivers knew where we should be. I guess most people come on these busses and already know where to get back on them.

In any case, we were back at our room by 3:30 and sound asleep immediately (the boys were already asleep).

 

[shalom]

Never heard of "the cranberry bog guys." So do they do some sort of presentation, or just slog around in their bog and mess with the surrounding plants, or what? The one guy looks like he's thinking, "These are some sad plants; mine are this high," while the other guy seems to be addressing a garden with marigolds while ignoring the people behind him who're close to the bog.

Looking more closely, I see what looks to be the edge of a rain cape on the side there, so likely that's not a garden but just a row of marigolds around the edge. So apparently they do talk to people -- but do they represent Canada or what?

 

[wuzzy6]

I love the ketchup mickeys on the napkins in the spots where you kept putting your elbows on the table!

 

[lurkernj]

Never heard of "the cranberry bog guys." So do they do some sort of presentation, or just slog around in their bog and mess with the surrounding plants, or what? The one guy looks like he's thinking, "These are some sad plants; mine are this high," while the other guy seems to be addressing a garden with marigolds while ignoring the people behind him who're close to the bog.

Looking more closely, I see what looks to be the edge of a rain cape on the side there, so likely that's not a garden but just a row of marigolds around the edge. So apparently they do talk to people -- but do they represent Canada or what?

I guess they answer questions. I just saw them talking to people, but not in a presenting sort of way. They are at the entrance to world showcase, so they aren't representing any country.

I love the ketchup mickeys on the napkins in the spots where you kept putting your elbows on the table!

ah those special touches!

 

[lurkernj]

Hi all! I've been a bit out of touch here in nj where I just got power back today after sandy hit Monday night. I've had my iPhone, but the battery life isn't very long and we didn't have a generator, but some of the nearby family members did, so we could recharge when we needed. I havent had work all week and the kids havent had school either. We've played lots of yatzee and told a lot of dirty jokes.

Our town fared pretty well with just some downed trees and wires, no flooding, but the poor jersey shore area is a mess as I'm sure you've seen on tv.

Anyways, I didn't abandon my report and will be back by Monday to get in my next update!

 

[shalom]

Hi all! I've been a bit out of touch here in nj where I just got power back today after sandy hit Monday night.

I wondered if Sandy might be involved! Glad to hear you're okay.

 

[lurkernj]

I wondered if Sandy might be involved! Glad to hear you're okay.

Thanks for checking in! Things are back to normal for me at this point, I almost feel guilty that such a large portion of the state is still in disarray, and for us it's business as usual (well except that gas shortage issue).

 

[lurkernj]

When I last left off we had returned to the room for a nap after picking up our race packets.

We woke up at 5 and it was thundering loudly and pouring out, so we got ready and left around 5:40 when it slowed a bit. It was just Chuck and I going tonight as the boys were heading to Disney quest and the in-laws were just going to DTD to shop and get something to eat.

After passing the “sold out” sign, we headed through bag check, and were off to see the seven dwarves. It had stopped raining at this point, but was crazy humid. I think we got in line around 6:25.

The line was already kind of long, but I was waiting no matter what. The dwarves came out right at 7. It was really funny watching other people interact with them. Chuck started cracking up and turned to me saying that he can’t believe this guy was actually crying, so I looked up and these two grown men had just gotten their picture taken and the one was flat out bawling. True story. Pretty funny stuff. It was about 7:40 before we were done.

Here's our pic

Chuck wanted to ride splash since we were awfully moist from waiting in line in that stifling back location where they have the Dwarves tucked away. We got pretty wet and smelled like an old wet towel the rest of the night.

I believe we did some trick or treating and got the two ghost magic shots

After all these ghosts, we just had to ride haunted mansion. This chick was waiting on the lawn and was hitting on my husband She said he was a cute one worth waiting for and wanted to know his name. He kept trying to walk away, but she kept talking til he finally told her his name was Bob

We wandered around for a bit just checking people out. There were some really clever costumes. We skipped the first parade and did some more trick or treating.

After a bit, I was hungry so we stopped at Cosmic rays to get a sandwich. This was a great Turkey sandwich, and I got the cucumber salad and chocolate gelato for dessert. Everything was very good. Chuck got a chicken sandwich that you can see in the background, and the mango gelato.

Then it was time for the fireworks.

Luckily, Chuck is being very good this night so I didn’t take any offense to what happens next.

After being with Chuck for 25 years, he declared during this trip, at this party, that he isn’t a fan of fireworks, and never has been. WHAT???!!! I thought it was strange that he left the MK on Wednesday right before the fireworks, and same for Epcot the next day.

He asked if I minded if he waited on the tomorrowland bridge. No big deal I suppose, but why are we just discussing this now, bizarre? He's been watching fireworks with me for 25 years

If he was busy pouting, I would have attributed this to part of the overall meltdown and I probably would have been annoyed, but since he does seem to be enjoying himself, I just found it bizarre and went about my business heading to Mainstreet alone.

I wanted to see the Villians mix and mingle, but it was so crowded by the hub that I just wanted to get away from there.

We decided we wanted to watch the parade from frontierland in hopes of it not being as crazy as main street. This worked out great. I didn’t need front row, I just wanted to sit. We found a place by pecos bills that we could sit on a ledge. There were people in front of us who were also sitting on this ledge, but we could see fine. I accidentally got this great pic of the headless horseman.

I pressed the button too soon, but since there was a delay, it worked out perfectly! I just love this parade.

After the parade, we decided we’d done everything we wanted to do so we went into adventureland to head out. We saw Jack Sparrow there with a bit of a line, but not ridiculously long.

Chuck asked if I wanted to wait. I said sure. They ended up closing the line right behind me. I waited about 10 minutes and the line barely moved. I think two different kids and one set of adults went. He was having sword fights and lengthy conversations with each party, which is great if you’re one of those folks up front. But I was going to be waiting at least another half hour. I decided I was really tired and had to get up at 5:15 for the race in the morning, so we ended up leaving Jack.

So we get on the bus, and lo and behold, there is a screaming kid on here too. Chuck swears it’s the same kid, and I suppose it could very well be since we’re apparently staying at the same resort. And this kid kept wailing.

The. Whole. Way. Home.

It was late, we were tired, and we were standing, and it didn’t help that MK was probably the longest bus ride we would encounter (or so we thought…oooohhh foreshadowing).

This got the award for the worst bus ride of the trip. Oh, and I realized I forgot to stop to get the Mickey popcorn bucket and the Halloween sorcerers card.

We were back in our room and ready for bed at midnight.

 

[shalom]

We were back in our room and ready for bed at midnight.

Midnight? And you're getting up at 5:15?

I'd've found Jack hard to resist. The Jack we saw in 2010 was terrific.

 

[lurkernj]

Midnight? And you're getting up at 5:15?

I'd've found Jack hard to resist. The Jack we saw in 2010 was terrific.

Sadly, yes I was getting up at 5:15, which ended up being 5:30. I wouldn't recommend it, but unfortunately neither event was moveable, so we needed to suck it up. I did plan a light day for after the race.

Yes, it pained me to pass over Jack, but the lack of line movement was the deciding factor. Just means I'll need to get him next time

 

[pattiken]

Just caught up on your trip report. We were in Disney at same time .
I agree with your soft opening report at epcot we were there that night too and it wasnt that great and we didnt get to try as many things either..I expected more

enjoying the report

 

[TMGosizk]

Reading along and really enjoying your TR!! Your trip has been very fun to read about so far! Looking forward to more!!

 

[lurkernj]

Just caught up on your trip report. We were in Disney at same time .
I agree with your soft opening report at epcot we were there that night too and it wasnt that great and we didnt get to try as many things either..I expected more

enjoying the report

I would still go to the soft opening, but I would make sure I had another day to go also. I think the rain impacted our feasting as well as Chucks desire to sit at the wine bar. But yeah, definitely need a re-do and more time. There are so many delicious looking things there that I didn't get to this time!

Reading along and really enjoying your TR!! Your trip has been very fun to read about so far! Looking forward to more!!

Thanks! Glad to have you along for the ride