And They Lived Happily Ever After - A June '11 Disneymoon TR! THE END - NEW PTR!

[Lady Lallie]

What a cliffhanger!!

I've never eaten at the commissary but the menu doesn't really do much for me besides when I'm at DHS I usually have lunch at Brown Derby.

Good for you for conquering Rock & Roller Coaster. You are a braver gal than I am!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sounds like a great start to the day! Yay for you for being brave enough to not only ride RNRC, not only one, but twice!!

I love the keychain you got--I actually have the same one!!

Yes, you definitely left us with a cliffhanger--I hope nothing bad happened!!

 

[ronnmel]

Good for you for braving RNR twice in a row!!! I love this roller coaster, but I usually need to space out my rides a little.

So cruel of you to leave us hanging with what happens next! Can't wait to read it!

 

[Jennifer48]

I agree with you regarding the TSM bullrun. I could easily just spend 1/2 day at DHS and TSM is the only reason we get up early to go there!

Good for you for conquering RnRC! I have to admit though, your ride photos are very funny!

I love the Streetmosphere at DHS! DH and I sat on a bench once for hours watching them up and down Hollywood Blvd.

Never had good food at Commissary, blech.

cliffhanger!!

 

[disneybarbie]

Looks like a fun morning so far at DHS! we're the same - got to get there for rope drop and do the Toy Story Mania dash

We ate at the ABC Commissary last December, I had the chicken curry & quite enjoyed it.. although it was an unusual thing to see on a counter service menu

I am worried about what you saw next!!


Emma x

 

[klacey1]

We stick with Pizza Planet for CS at DHS-- basic but dependable! I've heard way too many bad things about ABC Commissary!
Girl, what a cliffhanger! You better update again soon!

 

[CandleontheWater]

Good job for conquering your fear of RnRc! We have gotten my SIL on once, and she says never again, but we haven't stopped pestering her about it.

I usually get the chicken curry if we go to the cantina, but more often than not you will find us eating at backlot express. Can't go wrong with chicken fingers!

I am VERY curious about what you saw, come back soon and let us know!

 

[Nermel9]

I think it's annoying to plan a whole day around one attraction also, so I think from now on, we will just do the standby line and if it's too long, just skip TSM! It's a lot of fun, but I'm really wishing the hype would die down!

I can't believe you did RnRC 2 times! I love the pictures, Miguel looks like he's having a great time and you look terrified!

I don't think I've ever been to the Commissary, and after everything I read about it here, I don't think I ever will!

OMG I hope you update soon, I want to hear about the terrifying thing that happened!

 

[pjennings]

My husband wants me to ride RnRC but I am afraid to ride it. I hate to go upside down! Our past trip my girls were to short to ride but our next trip they will be tall enough and I have a feeling I will get roped into rising it IF both girls decide to ride it. I can hope and pray one of them will not want to ride it.

We live in Memphis where BBQ is an art form and we love to eat BBQ nachos!!

 

[Mrs T 2009]

Sounds like a pretty good start to your day at DHS Boo that commisary was a bust on food and that TSM was down.... I'm waiting on this cliffhanger!!!!!!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

I can't take it, what happened?!?!?!?!

 

[Joyciemc]

Courtney, you have a lot of folks hanging on your next update!
Seriously, though... what happened??


I ruined TSM for us by making us wait so long for it twice... and then missing out on a FP cause the guy in front of us was incapable of using the FP machine without help form a CM and it still took him enough time that the FPs ran out before our turn. We didn't like the ride enough, anyway. Now we sleep in on our DHS day

 

[Shannon84]

I was so nervous about the TSM dash that I handed DF my park ticket and told him to stay with the crowd and I would meet up with him, it was CRAZY!! But he loves that sort of thing and did great getting our passes

The cliffhanger is killing me....what happened?!?

 

[xoktenox]

Hey! I'm a little late but I'm subbing

I will be Disneymooning in less than a year now...I've only gotten through your first update but I love everything so far!

I need to ask you, where did you get that Bride shirt you wore on the drive to WDW?! I LOVE IT AND NEED IT IN MY LIFE

Excited to read more!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

You can't leave us with a cliffhanger like that, you just can't!!!!!

The update is finally coming up! Sorry for making you wait so long!

I agree!! Tell us, tell us.

Coming up now!

What a cliffhanger!!

I've never eaten at the commissary but the menu doesn't really do much for me besides when I'm at DHS I usually have lunch at Brown Derby.

Good for you for conquering Rock & Roller Coaster. You are a braver gal than I am!

I even impressed myself with my bravery! I still can't believe I managed to do two back to back rides on RnRC!

I really want to try the Brown Derby sometime!

Sounds like a great start to the day! Yay for you for being brave enough to not only ride RNRC, not only one, but twice!!

I love the keychain you got--I actually have the same one!!

Yes, you definitely left us with a cliffhanger--I hope nothing bad happened!!

I love that little keychain, too! I still have it on my purse.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Good for you for braving RNR twice in a row!!! I love this roller coaster, but I usually need to space out my rides a little.

So cruel of you to leave us hanging with what happens next! Can't wait to read it!

I think I would have been better with more time in between rides. I was definitely over it after two!

I agree with you regarding the TSM bullrun. I could easily just spend 1/2 day at DHS and TSM is the only reason we get up early to go there!

Good for you for conquering RnRC! I have to admit though, your ride photos are very funny!

I love the Streetmosphere at DHS! DH and I sat on a bench once for hours watching them up and down Hollywood Blvd.

Never had good food at Commissary, blech.

cliffhanger!!

Our rides photos on RnRC pretty much display exactly how we are on the ride. I'm in fear the whole time and Miguel thinks it's hysterical!

Looks like a fun morning so far at DHS! we're the same - got to get there for rope drop and do the Toy Story Mania dash

We ate at the ABC Commissary last December, I had the chicken curry & quite enjoyed it.. although it was an unusual thing to see on a counter service menu

I am worried about what you saw next!!


Emma x

I was sad that our meal at the Commissary was so ad this time around. I was so hoping that we would have a repeat of our first meal.

We stick with Pizza Planet for CS at DHS-- basic but dependable! I've heard way too many bad things about ABC Commissary!
Girl, what a cliffhanger! You better update again soon!

I will keep Pizza Planet on my list of places to try since the Commissary has been marked off!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Good job for conquering your fear of RnRc! We have gotten my SIL on once, and she says never again, but we haven't stopped pestering her about it.

I usually get the chicken curry if we go to the cantina, but more often than not you will find us eating at backlot express. Can't go wrong with chicken fingers!

I am VERY curious about what you saw, come back soon and let us know!

I actually said never again after my first ride, too! The next rides are definitely easier!

I think it's annoying to plan a whole day around one attraction also, so I think from now on, we will just do the standby line and if it's too long, just skip TSM! It's a lot of fun, but I'm really wishing the hype would die down!

I can't believe you did RnRC 2 times! I love the pictures, Miguel looks like he's having a great time and you look terrified!

I don't think I've ever been to the Commissary, and after everything I read about it here, I don't think I ever will!

OMG I hope you update soon, I want to hear about the terrifying thing that happened!

I know - you would think that the hype over TSM would be gone by now! I wonder it if ever will be? I would love to not have to plan my day around one attraction!

My husband wants me to ride RnRC but I am afraid to ride it. I hate to go upside down! Our past trip my girls were to short to ride but our next trip they will be tall enough and I have a feeling I will get roped into rising it IF both girls decide to ride it. I can hope and pray one of them will not want to ride it.

We live in Memphis where BBQ is an art form and we love to eat BBQ nachos!!

I must say, the upside down is actually not too bad. By the time you realize you're upside down, it's over. To me, the worst part is the take off! It makes me scream every time!

Sounds like a pretty good start to your day at DHS Boo that commisary was a bust on food and that TSM was down.... I'm waiting on this cliffhanger!!!!!!

Sorry to keep you waiting! The update is coming up soon!

I can't take it, what happened?!?!?!?!

Sorry to make you wait so long! The update is coming up now!

Courtney, you have a lot of folks hanging on your next update!
Seriously, though... what happened??


I ruined TSM for us by making us wait so long for it twice... and then missing out on a FP cause the guy in front of us was incapable of using the FP machine without help form a CM and it still took him enough time that the FPs ran out before our turn. We didn't like the ride enough, anyway. Now we sleep in on our DHS day

I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting! The update is coming up now!

I was so nervous about the TSM dash that I handed DF my park ticket and told him to stay with the crowd and I would meet up with him, it was CRAZY!! But he loves that sort of thing and did great getting our passes

The cliffhanger is killing me....what happened?!?

I get nervous that Miguel and I are going to be separated! It can be so crazy!

Hey! I'm a little late but I'm subbing

I will be Disneymooning in less than a year now...I've only gotten through your first update but I love everything so far!

I need to ask you, where did you get that Bride shirt you wore on the drive to WDW?! I LOVE IT AND NEED IT IN MY LIFE

Excited to read more!!

Thanks for joining in! Congrats on your upcoming Disneymoon! I got my shirt at the disney store online. I'm not sure if they still have the same one, but they normally have some sort of bride tee.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Hi everyone! I am SOOOO sorry that I left you all hanging with my little cliffhanger of an ending on my last post! I thought I was going to get the next update up a few days after that one, and here I am almost THREE weeks later! I don't think I've ever gone that long between updates! I have been such a bad DISer lately. I feel like I'm neglecting my TR and all of my subscriptions. I promise I have a good reason though! I have finally made it to the final class of my MBA program (and my school career)! In about 5 weeks I will officially be done with school FOREVER. I am so excited. As I anticipated, though, this final class is ALOT of work. My class is divided into teams and we are running an online simulation of a company where we have to make all of the decisions for a hypothetical 8 years. It's exhausting to say the least, and it's taking up way more of my time than I would like.

Hopefully by mid-December I will be back to my regularly-scheduled DISing. In the meantime, I am determined to get this TR finished! I was just thinking the other day about how I could not believe that our next trip is less than 3 months away! I don't even feel like I'm going back to Disney any time soon. I really think it's because I haven't been able to start my PTR! My goal is to wrap this report up by the end of the month so I can have the entire months of December and January for my PTR since we leave for our next trip on February 4! Hopefully I will stick to that! I apologize for not being around here and on your reports as much as I would like!

So anyway, here is the long-anticipated conclusion to day 7 of our trip! Day 8 is in the next post!

DAY 7 – Pt. 2

When I last left off, Miguel had went to get a set of Ps for either RnRC or ToT (I told him he could decide), and I was waiting on a ledge around the entrance to One Man’s Dream. I was sitting there, playing around on my phone when I witnessed the scariest thing I had ever seen at Disney. There were two groups of adults and two children walking next to each other, so I assumed that they were together. The child in one of the groups was a teenager, and the child in the other group was a toddler who was in a stroller. One minute they were just leisurely walking along, and the next thing I knew I heard panicked screams and crying and I looked over and the baby in the stroller was now on the pavement and the teenage boy was kicking and trampling him. The father of each of the boys quickly pulled their sons to safety, while the mothers pretty much doubled-over and wailed. It was TERRIBLE. I did not see how the little boy got on the ground (did he fall out of the stroller, did the teenager force him out?) I know that something was wrong with the teenage boy (I don’t want to speculate what it was an make myself sound ignorant) and I felt horrible for all of the parties. I could tell by the way that they interacted afterwards that they were not one big group like I thought they were, which made the situation even worse.

I tried my best to just bury my head in my phone, but it was almost impossible not to watch the aftermath. Some official-looking people from Disney quickly appeared and separated the two groups. Meanwhile, due to the teenagers’ illness, he screamed and wailed and kept hitting himself in the head, so his father kept trying to restrain him and the baby was further down the walkway screaming himself. I will say it again – it was TERRIBLE.

It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to make me absolutely sick to my stomach. I feel sick now just thinking about it, and to be honest, it kind of put a damper on the rest of our day. I am very sensitive to things like that. I hate to see people fight or to witness another person get hurt. And when it’s a baby being hurt in such a terrible way – needless to say it was heavy on my mind all day!

Finally, Miguel returned from getting the FPs and I must have looked as white as a ghost because he wandered what was wrong. Thankfully both boys had calmed down now, so life in the corner of DHS had pretty much returned to normal for everyone who didn’t witness the event. I quickly explained what had happened and suggested that we get out of there as quickly as possible.

When we were walking away, we walked right by the bench that the baby and the father were waiting on. I felt a little better to see that the baby was now smiling and the father looked calm as well. The mother had still not recovered at all, but I guess that is to be expected.

I was so happy when we say the entrance to Lights, Motors, Action because I really wanted to get my mind off of the accident!

Even though we got into the ampitheatre pretty close to the start of the show, we were able to get a good seat, and we settled in to watch the show!

I knew that Miguel would love this show, but what I didn’t know was how much I would enjoy it! Since I love the “backstage” portion of film and theater, I found this show to be really interesting. It is so neat to see how action sequences are filmed. We ooohhed and aahhhed the whole time!

After the show, it was finally time to do TSM! We were hoping that the ride was going to be back up and running by the time we got there, and thankfully it was! It was fun as always!

Sadly, that’s Miguel on the right. At least we were close!

Next up was Star Tours. We were both really excited to experience the updates. This attraction just isn’t one of my favorites (I have no interest in Star Wars) so I wasn’t super impressed with the attraction as a whole, but the improvements were impressing, if that makes sense.

By this point, we still had over an hour before our Fantasmic dinner ADR, but neither of us were hungry and we were really wanting to just get out of the park for a while and rest at the Poly. After a quick debate, we both decided to cancel our Mama Melrose ADR and go ahead and leave DHS, even though it meant that we wouldn’t be seeing Fantasmic, in favor of a more relaxing evening.

Back at the Poly, we decided to head to the Volcano pool again. We found a spot over at the bar and Miguel went to get us our usual drinks, while I got a couple of snacks from Captain Cooks.

Miguel mostly lounged in the pool while I read a magazine and just relaxed. It was so nice!

Eventually, we were both getting hungry, and once again we had the desire to try and find a last-minute ADR. Neither of us really wanted to venture out, so I tried the two restaurants at the Poly. ‘Ohana had no availability, not surprisingly, but Kona was available, so I made us a late dinner reservation to give us plenty of time to enjoy the pool some more and get ready without needing to rush.

Around 8:30, it was time to go to Kona!

I had really wanted to try this restaurant, and I was disappointed that our schedule had originally not allowed us to eat there, so I was very excited to try it!

After checking in, we only waited about 5 minutes before being led to our table.

Since Miguel loves the potstickers at ‘Ohana, we decided to get an order of them to start our meal.

Unfortunatley, these didn’t quite meet our expectations. They were primarily made of duck, which we’re just not huge fans of.

Now this, we were huge fans of.

Oh my goodness, that has got to be the best bread and butter I have ever eaten. I could have just eaten the butter with a spoon it was so amazing. We ended up getting a whole loaf to go and Miguel ate it the next morning!

For our entrees, we both went with the lo mein. I got the chicken, and Miguel got the shrimp.

Neither of us were blown away, but we did enjoy it. If we eat at Kona again, we would probably get something else, though.

We were doing the three-course meal, so we both got desserts. I chose the cheesecake, which was excellent, and Miguel got a pineapple upside down cake, which was kind of bland.

We left Kona feeling a little on the fence about the restaurant. Some parts of our meal were great (the bread, my cheesecake) but the rest of it was just ok. I think we would eat here in the future, but we might be more inclined to try it for lunch.

When we made it back to our room, we were both pretty exhausted so we soon got in to bed, watched some TV, and fell asleep.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 8

What I have learned about our “vacation style”, is that it’s pretty much pointless to schedule in relaxation days until about a week into our trip. Anytime before that and we are still itching to get to the parks early. But, once we hit that week mark we are more than ready to sleep in and take it easy!

Thankfully, our scheduled pool cabana day came just in time! We had now been at Disney for a full week and we were definitely ready to spend the better part of a day just relaxing at the Poly!

I had set an alarm for 9:30, a nice difference compared to my usual 7:00 alarm! Still though, Miguel was up by 9:00 and I soon followed. Miguel showered, and I made my usual morning walk down to Captain Cooks to grab some breakfast. This time, I went with the bounty platter, which comes with breakfast potatoes, a biscuit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and two French toast sticks. This is a lot of food and could definitely feed two people.

Sadly, most of my bounty platter went to waste, because it just wasn’t that good. The potatoes were decent, although some were very undercooked. The bacon was typical Disney bacon, so nothing to write home about. The eggs tasted ok, but I don’t really eat eggs so I skipped over those. The sausage was a little fatter than I normally liked, but was ok dipped in some syrup. The French toast sticks were pretty good, although standard, and the biscuit was as hard as a rock, so I didn’t eat it.

I did pick up a cheese Danish while at Captain Cooks, so that did help to fill me up since most of the bounty platter went in the trash. Once again, this was excellent! I ate half and saved the rest for later.

Miguel, not being much of a breakfast eater, sipped on some coffee and had some of the bread that we brought back from Kona the night before. After eating, we both got into our bathing suits and finally around 10:30, we were on our way to the cabana!

I had reserved the pool cabana months before our trip and was excited to finally be using it. We had been looking at them all week and they looked so nice! I checked in at the recreation stand and we were quickly introduced to Heather, our cabana attendant. She was super sweet, and led us over to a little area that had a wonderful view of the volcano pool.

Heather mentioned that another family had cancelled our reservation for the day, so we had our choice of cabanas. We picked the one with the best view of the pool and settled in.

The cabanas are so nice. There is enough room for 8 people, with a love seat, two padded lounge chairs, and four chairs (with two ottomans). There is also a table, a stand with towels, and a side table that houses a phone, service call remote, iHome radio/MP3 player and a mini-refrigerator with complimentary soft drinks and water.

You also get a complimentary fruit tray!

For about 30 minutes, I read a magazine while Miguel watched TV. We both enjoyed the view!

After a while, it was starting to heat up, so we dipped our toes into the pool and Miguel ventured down the slide again.

We then went back to the cabana to dry off and I went up to the room to grab my laptop so I could work on some of my trip report!

Around noon I decided to order us some room service. They deliver right to your cabana! I chose the cheeseburger and Miguel got a grilled chicken sandwich.

Our meals were really tasty! This was by far the best burger I had had the entire trip, since all of the others tasted like they were heated in the microwave!

The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent lounging around in the cabana. We would go get in the water every now and then, but for the most part we just enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of our little hideout. It actually started to rain at one point, so we closed all but one of the cabana curtains and just sat back and enjoyed the afternoon.

We had rented the cabana for the full day, which technically ended at 7:00, but around 6:00 we decided to call it a day and head back up to the room to shower and get ready for dinner.

It was sad to say good bye to the cabana. We enjoyed it so much! It is definitely the most relaxing day that either of us had had in a long time. If you’re going to be staying at a resort that has these available (I know the GF and Contemporary do as well) I would HIGHLY recommend reserving one, and I’d even say splurge and get the whole day rental. Once you get in there, I think it would be very hard to leave after only four hours! In my opinion, the cabanas are worth every single penny that you pay for them. It was one of the best planning decisions that I had made!

Around 7:30, after showers and sprucing up, we were ready to head out for our evening at the Yacht Club!

We had an ADR for the Yachtsman Steakhouse, and I was really excited to try it out after all of the great reviews that I had read. I was excited to see the YC, too! Surprisingly, neither one of us had ever been.

When we arrived at the Yacht Club, we had a little bit of extra time so we spent a few minutes exploring the lobby and taking pictures.

The YC is so rich-looking. To me, it has a very masculine feel. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful resort, but I think I’d pick the BC over the two. I was expecting them to have more of a similar feel, but they are definitely two different resorts!

We also ventured outside to explore.

Finally, it was time to get checked in for dinner!

After another minimal wait, we were taken to our table which was off in a sort of secluded room, which was nice. Our super sweet waitress didn’t waste any time, and brought us over a basket of the famous onion rolls.

This was seriously some of the yummiest bread I had ever eaten! We both loved them!

Since I planned on dessert, we decided to just share a salad, and chose the Ceaser, which was another hit.

I had been studying the menu at Yachtsman’s for months, and knew exactly what I wanted for my entrée – the short ribs ravioli with a blue cheese fondue. It was actually this dish that made me want to make the ADR in the first place. So, when I saw the menu and noticed that the blue cheese was now cheddar fondue, I was a little disappointed. I was looking forward to the blue cheese!

Sadly, I don’t think even the blue cheese could have saved this dish. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The ravioli was really just a big, thick sheet of doughy pasta. The short ribs were super greasy and so rich that you could barely eat more than a few bites. All of that green stuff piled on top was bitter and the flavors just really didn’t meld together well. The only thing that was decent was the cheese sauce, but it kind of added to the over-powering richness of the food even more.

Miguel went with an equally rich meal, and chose the gigantic Porterhouse that our waitress recommended. Now this was delicious! I wished I had of gotten it, because I kept eating Miguel’s! Thankfully it was plenty big enough for me to enjoy it too!

After our entrees had been cleared away, our waitress brought us a congratulations dessert along with the real dessert menu.

As I said, I had been studying the menu and I knew exactly what dessert I wanted. I can’t remember the exact name, but it is the banana dessert that every one raves about. Believe it or not, but it wasn’t on the menu! I couldn’t believe it!

I ended up choosing some sort of chocolate pistachio thing which was a complete waste of calories. It was dry and tasteless and was so not the banana dessert that I had been planning on for months!

Overall, we enjoyed our meal at Yachtsman. While it wasn’t quite as impressive as I was hoping, I think I did learn a lesson, and that is not to get your hopes up for a particular menu item! You never know when it’s not going to be served any more. I think we will try this restaurant again – but I will definitely get a steak!

After dinner, we were both pretty wiped out from our day of doing nothing! Haha. So, we decided to just head on back to the Poly and spend another evening just lounging around the room. It had been a wonderful, relaxing day!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Yay! You are back! (although my TR is going equally as slow sadly...and I don't have an MBA to blame ) I've decided that you must be the sweetest person the planet because the meal at Yachtsman looked awful and you still said you enjoyed it!

The cabana looked so nice. If Randy and I ever get around to an adult only trip again, I think we might have to look into that

The whole thing with the baby would have freaked me out. And not just because I work for CPS. Seriously, if your teen has that many violent tendancies due to whatever disorder...maybe a theme park full of small children isn't the best place to be