Around 'The World' in 7 Days -- The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

[distherapy]

Loving your report! As a Virginian (born and bred, though residing elsewhere) and sister of a now-NC girl (Greensboro), I appreciate it all the more!

 

[heaven2dc]

Hurray - you're back!! Loved the update - that was SO cool that Cody got picked to be a part of the Street Performers' show. What a fantastic memory

 

[Must C Mickey]

Loving your report! As a Virginian (born and bred, though residing elsewhere) and sister of a now-NC girl (Greensboro), I appreciate it all the more!

Greensboro!!! I am right next door to her in Winston Salem!!!

Hurray - you're back!! Loved the update - that was SO cool that Cody got picked to be a part of the Street Performers' show. What a fantastic memory

Thanks for tuning back in...It was such a great time and he was so proud to be the one picked. Those street performers are hilarious. We laughed til we cried...

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 5 – Animal Kingdom (Breakfast @ Tusker House)!

Forgive me DIS’ers, for I have sinned. But please don’t be too hard on me, I am not abandoning my TR totally…let’s just call it an almost 3 month hiatus. We’ve had some family issues, work issues and done a lot of traveling, but most of those things have worked themselves out now so….On With The Show!

Today was Wed, Jan 20th & our only Animal Kingdom day of the trip. It was supposed to be 74 degrees and sunny today so we were excited about the perfect weather forecast. Tonight is also EMH so we will take advantage of those as well.

When we entered the park, Tara and I sent our handy dandy Fast Pass retrieving hubby's off to grab us all FP’s for Expedition Everest while we took the kids and headed to Tusker House. We started off our morning by having a breakfast ADR at 10:15am for Donald’s Safari Breakfast. We arrived on time, checked in and waited til we were called. Once called, we walk around the backside of Tusker House (where the main entrance is) and met out first character of the day!!! There was Donald in his safari outfit and he was too cute. Notice that Cody wore his Donald shirt today for the sole reason that we were eating at Donald’s Safari Breakfast…and the fact that Donald is one of his two fav characters. Donald liked that Cody had him on his shirt and gave him a high 5 when we walked up. We all posed for our picture with Donald then walked inside to be seated.

We were seated, given our yummy juice and told to help ourselves to the buffet which is exactly what we did. We enjoyed biscuits and gravy, hash browns, fresh fruit, eggs, some African specialty foods and of course Mickey Waffles. (Sorry I don’t have any meal pics). Not long after we got back to the table from the buffet did the characters start making their way around. We took several pics w/ the characters and were soooo excited to see Daisy for the 1st time in person for a photo op.

I'm not real sure what's happening w/ Matt here and why such the face...

But it looks like he got things worked out...haha

We were a lil disappointed that Donald doesn’t come around to the tables. You only get your one chance w/ him and that is at the front.

A couple of us grabbed a piece of fruit from the fruit basket on our way out to eat later in the day. I threw my banana in Matt’s bag and we headed off to enjoy our day at Animal Kingdom.

Up next…A rhino gets rowdy on Kilimanjaro Safari.

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 5 – Animal Kingdom (a Rowdy Rhino and Leaky Pants)!

When I left off we had just finished our breakfast with Donald and were on our way to Kilimanjaro Safari since it was still pretty early in the day. I had read that the animals are more active in the morning so we definitely wanted to hurry that way. I was excited about getting some up close pics of the animals finally. We made our way thru a very short line and hopped on our vehicle for our trip into the safari!

Look at all of those crocodiles…scary

The rest of these are fairly close-up. Usually the animals are just a small spec in my pictures.

Now here is when we saw the rhino. When we first saw him he was moving swiftly around in the bushes not too far away.

Then once he spotted us he put his head down and came barreling at the vehicle. He was darting from side to side all around the truck. Just look at the dust he was kicking up by his feet, he was doing some fast scrambling…

Then he would run off a few steps and come charging back at us. Look at that charge…he was kind of scaring me a lil bit.

This went on for about 5mins before we could start back our tour. His lil show for us made for some cool photos though. Thanks Mr Rhino…

From KS, we decided to walk the Pangini Trail since we had never done this either. I really enjoyed watching the gorillas and other animals in their habitat. Matt and the Lowland Gorilla have some uncanny resemblances don’t you think?

After our trek through the Pangini Trail it was time to use our Expedition Everest FP’s that the hubby’s had gotten us all before breakfast.

We used our FP’s and then headed to DinoLand b/c Dinosaurs wait time was low. We had been using Matt's Verizon wait time app all week and it was really coming in handy. We grabbed some FP’s for it too before getting in line. I always think that this is such a cool building and I love seeing Claire Huxtable in the cue.

Both families posed for a photo op while we were waiting to get in. (sorry, they are a lil dark)

We rode Dinosaur and loved it. I always forget how intense it is and the first time I ride it each yr, it scares the daylights out of me and I scream like a lil school girl. When we got off we only had a lil bit of time to kill before it was time to ride again w/ our FP’ so we walked over to Primeval Whirl where I again screamed my head off. I like coasters but this thing is not a coaster. I hate the way it spins and drops you at the same time, then dangles you over the side on top…oh jeez, scares me just to think about it. I rode w/ Cody while Matt sat this one out (Matt's not a fan of this ride). Tony, Taylor and Tara all rode together in a car too. Cody laughed his head off at me the whole time for screaming…glad he was amused.

After that it was time to head back into Dinosaur to use our FP’s. On our way to Dinosaur Tony felt something splat on his shirt. He looked down and a bird had pooped on him. We all got a big laugh out of it and he headed to a bathroom to clean it up as best he could. When he was done we finished our walk to Dinosaur.

This time was even worse then the last…we got stuck in the dark on the ride!!!! It didn’t last too long but when the ride stopped suddenly I yelled “Not In The Dark!” And after that Tony said in a very confused voice, “I feel something wet on my leg.” Not having a clue what was wet on his leg, the ride started back up quickly and we were jerked to the end of the ride. When Tony got off the ride, sure enough, his pants were wet, but only on his right leg. He stuck his hand in the cargo pocket of his shorts and said “Oh No.” The orange that he had grabbed from our Bfast @ Tusker House had busted during the ride and juice was squished all in his pants pocket.

Between bird poop and leaky orange juice pants what ride did we elect to head to next…. Kali River Rapids b/c Tony was in need of a bath!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 5 – Animal Kingdom (Bath Time)!

We were headed for Kali River Rapids b/c poor Tony’s luck had not been great today. He got pooped on by a bird and then the orange that was in his pocket busted on Dinosaur and he was dripping in some homemade O.J.

Remember that it was January and not what you would really call warm outside so we opted for the ponchos. We slid these on as we waited in a very short line.

(Check out the people making faces behind Matt and I…never even knew it til I got home and looked at the pics.)

We grabbed our partners and had to sit quickly b/c the CM was not waiting on us. Tony and Tara sat together, then Matt & Taylor and Me and Cody. As soon as I buckled myself in w/ Cody, Tara warned me that I better watch it b/c Cody always gets it the worst on these kind of rides.

As luck would have it on this day….sure enough, Cody and I were the ones to get it!!! WE WERE SOAKED…and it didn’t even matter that we wore ponchos b/c Tara said it was a huge wave that came over the back of our seats and unless we would’ve tucked our ponchos into our socks….we were getting wet. I didn’t take any photos b/c well….I was too wet to touch my digital camera. Sorry…

We saw that EE had a short wait time and thought that blowing thru the wind would help us dry off….wrong….it just made us colder. We were starting to get a lil hungry but didn’t want a full meal so we all opted to use our snack credit for the day and so we grabbed a churro for Cody, an ice cream sundae for me and everyone else had floats. The sweet treats were yummy and did the job to waive our hunger til dinner.

Since we had just eaten, we needed to ride something calm. We walked over to It’s Tough To Be A Bug and I told Cody & Taylor to give me their best bug face. This is what I got…

The Bug’s Life ride was cute as always and I swear the electric zap in my back was a lil extra charged this time since I was still wet from KRR. After the ride, it was time to start looking for a spot to watch the parade. This parade is so cool, I love the big dino floats and the costumed operators.

I love Donald’s boat, it had sprung a leak and was dripping water. Too cute.

After the parade we headed over to EE and there was a very short wait time. My notes say that we then rode this ride 3 times in a row. SWEET! Oh but on one ride we got stuck at the top of the climb for a lil bit and that kind of scared the bejesus out of me. I had heard horror stories of others getting stuck up there and having to walk down on those very steep steps to get off. yikes

Here’s my attempt at lining up the sculpture w/ the peaks of EE.

After several rounds of EE, look who we ran into again this year….Divine!!!

After having a nice visit w/ Divine we realized that we really were getting hungry now. We decided on Yak & Yeti CS window. Tony ordered the kung pow beef.

Tara got shrimp lo mein

Taylor, Cody and I had crispy honey chicken

I love that the drinking straws in AK are made of paper so if an animal eats it, it won't harm them.

Oh yeah, and Matt went to Restaurantosaurus for a burger and fries. Which I don’t have a picture of b/c he was gone forever!!! I don't remember what took him so long.

After dinner we were getting kind of tired and it was getting near time for park close. Matt and Tony were eager to get back to the room too and watch the UNC v/s WFU basketball game. On our way out of the park we stopped for a photo pass pic in front of the Tree of Life. We had never done one at night and I didn’t even end up buying it b/c it didn’t turn out. The PP photographer was so funny and really had us cracking up. I shouldn’t make fun but he kept talking every word in 3’s. When I mean in 3’s, he was saying “OK OK OK, everyone look right here here here and now smile smile smile, come on real big big big. And now everyone throw their hands up up up high high high.” I know he was just trying to get people involved but we had watched him do this several times to the families in line before us and we just got tickled at him after a while.

Skip to Present Day: A couple months ago, we were at Tony’s restaurant opening and I wanted to take a pic of them as a family and I said, “OK everyone smile smile smile, real big big big for me me me.” They got a kick out of it and as you can see here…Tara started dying laughing. Fun Times.

OK back to WDW Jan 2010: We made our way back to CBR and Matt and Tony were watching the game as Tara was helping me write stuff in my journal. I had made plans to hang out w/ an old college buddy tonight too who is originally from Orlando and had just moved back. He used to work at WDW when he was a teen in high school as Prince Charming. He has an old pic of him in costume on his facebook page that I'll have to add to this when I am on my home computer. (I can’t get on facebook at work). I hadn’t seen him in two years and we used to live across the street from each other in college. He came and picked me up from CBR and we just rode around the corner to DTD. We had a drink at Fulton’s and walked around to some of the stores. I bought several ornaments from the xmas shop for my all Disney xmas tree and was super excited. Bartley and I had a great time and I wasn’t out too late b/c we had morning EMH’s at MK the next day. It was great reminiscing w/ an old friend and hanging w/ a local to get some cool WDW history that I didn’t know. I wanted to get one pic of us at DTD to remember him as part of my trip. Here we are in World of Disney.

See he’s very theatrical, can’t you totally see him as Prince Charming. We walked back to Bartley’s car and he dropped me off at CBR around 11pm. Matt was still up and I showed him all of the cool ornaments I bought, he was less than impressed. We got our pj’s on and hopped into our pirate bed for a good nights sleep.

NEXT: Our last Magic Kingdom day

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 6 – Magic Kingdom & a mad dash to the Lost & Found!

After a 3 and ½ month hiatus on my TR, I got motivated and am going to try and wrap this thing up. It had really been bothering me that I haven’t finished my TR. I am missing WDW about now and wanted to reflect on last yr’s trip. So here goes…

My journal says that we were headed to MK for our first morning EMH’s. We arrived just before the opening ceremony started and I walked up singing along with the characters. I recognized the song from my Four Parks One World CD I had gotten last yr. The opening ceremony is really cute and as soon as we saw that we could hop on almost any ride w/ no wait time, we were quickly wondering why we had never done this before. We made a mad dash up Main Street and to Space Mtn first.

(Notice Ricky Bobby leading the way).

We grabbed FP’s & then rode stand by. Next we figured we should hit up another MK fav before the line got too long. So it was off to Never Land (Fantasy Land) to ride Peter Pan. Have I mentioned it before that I love Peter Pan, he’s my fav Disney animated character.

We took advantage of our time in Fantasyland and hopped on Dumbo too. I hadn’t ridden Dumbo since I was a kid. Matt and I usually sit that one out. I always feel like Matt and I would look goofy riding w/o kids. So this yr Tony decided to sit this one out and so I voted to ride w/ Tara and the kids. Here is my shot from the top of Dumbo looking down at Matt and Tony. Get a load out of how empty Fantasyland was… oh it looks like we had some rain on this morning too. Just a drizzle, we don't look wet, nothing dramatic thankfully.

After Dumbo we rode Snow White’s Scary Adventure and Pooh.

I think the Pooh ride is cute and all but she CRAMMED all SIX of us in TWO of those honey pots! Matt and I are Pooh sized already, and then the CM made Taylor cram in there w/ us. Poor Girl. I was so squished I couldn't even get my camera out to take a pic. sorry

We exited and noticed the park was now open to the public but were really glad we got to ride so many of the rides w/ no standby wait at all. After seeing the crowd slowly pour in we opted to jump on It’s a Small World and then get outta Fantasyland for a while.

When we got off the ride Taylor realized that her cell phone was not in her pocket. Matt and Taylor rushed back down to tell a CM and they quickly checked the boat we had just gotten off of. To no avail, no cell phone. They told us that we could check the Lost & Found in a bit to see if anyone turns it in. Since it wasn’t in the boat we came to the conclusion that it had either fallen out of her pocket and into the water when we were getting on or off the boat. (No one heard a splash though) or it could’ve gotten squished out of her pocket when that CM crammed us all on Pooh. She had it on Dumbo and Snow White, so somewhere between Pooh & It’s a Small World it had gone missing. We decided to head up Main Street anyways b/c now that the crowd levels were high we wanted to grab some breakfast treats. On the walk thru the castle I noticed that the moats were still dry. Doesn’t look very magical does it? But I understand WDW has to do maintenance sometime.

We grabbed some breakfast and Cody chowed down his cinnamon bun in record time. This time it was nice and hot and fresh!

After breakfast, the in-laws checked the Lost & Found since we were right there on Main St Matt and I walked through a few stores. I bought a shirt that had the vintage WDW logo on it. I was so excited about my find, I love vintage Disney! The in-laws unfortunately had no luck at Lost & Found and so we met up right after. Our Fast Pass for Space Mountain was getting close to time to being used so we whipped into Tomorrowland and saw the wait time for Buzz was down and hopped on there first.

After Buzz we headed towards Space Mountain for our 2nd ride of the day. There was no CM at the TV monitors when we got off so I quickly snapped these!

After Space Mtn we decided to go to Toon Town. Matt and I had only graced it w/ our presence once in 2008 when we went to the tent for Princess pics and signatures. Tony, Tara and the kids had ventured in there in 2009 again while Matt and I were on a date lunch. They had gone into Mickey & Minnie’s house, and well, this sounded fabulous to me so I was sure to check out the houses on this trip. Minnie’s house is awesome w/ all of it’s moving parts.

Tara & I even had a moment to stop for tea.

Next we got in line to see the big cheese’s themselves: Mickey & Minnie!!!

We wandered over to Donald’s Boat. It’s really cute from the outside but could really use a lil more personality. It’s not very homey for Donald in there.

(Next Up: We ride the Roy Disney RR for the first time!!!)

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 6 – Magic Kingdom part 2 & Tony’s Town Square for lunch!

We had seen everything we wanted to do in Toon Town and decided to hop on the Roy Disney Railroad and ride it around to Frontierland. This was a first for us on the train and it was nice to see the park from a different view point.

When we hopped off Matt and Tony headed for BTMRR to get FP for later. Splash Mtn is always down for our trip b/c we go in January. It kinda stinks we can’t ride but missing the huge crowds at peak season is well worth it. After grabbing the FP’s we decided to see the Tiki Room. This would be a first for Matt & Tony. Last yr, Me, Tara and kids saw the attraction while the hubbies were at ESPN Grill watching the UNC basketball game. After that we decided to do another first. No one but me had ever been in the Swiss Family Tree House. Cody was pretty interested once we entered and started asking me questions about the movie. (That reminds me to take the movie to VA next we go so he can see it. I think he & Taylor will really like the movie, I loved it as a kid.)

Again, it probably wasn’t as neat as it usually is b/c all of the water features were turned off for refurb. When we got off we needed to head towards Main St for lunch ADR @ Tony’s Town Square.

We arrived at Tony’s for our 2:30pm lunch ADR and the place was pretty quiet. I had the shrimp scampi: which I thought was pretty good.

Everyone else had these two dishes: (I’m sorry I can’t remember what they are although one looks like Chicken Parm)

When it came time to take our dessert order, our waiter Claude (who we liked very much) told us not to eat the Sugar Free dessert and that “it sucked.” I thought that was hilarious but was really glad he told us that. Matt & Taylor had the Ice Cream Bomb:

Tara and I had the Tiramisu:

And Tony & Cody both had the Assorted Gelato. Tony didn’t eat much of his but Cody scarfed his down. Tony told us he couldn’t finish it b/c it tasted like really strong rubbing alcohol, and Cody had wolfed his down. Tony made us try a bite of his…. I have to admit, it was really really strong.

As we finished up lunch we headed out the front door only to see the parade going on!!! Yeah…and my fav character: Peter Pan.

We sat and watched the parade for a while when a CM came up and asked Tara & I to take a questionnaire. We were more than happy to…being as WDW provides us w/ an incredible vaca every yr!!!

We turned in our sheets once we had filled them out and saw that the show in front of the castle was getting ready to start soon. We grabbed some prime seats and I tried to get a few cool shots of the kids jumping in mid air in front of the castle. Apparently my point and shoot digital camera has too long of a shutter speed on it and I don’t think I can adjust it. Here is what I got though.
Taylor UP:

Cody UP:

And this one didn’t work at all:

Ahhh I finally said forget it and decided to just take a nice family portrait instead:

The show began and as always, Disney is sure to keep you entertained.

And the end just wouldn’t be the end at WDW w/o FIREWORKS:

After the show Cody really wanted to see the American Presidents again but when we got to the entrance the show was down. The Haunted Mansion had a minimal wait time and so we got in line and were able to ride twice in row really quickly.

It was finally time to use those BTMRR FP’s we had gotten early so off we headed to a string of rides in Frontier and Adventureland. We rode BTMRR, POTC, Aladdin’s Carpet Ride & the Jungle Cruise before heading back to the castle to find a good spot for Wishes. Something odd happened on POTC, we saw our first jaw drop moment while at WDW. We were riding POTC when we started hearing commotion from the boat behind us. I kept hearing it but schlep it off as noisy teens and was just glad they weren't on my boat. DH got pretty involved in their commotion and kept telling me that those guys in that boat back there are splashing. Thinking that was very immature of them (and not realizing the amount of splashing they were doing), I just kept on enjoying my POTC boat ride w/ the rest of our family. When we got to the end of the ride where the light is better, we got off of the boat and DH had to stop and see the splashy teens in the boat behind us. When we turned around to see the splashy teens....we could not believe what we saw... those splashy teen boys were not teens at all and they weren't just splashing each other. Every single person on that boat was drenched b/c of these two GROWN MEN (that had to be in their late 30's and should've obviously known better than to act this way)! There was an older gentleman that jumped off their boat as soon as hit the dock and ran to get a CM manager. They grabbed the splashy guys and escorted them outside and reprimanded them telling they would wait for security. I could not believe that the men were still laughing and thought the whole thing was hilarious... you should have seen their other boat mates. I felt so bad for them. The older couple was really really drenched and very upset. There were two lil soaked twin girls crying w/ angry parents as well. All were soaking wet and very upset. I couldn't believe how selfish these guys were to ruin everyone's ride like that especially to treat total strangers that way.

After that jaw dropping moment we realized we needed to grab a seat for Wishes. I love when the castle changes colors at night.

Wishes is just such a magical moment for me. I think I could end every night of my life this way. “Star light, Star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish, I wish tonight….” Sigh.

Wishes was over all too soon and since this was an A.M. EMH day, the park was closing. We headed out of the MK and back to CBR.

Once back at CBR we decided to take a swim in our quiet pool since the slide was closed at the main pool (which was kind of disappointing, we didn’t realize the slides closed down after a certain time.) We’ll know next time I guess 

To much surprise the quiet pool had right many leaves in it and I was a lil disappointed by this too. We swam on anyways and the kids and I had a blast. We are the 3 water bugs of the group and are ready to jump in any body of water at a moments notice. Tony swam w/ us for a lil while but being at CBR we were really close to Epcot. We didn’t realize how close until Reflections started and we could see the fireworks from the beach right off of the quiet pool. This was a really good day and we were starting to get a lil sad and sentimental b/c tomorrow is our last day in the parks .

(Next up: Epcot and an early lunch at Whispering Canyon Café)

 

[Must C Mickey]

I had made plans to hang out w/ an old college buddy tonight too who is originally from Orlando and had just moved back. He used to work at WDW when he was a teen in high school as Prince Charming. He has an old pic of him in costume on his facebook page that I'll have to add to this when I am on my home computer. (I can’t get on facebook at work). I hadn’t seen him in two years and we used to live across the street from each other in college. He came and picked me up from CBR and we just rode around the corner to DTD. We had a drink at Fulton’s and walked around to some of the stores. I bought several ornaments from the xmas shop for my all Disney xmas tree and was super excited. Bartley and I had a great time and I wasn’t out too late b/c we had morning EMH’s at MK the next day. It was great reminiscing w/ an old friend and hanging w/ a local to get some cool WDW history that I didn’t know. I wanted to get one pic of us at DTD to remember him as part of my trip. Here we are in World of Disney.

See he’s very theatrical, can’t you totally see him as Prince Charming. We walked back to Bartley’s car and he dropped me off at CBR around 11pm. Matt was still up and I showed him all of the cool ornaments I bought, he was less than impressed. We got our pj’s on and hopped into our pirate bed for a good nights sleep.

As Promised, here are some pics of when Bartley used to work at WDW. Here he is as Prince Charming. (he's the one between the two Princesses)

And here he is as part of the old Monster Sound Show opening day crew (he's the tall one in the back row under the "n" in the word SONY). Man I miss that attraction. I have fond memories of that as a kid especially b/c my Dad got picked to participate and help make the monster sounds during the show one year. I thought that was sooo cool.

And one more of a WDW Christmas Crew Party he was in. (Bartley is the one on the far right in the middle row).

He was a great person to spend a few hrs w/ on my WDW trip this yr. Told me sooo many neat WDW secrets and history. Thanks Bartley...

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 7 – Our last day in the Parks: Epcot & Whispering Canyon Cafe

Day 7 started promptly at 7:30am for me. I woke up, got my shower, got ready and laid out my last change of clothes for tomorrow morning. I then proceeded packing everything else and made sure I had everything gathered up and in order. The last full day at WDW is always bitter sweet. You’re excited that you have another whole park day and night but you know that tomorrow this time we’ll be headed out of the resort and making our way home.

Around 9am I made Matt roll out of our pirate bed and get his shower. Not long after I could hear BIL & SIL stirring around in their room. Once everyone was ready we walked the short distance to the bus stop and hopped on a MK bus. Before we head to Epcot we had an 11am lunch ADR’s for Whispering Canyon Café. Once we arrived at MK we got off of the bus and walked down the pier to catch the boat to Wilderness Lodge.

What a peaceful last day we were having so far… It was nice to enjoy our last day in the warm Florida sun out on the water before heading back to Winter in NC & VA. Today’s forecast for Orlando was sunny and 80degrees. It was a lil humid too but I didn’t mind a bit b/c I knew it’d be late April or May before I felt 80degrees again. We finally docked at WL and I was excited to see this resort for the first time with my own eyes. Oh sure I had seen it several times watching the WDW Planning DVD’s but I was so excited to see it all with my own eyes: the large wooden beams, the free form swimming pool, waterfalls, evergreens and the geyser erupting way up into the sky.

It was just as gorgeous as I imagined. We made our way into the lobby and checked in. We had a small wait time but not b/c the dining room was full. It was practically empty (it was 11am mind you).

Our names were called after waiting for about 10mins. They sat us by the window and our server came to introduce himself. His name was Cajun Chad and he had a very very thick Cajun accent (almost hard to understand at times). He also had a very dry sense of humor that kept us laughing for the majority of the meal. He asked if we were on the dining plan and began explaining our options since we were. We all opted for milkshakes for our drinks. Except Taylor & Cody, they ordered a smoothie.

Tara and I both got the chocolate milkshake.

Matt & Tony got the strawberry and cotton candy milkshakes. (I am sorry to those that like these, but omg it sounds terrible.) I just can’t fathom eating ribs and a cotton candy milkshake. They loved them however.

When our drinks came, we also put in our meal order w/ Cajun Chad. I really wish I could remember some of his antics b/c he was really funny.

Before our food came out a CM came and tried to get some of the kids to ride the wooden horsey’s around the restaurant. Well when she said “kids” you see who got up and grabbed a horse.

They had a big time galloping around the restaurant and showing off. At least they have fun is all I can say. Or as Tara would say “God love their hearts.” (That’s a fav saying of hers that always cracks me up.)

Soon after, lunch arrived! Tara had the Sautéed Quinoa Cakes w/ Edamame, Cucumber Salsa, Grilled Zucchini, and a Tortilla Crisp, which she was not a fan of. She said the beans were rock hard and the cakes had no flavor.

Matt, Tony, Taylor and I all split the Canyon Skillet. It came w/ Smoked Pork Ribs, Oven-roasted Chicken, and Pork Sausage served with Cowboy Beans, Corn on the Cob, Creamy Coleslaw, Mashed Potatoes, and Fresh-baked Cornbread. I tried everything but the Pork Sausage. It was pretty good, and we got seconds on a few things. I was proud of Taylor, she tried everything and ate right much of her share of the skillet.

Sorry I forgot to take the picture til it was about half eaten. It was really piled up when they brought it out to us.

Cody had the Bacon Cheeseburger. He enjoyed it from what I remember.

After lunch came dessert. Most of us were really full, but we ordered dessert anyways b/c, well, we had paid for it. I did want a bite of something sweet after all of that smoked meat and Cody just doesn’t turn away dessert ever! At all! Taylor, Tara and Cody all had the S’mores Cheesecake (New York-style Cheesecake on a Graham Cracker Crust topped with Chocolate Ganache and Marshmallows). I had the Kahlúa-flavored Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling and Fudge Icing and Matt had the Apple-Caramel Pie - Fresh Granny Smith Apples, Sugar Cookie Crust, Streusel Topping, and Caramel Drizzle. Tony did opt for no dessert, he was just too full.

We said so long to Cajun Chad and wandered around the lobby and store a lil bit before catching the bus to Epcot.

Next Up: Epcot!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Once at Epcot, Matt and Tony made a b-line for Soarin to grab a few FP’s for us while Tara and I took the kids to meet some characters. First was Daisy, she's always such a sweetie.

And then some Stitch!

The boys met back up with us in front of Spaceship Earth and we decided to go ahead and hop on since there was no wait time.

Of course Rickey Bobby is in the lead. LOL

We picked our partners and Matt and I rode together this time.

Is he sleeping?!? That terd.

When we got off of the ride, we decided to hang out and play some games. It’s usually so crowded that we just by pass them. Of course Rickey Bobby had to get his driving on. Remember “if you’re not first, you’re last.”

After SE, Cody decided that he’d like to buy some sunglasses for the day. It was really bright out today and plus, I think his money he had gotten from everyone for Christmas and the trip was starting to burn a whole in his pocket. He had been so good the whole trip about not asking to buy every toy he liked but now he was ready to make a purchase. A wise purchase I must say b/c he still uses them now almost a yr later.

We made our way around to World Showcase and wanted to make sure we saw some of the countries we had never toured before. France was our first stop. While we had been to the bakery before we had never seen Impressions of France (which we watched) or this guy. He was amazing.

Before leaving France we grabbed some Gran Marnier Orange & Grey Goose Lemonade Slushes. Yum yum yum. We also toured Morroco for the first time and wanted to see the American Adventure show again. I love love love Mark Twain, my fav writer hands down! I love the song too “America…Spread you golden wings…” . From there we hopped on the boat and went from Italy to Mexico b/c Matt spotted that Test Track had a low wait time on his handy dandy Verizon wait time App. After TT, it was time to use our Soarin FP’s from earlier too.

It was getting close to dinner time and so we decided to have our CS meal of the day at Mexico. Cody was dying for a churro so we headed in that direction. Mexico was crazy slammed w/ people and the renovations weren’t helping. We all either had Nachos or Taquitos and got Churros for dessert. Yum w/ caramel dipping sauce. After dinner we decided that we needed to go ahead and grab a good seat for Illuminations in Norway. After a while the show started and we really enjoyed seeing it from this location. Last yr we were across the lake and sucked down smoke the whole show b/c we were down wind.

After the show was over we had planned to ride a few more rides but all of the wait times were really really long. 90 min wait at Soarin, 75 min wait at TT and nothing else was really appealing to us at this late hour. Matt and I were getting tired and he still had to do all of his packing…wait let me correct myself, I HAD to still get Matt packed. We told Tony and Tara we were going to go ahead and head back to the resort and we’d see them in a bit. Matt and I made our way out of the park but not before taking a few last pictures. Now here's a man w/ the weight of the world on his shoulders...literally!

On the bus ride back to CBR, Matt and I were sitting across from a family of four (mom, dad and 2 daughters probably ages 8 & 12). We got the biggest kick out of the Dad b/c he was telling his oldest daughter that he couldn’t wait until she was grown and had her own house b/c he was gonna do to her house everything that she and her sister had done to his house: He said he was gonna stomp crayons all over her floor and color all over the walls, then he was gonna get in her car and throw French fries all over it and pour milk in the seats. He went on and on and it was hilarious. Matt and I were in stitches laughing at this guy. I must say…he had a good point!

The bus finally rounded the corner to CBR and into Trinidad South. We hopped off and made our way to the room and started packing. Once Tony, Tara and the kids were back we all called valet and set up our luggage pick up for the next morning b/c tomorrow we have to go home.

Next Up: We say our good byes to WDW but not before having a bite at T-Rex.

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 8 – Downtown Disney shopping, Lunch at T-Rex Café & So Long to WDW!

Today was Saturday, January 23, 2010 & it is the day that we would say good bye to our beloved Walt Disney World yet again. Today’s temperature in Orlando was 78degrees. Today’s temperature in NC was only in the 30’s. Erggg how was I supposed to dress for both. I pulled my jeans out of my bag and threw them on w/ a long sleeve t. It was sad not to get up and put shorts or capri’s on. Back to the cold of winter was becoming a close reality. I dressed quickly and got the last few things in the bag b/c luggage pick-up would be at our rooms in any minute.

After our luggage was picked up, we did a double check around the room to make sure we had everything and off we went to the bus stop one last time. After arriving at DTD we split up and did some shopping for the next hour and a half. We had ADR’s for our last TS meal and meal credit at T-Rex Café @ 11am so that was our rendezvous point.

We walked in and were quickly ushered to our seats in the ice cave.

We were pretty hungry since we hadn’t had breakfast and wanted to grab an appetizer. We all agreed on the Footprints Flatbread - Warm flatbread topped with cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan and goat cheese, rotisserie chicken and carmelized onions, drizzled with a balsamic glaze. We all really liked it. The balsamic glaze was yummy.

We really liked our waiter and he had even lived for a short time in the same NC town that Matt and I reside in. We had a nice conversation w/ him and asked him if he’d mind taking a pic of us. Here we are at The Last Meal.

After not too long of a wait our entrées came out. Tony and I both had the Tribal Tacos - Your choice of tempura fried or blackened grilled tender Mahi Mahi wrapped in corn tortillas and topped with red cabbage, fresh cilantro, pico de gallo and a T-REX avocado cream sauce. We got one of both, a fried and grilled.

Cody had the Bronto Burger w/ onion rings - A 100% beef burger piled high with a fried onion ring, pickles, lettuce, tomato and your choice of cheese.

Matt had the bigger version of Cody's burger, the Gigantosaurus Burger w/ waffle fries - A true carnivore's delight. A second 100% beef patty added to the Bronto Burger with your choice of cheese.

Tara had the Omnivore's Delight Salad - Iceberg, romaine and baby greens with goat cheese, Ocean Spray Craisins, strawberries, red onion and caramelized pecans. Tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and she added grilled shrimp.

And Taylor had the Stegosaurus Steak and Cheese Sandwich - Traditional-style cheese steak with sautéed onions, peppers and mushroom, topped with melted Monterey jack and Swiss cheeses served with lettuce and tomatoes on a toasted hoagie roll.

Everyone enjoyed their meal and we were quite stuffed. We used our last TS credit and headed to Goofy’s Candy Company to use up some left over snack credits and find a few souvenirs for the people at home. Our last stop was World of Disney, Taylor and I had our eyes set on 2 Dooney & Bourke wristlets that we had spotted earlier in the week. We were now ready to make our purchase! We both ended up w/ two really cute ones that had good character placement on the fabric. Mine has a Mickey on the flap and Taylor’s has Tink. Excited w/ all of our purchases it was time to head back to CBR and get on our scheduled Magical Express bus to go to the airport. Here we are sad and depressed that we are saying good bye to our beloved CBR.

The bus made the turn out of CBR and soon began to play the “So Long Video.” The last song kills me everytime… “So now it’s time to say good bye, To all our company….” The bus slowly made its way around to our gate at Southwest and we unloaded our bags. Check in was fairly easy and before we knew it, we were thru security and our rows were being called to board the place.

As the tires lifted off of the ground I took one last look at the sparkling water, green grass, warm sun and the palm trees that make Florida so special to us. In less than 3hrs we were on the ground in Raleigh. It was dark outside, pouring rain and a sure sign that our tropical climate vacation was surely over. My sister picked us all up in Tony & Tara’s minivan and we drove the last hr home talking and laughing about all of the things we had seen and done over the past week. I realized in that car ride home just how lucky I am to be able to make this trip to WDW every year and blessed with such a great family in which to do so with.

As I sit here typing this now, I can hear the music playing in my head...

"And now it's time to say good bye to all our company.
M I C - C you real soon.
K E Y - Y, b/c we love you.
M O U S E...."

So long DIS friends, thanks for letting me share my story with you.

 

[Mallow]

I am mostly a lurker, but I just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your TR.

 

[Must C Mickey]

I am mostly a lurker, but I just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your TR.

Thank you so much Mallow, it's very much appreciated. And feel free to come out of lurkdom anytime...