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

[Must C Mickey]

Day 2 – Magic Kingdom

I’ll text my SIL real quick and see what they thought about the beds.

OK I just heard back my SIL, she says that "I thought they were comfortable. I didn't have back pain when I got up and always do at home."

So there you have it, we were all ok in the Pirate Beds. I can see that it would be uncomfortable for someone tall since their feet wouldn't be able to hang off the end of the bed. But for all of us, we look so fwd to our WDW trips that we were just happy to be their!

 

[tink1957]

I just found your report and am enjoying it so far. We stayed at CBR on our first trip and found it a wonderful resort, but too large for our tastes. The beds were comfortable to me and I have back problems so I would notice.

Can't wait to read more, keep up the good work.

 

[TrayRene]

Not a huge fan of Rice Krispy treats because they are a little too sweet for me, but with the chocolate on them - boy that looks delicious!

You're on your way to my favorite park too!

 

[Must C Mickey]

I just found your report and am enjoying it so far. We stayed at CBR on our first trip and found it a wonderful resort, but too large for our tastes. The beds were comfortable to me and I have back problems so I would notice.

Can't wait to read more, keep up the good work.

Yeah I am glad u are enjoying it. I am having so much fun reliving it all as I am writing it.

Not a huge fan of Rice Krispy treats because they are a little too sweet for me, but with the chocolate on them - boy that looks delicious!

You're on your way to my favorite park too!

Oh I love rice krispy treats...always have. Magic Kingdom fun coming up!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 2 continued – Magic Kingdom

When I last left off we were headed to Magic Kingdom. I love getting that first glimpse of the castle when you start to enter the parking lot. I always get goosebumps. We pulled in but for some reason our bus driver kept driving and driving and driving and we thought… “Helllloooo, we’d like to get off here please.” But he drove all the way around the resort stops and let us off at the VERY LAST STOP. Jeez, what was up w/ that. There wasn’t even any other buses at the other stops!?! Oh well, what was another 15 steps to add to the day… so we hopped off and made our way to the gates. Matt and Tony went thru bag check while Tara, the kids and myself went thru the regular entrance. We walked under the entrance and came out to see the Magic Kingdom in all its wonderment and glory….and this ugly crane.

While it wasn’t our first time seeing the castle, that crane sure didn’t make for very pretty pictures. Luckily, that was the only time we saw the crane out for the rest of the trip. They were definitely doing some refurb around MK b/c all of the moats were dry too.

We headed towards Space Mtn, one of our favorites and grabbed fast passes for later but seeing as the stand by line was only 20mins, we hopped right on. After Space Mtn we decided to stay in Tomorrowland for a while and rode one of mine and Cody’s favorite…Carousel of Progress…man I love that song. “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow….” Sorry the pics are a lil blurry but I was following the ride rules of ‘No Flash Photography.”

After COP we walked on around and rode Stitch…another Cody fav…definitely not a Tara fav (well at least when he burps up that chili dog….shewwww). Tony was going to try and video tape it for Cody since it was his fav, but was quickly reprimanded by a CM. He stowed the video camera away and we all watched Stitch. I do like the part where he peaks in on Cinderella at the castle, that’s funny. And luckily for Tara, the chili dog burp wasn’t working and so we didn’t have to deal w/ that awful smell. Hooray!

We came out and looked across the way to see that Buzz Lightyear also had a very short wait time.

We got in line and saw a Hidden Mickey…score!

Tony won in points as always…dang that Ricky Bobby…I’ll beat him one day. I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was already time for us to use our Space Mtn fast passes that we had gotten earlier, so we headed that way.

Next up: We leave Tomorrowland and head towards Fantasyland…

 

[TrayRene]

Hi Lori. Space Mountain is one of my favorite rides as well. How great that it was only a 20 minute wait! I'm terrible at scoring points in Buzz!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Hi Lori. Space Mountain is one of my favorite rides as well. How great that it was only a 20 minute wait! I'm terrible at scoring points in Buzz!

I am not great at Buzz but for some reason I am so much better at Toy Story Mania.

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 2 continued – Magic Kingdom

When I left off we were headed towards Fantasyland. We checked out the wait times and saw that Mickey’s Philharmagic only had a 5min wait time. We got in line and all love this ride (it’s my fav 3D show at WDW, the music is great and it features all my favorite characters).

From here we walked on around to Liberty Square where we literally hopped right on Haunted Mansion. Another ride that has a great song… “Grim grinning ghost come out to socialize…” I know all the words now thanks to my Four Parks One World CD I purchased last yr at MK.

Have you ever noticed the horse shoe prints leading to where the horse drawn hearse is parked. I never noticed these footprints before and thought it was a cool lil bonus. Those Imagineers think of everything.

When we came out of the Haunted Mansion I told the crew about the hidden wedding ring and where to look for it at the exit. To no avail we couldn’t locate it and had to track down a nearby CM and ask her. Unfortunately she told us that the cement had cracked recently and the ring had come loose. So the Imagineers took up the ring and just patched the crack not replacing the ring. No more hidden wedding ring!

It was around 4pm when we got off Haunted Mansion so we knew that the next showing of Hall of Presidents was going to start soon. We made our way in that direction and the lobby started to fill up quickly.

Cody is a huge fan of American History and loves studying about the Presidents. Since Cody hails from Viriginia we grabbed a quick photo of him w/ Thomas Jefferson’s portrait…another Virginia alumni.

The double doors finally opened and the sea of people filed in to take their seats. We grabbed a great spot near the back and were almost center stage.

Side Note: We got to see Hall of Presidents in 2008 but it was down for refurb last yr while they were getting it ready for the Obama animatronic. We enjoyed the revised show and I don’t care how old that attraction has been around…it’s still amazing. No where else in the world can you see that type of show featuring all 44 Presidents of the United States telling America’s history from the ones that lived it! Great job Walt & Imagineers!!!

On the way out we stopped in the gift shop and Cody bought a copy of The Constitution. He had purchased The Declaration of Independence two summers ago on our Colonial Williamsburg trip.

We didn’t have too much time before we needed to start making our way to our 6:30pm dinner ADR at Ohana but thought if we could find a quick ride or attraction that had little or no wait time, we’d have time for one more thing. Matt pulled out his cell phone w/ the new handy dandy Verizon wait time app we had downloaded and saw that Country Bear Jamboree had no wait time and it was just ahead of us. I had seen Country Bear Jamboree as a kid on one of my visits w/ my parents but to the rest of the group, it was another first for this trip. I had forgotten most of the skit anyways and may have well been my first time too b/c Tara and I kept getting tickled at some of the bears.

It was a cute show and we hurried out b/c it was time to make our way to our dinner ADR at Ohana. We got close to Main Street and saw there was a parade going on that we’d need to navigate our way thru quickly. (Easier said than done since I got my ankle hit by 2 strollers as I made my way out of the park.) Here we are doing the bob and weave out of MK (Cody in blue and Tara in pink).

Next up…Dinner at Ohana!!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Great coverage of Day 2 so far!

I gotta pay attention to those horse hoofs too.

I love the Carousel of Progress too! My siblings found it boring, but that show just makes me feel good. As long as you don't think about how old they SHOULD be at each section....It fried my brains when I thought of how young they all looked and how it could possibly still be the same family. But it's Disney magic, so who cares

 

[TrayRene]

Philharmagic is my favorite 3D show as well!

I haven't been to the Hall of Presidents since I was little. I have to go there again next time.

Can't wait to here how your meal was at O'Hana - love it there!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Great coverage of Day 2 so far!

I gotta pay attention to those horse hoofs too.

I love the Carousel of Progress too! My siblings found it boring, but that show just makes me feel good. As long as you don't think about how old they SHOULD be at each section....It fried my brains when I thought of how young they all looked and how it could possibly still be the same family. But it's Disney magic, so who cares

Yes look for the horse hooves and the wheel impressions in the pavement, it's pretty cool.

 

[Must C Mickey]

Philharmagic is my favorite 3D show as well!

I haven't been to the Hall of Presidents since I was little. I have to go there again next time.

Can't wait to here how your meal was at O'Hana - love it there!

Philharmagic is just great and be sure to check out Hall of Presidents next time around, the addition of new presidents is always exciting and make for a new experience!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 2 continued – Dinner @ Ohana!

When I left off we were maneuvering our way out of MK. We finally made it to the monorail and were still ok on time for our 6:30pm dinner ADR at Ohana. We hopped on and the monorail finally rounded its way to the Polynesian Resort. We all jumped off and hurried inside. When we got close to the check in podium we could see that Ohana was super slammed! The waiters and waitresses were scurrying around like crazy and the podium had even run out of buzzers to hand out. The ADR was in my name so I quickly checked in but had to wait until another buzzer was available before I could walk away and have a seat to rest my feet. Cody walked over and waited w/ me as we were finally handed a buzzer. I handed the buzzer off to Cody b/c he had become our official buzzer holder for all meals there after. We joined the rest of the family and then I decided that I’d like to have a lil alcoholic beverage. Matt had to order my drink for me b/c I realized that I didn’t have my license on me and the guy sitting at the bar next to where he ordered looked at him and said “I sure hope that pink glowing drink is for your wife.” Matt got tickled at him and answered “Absolutely!” I can’t remember what I had but it was fruity, cold and hit the spot. It also had a glow cube in it that Cody had a fit over and wanted immediately. I told him that when I drank my way down to it, we’d fish it out and he could have it. Not long after I got my drink our buzzer went off and we were seated next to the window. Our waitress on this night was not as great as our Captains Grille waitress, she was a lil hair brained. But like I said earlier, it was really busy in there, so I would probably be a lil hair brained myself. She took our drink orders and when she brought them out, she set them all down at the wrong places. When she left we had to all do a lil switcharoo.

Our salad and welcome bread came out first, it is all served family style so everyone gets their own helping. I pulled off a hunk of welcome bread and thought the honey lime dressing on the salad was very good.

While we were munching on our salad and bread she brought out the appetizers: Honey-Coriander Chicken Wings & Pork Dumplings. She also brought out the sauces for the meats. One was a sweet and sour sauce, one was a peanut sauce and one a spicy mustard. I loved the mustard one. The apps were yummy yummy. I loved the dumplings and Matt and Tony both polished off the wings. Here is a pic of the apps half eaten and sauces for the meats.

Here is a shot of what was left of my drink at this point.

I then gave Cody the glow cube as promised. It kept him entertained for a while and it even makes for a great pool toy in the next night or so.

We finished our salads and apps when our waitress brought out the lo mein noodles and broccoli stir fry before the skewers of meat started coming out. There was Mesquite Grilled Turkey, Asian BBQ Pork Loin, Marinated Sirloin Steak, and Spicy Grilled Peel n Eat Shrimp skewers.

Everything looked, smelled and tasted soooo good! I had really been looking forward to this meal and we were not disappointed. It was a lot of food, but very very good! And just when we thought we couldn’t eat another bite, she brought out our dessert, Ohana bread pudding served a la mode with Bananas and Caramel Sauce!!! We obviously made room and I am glad I did b/c Holy Moly was that stuff GOOD!!!! Here is a shot as they give it to you w/ the caramel sauce on the side.

And here is Tony pouring it on. YUM YUM YUM!

We all loved this dessert and Taylor loved it so much that she scraped the last bite from the bowl.

We really enjoyed this meal and were all a sticky mess. Thank goodness they bring around hot, wet towels to clean off with. (notice the glow cube)

Some hula dancing was going on around us and it looks like Matt may have gotten into the spirit!

We were all stuffed and satisfied and decided to take a group shot before making our way back to the monorail and to MK for evening Extra Magic Hours!!!

NEXT UP: MK EMH!!!

 

[heaven2dc]

I love your TR!! CBR looks so pretty (we drove thru on Magical Express to drop off guests and I loved it right away.) We are actually thinking of adding 2 more nights at the end of our trip in December to stay there. I'm not sure about the pirate themed rooms but it's a toss up between CBR and CSR right now (or just rent more points from the same DVC owner we rented points for our BWV stay. We might want to try AKL for the last 2 nights as it might be less expensive than staying at a mod.)

O'hana food looks so delicious!

 

[Must C Mickey]

I love your TR!! CBR looks so pretty (we drove thru on Magical Express to drop off guests and I loved it right away.) We are actually thinking of adding 2 more nights at the end of our trip in December to stay there. I'm not sure about the pirate themed rooms but it's a toss up between CBR and CSR right now (or just rent more points from the same DVC owner we rented points for our BWV stay. We might want to try AKL for the last 2 nights as it might be less expensive than staying at a mod.)

O'hana food looks so delicious!

WELCOME!!! OMG Ohana is wonderful. You are the second person that mentioned renting points from DVC members. I will seriously have to check in to that. PM me any details or advice you have!!!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 2 continued – Back to Magic Kingdom for evening EMH!

Totally stuffed from a wonderful dinner at Ohana we hopped back on the monorail and headed for MK’s evening EMH!!!! We love our night time EMH!!!!

I forgot to mention that we had gotten Peter Pan fast passes when we were in Fantasyland earlier in the day and it was almost time to use them, not quite…so we stopped in front of the castle for a photo op. This is the only photo pass pic that I ended up buying after we got home. I already had all of the others on my camera but love this one of us in front of the castle all lit up. And since this was our 1st MK day of the trip we all wore our Disney shirts that we had purchased at the Disney store in Roanoke, VA. (I am sad to say that store has closed since then. The one that was close to my house closed several years ago. How am I supposed to get my Disney fix throughout the yr if Disney keeps closing all of their retail stores!)

(Matt did have a Goofy t-shirt on but got cold and had to put on his UNC long sleeve shirt. You can't see Tony's shirt either but he had on a Mickey shirt.)

After having our picture made in front of the castle, we turned around and walked thru the castle to Fantasyland. We gave the CM our Fast Passes and embarked on our journey thru Neverland! I love this ride and Peter Pan is my fav animated Disney character. Tony and Cody rode together.

Tara and Taylor rode together.

And Matt and myself rode together. Don’t jump Wendy….

Peter is here to save you…

After Peter Pan we walked towards Big Thunder Mtn Railroad but the wait time had 60mins on it so we decided to keep walking. We came to Pirates of the Caribbean and saw there was NO wait time! GREAT, we walked thru the cue and hopped on the boat. Matt and I rode together and the 4 of them rode in a row together. It got really dark and I reminded Matt to hold on b/c there was a drop coming up. Well he apparently thought I was joking b/c he DID NOT remember there being any drop…even a small one…on POTC. Well we dropped and he let out a Yelp, “AHHH OUCH”…he had crammed his knee on the seat in front of us. What can I say…I tried to tell him!

We always enjoy POTC and Tara loves the Johnny Depp animatronic. We got off of POTC and we walked (as Matt hobbled) over to The Jungle Cruise. If you get a good CM Tour Guide, it’s a great ride. We sat near the front of the boat so we could hear him really well and began our journey thru the jungle.

When we hopped off of the Jungle Cruise, I was freezing so asked Matt to give me my jacket out of his bag. Well he (and Tony) love to make fun of the fact that I never wear jackets. (We were in VA over New Years and had gone out to eat. It was pouring snow and there I was w/o a jacket the whole time. And another time we went snow tubing in VA and I took this lil light weight jacket that they made fun of the whole time. ) I just don’t like jackets, never have, they feel so binding to me. Anyways…..Matt unzips his bag and as he’s pulling out my short sleeve terrycloth jacket he says out loud for everyone to hear “Watch out, there is a whole lot of jacket coming out of here!” Well they all just got a hoot out of me and my short sleeve jacket trying to keep me warm. Oh well, what else is knew… glad they all got a laugh off of me.

Well we continued to make our way back to Big Thunder when Taylor and Cody decided that we should all ride Aladdin’s Carpet together. I had ridden w/ Taylor, Cody and Tara the yr before but this would be a first for Matt. We decided that all the girls would ride on one carpet and all the boys on another. Well the ride got started and the boys were behind us yelling pick-up lines to us. Then Taylor was bouncing our carpet up and down like we were in some hooptie on hydraulics. I was cracking up between the boys asking if “we ladies needed a ride someplace” and Taylor making me nauseous w/ all of the bouncing that I didn’t even see that stupid camel spit right at me. I hate that camel! It got me last yr, right in the ear!

After Aladdin’s Magic Carpet ride we finally made it to Big Thunder and saw that the wait time was down to 15mins! Score, this is why we loooovvvveee EMH! I think we ended up riding 3 times in a row b/c every time we got off, the wait times had dropped again. We switched off ride partners a couple of times and while we were looking for a hidden Mickey, Cody found an old hillbilly in a bath tub. It was really cute to see him get so tickled at that hillbilly in the bath tub.

We were all starting to get kinda tired but decided we had one more ride in us before we called it a night. We made our way around to Space Mtn only to find that it was down for a bit. We didn’t want to wait around for it b/c it was getting late, besides we still had another day at MK coming up in the week. We were getting ready to leave when we saw there was no wait for Buzz. We hopped on as Me and Taylor rode together, Tony and Cody and Matt and Tara (I think this was the 1st time Matt and Tara had ridden a ride together).

After Buzz I looked at my watch and saw it was midnight. We all agreed that it was time to head back to CBR. On the way out we each used a snack credit at the Main Street Bakery on a warm, huge cinnamon bun that we would eat for tomorrow’s breakfast. We made our way to the bus stops and were back at CBR and in the bed by 1am.

NEXT UP: Day 3 at DHS and Cody-Wan-Kenobi has his picture made!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 3 – DHS & Cody Wan Kenobi!

Day 3 had approached and we were headed to our first day of back to back days of DHS (or MGM as I still call it). We all got showered and ate our yummy cinnamon buns that we had purchased the night before from the Main Street Bakery in the MK. [Funny story about those buns...when Matt and I had gotten back from MK the night before we just left our 2 cinnamon buns sitting in their containers out on the table so they'd be room temp the next morning. Well Tony being the sanitary Chef that he is wasn't thinking and stuck their 4 in the fridge. Well when they went to eat them the next morning Tara couldn't find them and asked where they were. Tony told her he put them in the fridge and Tara just stood their staring at him like 'What the HECK' b/c now they were all going to be really hard and cold. Just not nearly as appetizing as they had dreamed they would be since the night before they were all warm and gooey.] SO, Matt and I had our breakfast as they choked down theirs and once we were all done we walked the short distance to the Trinidad South bus stop and waited for our bus to DHS. Everyone LOVES this park!!! It’s our thrill ride park and we always look forward to it. We got into the park and got our priorities straight…Tower of Terror first (but not before grabbing some fast passes for RnRC)!

ToT is probably our favorite ride in all of WDW, it’s sooo much fun and when the ride ends we rush to the pictures to see our faces…mostly Matt’s face b/c he always, always make this hilarious face like he is holding his breathe. I wish I had a picture to illustrate what I am talking about but the pics are way too expensive to buy and the pics I take w/ my camera always turn out blurry (I hate those blasted scramble screens).

After ToT we needed to head towards the Backlot Tour b/c the 2 previous yrs we didn’t get to do this. It was down for refurb in 2009 and in 2008 we didn’t know til too late that it has weird hours and closes a lot earlier than most of the other rides. On our way we ran into this guy.

(Cody loves the street performers and thinks they are hilarious so I had to get a quick pic).

Then as we strolled a lil farther I saw this…the ABC Commissary (which I always think is really cool since I work at a local ABC TV Station).

Plus we are all huge LOST fans and love seeing the Dharma jump suits in the cases (Too Cool)!

We finally make our way to the Backlot Tour…another first. I love the fun explosive tanks and getting to walk thru the cue line seeing all of the movie and Hollywood memorabilia. It led us to where you get in line for the tram. Matt and I rode in a row and the four of them rode in the row behind us.

And its replica:

It’s a really neat tour and we all loved the Catastrophe Canyon part. Man, when you see that big wall of water coming, you can’t help but get a lil scared that it’s headed right for you!

After Catastrophe Canyon we wound around some turns and saw more movie memorabilia like the spaceship from one of my fav Disney movies when I was a kid…Flight of the Navigator.

Then we saw Walt’s plane, which was pretty cool and then finally back around to wear they drop you off.

We walked thru another sort of movie museum that takes you out of the ride. There were some really neat things in there…especially Star Wars things! Cody loved the Darth Maul costume. (sorry it's so dark)

And we had to pay a lil homage to Han Solo and George Lucas, the creator of it all.

Since we were in the Star Wars mood now, what better ride to head to next, Star Tours. But along the way we saw Gene Kelly’s umbrella and did a lil singin’ (not in the rain though b/c the water sprinkler wasn’t working). I think everyone got a kick out of posing for their picture (maybe Matt and Tony a lil too much…what do u think…haha).

We had apparently gotten into a picture taking mode b/c we saw these guys and HAD to get a pic w/ the Cars cars. Mater was too cool, his engine was actually spitting and sputtering…the whole 9 yards. It’s really cute and this was a new photo op this yr. I love this picture, it’s my fav of the trip and is also my desktop screen saver.

And of course another photo op…what a great xmas card this’d make for next yr. I love those kids.

Finally we had made our way to Star Tours, but not before one more photo op…here’s Cody on his dream ride!

Cody was really cute here…After the ride you walk down a hall that leads into the gift shop and as we were making our way into the gift shop he looked up at me and says, “This is heaven to me, it’s my dream store, all Star Wars.” He loves this store and we could all hardly keep track of him b/c he was here and there and just loving everything he saw. He checked out some figurines but had already decided before our trip that he was going to get a new light saber. He decided against the ‘build your own’ ones and found the one he was wanting. He also saw that you could get your picture taken as one of the Star Wars characters. He looked at his options and decided on Obi Wan Kenobi. He likes Obi Wan, he’s Cody’s favorite Jedi. So I present to you… Cody Wan Kenobi!!!

(sorry the pic isn’t great quality, it's from my cell phone.)

When we came out of the gift shop, we saw this guy and watched the Jedi Training for a lil bit.

NEXT UP: Lunch and DHS Continues

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 3 – DHS Continues: lunch & more rides!

After we rode Star Tours we stood around and watched the Jedi Training demo for a short while. We were starting to get a lil hungry and decided that we had enough time to grab our counter service lunch for the day. We made our way to Sunset Blvd and Matt and Tony both dined on Studio’s Catering Co while Tara, Cody and myself all went to Rosie’s All American Café and Taylor grabbed a sandwich from Catalina Eddie’s.

Here is Matt’s lunch. He had the Ribs & Brisket combo w/ beans and cole slaw.

Tony had the Chicken & Brisket combo w/ Carrot Cake for dessert.

Cody and I both got Double Cheeseburgers and Fries.

Tara had the Veggie Burger & Fries.

And Taylor had a Hot Italian Sandwich w/ Chips

Lunch was pretty decent and we were able to find a table under an umbrella that provided us w/ some shade for a while. We finished up and realized that it was time to ride Rock N Rollercoaster!!! Yeah one of our favs and this would be our first time on this trip for this ride. We walked over and realized that the wait time wasn’t very long so we got in the stand by line and rode that first.

Then we hopped off and headed back to the entrance to use our FP’s. The wait time had already doubled for the stand by line from 15mins to 30mins. We handed off our fast passes to the CM and got in line again. We didn’t wait long before we were in the recording studio w/ Aerosmith and getting ready to walk thru the doors to ride the limo to the concert. (oh and we found a Hidden Mickey in the floor of the studio.)

That ride is always so great but seems so short to me. It really takes my breath away on the launch and all the way thru to that first loop. I love that it’s in the dark and has the music jamming in your seat. It all makes for an unbelievable coaster experience.

When we came out of the ride we looked around in the gift shop a bit and had a lil fun w/ some Aerosmith attire.

We finished up in the gift shop and sent Matt and Tony to grab us a few more Fast Passes for later in the afternoon. Tara, the kids and my self walked over to Tower of Terror and saw that wait time was down too so when the guys got back w/ the fast passes we all hopped on for another trip into “THE TWILGHT ZONE….”

Tony took some great video footage of us on ToT and wish I could retrieve it to add to the TR. After watching the clips he had just filmed we all had a good laugh at ourselves and then decided we should take it easy for a bit and try something more tame…and another first for us…The Little Mermaid show. We were going to do this last yr and ran out of time so we were sure to put this on the agenda for this trip. We made it over to the show and had to wait a good while until they let us in the auditorium. The show started and I thought it was great. I loved the water/laser effects they do to make u feel underwater, and the mist of water that came down thru out the show felt good after walking around in the Florida heat all afternoon.

We were glad that we finally got to see Mermaid and all enjoyed the show. Next we headed to one of my fav attractions, One Man’s Dream. I just love all of the Disney history and try and go by there at least once on every trip and pay homage to the man who created all of this for us!

That video at the end gets me a lil teary eyed every time. I like seeing the models from the other parks too and hope to visit any of the other Disney parks one day.

After the film, we made our way back to Rock N Rollercoaster to use our other set of Fast Passes and then to Tower of Terror one last time before out first DHS day was over. We left the park earlier than usual on this day b/c we had a 7:55pm ADR for California Grill and needed to head back to the room to change and get ready for. So off to the bus stop we went…

Next Up: Dinner at California Grill & Wishes!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 3 – Dinner @ California Grill & Wishes

As much fun as this night may sound (watching wishes from atop California Grill and then dining there) well…it had its ups and downs. To get things started I should mention that since we were dining at a signature restaurant I figured there would be a dress code. So I did my research and found this on the WDW website:

Dress Code Guidelines:
Men: Khakis, slacks, jeans, dress shorts, collared shirts. Sport coats are optional.
Ladies: Capris, skirts, dresses, jeans, dress shorts.
Not permitted in dining room: Tank tops, swimwear, hats for gentleman, cut offs, or torn clothing. While T-shirts are now allowed, the policy remains that T-shirts with offensive language or graphics are not acceptable.

Knowing about the dress code before we left we took careful consideration in packing everyone a nice outfit for this meal. Our dinner ADR was for 7:55pm and we left CBR right on time to be at our reservation 15mins early. When we arrived at the Contemporary Resort, we went to the reception desk on the 2nd floor to check in for our ADR. They gave us a buzzer and told us that we could either wait there in the lobby or go on up to the restaurant and out to the 15th floor observation deck b/c Wishes was going to start soon. We had planned on seeing Wishes from the observation deck on this night anyways…being why I had made reservations for 7:55pm. Wishes was set to go off at 8pm and we were on the deck by 7:50pm. It had gotten quite chilly and we were freezing up there. Wishes started after about 10mins (thank god) and we were all in wonderment of the fantastic colors, the sparkling fireworks and the storyline voiced by Mr Jiminy Cricket.

Wishes does something magical to me…I just love the music and magic of it all…so moving! I think the reason it means so much to me is b/c it always reminds me of the first time that we all came to WDW together in Jan 2008…it had been a rough few days before we were supposed to leave for WDW and we weren’t sure if we were going to have to cancel our trip or not. Matt and Tony’s mom had fallen ill and was put in the hospital. She had gotten a blood clot and they were giving her blood thinner meds to dissolve it. It was just a matter of time to see if the meds would help. If they did not work, things could have gotten serious. MIL lives in NC close to Matt and I, and Tony and family and had come down for our trip the day before anyway so we all just had to wait it out to see if the dr was going to give her a green light to be ok. Matt and Tony stayed at the hospital w/ her while Tara and I stayed at my house w/ the kids. We paced around my house all that day wondering what was going to happen… are we going to be able to go to WDW, will MIL be ok, will the meds work, will we be able to get our money back from Disney if we have to cancel? All of these things had us freaking out. The kids I must say, had their heads on straighter than anyone and told us that if we couldn’t go to WDW that it was OK and they understood. WOW, they are awesome huh…they deserve the unselfish kids award for sure!!! Anyway…hours passed in hospital and the meds were working great and dissolving the blood clot at a record pace. MIL had all here sisters around her and we felt confident that she was well taken care of. Besides, she told us to go on to WDW anyways. After Tara and I got the call that everything was ok and we would be going to WDW we grabbed all the bags and packed up the mini van super fast. As soon as the boys got back from the hospital we left the house and were on our way to Florida. Needless to say, we were about 10hrs behind our original leave time and so we arrived at Pop at 4am. We went right to bed, slept in the next morning, woke up around 11am and headed to our first day at the parks. We had a magical first day at MK and were all so excited we had made it to WDW and everyone back home was in good health. We had been going nonstop for days and that night when we sat down on the pavement to watch Wishes it was probably the 1st time since everything had happened that I actually took a breath and let it all in. Wishes started and as I listened to the words of Jiminiy Cricket, they rang true to my ears…"that wishes do come true if you really believe". Well of course I got all emotional and teary eyed after that. We had all been so excited about our WDW trip together and now we were finally here and our trip was happening. I guess I was just overwhelmed w/ joy and emotion. Since that night, Wishes has always been an important part of my WDW vacations.

OK, sorry for the long derailment…now back to our regularly scheduled programming!

As we were waiting and watching Wishes from atop Cali Grill, Tara and I were starting to notice that apparently not everyone read the same dress code that we had for California Grill and the CM’s were certainly not enforcing it. We were a lil upset b/c we had gone out of our way to cut the day short at DHS just to go back to the hotel and change for this dinner. Our time is precious at WDW and when we saw that we could’ve just come dressed as we were from the parks, we were a bit upset. After Wishes ended we waited for another ½ hour before our buzzer went off. When it finally did we were seated in a circled booth in the middle of the restaurant. We were really getting hungry at this point b/c our 7:55pm dinner had turned into an 8:55pm dinner. Both families decided to get an appetizer to wave the hunger. Matt and I had the Roasted Long Island Duck Flatbread w/ Cranberry Compote.

Tony & family had gotten the Triple Cheese Flatbread w/ Pecorino, Asiago and Provolone w/ Sun Dried Tomatoes and Arugula Pesto.

Both flatbread pizzas were very good. For our entrees: Matt and I had the Oak Fired Filet of Beef w/ Olive Oil Whipped Potatoes, Broccolini and Teriyaki BBQ.

Cody had the Palmetto Farms Crispy Chicken and subbed his sides for green beans and potatos.

Tara and Taylor both had the Day Boat Scallops w/ Blue Hubbard and Bacon Gratin and they subbed the Brussel Sprouts for the Button Mushrooms.

Tony had the Seared Ostrich Filet w/ Buttery Potato Puree and a Fig and Honeyed Port Reduction.

Everything took forever to come out but it was really good. Next up was dessert. Cody and I were very excited to find out what Huckleberries taste like when we saw that on the menu so he and I both had the Meyer Lemon Cheesecake w/ Huckleberry Jam and Sugar Wafer. We both enjoyed it immensely.

Matthew had the Strawberry Shortcake w/ Basil Ice Cream. He loved it!

And Tony, Tara and Taylor all had the Bananas Foster w/ Caramel. They all enjoyed theirs as well.

After we finished we asked the waiter to get a group shot before we headed out. Here we were all full and happy.

After dessert we headed out of Cali Grill and to the monorail to catch it back over to the MK and take a CBR bus home. Well needless to say, that didn’t happen. When we got on the monorail the driver did not tell anyone that the next stop, at the Transportation Ctr, would be his last stop of the night. We rode around to the Transporation Ctr where they finally did tell everyone that they "would need to exit the monorail because this was the last stop of the night"….oh great, now they tell us. So we got off, walked down the ramp and over to the bus portion. A CM there told us that all of the Transportation Ctr was now closed and no buses would be returning that night to get us. Now, there were at least 20-30 other people in this same scenario w/ us so it was not just us misunderstanding something…we had all just gotten dropped off w/ no where to go and no one to get us. That last CM at the Transportation Ctr was now closing up and told us that we’d have to walk over to the Polynesian and get a bus to DTD from there. Well bologna...I did not want to walk to the Poly...my feet were killing me already and you have to remember that we were all in uncomfortable dress shoes while they had us running all over everywhere trying to find a way back to CBR. Finally the monorail driver we had earlier took pity on us and did one last stop at the Poly for everyone…it’s the least he could do after all of that. We were very gracious and got back on the monorail as it wound its way around to the Poly. When we got off we walked downstairs to the bus stops and waited w/ the other people from the monorail for ANOTHER 45 mins until a DTD bus came. We got to DTD where we hopped on the CBR bus and had to wait another 20mins til we left b/c they were changing drivers. AHHHH! What a night. We didn’t end up getting back to the hotel that night til after midnight. It was torture on my feet and we were all exhausted from running around from one place to another. When our heads hit the pillow that night, we were all out like a light!

NEXT UP: Day 4 and we’re headed back to DHS!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Day 4 – Back to DHS (Surprise Fast Passes, Huge Cupcakes and lunch @ Sci-Fi)!

OK so I have been MIA for a few weeks. I have had things going on every weekend for the past month. I went to my (SCAD) College Alumni Weekend in Savannah, GA last weekend in April, the next weekend I went to VA to visit Tony, Tara and the kids for Tony’s restaurant opening, then I was in Boone, NC last weekend for a birthday and to visit family. Today I was finally able to catch my breath…whew!

So when I left off we had just come off of a rough night trying to get back to CBR from our late dinner at Cali Grill. We woke up early this morning, got showered, dressed and headed to the bus stop. When we arrived at the bus stop, there was a CM w/ a clipboard asking people how their transportation experiences w/in the resort had been. When he got to us, we had no complaints about our transportation at CBR but Tony mentioned to him about our experience last night and asked about monorail times and how we could’ve gotten so confused. After hearing our story he apologized deeply for our catastrophe and said that although he has nothing to do w/ monorail transportation he could offer us some Fast Passes for our troubles (which was so nice of him). He issued us 6 Fast Passes and apologized again as our bus to DHS was pulling up. Once on the bus we all looked at each other and new which ride these fast passes were to be used at….Toy Story Mania. This was the reason we were getting to DHS early today anyways. Our plan had been to head straight to TSM once in the park, get Fast Passes for later and then wait in the stand by line so we could ride at least twice this day. Well thanks to our friendly CBR CM we now got to get Fast Passes for later and then walk straight to the Fast Pass line and ride w/ our freebies. Thanks friendly CM!

After TSM, we all decided that we were getting a lil hungry and I had read about how great Starring Roles Bakery was so we stopped by there and picked up the most delicious and monstrous cupcakes you have ever seen. I was tempted by those massive rice krispy treats but boy that butterfinger cupcake…I just couldn’t pass up. We all used a snack credit and went to sit outside and eat at the tables. We enjoyed our Starring Roles picks as we dined on cupcakes, muffins and banana split cake.

We polished off our yummy sweet treats and headed for our fav…ToT!!!! On the way we ran into one of the street performers, Rose and she was running up and down the road kissing all the boys and men she could get her lips on. We made it to ToT and rode a couple times back to back. After a short while we noticed that it was time to grab another Fast Pass. We sent our handy fast pass retrieving hubby’s to Rock N Rollercoaster and when they returned we decided to start walking back up Sunset Blvd to enjoy some of the other attractions.

As we were walking down Sunset a movie production truck pulled up beside of us and two gentleman that looked to be part of a film crew jumped out and began setting up for what looked like an impromptu interview. They introduced themselves to everyone as Director Vladimir Pooey and his assistant Francis Flute. Now this is where the fun beings…Vladimir turned around looked right at Cody and said “Come here Unc.” (Cody had a UNC Tarheels shirt on but he called him Unc like that was his name and kept calling him that.) It was so funny. This was the funniest skit I had ever seen by those street performers we all died laughing the entire time. They had Cody say a lil spiel into the camera “Hi I’m Cody from Virginia. Welcome to Hollywood!” But that silly old Francis Flute would somehow mess it up every time. It was hilarious.

Then after a while the director got so frustrated w/ Francis messing everything up, he showed him that even a child could operate that camera and so he switched Cody and Francis’ roles by putting Cody as the cameraman. Well Francis managed to screw that up too…poor Francis the poor man just does not have a clue.

Here’s a very short clip of the show. My memory card ran out and this all I managed to get.


After a while they were finally able to get a good take w/ Cody saying his line. Vladimir thanked Cody very much and awarded him w/ a medal for his participation telling him “Thank you Unc for being in a Pooey Production.” Just a good, fun time and a great memorable experience!!!

We hadn’t realized how long we had been standing there and realized that our 1:40pm lunch ADR for Sci Fi Dine In was getting close. We headed that way and checked in at 1:40pm on the dot.

We only had to wait about 5mins before we were seated. They put us in a 3 row, 6 seater car which was perfect. Cody and Taylor sat up front w/ Tony & Tara in row 2 and Matt and I in back seat. We looked over the menu and then watched some of the B List Movie Trailers. These things are pretty funny too.

Soon our lunch came out and Tara and I both had the turkey sandwich. It was ok, a lil on the dry side. It def could’ve used some more of the avocado mayo.

Matt of course had the burger.

Cody had the ribs.

Tony and Taylor both had the Rueben.

We also got milkshakes for our drink which is a cool lil perk on the dining plan.

After lunch we were stuffed and knew that the Pixar Block Party Parade would be starting soon so we headed that way to find a seat. We found a great spot on the side steps of the American Idol Experience but still had about 45mins until parade time so Matt and Tony headed to ToT to grab us some fast passes for later. The boys finally got back and we all watched the parade together. This is a really cute parade and I love so many of the Pixar characters.

After the Parade we walked back down Sunset Blvd and used our Fast Passes from earlier on Rock N Rollercoaster, then rode ToT in the stand by line. We had never seen the Beauty and the Beast show on our previous trips so we were sure to check it out this time.

We all enjoyed the show and Gaston was quite comical. When we came out it was time to use our ToT fast passes so we got in line and rode again. From there we headed for Toy Story Mania to finally use our Fast Passes we had gotten early that morning.

Ricky Bobby won in points again (dang it) but I was a close 2nd. I had practiced and practiced for a whole month on my TSM Wii game before we left for WDW too. Oh and I also picked up a new cd for me to listen to back home. Last year I bought the 4 Parks 1 World cd, this yr I grabbed the Disney-Pixar movies tunes cd and did not regret it. There are some great songs on their and have enjoyed it very much.

After TSM, we headed to the back of the studios and enjoyed Muppets 3D and Star Tours before heading down Sunset Blvd once again for a lot more ToT and RNRC. The park was getting pretty empty and it was awesome to have open reign over both of those rides. Says in my notes that we rode ToT 3 more times and RnRC twice.

What a great 2 days we had at DHS!!! We love this park so much. It was hard to say goodbye but we made our way out of the park and to the buses. Once we arrived back at
CBR we walked straight to the food court and had our dinner. (Sorry I don’t have any food pics of dinner, I guess I forgot to take them on this night.) We finished up our 10pm dinner, headed to our rooms and went to bed.

Tomorrow we are off to Animal Kingdom and enjoy breakfast w/ Donald at Tusker House!!!