Back to Back trips in August-The How Could You's Ride Again!- Final Thoughts 4/14

[Tiggerrn2]

Great update!

Thanks!

 

[RGirl]

Whoa! Fridge Guy was just WEIRD!

The food looks good though, and the pool just looks and sounds like so much fun! I know my DD would love the BC pool!

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Linda! I thought I'd commented recently because the last several updates looked familiar....but hmmm.... I think I'm getting old and forgetful!

You have such awesome photos!! I love the photo tour of POP and your Wishes fireworks photos are amazing!

I was curious about Typhoon Lagoon since I've only seen BB. I was surprised at getting $5 back from our locker rental too. I must not have paid attention to the signs.

I haven't stayed at BC since 2010 but for the prices I would hope they keep up with the maintenance. That guy who replaced your fridge.... uhhh doesn't appear to be too helpful. I'm picturing him dragging the fridge by the cord... a bit amusing but at the same time - what the heck??

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Whoa! Fridge Guy was just WEIRD!

The food looks good though, and the pool just looks and sounds like so much fun! I know my DD would love the BC pool!

Most kids love this pool! It is very large, though and the kids have to cross the sidewalk on the outside walkway to get to the slide. But is an awesome resort to spend your vacation. Love the location, too.

Hi Linda! I thought I'd commented recently because the last several updates looked familiar....but hmmm.... I think I'm getting old and forgetful!

You have such awesome photos!! I love the photo tour of POP and your Wishes fireworks photos are amazing!

That's high praise coming from you! Thank you. I love all your photos!

I was curious about Typhoon Lagoon since I've only seen BB. I was surprised at getting $5 back from our locker rental too. I must not have paid attention to the signs.

I haven't stayed at BC since 2010 but for the prices I would hope they keep up with the maintenance. That guy who replaced your fridge.... uhhh doesn't appear to be too helpful. I'm picturing him dragging the fridge by the cord... a bit amusing but at the same time - what the heck??

He definitely doesn't have his "Four Keys" of Disney Customer Service in use. I think his name is "Grumpy" and he just forgot to put on his suit!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Last I left you, we were headed up to the room to get cleaned up for dinner. Where are we headed, you ask? Well, DS absolutely loves this restaurant. I LOVED it the first time we went-2009, ladies only with free dining. The second time was 2010 during our Christmas trip-not quite as impressed but the kids were with that time and enjoyed the entertainment. We returned in 2012 for our anniversary, and I swore that was my last visit. BUT we do all sorts of things we'd rather prefer not to do for our children.

Here is a hint. Let's see if any of you can guess it!

No cheating......The rest of the update continues below.











































No cheating!!!!!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Did you guess it? OK, we are here.

Is that any better?

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Ok OK!! I hear you. We really are here.

Oh, just for kicks, (and so you can see the difference in DS in just one year-this was at this restaurant just last summer)

Got it now?!



I am quite sure you know it now!


But just in case you didn't, this is it!!!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

So now you know!

We only had a short wait and then were shown to our table. This was our view (never mind the dude standing. He wouldn't sit down. Guess he ate too much and couldn't sit with his pants buttoned up. )

The chefs were hard at work preparing our dinner.

Once again, sorry for the lack of food photos. But we had all the usual suspects.....bread with butter, (DS ate a loaf by himself as I recall), salad (they have changed the dressing since last year and not for the better IMHO), then came my favorite part of the meal-the chicken wings and pot stickers and noodles/broccoli. It all seemed very rushed. They were bringing items out long before you could finish. The table was a bit crowded. And for whatever reason, they did not give us the warm towels after the wings this time, so we were left trying to wipe our sticky fingers off on dry napkins. Not sure if they have done away with the warm/damp towels or if our server just forgot us that evening. His name was Gabe, and we didn't see much of him.

Moving along, they began with the meat skewers. The beef was still not well done-and I even asked for a well done version but the inside was still looking rather raw. I stuck with the chicken and pork and had a few shrimp. But I decided I'd really rather save myself for this.....

Now I will say, the bread pudding and caramel sauce was just as amazing as always!!!

The were a little slow to get to the entertainment, but DS really wanted to wait around so D Nephew could get the full on experience.

Cousin brought us out a little something to celebrate D Nephew's birthday.

But they were a little too busy to send the rest of the family over to sing, so it was just us and cousin Gabe wishing DNephew a happy birthday.

Then it was time for DNephew to go up for his birthday greeting.

And he got his lovely flower lei.

Next up was time to learn to HULA!!

And a little video-it's about 3.5 minutes long.

http://youtu.be/0rPJJWmZcYU


At about 45 seconds into the video you can see the different meat skewers being brought to someone's table (sorry if it was your table I was standing behind to video the boys).

And funny, I noticed DS is wearing the same shirt this year for this dinner event as he wore last year. Guess it wasn't his top half where all the growth occurred.

Full and entertained, and having spent $200.00 for the 4 of us to have dinner, we headed out of Ohanas to wander the resort a little before heading outside. Figured we better check out the lobby and waterfalls one last time before the destruction begins.

Then headed outside to the beach. We thought about relaxing outside and staying to watch Wishes from the Poly beach.

The Villas at the GF nearing completion.

Darling nephew looks a little food possessed in this photo.

The boys had fun running around the beach.

Even DH was enjoying the relaxed day and evening.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset and (for a brief moment) considered making a Smores' on the beach.

It was getting closer to Wishes time, but we still had some time to kill and the boys were getting restless. I asked if they wanted to stay or if they wanted to head off somewhere else, and the vote was to move on....

We caught ourselves a neat ride and headed off around all the resorts back around to TTC to catch a bus back to the BC. What would we decide to do next? The night is still young, after all!!!

(PS. sorry the photos for this update weren't the best. I was using my phone)

 

[Buzzsgramma]

Yes sometimes its not about the food...even tho is cost plenty....its the experience....especially when you are taking someone that has never been..

we did enjoy our dinner and entertainment in 2011...there was 13 of us...eating,dancing etc...it was a good memory maker...

liking all your photos and great TR.....

 

[KatMark]

Sorry I'm a littler late in responding (rough day yesterday).

For the life of me, I could not figure out where you were going. And then I saw the sign. And I remembered we talked about you going and not being pleased as we were not with our meal there. Yep, not going back.

Love your pictures around the Poly and on the beach (we never did get to that beach that night).

Can't wait to hear what you decide to do since you didn't stick around for Wishes.

 

[RGirl]

Ah, 'Ohana! We had dinner there once - poor service, and the food was just okay. We haven't been back. I think most people have a great experience there though. I hope your nephew enjoyed it a lot!

The time on the beach looks so pleasant.

 

[emmysmommy]

I love your sunset photo at the Poly!

Ohhhh 'Ohana... I have a strange relationship with that place. In theory I love it but the reality seems to dim a little more each time. That is so odd about them not offering the hot towels. I didn't like the change in the salad but I can overlook that if they don't change the wings or dumplings! I always leave room for the dessert so I agree with your strategy!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Yes sometimes its not about the food...even tho is cost plenty....its the experience....especially when you are taking someone that has never been..

we did enjoy our dinner and entertainment in 2011...there was 13 of us...eating,dancing etc...it was a good memory maker...

liking all your photos and great TR.....

Thanks. The boys had a fun evening. So I guess it was worth it.

Sorry I'm a littler late in responding (rough day yesterday).
Again, so sorry about Cookie.
For the life of me, I could not figure out where you were going. And then I saw the sign. And I remembered we talked about you going and not being pleased as we were not with our meal there. Yep, not going back.

I am not in a hurry to return, either. There are so many places we have never tried. I am sure $200 could be better spent.

Love your pictures around the Poly and on the beach (we never did get to that beach that night).

Can't wait to hear what you decide to do since you didn't stick around for Wishes.

We had a nice relaxing evening.

Ah, 'Ohana! We had dinner there once - poor service, and the food was just okay. We haven't been back. I think most people have a great experience there though. I hope your nephew enjoyed it a lot!

The time on the beach looks so pleasant.

The Poly beach is one of my favorite places to pass some time. We did see Wishes from there last summer. Quite a different experience.

I love your sunset photo at the Poly!

Ohhhh 'Ohana... I have a strange relationship with that place. In theory I love it but the reality seems to dim a little more each time. That is so odd about them not offering the hot towels. I didn't like the change in the salad but I can overlook that if they don't change the wings or dumplings! I always leave room for the dessert so I agree with your strategy!

I totally understand. The first time I was there, the food was soooo good. The steak was "melt in your mouth" tender. Never has been since. The taste portion of the filet and mushroom from Canada at Food and Wine is a better spend! Especially with the kids being older now. It just doesn't have the same attraction.

 

[Tiggerrn2]

We left off with a bus ride back to Beach Club.
We wandered through the lobby and to the MarketPlace and filled our mugs. Then we headed out to the beach. "BOLT" was the movie of the night playing on the beach. The boys got comfy in some lounge chairs. And that was where they chose to stay.

DH and I decided we needed to walk off our meal. Sorry for the foggy photos. Seems that is what happens on hot, humid nights when one leaves the frosty air conditioning of the resort!

We made our way around to the Boardwalk.

And then took some photos from across the way.

Thank you-don't mind if I do!!

And just in case you were wondering and ever wanted to take one of these out for a Daytona 500 type ride around the Boardwalk, the prices are thus:

We finished our walk around the Boardwalk and collected the boys from the Beach as the movie ended and headed back inside to the Marketplace to grab a new 1/2 gallon of milk, some cereal and I bought a Beach Club T-shirt. So glad to see some Resort specific merchandise. I was, however, very disappointed that I didn't grab a Beach Club pin that morning, as they were out already, and they never got them back in. I even checked again when I returned on my trip with the girls. Still no Beach Club pin to add to DD Resort pins. I guess these are a real hot commodity!
We headed on up and were to bed by 11pm.
We had an early morning coming up!!!

 

[KatMark]

Linda, beautiful pictures of the Boardwalk and looking back at the Beach Club. It truly is a beautiful area. I will say that was one of the few reasons I liked the Beach Club...being able to walk to the Boardwalk.

Can't wait to see where your early morning starts the next day.

 

[RGirl]

Oh, your nighttime pics from your walk are gorgeous!!! And make me a little sad - I love that area SO MUCH!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Linda, beautiful pictures of the Boardwalk and looking back at the Beach Club. It truly is a beautiful area. I will say that was one of the few reasons I liked the Beach Club...being able to walk to the Boardwalk.

Can't wait to see where your early morning starts the next day.

Thank you. It is a great area to stay. There is so much going on in the evenings on the Boardwalk. Great way to spend some non-park time. Early morning coming up next!

Oh, your nighttime pics from your walk are gorgeous!!! And make me a little sad - I love that area SO MUCH!

Thank you. I love it there. So pretty at night.

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Tuesday, July 30th!! A Magic Kingdom kind of day!

We were up early and had a quick breakfast in the room. We were out the door by 7:45 and only had a brief wait for the bus! We were going to make it in plenty of time for Rope Drop (as if that is a proper noun requiring capitalization- ). We were going to be so early, we'd even have a great view of the Welcome show!! It had been a very long time since I'd made it early enough to see the characters come in by train. Then we ran into a bit of a glitch. It seems somewhere along the way, the magnetic strip of my AP card and one of the others in my wallet rubbed against one another and wiped each other out and my AP was deactivated! I had to go over to Guest Relations to get that all sorted out. Thankfully, there weren't many over there waiting yet and it didn't take more than 10 minutes. No idea (at that time) which card it had touched.

We grabbed a quick morning photo out in front of the park.

The area in front of the train station filled in quickly.

The characters began coming out onto the station platform.

After Mickey arrives they bring out the family of the day! How awesome if you are chosen for this honor!

Some greetings are done by all!

And then the mad crowding begins. Some to the left side and most to the right- with the rush on to Space Mountain! The CMs held everyone up as they entered Tomorrowland saying the ride couldn't run without them. Thereby enabling a few hundred more eager spacemen to gather behind us! We thought about going straight on, but with the line quickly growing, decided to grab FPs to come back in another hour or so and just move over to the barren side of the park. We made a quick stop at a walk on Buzz Lightyear!

The boys are very focused!! Me, focusing on the camera!

Time to move away from the future and go where the others didn't! Welcome to the uncrowded side of the park. ALWAYS go left young man!!!

Looks more like mid October than end of July!

We went right on Splash for a quick spritzing. Already quite warm this morning. (no photos on this first pass-sorry) Then we headed over to BTMRR.
Absolutely no wait for this train. No time to grab any photos along the way of the new queue.

Come along for the ride!

I really liked this photo!

There was no wait, so we went right around and did it again!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

It was time to head back to the future and use our SM FPs! Along the way we grabbed FPs for Splash and stopped in the center for a quick photo. Would have been a good shot if DS hadn't closed his eyes. Darn that Florida sunshine!

The Photopass photographer was having a little fun with my camera.

We were briefly detained by a talking trash can....

Love me some metal palm trees!!!

Can you see DH and DNephew strolling on ahead? They wait for no photo!

We stopped for a couple of bottles of water in the Space Mountain Shop and made a pit stop over at the washrooms.
We headed in to check out the new version of Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. We had a good show. Rode Stitch (only because DNephew wanted to check it out) though I have no use for his chili burps or sitting in that awful seat. Though I did sit up very straight and tall when the shoulder harness first came down to avoid it crushing me later. We picked up another set of FPs to ride Space again later and then headed back over to Frontierland to use our Splash Fastpasses!

I braved the Splash Mountain (aka Pirates, Small World and Living With the Land) scented waters and kept my cell phone out for some photos.

It is mighty difficult to keep a cell phone still to keep your photo focused!

"So You're looking for a Laughing Place, eh???!! We'll show you a Laughing Place!!"

"Zip A Dee Do Da" Admit it-you are singing along now aren't you?!

Once again ole' Brer Rabbit is safe and sound.

I grabbed a quick photo (and it was about this time I learned about the $50 attraction photopass card, too late now but will definitely keep it in mind for the girls' trip).

We hunted down the Hidden Mickey in Chip and Dale's treehouse and listened a bit for them to chatter on about something we couldn't make out.

It was heading on towards noon. We got a lot accomplished this morning! Time for lunch. Where shall we go?

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!