Bargain Betty and Workaholic Starring In:What Are You, A Disney Expert?

[dawnbu40]

When we finished eating we decided to venture off to Frontierland.Our first stop was BTMRR which was a walk on!

(please forgive me if I used this pic before..I can't remember but I really like it!)

I was so excited to walk on to this! I remember waiting in line an hour (before FP) for this ride so I felt very spoiled! I got all the way through the queue and the CM asked how many and I of course said "two" and he said "who you riding with?". I turned around and Dale was nowhere to be found
Apparently, he was enjoying looking at the queue theming and took his time getting through.
He did get this pic which is a cute play on words

When Dale finally appeared the CM told him he needed to stay with me or else the CMs would ride with me

After our wild ride on the rails we headed over to another childhood favorite, The Country Bear Jamboree. Yes this show is corny but I love singing along! So while I was clapping my hands and stomping my feet to that good ol'country rhythm, Dale was snapping pics...

I love Big Al!

I can't recall this fella's name...

Don't you just love his hat?!

The big finish

After watching the bears jam we headed out into Frontierland. We quickly came across this group (whose name completely escapes me at the moment)

who were singing "Happy Birthday" to a cute little boy. When they finished they commented on our buttons and asked how long we'd been married. They made a fuss over 21 years and had everyone clap. I was totally into and hammed it up The leader of the group then told this elaborate tale of how he and Dale had planned for me to walk out into the show and have them sing to me. He said Dale would be paying him a lot of money for this Then they sang "Hey good lookin, whatcha got cookin" (I have no idea of that songs real name) It was really fun and throughout their little show they referred back to us several times and kept us involved. It was really special!

After my serenade we wandered into the Frontier Post and looked around. Dale found this awesome hidden Mickey that I never even noticed!

Isn't that cool?! I love that!

We didn't buy anything and continued on our way. Dale of course got some more pics...

I think this one looks like a postcard

This was in the window of the Sleepy Hollow refreshment stand...

We stopped in "Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe" in Liberty Square and bought a "baby's first Christmas" ornament for the new baby of one of Dale's employees. The new parents are big Disney fans, who can't wait for the baby's first WDW visit, so we knew they'd appreciate it. We got a baby Minnie ornament and had it personalized with her name, Emma. (We forgot to get a pic though)

As we walked past the castle the castle show was just beginning so we stayed and watched. I love the castle shows! They always feel so magical

After the show we were headed to Tomorrowland and happened to pass Belle's storytime. In all our visits we'd never seen this little show so we decided to stop. Unfortunately, there weren't any seats left in the tiny theater so we had to stand. It is a cute little re-telling of Belle's story with audience "volunteers" as the actors. I think the success of this show lies in it's participants and none of the ones in our show were into it. Despite the lack of enthusiasm from the performers, I was still glad we caught the show!

When we got to Tomorrowland

our first stop was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. There was no line and we were able to walk right on! Now you know how Dale always beats me at these things? Well, I hit something and racked up HUGE POINTS!!!! I was so excited that even though he won he only beat me by 3000 points and we both scored as "Planetary Pilots". I was so excited with my achievement that I suggested we should ride again! (In retrospect, I should have accepted my good score and moved on) We walked back on but this time my score was HORRIBLE! Oh well, easy come easy go!

When we left Buzz we headed toward Stitch. I know a lot of people don't like this ride (my own daughter included) but I think it's fun. There was no waiting so we walked right in and onto the ride. I however had the bad luck of choosing a seat that wasn't working so I didn't experience any of the "effects". (on the plus side I didn't have to smell his burp)

After our visit with Stitch we thought we'd go pickup the ornament which was being personalized. On our way out of Tomorrowland we ran into a "character" that I had always wanted to see! I was so excited! Dale really didn't get the fuss I made but he humored me. Who did we see? Well you'll have to wait and find out

 

[thecapells]

Nice job on the serenade in Frontierland, Dale!
I hear those are really, really expensive so Dawn better appreciate it!


Glad you stopped in on Stitch - I think that the ride is just fine as well.
The kids enjoy his antics and I think it's just plain fun and silly.
If Alien Encounter wasn't there first, I think people would like it better.
Oh well.

Good job beating Dale on Buzz!
You should look up those "bonus point" spots - it makes the game much easier...

As for your "character" I'm not sure who makes the rounds in those parts.
I guess it depends on the route you took.
My guesses would be either one of the Main St. characters, Pinocchio, or Jiminy Cricket...

 

[meeko_33785]

Sounds like a great morning- lots of walk-ons and fun entertainment.

As for the mystery character, could it be Push? That was my first thing that came to mind while I was reading.

 

[dawnbu40]

Nice job on the serenade in Frontierland, Dale!
I hear those are really, really expensive so Dawn better appreciate it!


Glad you stopped in on Stitch - I think that the ride is just fine as well.
The kids enjoy his antics and I think it's just plain fun and silly.
If Alien Encounter wasn't there first, I think people would like it better.
Oh well.

Good job beating Dale on Buzz!
You should look up those "bonus point" spots - it makes the game much easier...

As for your "character" I'm not sure who makes the rounds in those parts.
I guess it depends on the route you took.
My guesses would be either one of the Main St. characters, Pinocchio, or Jiminy Cricket...

Yep Dale really suprised me with the serenade I have read things about where to find "bonus points" on Buzz and TSM but once I get on the ride all of it goes right out the window
It wasn't Pinocchio or Jiminy and we've actually met both of them before....

Sounds like a great morning- lots of walk-ons and fun entertainment.

As for the mystery character, could it be Push? That was my first thing that came to mind while I was reading.

It was a fun morning and you gotta love all those walk ons! You are good! It was Push! I'd read about him and seen pics in the Capell's TR but this would be our first time seeing him

 

[MEK]

Oh Dawn -

I can't see your pictures, but it sounds like another great update. I can't wait to see your pics and then I will be back to comment. Yeah for the great score on buzz. That happened to me once. Notice I say ONCE and only once. I think I hit Zurg when he was ready to blow. I have never duplicated that score since!

 

[dawnbu40]

I don't have an update today but I wanted to stop by and wish all our Dis-friends a
VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! To our Jewish friends, I hope you had a blessed Hanukkah

Blessings to you all! Dale, Dawn and Caitlin

 

[MEK]

Dawn - this picture is absolutely phenomenal. I love it. It belongs in a photo contest. You just need to photoshop out that person in the corner (which I honestly didn't notice until I looked at the picture a second time).

 

[dawnbu40]

Dawn - this picture is absolutely phenomenal. I love it. It belongs in a photo contest. You just need to photoshop out that person in the corner (which I honestly didn't notice until I looked at the picture a second time).

Thanks Mary Ellen! I think having a good camera makes a big difference because Dale isn't a great photographer but he did get some great shots! I do need to to learn to use photoshop or the extras on the camera to edit things. I don't know how to do that so I just post them or print them as is.

 

[dawnbu40]

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa was good to everyone! We had a wonderful Christmas! Actually, I must say it was one of our nicest Christmases ever! We saw lots of family, had wonderful food and we all felt spoiled from all the gifts A little snow would have been nice but I'm not complaining! We did of course have some Disney on Christmas morning! Caitlin got a couple blu-rays for her Disney collection. She got Up and Snow White. We hadn't seen Snow White in years but that movie has some intense scenes that would be really scary for little ones! I think the movie is scarier than the ride (unless your ride queue has a line jumper ) As for other Disney... Dale got me an adorable watch that has the Fab 5 in it which I just love! For personalized Disney gifts, I made Caitlin a photo calendar using pics from May (made myself one from Sept. Gotta love freebie codes ) and I had the pic of Dale and I in front of the ToT put on canvas. He was thrilled with it and dubbed it his favorite gift (but I think the Keurig has since replaced the pic ) After all the gifts were done we sat down and watched the Disney parade together before heading to Grandma's. I swear that parade has brain washing powers because by the time it was over I felt desperate to book a spring trip! We didn't, but Dale did say if his yearly bonus is good we should price a spring vacation
I'll be back later to post an update

 

[praisehisname]

Your Magic Kingdom day pictures are great! Love the riverboat one!

Glad to hear you had a nice Christmas. I hope you get to plan that spring trip!

 

[dawnbu40]

Your Magic Kingdom day pictures are great! Love the riverboat one!

Glad to hear you had a nice Christmas. I hope you get to plan that spring trip!

Thanks! I love the riverboat one too! Frontierland was pretty slow that day so he got some really good pictures!
Thanks! I hope we get that spring trip too

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just wanted you to know that I'm still hear and reading along. It's been so busy these past few weeks that I haven't commented on the trip reports I have been reading. Heck, I haven't even done a good job on updating my own trip report.

I hate that this is your last day at Walt Disney World. I'm always sad when it's the last day. Looking forward to seeing who the mystery character is.

 

[dawnbu40]

Just wanted you to know that I'm still hear and reading along. It's been so busy these past few weeks that I haven't commented on the trip reports I have been reading. Heck, I haven't even done a good job on updating my own trip report.

I hate that this is your last day at Walt Disney World. I'm always sad when it's the last day. Looking forward to seeing who the mystery character is.

Glad to hear you're still here The holidays are such a busy time for everyone that there isn't a lot of time left over for diss-ing.

The last day is always sad but since during the last 2 trips we booked our next trips while still at WDW it makes going home a lot easier. When we leave without booking a trip I tend to tear up on the ME!

 

[thecapells]

Yeah, after the parade we were thinking similar thoughts.
In fact, with my Annual Pass expiring in April, we were contemplating a renewal or not.
With one trip planned for Jan 2011, it only makese sense if we're going again in 2010.
So Star Wars Weekends is becoming very enticing...

 

[dawnbu40]

When I left off we had just done the Stitch ride and when we walked back out into the sunshine we saw a rare "character" that I had never before seen in person! Who did we see? Well Meeko guessed right......we walked out and saw Push the Talking Garbage Can on the bridge from Tomorrowland to the hub!

When I spotted Push I was so excited and pointed and said to Dale, "LOOK! It's Push!" His response was, "that's a garbage can " I agreed it was a garbage can but a talking one! Push had a group of kiddies around him that were just captivated by him! It was so cute watching them interact.

While I was busy watching Push, Dale was busy trying to figure out who was responsible for making him talk. He snapped a pic of Push's "friend" who was dressed like a visitor and stayed just a bit back from the group surrounding Push so folks wouldn't notice him talking into the microphone. SPOILER-the next pic is of Push's "friend" skip over it if you don't want to see....

I really had no interest in seeing how Push worked, I am all about the magic in WDW and want nothing to do with anything that might take away from it! After a few minutes it was time for Push to leave and here's a pic of him passing a "regular" trash can on his way backstage.

On our way toward the castle we took some more pics...

(I finally got the camera away from Dale and took the pic below which I love!)

Our next stop was back at the Christmas Shop to pick up the ornament we were having personalized. When we got there the place was packed and only 2 ladies were working in the shop! We had to wait about 15 minutes to get the ornament we'd already paid for While we were waiting we began talking to the lady in line in front of us who told us she's a part-time CM. She told us how they'd been chopping hours and as a result almost all of WDW was understaffed. She ended up being the first of 3 CMs,that day, to tell us how shortstaffed the parks were.
After we finally got the ornament we headed over to the Haunted Mansion which was a walk on. After our quick visit with Master Gracey we decided we were getting hungry. What to do about lunch? We didn't have an adr and wanted to get the most from our leftover dining credits so we decided to try and walkup to a restaurant. Since the closest place was the Liberty Tree Tavern we walked there and asked about a table. To my surprise, they said they could seat us in roughly 10 minutes! Wow! Pretty good during free dining huh? Well not so fast.......we waited and waited and waited and we were finally seated after 35 minutes. I'll admit I was pretty frustrated by the time we were seated. Then when we got our table well the view was less than stellar. Our table was a corner one that was adjacent to a filling station and our view was of all the ketchup,mustard and mayo bags that were stacked in there. It just looked rather gross and not very appetizing! I was beginning to regret suggesting LTT and was thinking we should have just gone to Casey's. Then our server appeared.....and she ended up making the wait worth it! I forgot to write down her name but she was just wonderful! She brought us confetti and wished us "Happy Anniversary" and took our orders. For our appetizers we both got tossed salads. Yes, pretty basic I know.

For our entrees, I ordered the roast beef and Dale ordered the turkey. We ended up trading because I liked the turkey better

The portions were very ample and the food was delicious! We both really enjoyed this meal and would visit here again!

For our desserts, Dale ordered the peach crisp (which he loved) and I got the toffee cake (it was ok but not my favorite)

When our server brought our desserts she also brought us a cupcake with a candle and insisted on taking our pic. Twice. Once smiling and once kissing.

Then she gave us an anniversary gift. She gave us one of the LTT mugs all wrapped up to go. We thought it was so sweet of her and Dale has found this makes a great beer mug

**On a side note....why the heck does the ladies room at LTT only have 2 stalls? It is a pretty big place and the wait is crazy!***

After our lunch we did a walk on for POTC and then did an attraction we hadn't done in years! We visited the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse. (this must be a draw for people travelling without teens because Mary Ellen mentioned visiting it in her TR too) Dale and I both remember watching the movie on "The Wonderful World of Disney" as kids, so it was fun to visit the old place!

After our nostalgic visit we stopped into the store across the way. I can't remember the name but it's kind of surf shopish? Anyway, I spotted this shirt and thought it would be cute for Caitlin. (the color is almost Dis green!)

It was marked $26 which I didn't think was too bad. When they rang it up though it was $11 !! I was so excited! It was such a good deal that I ended up getting her another one in yellow with Tink on it. (now she has a head start on Sept.'s vacay wardrobe )

At this point we realized we needed to start heading back toward the front of the park so we could get back to the hotel for the ME. We shopped our way down Main Street and spent a good deal of time looking at the prints by David Doss. We have two beach themed ones in our hallway and thought a winter one would be nice to switch out for the season. We decided on this one...

(I got the frame for $3 at Target )

We then stopped at the candy shop and used up our remaining snack credits. We got 3 rice krispie treats and a coconut Mickey chocolate bar. YUM!

We then said our Good-Byes to the MK and got on a bus back to Pop. When we got to Pop we stopped in the food court to see if they'd let me exchange some more snacks for our 1 leftover meal credit. They wouldn't. I was a little disappointed but it wasn;t a big deal. We still had an hour to kill so we each got a drink and grabbed a table near the pool and relaxed and talked. As we were sitting there I looked through my Disney folder and realized we'd never used the voucher for the arcade so on our way to the ME we stopped in the arcade and gave our voucher to a family that was in there. They were really pleased and our little random act of kindness seemed a good way to end our vacation

Up next-the trip home and our final thoughts

 

[dawnbu40]

Yeah, after the parade we were thinking similar thoughts.
In fact, with my Annual Pass expiring in April, we were contemplating a renewal or not.
With one trip planned for Jan 2011, it only makese sense if we're going again in 2010.
So Star Wars Weekends is becoming very enticing...

Didn't that parade just give you the itch? It really did us! I bet the thought of Star Wars weekends is really tempting for you! Those weekends are supposed to be really cool!

Dale came home from work today and said he might be getting transferred to a new store which would make a spring trip impossible. But then he asked, "if we can't go twice, what would it cost to upgrade from CSR to a Deluxe?" I totally didn't see that one coming Truth is, as much as I'd love a deluxe I think I'd rather stay value or mod and go twice Guess we just have to wait and see.

 

[pipersmom]

Very cool piccies..I love the one of BTMR..woohoo for the possibility of a spring trip I bet you can sway him before it's all said and done

 

[pipersmom]

Well..that's what I get for not refreshing the page before I posted...you snuck another update in on me!! LOL . It sounds like a nice afternoon..don't you just love finding unexpected items on sale? There you are willing to pay 26 and it rings up at 11..score!

 

[praisehisname]

This is beautiful; you should get it framed!

When our server brought our desserts she also brought us a cupcake with a candle and insisted on taking our pic. Twice. Once smiling and once kissing.

We don't get to see the kissy picture?

(I got the frame for $3 at Target )

Love it!

 

[thecapells]

Ooooh - a Deluxe Splurge Trip.
That sounds very enticing!!
You'll definitely have to keep us posted.

As for the TR segment, sounds like you guys had a great last day.
We've never been to LTT and were about to but then they nixed the chars.
Is it worth it without them? There's so few good table services in MK...

We also haven't done the Treehouse in years.
The kids have no idea who the Swiss Family Robinson is but I was considering it for our next trip.
Maybe just a place for them to blow off some steam climbing all the stairs!

And nice winter pic of Mickey!
We always browse the Art of Disney but can't bring ourselves to buy one of the prints.
But since we collect dragons, I'd love one of those awesome Malificent dragons...

Lastly, I'm surprised Pop wouldn't let you do something with your meal credit.
On our last trip, we were able to basically get a meal of "sides" for our last credit - milk, some apples, and a dessert (minus the entree).