Been There, Done That and ThenSome:Timandlesley Do Disneyfor18days!11/2 TR IS UP!pg79

[2xcited2sleep]

I the DIS podcast. Can't wait to listen and say "I "know" her!"

 

[Sooze]

Then they had a “meeting’ about the creature in the pool:

What a funny story! You just gotta love kids' imaginations!

it took us 2 seconds to decide we would love to do that – so it turns out we are going to AKL at the same time as Diane and her family again next year – can’t wait!

And... once again... I'm INSANELY jealous!!! Good for you guys, though!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Hey everyone!
I am so excited. I am a huge fan of the Dis podcast team and they had a call in show yesterday AND I GOT THROUGH!!! It was amazing, I am so excited. The show should be up today or tomorrow if you want to listen. I was so nervous I don't remember all I said, hopefully I don't come off stupid. Let me know if you hear it?
Lesley

I am downloading the show right now!!

You should come on the Podcast Cruise!


Great update too-I love going to the parks, but trips that are long enough to have slow non-park days always hold special magic it seems! Ohana is so delicious, isn't it? I love your purple tank top that you wore there--can I ask where did you buy it?

We stayed at SSR on our Developer points too-we did a 1 bedroom for most nights, and a studio for 1 night, so we didn't unpack. I didn't even realize about the lack of storage! What a pain that would be for a long trip! We were in Congress Park, so it was a HIKE to the main buildings, which kinda irritated me, but overall the resort is really beautiful and I would stay there again-I'd just be sure I didn't have to go to the main building very often!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

What a fun day you all had Lesley! I love Luke's shirt. He's a hoot!

 

[brookelizabeth]

You did not sound like a dork or anything, you sounded great!! Good question too - Luke, have fun with Pirate's League!

 

[ekball]

The kids are now joining you for F&W?! When did that happen (did I miss the announcement)? I know it's so hard to leave the kids, BUT, I HIGHLY recommend a mom and dad only trip in the future. We saw a completely different side of Disney when we had our adults-only long weekend in May. I saw Disney in a totally different light (missed my kiddos for sure, but it was so wonderful, relaxing, romantic...) You won't be sorry you did it.

Enjoying the report.

 

[SunnieRN]

I too am ruined!!!

Me three!! And what I like about the extra sleeping chair at AKL and BLT is that I get my own bed!

 

[timandlesley]

Day 9 June 29th
So on this day we had nothing planned in the morning which was a great feeling. We slept in until 9 o’clock and ate breakfast in the room and relaxed. We headed to the Springs pool around 10:00.
It’s a great pool, the kids had a blast.
Lauren loved the Donald Duck Splash area:

I didn’t realize the pool had a zero entry area, that was really nice. Here is just another pool pic I took:

Not only do they have the huge slide (which I went on and it’s really fun) but they have a small teenie slide in the shallow end for littler kids, Lauren LOVED this:

They had tons of fun swimming around on this hot day:

Tim spent some time in the hot tub and I spent some time in the water with the kids and sunbathing, such a relaxing morning. A little before noon I ran up to Artist Pallet to get lunch for us, YIKES! This place was CRAZY. You had to wait forever in a line to order (it literally wrapped around into the gift shop) and then you order, they give you a pager, you have to stand in another line to pay for it and then your buzzer goes off and you go BACK to get your food – crazy system if you ask me. The food offerings were terrible for the kids: a hot dog, these god awful looking chicken nuggets (I felt sorry for the kids, they had the adult nice looking nuggets right next to the kids nuggets and my kids kept saying “why can’t we have those good ones), or peanut butter and jelly. Luke had the hot dog and Lauren had peanut butter and Jelly. I had a yummy roast beef and bleu sandwich, it was very good, Tim had the "smithstack" which he enjoyed. It was nice eating lunch pool side and lounging. They had a refillable mug station at the Springs pool too so that was nice to keep refilling our drinks out there.
As we were lounging by the pool Diane and Matthew walked by, they were headed to the Community Hall to rent some noodles. The kids saw them and immediately wanted to go over to the Grandstand pool with them and swim, so we headed over that way.
The kids had fun spraying each other:

And swimming together:

I felt sorry for Diane and Bryan because they needed the kids to eat so they went up to the Grand Stand bar to order lunch , they had sandwiches, pizza, etc. there but they don’t take lunch credits, CRAZY. I don’t understand that.
We had a great time hanging out with them, Diane and I got into the pool together for a bit and the kids had a blast swimming. Bryan and Tim enjoyed eachothers company pool side and in the hot tub.
We both headed up to our rooms at 2:30 to change and get ready for our evenings. We were headed to Coral Reef at Epcot that night. Based upon a conversation we had pool side, Tim and I decided we wanted to do Tepan Edu again instead of Biergarten later in the trip. We know they mentioned they were doing Tepan Edu as well later in the trip so we ended up adding on to their ressie which was Bryan’s birthday so we could eat a meal on their last day at the parks. (of course we cleared it with them first) we were both thrilled about being able to do that on their last day here.
We got all cleaned up and headed for the bus stop at 4:00

.
FUNNIEST thing, guess who else was at the bus stop:

The kids were THRILLED (so were we). So we headed to Epcot on the bus together:

It was a beautiful night (aren’t all Epcot nights just gorgeous or is it just our experience!?!) Here is a happy Tim entering the park with his MASCULINE Minnie Mouse Annual Pass ; )

Then Bryan said “Fast Pass Run” and he literally RAN to Innoventions to get Kim Possible FP’s for them. I was impressed that he takes the term “fast pass run” literally. Here he is running:

We WALKED that way and Tim got them for us too:

Then we went our separate ways, we headed for Test Track

Turns out they ended up doing Test Track too because they were several people behind us in line – we kept waving to eachother in line : )

Lauren was being EXTRA silly in line:

Can you spot the hidden Mickey we found:

The kids were snuggling in line, love it when they do this:

We turned around and saw our friends again as we were pulling out:

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST!!!

 

[timandlesley]

I got some good photo’s on the ride this time:

LOVE THAT RIDE!!!! One of my favorites, we all love it so much!
The kids had fun checking out some cars at the exit area:

Then we headed to Coral Reef and they headed to do their Kim Possible Mission.
We checked in at Coral Reef and were seated right away, I was bummed because we were in the VERY back row, we’re spoiled by always getting tank side in the past. My wonderful Luke (this is his favorite restaurant) said “well, this isn’t bad, look at the great view of the tank from up here!” Gotta love it!

View from our table:

Tim and I at dinner (luke took this)

Then each kid took a picture of themselves with the camera:

Our waiter was HORRIBLE!!! His name was Rico, and let me tell you….. Rico NEVER made eye contact with us, he was always frantically looking around the restaurant and always rushing when he was at the table. I ordered wine and didn’t get it until I was half way through my Main course. At one point Tim said “thank you” to him and there was silence……… so Tim said “THANK YOU” again……… again, NOTHING, so Tim said “are you hearing what I am saying to you?” and he said “Yes, you are saying Thank you” and Tim said “well, wouldn’t it be nice if you would actually acknowledge we were here” to which he ignored that comment, kind of laughed and walked away, AUGH! I tried not to let it ruin the meal, but it certainly did, the guy was just awful.
Luke was THRILLED with the Mahi Mahi as usual:

I brought the light up things (tinkerbell and Lightning McQueen) from OHana’s for the kids to put on their drinks, Luke had fun with those:

MAN, is it Father like Son or WHAT!?!?!
I had the Mahi Mahi also and it was pretty good, Tim had the Steak which he did not like at all. Again, the mood just wasn’t the same with this waiter.
We both ordered the Chocolate Wave for desert, the inside of Tim’s just looked PLAIN OLD NASTY!

EWWWWWWWWWWW!
The kids had ice cream. Rico swooped in at one moment (I think we were taking a picture or something) AND TOOK LAUREN’S ICE CREAM, she had only had maybe 1-2 bites, AUGH! She was not very happy (neither was Tim).
I NEVER just don’t leave a tip, but I only gave this guy 5 bucks and even that was PAINFUL, he was TERRIBLE!
So, needless to say I don’t think we’ll be dining at Coral Reef again, way too many nice restaraunts on property.
After dinner we headed over to the Living Seas since Tim hadn’t ridden Nemo yet, doesn’t he look so happy to get into a Clam Mobile:

Still being goofy once inside : )

It was a cute ride as always with no wait which is AWESOME.
Here is Luke doing a Peter Pan like pose after the ride:

And Lauren LITERALLY danced her way outside of the living seas:

Too funny, that girl LOVES to dance and sing!
So our goal was to head to the World Showcase to do a Kim Possible Mission and watch Illuminations (YEAH!!!). We decided for Tim’s knee sake we would ride the boat over to the other side (it was killing him at this point).

We took the boat over and Tim found a bench in Morocco and the kids and I traded in our Fast Pass and got a mission in Germany. We passed by the summer concert series, and Slippery When Wet was playing, MAN they sounded just like Bon Jovi (and looked like them too from a distance). It was awesome jamming to some BonJovi while walking around the World Showcase.
The mission in Germany was super fun, here are some pics from it:

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!

 

[timandlesley]

At the end of the mission your phone activates the German clocktower and they go round and round the clock knocking the bad guy in the head with a hammer in the clock, kids LOVED this!
Lauren after the mission :

I grabbed a German Pretzel for the kids and a bottled water using snack credits and headed back to Morocco to find Tim. When I did I sat the kids with him and got some alcoholic beverages for Tim and I. I got them from the Moroccan stand, some kind of alcoholic slushy, not the best but it was pretty tasty.
As we waited for Illuminations to start (from our PERFECT spot – no crowds and a bench no less) Lauren and I watched “MoRockin” with the belly dancer, Lauren LOVED it!
She couldn’t stop dancing after:

Trying to get pics of the kids on this beautiful Epcot night:

Then the globe came out and all was right in the world : ) I just LOVE this show!!!

Torches lit!

Fireworks erupt:

Shae REALLY enjoyed when “the earf opened up and THERE WAS FIRE!”

After the wonderful show had ended we headed towards the exit, Tim was having a hard time and Lauren was OUT COLD in the stroller by the time we got to Mexico:

When we got to the line for Saratoga it was rather long, PLUS there were two wheelchairs with large parties. I knew 1). We’d have to stand 2). We’d probably have to wait for 1-2 more buses before we got on 3). There was no physical way Tim could hold Lauren with his knee and I couldn’t hold her for that long.
SOOOO, we got a cab. It was so funny, Tim and Luke were cracking up because I had to dead lift Lauren and basically threw her into the cab (it was a van, so it was a big step up). She was OUT:

BEST ten dollars we ever spent!!!!
We were back in front of our building in less than 10 minutes, AWESOME!!!
When we got back Tim and the kids headed up to the room and I went over to the Springs. I loaded up on breakfast stuff (waffles, syrup, doughnuts and fruits) for us to eat for the next few days).
We went to sleep and DID NOT set a wake up call (man I could get used to this kind of Disney touring!)
What an AWESOME DAY!! Wonder what tomorrow will have in store?

FOR THE NEXT DAY CLICK HERE:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2224335&page=43 scroll down a bit past comments to find the next installment.

 

[cosmicrays]

your trip report is wonderful!

 

[dddisrunner]

I am DYING laughing at Lauren PASSED OUT in the stroller, that girl is go go go, so to see her like that is too funny! I was also cracking up at you "dead lifting" her into the van! Luke was too funny with his light up clip earrings! Lauren had a BAD food day that day, awful Rico the ice cream swiper and don't forget about the door jammed goldfish!!!! GREAT UPDATE!!

 

[pmama]

Wow, you're not kidding Lauren was OUT. I have read so many great reports about how convenient and cheap a cab ride is if you need it. I will keep that in mind.

It looked like the people standing next to the iron fence during Illuminations in front of your bench crouched down? Is that what they did? I was wondering if people would stand in front of your view since you were on the bench.

Way for Tim to speak up at Coral Reef. The wait staff can really make or break your dining experience. We love Coral Reef just like Luke. How did Luke feel about Coral Reef? What a great idea to save their light-up thingys and bring them to dinner at Coral Reef!

 

[heartofdisney]

Still catching up on reading ,and I am on page 31,but I have to reply about the comments you made about Ariel and the bus.First...OMG,I so agree with you about this girl as Ariel.I find it hard to believe that Disney couldn't find someone better to fill this role. Nothing against the girl herself really,but she just seems older then Ariel should be,she even seems to be out of character..her face just has this whole I don"t want to be here,I don't care sort of look....and with all the kids out there competeing for roles like this at Disney,I don"t understand why this girl was chosen to fill this role....she must know someone!!!

Second...I know what you mean about how men and grown boys won't stand for others who obviously need a seat. Once we were on a bus and were in the back,however there was a woman who was pregnant and carrying a sleeping toddler,trying to hold on because she didn't have a seat. We didn't notice at first since she was more towards the middle and other people were in standing in front of us. My husband heard someone else who was standing make a comment about this poor woman,and then he stood up and told the person to have her come back and she could have his seat.Well...would you believe that another guy in his 20's just quickly plopped right in the seat my husband had been sitting in ,before standing up to give it to the preganat woman!!!! Of course my husband got a bit loud as he made a comment to this guy,and so did alot of others around us. The guy stands up looking all embarrassed and apologizes and said he didn't know,and I felt bad for him at first,as maybe he didn"t. Well,the lady sat down,we arrive at our hotel,and all get off the bus.And guess what we see as we are walking away. The same guy was walking ahead of us,and there was a woman with him,who had been standing right aside of my daughter,and the two of them are all cozey and snuggly with each other as they are walking together. The woman was young too,but still...whether she was his girlfriend or wife,I just couldn"t quite grasp that he would choose to sit down instead of offering what he thought was an open seat(since obviously my DH wanted to stand up...) to his own wife or girlfriend! That is bad,but then to not offer it to some poor woman struggling to balance herself while holding a sleeping child,that was just obscene! So my 19 year old daughter says ,"Oh,he's quite a catch! I hope for her sake they use some good birth control!" I couldn"t help but bust out laughing!

 

[heath-and-javens-mom]

SSR has never erally appealed to me but after seeing the pics I am lovin the pool.
Great update. I told my husband today that I found your report and he was all "oh really? I wanna read that". I was SHOCKED..he is not usually the DISsing type.

Illuminations is wonderful

 

[tiggrbaby]

Wow, Luke really looks grown-up in these photos!

 

[Trentmom]

Another great update

How cool your family and Diane family running into each other again..so much fun


Bummer about your meal at Coral Reef. Good for Tim speaking up

 

[PrincessPeanut]

Love the update, as usual. Illuminations is such a great show! I listen to the music from it constantly.

Lauren's dancing is too cute!

Glad you guys had such a great day.

 

[caz1712]

Another great day as usual! Looks like a really fun morning at the pool!

How nice you got to spend time with your friends as well! Can't believe the rudeness of Rico the waiter! And imagine taking a kids ice cream away without asking! That really would have caused a rucus in my camp!LOL

Lauren looks so funny - she really was out cold wasn't she! Great idea about the cab tho -will need to keep that in mind!

Carreen
xxx

 

[SunnieRN]

Mental note. During our Sept trip, ask to be moved if placed in Ricos section!

Maybe we'll avoid him though as we are going for lunch!

You did great on the podcast! Asked a great question also! Hope Luke enjoys getting all done up!

Fantastic pictures!! How fun to have a nice relaxing morning!! I also thought the kids meals were particularly bad at SSR. We would share with the boys and use Connors credit to get them something different later.

Poor Lauren was all the way out for the count!!