Best Laid Schemes of the Mouse and Men (&Women too) Boma!! 10/12

[cocofifi]

Lovely family! Enjoying your trip report.

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Great pictures there. Would love to see goofy in person. lol

Thank you. The good quality pictures you see were taken by the Disney Photopass photographers. I am not such a good photographer and currently don't even have a decent camera.

Goofy (and Donald) are usually some of my favorite characters to see in person because they have such fun personalities. I hope you get to see him soon!

All caught up and joining in!!

Yay! Thanks for reading!!

Nice start to your report!!!

Thank you. I only took notes for my first day so I'm curious to see how much my once-photographic memory will do these days. (I'm thinking it will be a bit rusty).

 

[matkensgirl2000]

After our visit to the Character Spot, we still had a little time before our Test Track FPs were good so we made our way to The Seas pavilion. We, of course, stopped at the Mine-Mine birds. I love those things! We walked right on and got into our clam-shells. We all loved it, even Wee who knew all about Nemo. We got off with the intention to go see Crush, but since there was a while 'til the next show, we decided to check out the aquariums instead. We have never stopped and looked here for very long so this time we spent a good 20 minutes looking at the real characters on Nemo. The kids especially loved finding the pufferfish.

By this time we were starving so we skipped Crush completely...last time Crush talked to DS and I so all of our Crush dreams had been fulfilled anyway. Plus, we had the nightmare of losing my niece in the crowd up front 3 years ago and I was not going to fight with Wee by keeping him in the back with me instead of up front with the kids.

So we headed back to the Land Pavilion for my absolute favorite quick service place in all of WDW, Sunshine Seasons!!

Well...we got there about 10:15 and realized they were still serving breakfast. A CM told us they started with lunch at 10:30 so we decided to check out Living with the Land. I have never ridden that ride but I've heard so many good reviews on the disboards about it that I decided it was a must-do. Both the Bigs and I are into gardening (they both have their own little plots at home) so I told them we'd see how Disney grows everything. We had a short wait of 10 minutes...it filled up quickly behind us...the wait had doubled by the time we got off.

Let me just tell you, I loved that ride. Even my husband said how cool it was and he was glad that we tried it. The kids had fun pointing out the plants they knew and seeing the Mickey pumpkin and tomatoes. So that ride has officially been added to the family must-do list at WDW.

While we were riding, the rinky-dink camera I was using started acting idiotically (is that a word?). It kept shutting off and took forever to take pictures. It was on the ride I noticed that the battery compartment was getting really hot. I changed the batteries with the ones I had in my pack thinking maybe I had bad batteries. I decided to keep the camera off for a while to let it cool down.

This, my friends, is why I don't have any food pics.

My camcorder camera takes terrible pictures and it doesn't have a flash. Good for emergencies only.

As soon as we got off Living with the Land, we could see that SS was filling up fast so I took the Bigs to get lunch while DH and Wee found us a table.

Both of the Bigs got the rotisserie chicken leg with mashed potatoes and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. They were hungry but DD did not eat all of her potatoes because there were peels in it. (I happily finished them off...I like their MPs). The chicken was pretty good...juicy and seasoned well and the chocolate chip cookie was a typical deli cookie...the kind you can get in any sandwich shop anywhere in America.
I got Turkey and Monterey Jack Cheese on Foccacia - with Chipotle Mayonnaise and with a side. That sandwich was DIIIIIIVINE. Definitely my favorite QS meal of the trip and maybe the best entree of the entire trip. The potato salad I got as a side? Not so much. I don't like mayo-based potato salads so I was happy to see it was a vinegar dressed salad. But it was a little heavy on the red onions for my taste and I found the dressing to be too sweet. It really tasted like someone just threw some vegetable oil, white vinegar and sugar together and called it a dressing.

DH got the Rotisserie chicken and rice. We split our food with Wee and DH also picked him up a PB&J sandwich with one of our snack credits.

For dessert, I think DH got a cinnamon roll leftover for breakfast. Because that's the kind of guy he is.

I got the creme brulee. I ALWAYS get the creme brulee. I love it. I don't have enough creme brulee in my life. I ate it 'til there was no more burnt sugar and then we were on our way to TT.

Tip: Don't be afraid to use snack credits for meals. This works great if you have a tot who is too small to eat on the DP but still wants substantial food.

I did not think it would take me 3 or 4 posts just for one day, but I know my Disboarders like details!! I should be able to post some more this afternoon. I'm also going to hunt up my food receipts and see if I can't do a nice little cost comparison for you all!

 

[matkensgirl2000]

We finished our lunch at the Sunshine Seasons food court. Since we were right there in the Land pavilion, we decided to let DH take his turn on Soarin'. Both of the Bigs could've gone but DS decided to sit this one out. Turns out the golf ball makes him a little scared

After agreeing to meet in front of the big fountain in Future World, the boys and I went out in search of a graduation Mickey hat. I knew if it could be found anywhere, it would be in MouseGear. DS6 had graduated kindergarten the day before and I wanted to get him something special to commemorate it. They had a huge selection of mouse ears there, but nary a pair of graduation ears could we find. We looked in as many stores as we could but could never find them. I've come in May 3x before and it seemed like they were everywhere (my little sister even got a pair when we went in 2006) but none this time. We ended up getting him a little Mickey doll in a cap and gown but it wasn't nearly as special.

But we did enjoy looking around the store and noticed for the first time the rotating Mickey hand on the ceiling that sounds like a clock. That was neat. Then we went outside and looked at the fountain. This was one of my magical moments...
We sat down on a little ledge (oh, I haven't even mentioned how PERFECT the weather was on this day...the high was 85*; the sky was a beautiful blue and the softest breeze blowing) and watched some birds on the walkway. The music changed and the fountain did its little dance to the music. And my DS just started conducting the fountain, just like a little orchestra. He's just that kind of kid...going about his life in his own little very boyish world and suddenly he will burst out with a little dance or a funny joke. And everytime the fountain started dancing, he would conduct it. Then we would get sprayed by the water because it was so windy.

Well, it seemed like it took FOREVER for DH and DD to get done at Soarin'. I think they played some games in the queue. When they met us at the fountain, we headed to Test Track with our Fastpasses. My DH is much more of an adrenaline junkie than I am so I let him go first with the kids. (But I still LOVE TT!!) We got our rider-switch pass and they headed on while I went to the bathroom and changed Wee's diaper.

Can I just say this??

I LOVE Disney restrooms. They are always so bright and cheery and clean and they even SMELL good. And the kids love the sinks that are just the right height for them.

I went into Inside Track to look for a gift for my cousin (he needed a Doc Hudson car but nobody carries them anymore because he's not in Cars 2). I found their last little bit of Cars items with a Doc Hudson in it, but I had to get a whole set. I also bought some more batteries for my camera because I was unsure whether or not my replacement batteries were good or not. During this time, Wee had fallen asleep. I decided to take advantage of this time and sit in fancy GM cars!! I sat in a Chevy Avalanche and a Cadillac. Not good. Now I have a touch of car fever and that is definitely not in the program anytime soon!

Here's a picture of DH and the Bigs on TT. I love the looks on their faces:

Even though they look scared in this pic, they both were game for going again with me so we did a quick bathroom run and I left DH with the baby in his stroller and with a request to please buy me a fountain tea with a snack credit because I was about to thirst all over myself.

Here we are waiting in line:

And on the ride...they look way less scared this time, don't they?

After we got our fill of TT, we decided to head back to our hotel and take advantage of the lounge. On our way through World Showcase, we stopped by the Canada pavilion to buy some coonskin caps for my VERY country nephews. I thought that was a relatively unique gift for the boys and it was around a very reasonable $10. This was our first time to ever really explore the pavilion...I never knew about the waterfall back here:

We didn't watch O Canada because we didn't want to have to take Wee out of the stroller, so we moved on towards the hotel. We saw when we went by UK that Mary Poppins and Alice would soon be out for meet-and-greets, so we waited for that. The way the sign is placed, you think that you have to go back through the garden to meet them, but actually they end up standing right by the signs. We didn't bother with Alice right then because we've met her before, but we've never met Mary Poppins so DD hopped in line. Mary Poppins was the first to sign her especially-for-princesses autograph book. (pic here)

Finally, we went through the International Gateway and back to the hotel. How nice not to have to sit in the sun after walking around all day waiting to crowd onto a bus with everyone else. I can't imagine having to take Wee out of his stroller after his first exhausting morning in WDW!! On our way to our room, we took a little detour through Stormalong Bay to check it out.

That thing is like a maze!!

We finally made it to the 5th floor and stopped by the lounge for a mid-day snack. I had the homemade chips and dip (tastes like a mild remoulade...very fitting with the seafood theme) and also a big chocolate chip cookie. It was so nice to be able to have as much iced tea as I could handle (I like it unsweetened, which may get me kicked out of the south for saying that). The kids had a soda and loaded up on cookies, swedish fish and yogurt pretzels.

We went to our room to get ready for an afternoon at DHS and Hoop-de-doo and we saw the most magical Disney surprise waiting in our room for us...

Stay tuned!

 

[matkensgirl2000]

When we got back to our room, we found this on our dresser:

What a fun little way to make our day! The candy (Skittles and Reese's cups), paper and balloons probably cost Disney about $6 but it secured my loyalty. Talk about turning a profit. This is why we love Disney so much. The little certificates wished DH and me a happy anniversary (our 11th anniversary was 4 days before), DS a congratulations on his kindergarten graduation (the day before) and DD a happy birthday (that was in June).

After we relaxed a little, we decided to go to DHS because we knew we didn't want to be anywhere around once Star Wars Weekends got going that Friday. We drove to DHS because we knew would need to be able to go straight from there to Fort Wilderness for our 7:15 ADRs at Hoop-de-Doo.

In our pre-Disney discussions at home, I knew that both of my kids were going to be major chickens when it came to riding Tower of Tower. I had bribed both of them with a t-shirt to ride with me. It is pretty much my favorite ride of all time and I did NOT want to go alone. DS, ever the weinie but never one to turn down a bribe decided to man up and ride with me. We grabbed FPs for Rockin' Roller Coaster later on and since ToT had a short standby line, DS and I queued up. As we went up the queue, I could tell DS was getting a little weak-kneed. For him, the ride is not so scary as the theming and the ghosts in the hotel hallway. DD flat-refuses to ride it because she says it feels like her stomach is going to come out her mouth. We went into the library and went straight to the corner so we would be the first to get to the rides. DS made me cover his eyes for the whole Twilight Zone movie. He kept getting more scared as we waited in line until I promised I'd cover his eyes for the ghost part.

So he rode the ride manfully for his mom, but he was crying when we got off the ride. After that, I knew there would be no more ToT for me during our trip.

He did get his T-shirt and wears it with pride to places where he can impress his boy cousins.

DD rode RnRC with her dad using the FPs and we also baby-swapped so I could ride with her later. While I was waiting with the boys, we took a picture in front of ToT to commemorate our harrowing experience:

After that, we waited in the courtyard by RnRC and did a craft.
DD had definitely had reservations about riding RnRC but as she (and her brother for that matter) was finally tall enough to ride it, she was willing to give it a shot. What I love about her is she almost always will give something a try once. I just knew that she would not like it since she didn't even like ToT, but she was positively giddy when she got off. She LOVED it! We took her into the gift shop and bought her a t-shirt then she and I got on again using our Baby Swap passes. DS refused. One bad experience was enough for him that day.

We felt that hitting ToT plus RnRC twice all in one hour was quite an accomplishment for the day. We had got our major DHS thrills out of the way for the week and we could spend our remaining days there enjoying shows and other little details of DHS.

We headed out to our car for our first-experience at HDD and Fort Wilderness. Stay tuned and I'll give you my review of HDD from a not-cheeseball-humor-lover's point of view.

Tip: Baby swap can be great if you have kids who like to ride rides multiple times. Combine a baby swap with a FP and they'll never have to wait in line!

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Let me start off by letting you know a few things about myself:

I like good food. I am picky, but there is almost nowhere that I can't find something to eat...I'll eat chicken in any format.

The things I find funny tend to the ironic, tongue-in-cheek type of humor. Slapstick rarely amuses me.

I'm a country girl (relatively speaking). I know what it is to pick and shell peas and fishing is a popular past-time in my household. When I was a kid, my shoes were the soles of my feet.

That being said, I was not looking forward to the show as much as I was the food. I knew my kids would be into the show...they're all about the cheesy fun. My husband is a cornball extraordinaire, but he can appreciate my sense of humor. We were all looking forward to seeing FW as well, since we had never even set foot in the area.

We parked in the parking lot where there is a depot. We had no clue what bus we were looking forward. I don't think it would kill Disney to put a sign at the Depot saying take the bus on the yellow loop to get to HDD. We saw nothing and had to ask a bus driver. He was very friendly and said this was the bus for HDD. So we got on and after what seemed a billion stops and miles and miles back we got to the area with Pioneer Hall. We got there about 45 minutes early and we had plenty of time before the seating began.

We signed in and walked around looking at the horses while waiting for the show to start. It seemed to take forever but we got in finally. Our table looked like it was in a bad spot (right near the entrance to the kitchen, kind of in a corner) but we had no trouble seeing the show at all...and bonus, we were one of the first to get served being next to the kitchen.

Ok, the show:
If you've ever seen a show in Pigeon Forge or Branson, it is right down that road of shows. Most of the actors were really good in there parts and they could all sing and dance except for the "romantic" lead. He had one facial expression for the show...his mouth may have moved, but he seemed like he was talking with his teeth clenched the whole time. He barely moved his neck at all. He was kinda handsome, but he did NOT emote.

Overall, I wouldn't go back to the show for my own personal entertainment, but my kids got such a huge kick out of it. DD rarely belly laughs, but she was cracking up. DS6 loved everything and he was such an audience participator!! But even my husband agreed that as far as adult entertainment value, it wasn't something we'd do again if it was up to just us.

The food:
They started us with salads in metal pails. It was nothing better than you'd get at a cheap diner. It was dressed with an Italian style dressing but there was no cheese or bacon or anything fancy. It had a few tomatoes, lots of iceberg lettuce. There may have been croutons.

The fried chicken was a big fat....meh. It was ok. Not as warm as I'd like it and kind of bland.

The mashed potatoes were typical Disney mashed potatoes. Yummy, but I wished they would've kept 'em coming.

I didn't eat the baked beans, but I got the impression that they weren't anything special.

DH loved the ribs...he said they were tender and pretty meaty. Wee also tore them up. I don't like ribs, but usually if DH says he likes something, it is pretty good.

The strawberry shortcake was yummy although we prefer cake with ours rather than shortbread...which is basically a sweet biscuit. But it's hard to mess up strawberries and sauce and whip cream!

My conclusion:
I will never use 2 dining credits for HDD again. If my kids really wanted to go and I had the extra money, I'd take them. Otherwise, I'll eat 2 meals with my dining credits or go to a Signature restaurant and eat something sublime.

After HDD, we went back to the hotel and got some dessert from the lounge. They had some little cheesecake bites and PB&J parfaits, I believe. The cheesecakes were good, but nothing you can't buy out of the freezer section at Sam's.

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Here were my original plans for Day 2:

Itinerary for Thursday, May 19
Magic Kingdom has Morning EMH from 8-9 am. While we've never made it for EMH rope drop, we've always made it close and I must say, I'm a convert!! Every time we've done this, we've been able to hit the Fantasyland Four--Dumbo, Pooh, Peter Pan and Snow White before the park even opens to the public and then be at Frontierland or Tomorrowland for the Mountains. So that is the plan this time and after that, we'll hit the smaller attractions when the park is busy. We'll stay 'til lunch...we may do an early lunch at the park or we may do it at BC. We like Cosmic Ray's, but last time it was C-R-A-Z-Y busy and they wouldn't let us sit down unless we had trays. Meaning, I had to haul a 1-year-old (No strollers!) around while DH secured our food. Annoying. So this time, we'll probably hit Pecos Bill if we're in MK.

After lunch, I feel sure we will need a nap. Nothing tires me out more than a morning at MK. After we have a nap, we will probably hang out at the pool or in the CL lounge until around 3 or 4 pm. Then we will drive to DHS and spend the evening. We'll leave DHS around 7:45 and drive to AKL for our 8:30 ADRs at Boma. I love Boma. I think I need to write a sonnet to Boma. Boma, sweet Boma, thy yummy African cuisine calls my name

Later, as Disney fiddled with my park hours as the trip got closer, this was my itinerary
Thursday, May 19
Leave hotel by 7:15 am (breakfast in CL Lounge) for MK EMH at 8.
MK 8-1, lunch around 11 at Tortuga Tavern or Pecos Bill
1-3 relax at hotel, have snacks in lounge
Drive to DHS
3-7:45 DHS, leave for 8:30 ressies at Boma by 7:45 (drive)
After Boma, check out AKL then return to BC

So how close did I get for Day 2? Stay tuned...!

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Our second day was another unseasonably mild and dry for Florida in mid-May. This is the luckiest we've ever been for weather in Disney. The sky was a beautiful deep blue and there was a breeze in the air. We got up about 6:15. Our goal was to be at the bus stop for MK by 7:30 am. Yes, we were very worn out from the night before, but we were well aware of EMH morning at MK. While I dressed and sunscreened our small people, DH made the trek to the lounge for breakfast. Let me just point out that the lounge breakfast at BC is nothing spectacular. It's pretty much cold standard continental breakfast fare...pastries, cereal, juice and boiled eggs. They did have bagels and cream cheese so I did ok. No toast though!! And I remember when we stayed CL at GF they had a nice selection of bread and butter for morning toast and I do love me some lightly toasted bread with real butter! That being said, my Wee is a chocolate milk addict and it was nice that we could just stroll in and fill his sippy cup for the morning rather than worry about storing it in our fridge.
We headed to the bus stop...this was our first time using the bus service at BC. It was a pleasant walk and when we got to the MK stop, there was a bean bag game set up for the kids to play with. We made it to bus stop by 7:40 am and I felt sure we wouldn't have to wait long since MK was the only park open that early. But au contraire, we ended up waiting about 20 minutes! So I knew once again that my plans to be in MK by rope drop would be thwarted. While we waited, I took out my notebook and made my notes from Day 1 (this is the only time I did this..bad disboarder!).

We arrived at MK right about 8:20 and already it seemed like hoardes of people were pouring in. I had already lost 20 minutes of precious EMH time!! You just don't know how important that time is when you have 3 kids who need to see Fantasyland! I planned to ride the attractions loosely based on our Touring Plans guide.

So how did that Peter "Pan" out?
Up next, the death of a camera...

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Duplicate post!

 

[matkensgirl2000]

We always get up for MK morning EMH so we can hit the Fantasyland Four: Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pooh and Snow White before the lines get too crazy. On Thursday morning, we did not make it to the park as early as we'd hoped thanks to sluggish Disney transportation but we still made it before the rest of the park opened. We were in Fantasyland close to 8:30. We parked our stroller near the Carousel where it would be shaded by from the sun. I talked about our stroller in my PTR (link). Just for the record, it was GREAT!! It was light, compact and easy to fold but it still had all the features we love from a full size stroller (THREE cupholders!!). Wee is a big kid though, so he is quickly growing out of it. But I HIGHLY recommend it.

DH got in line with the kids for Dumbo while I hightailed it to Peter Pan to pick up FPs. I can't ride round and round rides...they will ruin my day. I get nauseous and STAY nauseous all day. I can barely even watch them. After I got the FPs (and my "surprise" Philharmagic FPs), I went to Dumbo to take some pics of my family. They were still in line, so I took some pics of them waiting: (pic here)

Finally they boarded--this was the first time my bigs ever road in a ride car without an adult

Can I just say how hard it is with a crappy camera and a crappy cameraperson to get good pics on Dumbo? By this time, it took a pic after a long delay then would shut off completely.

We were loosely following Touring Plan's MK with small children TP, so following that, we went to Pooh next. The wait was less than 20 minutes, but I kind of wouldn't have cared if it was longer so the kids would have had more time to play in the interactive queue! Last year when we went they were still working on it, so this was our first time. The Honey screen was our hands-down favorite:

After Pooh, we still had time before our Peter Pan FP so we rode Snow White. Generally, my Bigs don't love this ride, but they did fine this time. I do recall Wee telling us he "don' wike ik":

Here we are in line for Snow White:

And on the ride:

We went to IASW, which my kids LOVE. They are both very detail oriented and they enjoy catching all the details and guessing the countries. They went to town with their disposable cameras but unfortunately, they were unschooled on the use of camera flashes so we have a bunch of dark pictures. Here are some I took with what little life my camera had: (pics)

To burn the last little bit of time before Peter Pan, we watched Philharmagic...one of the coolest shows EVER. We had to get our obligatory glasses shots in: (pics)

And finally, we went on Peter Pan. Wee loves alligators (he calls them RAR!!s) so he had fun spotting the croc at the end.

That's it for Fantasyland..up next, Frontierland, Adventureland, lunch at Pecos Bill and a very grouchy baby.

 

[Queila]

Trying to catch up.

Your meal at Sunshine Seasons sounds so yummy.
Next time I will have to try that sandwich. I like that ride from the land pavillon also even though we have skipped it on our last couple of trips. Maybe it is time to put it back into our list of must do's...

That is so cute that your Bigs are big enough to do some of the thrill rides with you! I cannot wait for my daughter to get there even though I am pretty sure it will take her longer than that to be able to face Tower of Terror. Your son sure deserved his t-shirt and should be proud of himself.

That was AMAZING that they left you a little welcome gift in your room. Love is in the little things, isn't it?

Thans for your HDD review. I have a very hard time spending two credits of DDP on ANYTHING, to tell you the truth.

I will be back tomorrow to read some more.

Good night.
Q

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Trying to catch up.

Your meal at Sunshine Seasons sounds so yummy.
Next time I will have to try that sandwich. I like that ride from the land pavillon also even though we have skipped it on our last couple of trips. Maybe it is time to put it back into our list of must do's...

That is so cute that your Bigs are big enough to do some of the thrill rides with you! I cannot wait for my daughter to get there even though I am pretty sure it will take her longer than that to be able to face Tower of Terror. Your son sure deserved his t-shirt and should be proud of himself.

That was AMAZING that they left you a little welcome gift in your room. Love is in the little things, isn't it?

Thans for your HDD review. I have a very hard time spending two credits of DDP on ANYTHING, to tell you the truth.

I will be back tomorrow to read some more.

Good night.
Q

I have caught up on yours as well, Queila! I need to make some comments on it.

I have to say that the sandwich was probably my favorite entree from the trip. I know they always have it there because I've always seen it.

I'm telling you...it adds an air of excitement to a trip once the kiddos can ride ALL the rides. Both of my kids really had no problem with the ToT when I took them at 3 and 4...I think more than anything the atmosphere scared them when they were older. I think Splash Mountain is the one that has always been the huge hit for them. I know you are going to love riding SM and Soarin with B!!



Hopefully sometime today I will be able to get on and update about our Frontierland Adventure and lunch at Pecos Bill.

 

[matkensgirl2000]

At this point, the park had opened to the general public. The Bigs and I decided to head towards Splash Mountain to check the wait time and/or procure FPs. DH and Wee went to retrieve the stroller and go for a diaper change/potty break. We agreed we'd meet near Liberty Tree Tavern. At Splash Mountain, the stand-by line was longer than we wanted so we grabbed the FPs. We headed to LTT to meet DH and waited. and waited. and waited. DH does not have the best sense of direction and for some reason, has not memorized the Disney layout the same way I have so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he wasn't sure where he was headed. So I called him on his cell but it kept going straight to voice mail. <---- Annoyed Wife

Finally, we got him on his cell. He had decided to take a little detour and take Wee on the carousel. Strict rule: We don't do a ride you can do at any theme park unless it's a walk on. By this time, the Bigs and I had waited forever and he STILL wasn't coming. He was so close to the front of the line and didn't want to leave it...which he didn't bother to tell us.

Eventually we met up and since we had some time to kill before our SM FPs were good, we ate lunch at Pecos Bill.
DH and all the kids had the burgers and fries. They were all perfectly happy with the burgers and the fixin's bar. Wee shared off of everyone's plate. I ordered a Chicken Caesar salad since I knew I would want something light before my Boma dinner that night and when it's hot outside (which it really wasn't that bad...that day was perfect weather-wise), I like fresh light food for lunch.

Well, let me just say, the produce was fine. The lettuce was all that lettuce should be. But the chicken was the frozen, reheated kind that kind of takes that gelatinous texture that the kind of chicken can have. And it was devoid of flavor. Of course, the dressing came from a packet (Newman's Own, I think) and if I'm not mistaken, the cheese did too. Now I have HAD good quick service Caesar salads at WDW before (I'm thinking oak-grilled chicken from Sunshine Seasons) but I will now forever be wary of that salad unless it's from SS. Ick. A waste of a good QS credit. Lesson learned: Don't get a salad at a burger joint.

For dessert, the Bigs had cookies, I had the chocolate cake (very chocolate-y, not very sweet, but sufficient) and DH got the carrot cake.

Since DH didn't want to ride Splash Mountain (I get my ride-thrills from big drops...he likes the kind that jerk his neck around) so he sat out with Wee. We cruised through the FP line (SM standby can be an interminable wait) and were thankfully allowed to all three sit in a row on the log boats. This was something that had worried me. I did not want them to sit alone but I didn't want the be alone either because I didn't want to miss out on their fun. It's both one of their faves. So phew!! Crisis averted. I believe we all got pretty wet, especially me.

While we were on the ride, DH procured FPs for Thunder Mountain and then spotted the Woody and Jesse meet-and-greet that's usually right by the ride. He and Wee hopped in line and were still in line when we got done. My plan was for us to all ride Pirates while we waited for our BTMM FPs to be good. Just as we saw him in line, Jesse and Woody left for a minute so DH started to leave the line and come with us to POTC against his better judgement (my wheedling). After a small argument (very minor) he decided to stick it out and stay in line. I did not want my baby to meet Woody and Jesse without me for the first time but I still wanted to take my Bigs on POTC. So we split up and I took the kids to Pirates. Since they are fraidy-cats (somehow the atmosphere of rides gets to them more than the rides themselves--thus our eventual skipping of Haunted Mansion), the ride was not their favorite, though they did have some fun trying to spot Johnny Depp. I believe at one point I had two heads in my lap covering up a set of eyes with each hand. Here are some pics waiting in line--these are my last pics on this camera:

After this, we went to the gift shop where DS bought a sword for himself and Wee while I bought batteries to see if I could get any more juice out of my camera since it had burned through all of the backup batteries I had brought with me. FYI: Batteries at WDW are about a billion dollars and they are so sneaky...they are no price stickers on the packages. They take advantage of your desperation.

We met up with DH and Wee who had just finished taking pics with Woody and Jesse:

Since BTMR is not my fave, I agreed to sit out first with the baby and ride later with DS who was too interested in his sword to go on the ride at the moment. We found a nice shady spot and waited for a bench to open up. By this time, Wee was sleepy and getting to be very grouchy. I let him out of his stroller to play with some birds. DS and I managed to keep him fairly entertained until DH and DD7 got back from riding. DD absolutely LOVED it and wanted to go again. After wrangling Wee, I had no desire to have my neck jerked around and end up with a headache and DS was still to interested in his sword, so we sent DD and DH back for another ride. At this point, Wee was getting his grouchypants on so we stopped at an ice cream stand and got him a popsicle. We plopped him back in the stroller and he licked away happily. It was one of those really long rainbow pops. I think I picked up DS some chocolate Mickey ears. Soon, DH and DD were back. We got a popsicle for DD and we were ready to head back to the hotel. Wee was asleep on our way out, but he was still managing to eat his pop while he was half asleep. He did not fall fully asleep until he were almost out of the park and the popsicle was completely gone! Here are some pics of us on our way out of the park. All I have to say is THANK goodness for Photopass!!

See the precious pirate sword??

 

[matkensgirl2000]

After we left MK, I am pretty certain we boarded a bus back to the Beach Club. Wee had pretty much exhausted us with his grouchiness and we needed a rest. I am not 100% certain of what we did at the hotel but I am pretty sure we got a snack from the lounge and went back to our room to freshen up. We decided we weren't as tired as we thought we would be so after we relaxed for an hour or so, we decided to head to DHS so we could get some time in before Star Wars Weekend started. This was going to be the first one and the new Star Tours was going to open the next day (Friday).
We got to DHS around 3 and just like Touring Plans said, it was not that busy. We headed to Pixar Place to see if we could get a FP for TSMania but big shock, there were none. We checked across the way to check the time for Woody and Buzz character greetings and decided to get in line so Wee could meet Buzz. Just as we were getting in line, we glanced at the TSM standby line and the wait was only 30 minutes! So we left the greeting line and went to TSMania. We overheard a CM saying that Pixar Place had been relatively quiet all day and that everyone was over at Star Wars. They must have been doing some preview rides. Well, we were fine with that!

Here's our one picture from TSM--the obligatory Potato Head pic.

See? I told you it was a terrible camera. No flash, either.

Question: Did I not hear that Mr Potato Head on TSM was supposed to be "interactive"? Well, if I did, there is nothing interactive about him. He repeats the same lines over and over again.

Anyway, we breezed through the queue and rode the ride and we loved it, of course. I completely kicked everyone's butt.

Now that we were done with TSM and we had teased the kids with a Buzz meeting, we were bound by the Parents' Code to get back in line to meet him. The photo opp sets really make waiting in the endless line a lot more interesting even though the only camera I had was the substandard one on my camcorder. Here are some pics: (pic here)

I love this one. DS really got into all these little photo ops!

And finally we got to meet Buzz. Buzz and Woody signed the autograph books and Wee was happy to meet him though he didn't go crazy or anything. This is another situation where I am saying...thank goodness for photopass!!

Up Next: I get to be one of "those people", Backlot Tours and did we get a Star Tours preview?

 

[matkensgirl2000]

Since we were in the area, after our character greeting with Woody and Buzz, we went to Backlot Tours. We didn't take the tour last year but the times before when I took it I wasn't impressed. My kids weren't either when we rode in 2008, but then again, they were 3 and 5. We saw that there was a very short line so we parked the stroller and ran the long queue into the ride but not before the Cast Member at the front of the line gave me the lanyard with the red card that they use to figure out how long the lines are. It made me feel very important

We were at the very end of the line so we made it right at the middle of the torpedo scene. My Bigs found this VERY fascinating. We soon found out why we were the only ones in the front row of this scene! We took our time with this whole tour...studying the props and all the fun Disney details. My former Hannah Montana superFan was still pleasantly surprised to see this:

Also, my Bigs are now old enough to really get into looking for Hidden Mickeys. They found a ton in the carpeting and wallpaper at Beach Club. We found this in the prop room of Backlot Tour:

Anyway, I highly recommend this ride for people with kids my Bigs age--mine are totally into learning how things are done and catching little details.


We got off the ride at about 6:15 and who did we see waiting for a pic with us? Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc.

Why am I not in these pics? Because as one of "those people" I had to go back to the BT entrance and give my red card back to the CM. No matter, I had to get the stroller anyway.

Next we went to watch Muppets 3D. All the people loved it and we found the key under the doormat! Afterwards, we saw these guys:

We had hoped they'd be here when we were here, but Disney ended up pushing it back. Has anyone taken in part in the Phineas and Ferb meet and greet? I haven't heard anything about it.

After Muppets, it was time to make our way back to the front of the park so we could drive to AKL for our dinner at Boma. We passed by what was clearly a preview entrance for Star Tours but alas, the CMs were guarding the entrance, not letting anyone through. Was this our last hope? We had NO intention of getting anywhere near DHS over the weekend. We intended to take advantage of the other parks being less attended.

Ok, on to Boma! Hooray!

 

[matkensgirl2000]

We left DHS in time to drive to Animal Kingdom Lodge for our 8:30 Boma reservations. We usually like to get there a little early so we can look at the animals and the lobby but we didn't manage it this time. Hey, we accomplished a LOT at DHS, so who's counting? I actually think we were cutting it pretty close to our ressie time but we still had to wait a while before we sat. We used the potty while we waited and I think this is around the time a generally easygoing two-year-old decided he was tired of this mess. He was just at that age where he knew what he wanted but he could only get it across to those dull grown-ups about half the time. Mix that with some tiredness and probably hungriness and we were going to have to pay a price.

But sorry, Boma's the last thing in the world I was going to cancel. And I needed to get food in the fella fast and where better to do that than at a buffet?

The first thing I did was take the kids to the buffet line to get some food, leaving orders with DH to order me a virgin Raspberry Pina Colava if they had them. I never order sweetened drinks with my meals. They do not quench my thirst. It's usually unsweetened iced tea or water for me. But these are so yummy. For the record, it was good here but I've had better in WDW. I'd still recommend it, though!

DH and I tag-teamed the Wee handling. He was past the point of even being willing to eat some mac and cheese. He seemed to want something but couldn't get his point across. The only thing that seemed to satisfy him was for one of us to hold him so that's what we did...one ate and the other held him. Not the most relaxing way to eat a meal, but hey, we've done it before. This was definitely one of the few times in our trip that we were wishing we had brought an extra person with us!

So what's my review?

Love it. Going back next time.

DH loves the Coconut Curry Seafood soup. I think he had two bowls.

I loved the Durbin-spiced chicken. It's not spicy at all, but definitely smoky and not dry at all. I like all the sauces they serve with it... a mustard sauce and something else, but my favorite is the barbecue sauce. Two minutes ago, I remembered the name of the sauce but somehow, it's not coming back. I don't even like barbecue sauce in real life but I dip my chicken and my beef in it.

I tried the salads...the Chili-Cilantro is my fave dressing for the greens. The chicken salad tastes like anybody's grandma's curried chicken salad. It's fine, though.

My kids enjoyed the fufu. It's pretty much sweet potato casserole.

Oh, and this was my 3rd time here and every time, I've given the Zebra Domes a try and did not enjoy it. I don't know what was different about this time, but they were good finally!

How did we get Wee to calm down? Well of course, I figured it out just as it was time to go, when DH was eating dessert. I took him around the restaurant and let him see the food at the buffet and pick out a cookie. He just wanted to do what everyone else was doing. We also took a look at some of the animal sculptures and masks in the restaurant.

Ok, for next time....mystery fireworks!!

 

[Queila]

Great updates! Love the pictures and how you seem to manage to have a very productive day with not one, not two but three kids. Good job!

Q