Compromise is a Disney word: Taking one for the team over Thanksgiving 2016* August PTR link! 5/28

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We are now booked for our very first CLUB LEVEL stay in May at the Beach Club, so it'll be our 2nd stay there. "But Ariane, you cancelled your WL reservation????"

Awesome! Club Level will but an excellent experience!

One guy took it a step further and was sitting on his bed NAKED with the curtain and slider open the boys were hysterical.

OMG! Gross. This is Disney World! Out Feb. trip there was a gentleman down the way from us in Sebring, Fl portion (aka not Disney) and he would smoke in his tight whities every morning in his doorway. The girls were SUPER grossed out.

If you read my PTR you may remember this shirt as the ugliest Mickey shirt I'd ever seen, but Steve picked it out so I smiled and bought one for all the boys because he was just so excited when he found it! Neither of the boys liked it but I sweet talked Chris into wearing it; Ricky not so much. Oh, well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

I like that at least one of the kids is willing to appease his Dad. I like that you bought 2 for the boys even though you didn't like the shirt.

Has anyone ever had a wait here?

We actually waited our first trip! I don't know if it was newer or what, but we waiting from the dark area when you first walk in. And it took FOREVER!!!

Epcot had always been the plan for today since I love the Holiday storytellers and of course wouldn't miss the new food booths this year, but we originally were going to go to HS in the morning and I had FP's there.

The Holiday Storytellers is the biggest reason I want to do Disney around the holidays. One day. One Day.

 

[Raeven]

Haha good to see someone else making changes

Oh those shirts. It was nice thag at least one of your son's wore them because Steve looks so proud.

Dropping his sandwich then pouting about it sounds just like my brother when he was a little younger he went to Boston with my dad on a field trip and insisted my dad had to find him ice cream...right after he dropped it!

 

[buzzrelly]

LOVE the update! LOL! Poor Chris dropping his sandwich! This is TOTALLY something my DS would do and then somehow, I'd get blamed for it!

I'm so jealous of you and all your trips coming up! It's KILLING me not to be heading down in April this year

I love your Alex and Ani too! DD and I have a little collection of these going..I really like the Christmas-y Mickey and Minnie

 

[kastoney]

Sounds like you all have some great plans for March and of course totally loving the lack of planning at the same time Congrats on being able to stay at BC and WL and Hello Club Level!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it. And totally recommend you all get to Homecoming on one of the trips. We absolutely loved it!!!!

Epcot was opening at 9 and since we were ready by 8:35 we decided to try and find the "secret" door that supposedly brings you closer to Epcot. I don't feel like going and checking the BC thread but it's room 5 something something something But then once we got outside, instead of walking into the main bldg to head to the 5th floor we turned left and ended up on the path that we see under our balcony.

Congrats on finding the door. We found a similar one at AKL that took us out steps from the bus stop. Totally convenient!

One guy took it a step further and was sitting on his bed NAKED with the curtain and slider open the boys were hysterical. Just thought I'd mention that.

OMG I would have been dying. Dying - and of course trying to get a picture - then dying some more. Guess some people are just ok with who they are and all their glory

If you read my PTR you may remember this shirt as the ugliest Mickey shirt I'd ever seen, but Steve picked it out so I smiled and bought one for all the boys because he was just so excited when he found it! Neither of the boys liked it but I sweet talked Chris into wearing it; Ricky not so much. Oh, well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Aha, before you said it I said I think that is the infamous ugly Mickey shirt. I can't believe you bought one for the boys too. Kudos to Chris for being a good sport and double kudos to Ricky for having taste

In fact just yesterday Steve said we don't need to ride Frozen on our upcoming trips which I agree with, but we both said we'll be riding Soarin' more than once.

I'm with you on this. We ended up skipping it on our trip and not even Casey missed it. With the tiering system at Epcot, TT and Soarin are the definite wins

We stood on line for about 25 minutes, yes 25 minutes at stupid Starbucks and I kept asking Steve if he could flash his business card and get us to the front but it doesn't quite work that way. I got a peppermint mocha which came out about 15 minutes before Chris and Ricky's sandwiches so I went in search of a map showing the times of the storytellers. I had all this written down on my handy-dandy first-time-using-them notecards, which I conveniently left in the room every single day.

Wow, who would have thought during Thanksgiving week the longest waits would have been at Starbucks. That is just crazy. You probably could have waited and ridden Soarin 2 or 3 times for as long as this took

I had to go all the way to guest services by SE and while walking back I get a text from Steve that after taking one bite, Ricky had DROPPED HIS SANDWICH ON THE GROUND AND WAS POUTING LIKE A LITTLE GIRL SO THEY HAD TO GET BACK ON AN EVEN LONGER LINE TO GET ANOTHER ONE. No sir, not me. You are 14 boy, hold on to your food!!!

I respectfully withdraw the aforementioned kudos for Ricky

 

[wdwnut61]

I laughed so hard Ariane I almost spit out my coffee
Note to self don't request ground floor when we go in November may see scary naked people
I'm glad you treated yourself love the Alex & Ani bracelet
Looking forward to your next installment and congrats on scoring BC CL you will love CL. We've been fortunate to stay CL twice before at CT Tower CLub and AKL CL enjoyed both so much.

 

[ArielSRL]

Going way back here, but, while I'm sorry about your injury, I had to laugh because it made me feel like maybe you're a kindred. When I broke my foot a few years back I literally did it while walking...in flats...not even upstairs, but on a very slight incline.

That's funny! Yup, I was a tad embarrassed too, especially since it was still all purple when I went to the Universal training. I notice my co-workers whom I was meeting for the first time staring at it I did tell the truth because I couldn't think of a cool enough lie!

I hate to say this but I may have to join the club. I cut my finger this week getting my boys out of the bathtub. Yep, that's right...no knife, nothing sharp that I know of, yet, I sliced my fingertip open. Still have absolutely no idea how I did it.

Also when I was preggo with AJ, I managed to break something on the top part of my foot and again, no idea how. I was in a boot for like 4 weeks and I was 36 weeks when it happened, so I wore the boot until the Friday before he was born on Sunday.

Maybe it's better if we never meet bc who knows what kind of catastrophe we would cause all together! Lol

 

[ArielSRL]

We are now booked for our very first CLUB LEVEL stay in May at the Beach Club, so it'll be our 2nd stay there. "But Ariane, you cancelled your WL reservation????" And then I rebooked WL for next month and cancelled CSR!!!

Sounds like a good plan! I will definitely be ibterested to read about WL even sooner and then BC CL!

But uh-uh, we're still in Disney baby and we only have 2 days left!

This, exactly!

One guy took it a step further and was sitting on his bed NAKED with the curtain and slider open

Oh my.

If you read my PTR you may remember this shirt as the ugliest Mickey shirt I'd ever seen, but Steve picked it out so I smiled and bought one for all the boys because he was just so excited when he found it! Neither of the boys liked it but I sweet talked Chris into wearing it; Ricky not so much. Oh, well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Um, well, I'll just agree with your assessment and call it a day...lol.

Next we went over to Nemo at Chris's request.

My boys loved The Seas!

The boys and I had all eaten an energy bar

What kind do you usually bring? I'm looking for a grab and go BF for me at Disney.

I had all this written down on my handy-dandy first-time-using-them notecards, which I conveniently left in the room every single day.

This is quite funny...well, at least, to me.

Ricky had DROPPED HIS SANDWICH ON THE GROUND AND WAS POUTING LIKE A LITTLE GIRL SO THEY HAD TO GET BACK ON AN EVEN LONGER LINE TO GET ANOTHER ONE. No sir, not me.

Oh my. Yeh, I don't think I'd be waiting again, either.

I did find a shirt but what I picked up for myself is prettier:

Very nice!

 

[Jfsag123]

Umm, so where is the pic of the naked guy?? j/k! I think we hustled by those rooms pretty quickly and never got any good looks inside - now I'm glad we did! We loved new Soarin' too! I still miss the old one, but I've seen a lot of hate for the new one, which I don't get.

Congrats on your upcoming WL and BC Club level stays! So looking forward to hearing about those.

I hate to say this but I may have to join the club. I cut my finger this week getting my boys out of the bathtub. Yep, that's right...no knife, nothing sharp that I know of, yet, I sliced my fingertip open. Still have absolutely no idea how I did it.

Also when I was preggo with AJ, I managed to break something on the top part of my foot and again, no idea how. I was in a boot for like 4 weeks and I was 36 weeks when it happened, so I wore the boot until the Friday before he was born on Sunday.

Maybe it's better if we never meet bc who knows what kind of catastrophe we would cause all together! Lol

OMG, it could be disastrous! lol So sorry about your finger! I sliced mine open once on a plastic handle of a bathtub that apparently had a little crack in it. Two peas in a pod! Hope it heals up quickly!

 

[iheartbelle87]

Other than a tall guy who kept swaying back and forth in front of me, we had a really good view:

ugh, is there anything worse? I think not.

There was a family directly behind us - parents, little boy about 6? And an infant in a stroller. The mom kept ramming the stroller into my heels as she tried rocking the baby to sleep. The poor little boy was tired and getting impatient waiting for the show to start, and was saying things like he hated Disney, hated his little brother, wanted to go home, etc. And his parents were going OFF on him, I felt so bad! I wanted to turn around and say something but we all know you can't just do that.........

ok... maybe this is worse than the tall man swaying back and forth

Is it weird that when we go by resorts at night, I think about the rooms with lights on and what the people in them are doing? Yeah.......now that I write that out it sounds pretty weird...........

The other thing that works great is that we're flying in to Orlando real early on the 25th, getting in at 9:15am, so we actually have that whole day.

YES YES YES! Love me a middle o' the night flight! (ok... technically its not night, but getting there easy is AHMAZING!)

We are now booked for our very first CLUB LEVEL stay in May at the Beach Club, so it'll be our 2nd stay there.

AH!!! YAY!!!!!

Many rooms had their curtains and in some cases slider open, enjoying the cool morning air as they got ready. One guy took it a step further and was sitting on his bed NAKED with the curtain and slider open the boys were hysterical. Just thought I'd mention that.

Dying. Just dying

New Soarin' itself was a total hit. I was as much in awe as I was the first time I'd ridden earlier in the week and Steve and Ricky both liked it much more than the original.

Right?! Its SO SO Good! When Mom and I went in January the first time we rode we were more toward the left and didn't get any 'smells' but the second time we were dead center and got to smell the smells! haha! So glad you liked it!

 

[kittylady1972]

OMG I hope we don't encounter any scary naked people during our stay in May! Wow. I guess I need to look into this secret door thing myself...that's something I am not aware of currently.

LOVE your plans and for club level. I looked into booking a club level room for August but there weren't any avaialble via DVC. Right now I am thinking about having us try a Wilderness Cabin for a few days for some added fun in August. Just not sure yet.

I love the Jammitors and all the street entertainment at EPCOT and HS and am sad it's been cut back so much. It's just a fun thing to stop and watch them all. My kids also don't usually have the patience for it.

 

[Imagineer5]

Looking at the TA rates it made more sense based on availability and my plans to stay there in May, and luckily there was also still availability at WL next month. Now we're both happy and I'm totally excited to try the CL experience!!

I know you just started out, but being a Disney TA has always been a pipe dream of mine - something I might be interested in looking into when I can possibly cut down on my hours at work or quit altogether (i.e. when our debt is paid off). Do you think we could chat at some point via PM/ Facebook / whatever?

Your plans sound amazing though and congrats on the WL AND BC trips ahead!! That's awesome

Not a bad move because technically it is a shortcut of sorts to Epcot, because rather than having to go out the front entrance and walk by the beach you bypass a big section of that and are literally steps from IG. However we also decided we wouldn't want a ground floor room on that path.

So #1 I have heard about this secret thing but never looked into it (mainly bc I've always come from the DVC section so I'm already outside and heading along that path close to IG anyway) but #2 - I can't believe someone was NAKED in their room along there! WOW! Yeah, I wouldn't want a room along that path either.

Steve said we don't need to ride Frozen

Lucky! lol

I had all this written down on my handy-dandy first-time-using-them notecards, which I conveniently left in the room every single day.

Hahhaa I used to do that - now I just make notes on my phone's notepad. Actually use them quite a bit too!

 

[xlsm]

Your Seas experience is similar to ours...I had the same comment about the line for Nemo! It's a mile long! I've never seen a wait there, but I think Raeven said it was 40 minutes on one of their days?? I might be wrong about that, but I think that's what it was. It seems crazy to think about it that long.

I didn't mean to laugh about the dropped sandwich, but I did. Just a little though! It makes me think of Lilo and Stitch and the tourist guy whose ice cream keeps dropping off the cone!

Naked guy...that's one reason why I'm afraid to glance toward windows at resorts!! I'm so scared I'm going to get an eye full of something terrible. I'm also scared I'm going to forget my curtains are open one day when I get out of the shower alone in the room!

BC CL sounds great! I always think about booking CL, but I think we enjoy park food too much...I'm not sure how much we'd get out of the lounge. I think it would be perfect for breakfast though, and for holding over until a dessert party or something in the late afternoon. There's a chance I may be flying solo in May, and I'm considering switching to CL for that and cancelling my ADRs (I should know something in the next day or two, MIL may be backing out)

I like the Christmas Alex and Ani! I still need an Epcot bangle, I always forget to get one when I'm there.

 

[Raeven]

Your Seas experience is similar to ours...I had the same comment about the line for Nemo! It's a mile long! I've never seen a wait there, but I think Raeven said it was 40 minutes on one of their days?? I might be wrong about that, but I think that's what it was. It seems crazy to think about it that long.

I didn't mean to laugh about the dropped sandwich, but I did. Just a little though! It makes me think of Lilo and Stitch and the tourist guy whose ice cream keeps dropping off the cone!

Naked guy...that's one reason why I'm afraid to glance toward windows at resorts!! I'm so scared I'm going to get an eye full of something terrible. I'm also scared I'm going to forget my curtains are open one day when I get out of the shower alone in the room!

BC CL sounds great! I always think about booking CL, but I think we enjoy park food too much...I'm not sure how much we'd get out of the lounge. I think it would be perfect for breakfast though, and for holding over until a dessert party or something in the late afternoon. There's a chance I may be flying solo in May, and I'm considering switching to CL for that and cancelling my ADRs (I should know something in the next day or two, MIL may be backing out)

I like the Christmas Alex and Ani! I still need an Epcot bangle, I always forget to get one when I'm there.

Yes it was 40 minutes on our Epcot day!

 

[ariane37]

Awesome! Club Level will but an excellent experience!

I am getting more excited every day!! And I'm also glad we still get to stay at WL for March, because as much as I'm looking forward to trying CL I wouldn't want to give up WL for it

OMG! Gross. This is Disney World! Out Feb. trip there was a gentleman down the way from us in Sebring, Fl portion (aka not Disney) and he would smoke in his tight whities every morning in his doorway. The girls were SUPER grossed out.

EW I think what you saw is more gross than what we saw.........................

I like that at least one of the kids is willing to appease his Dad. I like that you bought 2 for the boys even though you didn't like the shirt.

Well, I kind of bought it for the boys because I knew they wouldn't like it, if I'm being honest But yes, Chris likes to make us happy and he's still young enough and acts it sometimes to not mind not being in style!

We actually waited our first trip! I don't know if it was newer or what, but we waiting from the dark area when you first walk in. And it took FOREVER!!!

I need to look up exactly when it opened! Even the first time we rode it, no wait.

The Holiday Storytellers is the biggest reason I want to do Disney around the holidays. One day. One Day.

You'll get there And it will be completely worth it.

Haha good to see someone else making changes

As soon as we decided to switch resorts for BOTH trips, I thought of you

Oh those shirts. It was nice thag at least one of your son's wore them because Steve looks so proud.

True! If they both refused then I would have told them their dad would feel so hurt

Dropping his sandwich then pouting about it sounds just like my brother when he was a little younger he went to Boston with my dad on a field trip and insisted my dad had to find him ice cream...right after he dropped it!

Did your dad get him more ice cream?? Steve probably would have but I would have just continued on my merry way!

LOVE the update! LOL! Poor Chris dropping his sandwich! This is TOTALLY something my DS would do and then somehow, I'd get blamed for it!

Oh if I had been present I'm sure I would've gotten blamed, just like I get blamed for everything else

ove your Alex and Ani too! DD and I have a little collection of these going..I really like the Christmas-y Mickey and Minnie

Thank you! I love collecting them and have about 11 now, 5 of them Disney

I'm so jealous of you and all your trips coming up! It's KILLING me not to be heading down in April this year

I totally understand, but I see you're going back in November??!! yay!!!

Sounds like you all have some great plans for March and of course totally loving the lack of planning at the same time Congrats on being able to stay at BC and WL and Hello Club Level!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it

Yup, love the plans/ no plans and I have to give you credit for my being comfortable with the no dining plans-plans I'm so excited about CL, especially since I know it's not something that's going to become a regular "thing"!

And totally recommend you all get to Homecoming on one of the trips. We absolutely loved it!!!!

I'll get there Possibly May. Being true to the not much planning scenario I really don't know what we're doing on our May trip other than one ADR, so it might fit in there.

OMG I would have been dying. Dying - and of course trying to get a picture - then dying some more. Guess some people are just ok with who they are and all their glory

He must have WANTED people to see him, because why else do you sit on the edge of your bed on the ground floor level of a resort with the curtain and slider open? Maybe he was making some type of noise he wanted to be heard, too

Aha, before you said it I said I think that is the infamous ugly Mickey shirt. I can't believe you bought one for the boys too. Kudos to Chris for being a good sport and double kudos to Ricky for having taste

Yeah, the shirt speaks for itself. Ricky is much more into how he looks than Chris is which is both good and bad!

I respectfully withdraw the aforementioned kudos for Ricky

Not the first time I've wanted to hug him and then smack him minutes later

I laughed so hard Ariane I almost spit out my coffee

I love being able to provide comic relief!

Note to self don't request ground floor when we go in November may see scary naked people

If you were going in Oct. I'd say request it, it would fit the whole Halloween vibe

Looking forward to your next installment and congrats on scoring BC CL you will love CL. We've been fortunate to stay CL twice before at CT Tower CLub and AKL CL enjoyed both so much.

I've heard absolutely fantastic things about AKL CL! If it wasn't for the fact that staying in the Epcot area was the idea I would've chosen AKL for our first CL stay, but if we get to do one again that's where I'd like to do it. I also hear great things about GF CL.

 

[Raeven]

I am getting more excited every day!! And I'm also glad we still get to stay at WL for March, because as much as I'm looking forward to trying CL I wouldn't want to give up WL for it


EW I think what you saw is more gross than what we saw.........................


Well, I kind of bought it for the boys because I knew they wouldn't like it, if I'm being honest But yes, Chris likes to make us happy and he's still young enough and acts it sometimes to not mind not being in style!


I need to look up exactly when it opened! Even the first time we rode it, no wait.


You'll get there And it will be completely worth it.


As soon as we decided to switch resorts for BOTH trips, I thought of you

True! If they both refused then I would have told them their dad would feel so hurt


Did your dad get him more ice cream?? Steve probably would have but I would have just continued on my merry way!


Oh if I had been present I'm sure I would've gotten blamed, just like I get blamed for everything else


Thank you! I love collecting them and have about 11 now, 5 of them Disney


I totally understand, but I see you're going back in November??!! yay!!!


Yup, love the plans/ no plans and I have to give you credit for my being comfortable with the no dining plans-plans I'm so excited about CL, especially since I know it's not something that's going to become a regular "thing"!


I'll get there Possibly May. Being true to the not much planning scenario I really don't know what we're doing on our May trip other than one ADR, so it might fit in there.


He must have WANTED people to see him, because why else do you sit on the edge of your bed on the ground floor level of a resort with the curtain and slider open? Maybe he was making some type of noise he wanted to be heard, too


Yeah, the shirt speaks for itself. Ricky is much more into how he looks than Chris is which is both good and bad!


Not the first time I've wanted to hug him and then smack him minutes later


I love being able to provide comic relief!


If you were going in Oct. I'd say request it, it would fit the whole Halloween vibe


I've heard absolutely fantastic things about AKL CL! If it wasn't for the fact that staying in the Epcot area was the idea I would've chosen AKL for our first CL stay, but if we get to do one again that's where I'd like to do it. I also hear great things about GF CL.

I don't think he did get him more ice cream now that I think about it

 

[ariane37]

I hate to say this but I may have to join the club. I cut my finger this week getting my boys out of the bathtub. Yep, that's right...no knife, nothing sharp that I know of, yet, I sliced my fingertip open. Still have absolutely no idea how I did it.

Maybe it's better if we never meet bc who knows what kind of catastrophe we would cause all together! Lol

OMG, it could be disastrous! lol So sorry about your finger! I sliced mine open once on a plastic handle of a bathtub that apparently had a little crack in it. Two peas in a pod! Hope it heals up quickly!

Um, so when Chris was 21 mos. I sliced the tendons in my thumb opening a mens dress shirt. Yup. Have you ever seen in the dept stores like Kohl's, they'll have a dress shirt with a tie boxed together in a plastic box? Well I had gotten Steve one for Father's Day and one Sat. morning I tried to open it. He was out at Home Depot at the time. I couldn't get the damn box open so I took a knife to it, sliced right through the plastic and into the side of my thumb right above the bone. Blood ALL OVER the kitchen floor. I managed to call Steve and tell him to get right home lol. Had to have surgery!

We loved new Soarin' too! I still miss the old one, but I've seen a lot of hate for the new one, which I don't get.

I've seen that too, I think it has to do w/ the smell which I *think* many thought were stronger in the original? IDK, but the new one is just so beautiful

Right?! Its SO SO Good! When Mom and I went in January the first time we rode we were more toward the left and didn't get any 'smells' but the second time we were dead center and got to smell the smells! haha! So glad you liked it!

We were lucky to be center both times we rode!!

OMG I hope we don't encounter any scary naked people during our stay in May! Wow. I guess I need to look into this secret door thing myself...that's something I am not aware of currently.

Check out the room # of the secret door in the BC thread! Although it's definitely more handy if you're staying BC Resort as opposed to BVC.

LOVE your plans and for club level. I looked into booking a club level room for August but there weren't any avaialble via DVC. Right now I am thinking about having us try a Wilderness Cabin for a few days for some added fun in August. Just not sure yet.

The Cabins aren't quite our thing but Chris's teacher stays in them every summer with her family and they LOVE them. Definitely think it's something different!

I love the Jammitors and all the street entertainment at EPCOT and HS and am sad it's been cut back so much. It's just a fun thing to stop and watch them all. My kids also don't usually have the patience for it.

It is, and the best part is when you wouldn't expect to see them and that lots of times their "act" would be different. My kids have always enjoyed the Citizens of Hollywood in HS, the Citizens of Main St. not so much. They will stop for lots of acts in Epcot too which I'm grateful for

 

[ariane37]

I know you just started out, but being a Disney TA has always been a pipe dream of mine - something I might be interested in looking into when I can possibly cut down on my hours at work or quit altogether (i.e. when our debt is paid off). Do you think we could chat at some point via PM/ Facebook / whatever?

I thought it could only be a "dream" too, and sometimes I still can't believe I'm doing it I will PM you soon!

Your plans sound amazing though and congrats on the WL AND BC trips ahead!! That's awesome

Thank you! Can't wait to get back to WL, I fell in love when we stayed in August. And I really need to get moving on our May plans to some extent

So #1 I have heard about this secret thing but never looked into it (mainly bc I've always come from the DVC section so I'm already outside and heading along that path close to IG anyway)

We were in the DVC section too, and really it only benefits those in the main bldg. I'd just heard so much about it I had to try to find it!

Hahhaa I used to do that - now I just make notes on my phone's notepad. Actually use them quite a bit too!

I take notes for my reports on my phone's notepad, don't know why I didn't think to put our daily plans there Think I was just trying to be more like everyone who does spreadsheets and stuff because I even color coded my notecards. Oh, and I don't know how to make spreadsheets

I didn't mean to laugh about the dropped sandwich, but I did. Just a little though! It makes me think of Lilo and Stitch and the tourist guy whose ice cream keeps dropping off the cone!

I'd forgotten about that! And go ahead and laugh

I'm so scared I'm going to get an eye full of something terrible. I'm also scared I'm going to forget my curtains are open one day when I get out of the shower alone in the room!

Well if you do that, someone will be writing about YOU in their TR

BC CL sounds great! I always think about booking CL, but I think we enjoy park food too much...I'm not sure how much we'd get out of the lounge.

That's my concern. Although I won't be making all that many ADR's since we'll be eating at the F&G booths on that trip also.

I think it would be perfect for breakfast though

Yes, definitely thinking breakfast will be the big benefit. And the alcohol later in the evening

There's a chance I may be flying solo in May, and I'm considering switching to CL for that and cancelling my ADRs (I should know something in the next day or two, MIL may be backing out)

Oh no! Now I really wish our trips overlapped! On the one hand I like the idea of a solo trip, then on the other hand IDK. Someday I do want to try it. Keep me posted on whether she goes or not! But if you go it alone I think switching to CL is a nice idea!

I like the Christmas Alex and Ani! I still need an Epcot bangle, I always forget to get one when I'm there.

I have the "Epcot" park bracelet and need to get the AK one I also have the HS one with the hat which now I think is pretty cool since the hat is gone.

Yes it was 40 minutes on our Epcot day!

Holy crap lol!

 

[Whit64130]

We knew it would be pretty crowded since lots of experiences were starting today - Candlelight Processional, Holiday Storytellers, and the Holidays Around the World food booths, plus Chris and I were anxious to show the other 2 new Soarin', so of course we hit RD.

yay for everybody getting out of bed to RD!!

Many rooms had their curtains and in some cases slider open, enjoying the cool morning air as they got ready. One guy took it a step further and was sitting on his bed NAKED with the curtain and slider open

I would have literally died if I would've seen this!

If you read my PTR you may remember this shirt as the ugliest Mickey shirt I'd ever seen, but Steve picked it out so I smiled and bought one for all the boys because he was just so excited when he found it! Neither of the boys liked it but I sweet talked Chris into wearing it; Ricky not so much. Oh, well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

I love this! I always talk myself out of these bracelets!

 

[Jfsag123]

Um, so when Chris was 21 mos. I sliced the tendons in my thumb opening a mens dress shirt. Yup. Have you ever seen in the dept stores like Kohl's, they'll have a dress shirt with a tie boxed together in a plastic box? Well I had gotten Steve one for Father's Day and one Sat. morning I tried to open it. He was out at Home Depot at the time. I couldn't get the damn box open so I took a knife to it, sliced right through the plastic and into the side of my thumb right above the bone. Blood ALL OVER the kitchen floor. I managed to call Steve and tell him to get right home lol. Had to have surgery!

OMG! Sounds like we have some war stories to swap. Just ridiculous. Why do we do these things to ourselves?

I've seen that too, I think it has to do w/ the smell which I *think* many thought were stronger in the original? IDK, but the new one is just so beautiful

I did rather enjoy the orange smell from the original, but I thought this one had some good smells too. Oh well, less people ride more rides for us, right?

 

[ariane37]

Merry Christmas Stories!​

So now we were in WS on Black Friday - the day I'd been most anticipating because as much as I love all the park and resort decor, I just absolutely love, love love the Holiday Storytellers. It didn't hurt that this year Epcot added Holiday food booths that were opening today, either! With a couple exceptions we'd seen all the storytellers over our past 2 late Nov. visits so I was determined we'd see the ones we were missing and hopefully revisit a couple favorites. But first, we eat!
I was starving! I had that energy bar in the room and was saving my appetite for the food booths. We were at our first one by 11:35, only to find out the booths weren't opening until noon. Darn! The kids were both hungry again so after a bit of consulting, they walked themselves over to Mexico to grab something from La Cantina while Steve and I staked out the gates in front of the Feast of the Three Kings:
You can't really see it but there was a hut set up a bit in the back where the food was being served from.
We had looked online and picked out where we wanted to eat and also looked through the cute little booklet you could pick up that outlined not only what each food booth had to eat/drink, but listed all the holiday storytellers and CP times/narrators, too.
We ended up eating a couple really good things at the booths but were disappointed to find out that, unlike F&G and F&W, the portions were full-size. I don't recall that this was specified anywhere online but I guess it also wasn't specified that they WEREN'T full-size portions, so my bad. I assumed we'd be able to eat more but you all know what happens when one assumes!
I'll be posting our eats over on my dining report but here's one of Steve eating his Three Kings roasted pork with a friend watching behind him:
My sister has FOB so this successfully freaked her out when I sent it to her.
The boys ate their food inside at La Cantina rather than bringing it over to us, which gave Steve and I a few peaceful minutes to ourselves. But eventually they came back (they usually do, don't they ) and Ricky was still starving since they'd only shared an order of empanadas, so he grabbed a hot dog from the booth next to us.
While Steve had been on line for our food I'd gone to the Seasonal Southern Delights booth to grab some beers and we weren't really fans, so we decided to go out of our way and hit France for one of our favorite drinks, the grey goose slush:
I've said this before and I'll say it again, this is sunshine in a glass
Satisfied and thirst quenched, we picked our first storyteller and walked to Morocco. She was one of the ones we'd never listened to before and for some reason, this whole pavilion fascinates me so I was really interested to hear the story:







I thought she was very good! Very animated and happy to be playing this part. Not quite as fun for kids as Norway but more interesting than a couple others. I also thought her dress was beautiful. But I'll tell you what, it was a HOT day and while they have a few stone benches in front of the Morocco stage we were sweating sitting there! Good thing it was a quick walk back for another slush.............oh, one strange moment during her "story". She needed volunteers from the audience to play a couple getting married, but the only ones who volunteered were a mom and her 17 year old disabled son. The CM said she wouldn't make it weird that they were playing a couple in love but um..........it was weird.

Sloshing towards our next food booth, Alpine Haus, we enjoyed some very beer-y cheese fondue while Ricky ate every bite but one of my Sachertorte, or chocolate cake. You'll realize we were back and forth and back again in WS but, as I've said before, that's how we roll! This was also the only other food booth we tried since the portions were large and we had a dinner reservation Steve and I were really looking forward to coming up later.
The Alpine Haus booth wasn't far from the American Pavilion so now we got to introduce the kids to the Voices of Liberty. I know, I know, shameful they've been so many times and have never heard them! Honestly Steve and I only heard them for the first time in Aug. and I couldn't believe I'd waited so long.




I was in love with their Dickensian costumes and the boys paid attention the whole time! No complaints, score!
When we came out two of us needed the restroom so they went to the one on the side of the American pavilion over by Liberty Inn. Chris and I waited by the outside tables over by the railing (oops! Guess I gave away the not very big deal of who had to pee), you know, where they sometimes have pop up character meets when characters are training? That I've managed to catch on like, my last 3 or 4 trips? Normally the characters are a lot of ones you can meet fairly easily around the parks - the last few times I've caught the meets there it's been Mickey, Donald in his sailor suit, Rafiki. But this time I saw someone..................and I knew I new him but my old brain wasn't quite functioning right.....

UP NEXT: DIS-MEET AND DAT-MEET
AND MORE STORYTELLERS​