Day 7”What do you mean I pushed Katie down?”

[yepod]

Tues Oct 29th
Cast of characters: DD-Emily, 3 ½ yo, “Will she throw a strop when they leave?
DW-Jody, 40, ‘Mrs. Howell’
Me-John, 50, ‘Gilligan’

We got ready to meet the Trekker clan to do some shopping at DTD & say our goodbyes. We drove over & first the three of us had breakfast at McDonalds.

Once a trip isn’t too bad! I always laugh at how like everything else at the ‘World’, the prices seem somehow inflated! LOL While waiting for Ron & Katie to show up, we saw a commercial of some sort being filmed in front of OUAT. We found out later from a CM that it was a Chicago based TV show that was doing some sort of commercial. Wonder if Dan Murphy ever caught it?!?! The yepods & Trekkers hooked up & started a whirlwind 3 hour tour! I was Gilligan, Ron the Skipper, Katie Maryanne, Emily Ginger, & Jody Mrs. Howell (boy can she spend the money)! We hit OUAT (but didn’t spend enough time for Mrs. Howell to enjoy it)! Ron made a, let’s say ‘questionable’ comment to a CM & she called security!

When he arrived, we found out his name was Orlando, & right away he’s joking with us! He said when he first got to WDW, he got whiplash from constantly turning his head every time he heard his name! He was a fun guy, or as Ron would say, a mushroom! (GROAN!) The original (pretending to be offended) CM that had called him, said Orlando probably would have enjoyed Ron’s comment & would have commended him instead of reprimanding him for it! We moved on to WoD & Ron & I engaged some CMs in pin trading. We got great service from a section manager & I did an on the spot commendation card with a senior manager for her!

We then headed to the Pin Traders shop for our last fun together. Emily threw her ever expected daily mini-strop in the store,

to our amusement & the horror of some of the CMs! We got our last trading in with the Trekker clan, but frankly I was glad to see them go because I was tired of pushing Katie out of the way to get at the good trades! Her dad was worse by far. He tripped me at least a dozen times & used my crumpled body as a step to get at those CMs with lanyards! We said our bitter/sweet goodbyes & Emily surprisingly took it well. (Maybe she was sick of her Dad & Ron’s antics together)! We will miss them until we meet again!

We then drove to MGM & headed for our 1PM lunch PS at Sci Fi Dine-In Theatre. Emily loved the movies (one of those things we let her do way too much of!) and we enjoyed our food. We then proceeded to the Muppets 3D show. We all enjoyed this! Emily had noticed Al’s Toy Barn the night before & wanted to go back & look for characters. Unfortunately it was closed but she was appeased with me taking a picture of her in front of a cardboard cut-out of a Country Bear from the new movie out in front of the barn. (What a cheap ploy by dad!) We then went to the HISTK playground & Emily enjoyed this as always! We headed over to Mickey Avenue but didn’t find any characters except Sorcerer Mickey (my all time favorite Mickey role). Too my disappointment, Emily didn’t want her picture taken with him. This was probably her payback for that cheap Country Bear picture scam I tricked her into earlier! We all had a Mickey ice cream bar

(for Marla)!
I went into One Mans Dream, which was on my must see list while Jody & Emily wandered on. One Man’s Dream was awesome! I’ve read 2 biographies & have some of the video material about his early life, but this display & documentary short are still so entertaining & informative. It brought chills & tears like with so many other DISers. I caught up with the family just as they were entering the Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage (What I’ll always call the Bear in the Big Blue House show). I wasn’t able to sit on the floor with the family, but as a result, I stood behind them at the back wall & got some great video of Emily dancing to the show! This is still a great one for the littlies, even though Emily’s favorite is still Bear. 2 years ago when we first saw this, it was just BitBBH & we enjoyed this more than when last year they added Stanley, Rolie Poley Olie & Book of Pooh. Just our (& Emily’s) HO! We then called it a day as we were getting worn down & hadn’t taken our required nappy for the day! We drove back to POR for our last night at that resort.
We decided to go to Boatwrights for dinner as we like this restaurant & hadn’t had a chance to eat here yet this trip. Well just as we wheeled Emily to our table, she caved in & went to sleep in her stroller.

What was her problem? Dad was ready to buy her a juicy T-bone & she passes out! Just because we had been going non-stop all day long, she had no right to cave on me. Jody & I were recommended the house special for the night, which was a T-bone. Unfortunately this was the worst part of the meal as they were overly tough & just not what we expected from this fine restaurant. Despite our disappointment, we had the always excellent crab cakes for an appetizer. And for dessert, Jody had the recommended master chef’s special that night, bread pudding & I had the caramel flan (like a Crème Brule). Both were fabulous! At the end of the meal, I told our server (no fault of her own) to tell the chef the steaks were very overrated, but still tipped our server well for a fine job! While we were ordering, our server was talking to us about our stay & how this was our last night at POR & how we were moving to the WL for our last 2 nights of the trip. It’s always so nice to just take a few moments & not be rushed by the server & enjoy their company!

During this discussion, we had mentioned how much we had enjoyed Boma & how we loved the AKL for atmosphere. She suggested-why not upgrade to AKL from WL. (Another reason she deserved a good tip LOL) I went to guest services & innocently inquired if this was possible. CRO told them I had booked the reservation for WL with a travel agent. Oops I forgot!

As a result, Disney couldn’t change this but my agent might possibly be able to. I whipped out that master plan sheet I carried religiously the whole trip & called Dreams Unlimited on the spot.

Mind you this is 6:30PM EST & who knew who I’d be bothering. Well I got none other than Donna (donna aka cruella) one of the top people from DU. I apologized for probably interrupting her dinner & SHE reminded me about how it was cold & wet

where she was & it was not where I was! After exchanging these pleasantries, she said let me see what I can do. I waited on hold for a few moments & Donna (bless her heart!), came back on the line & told me she had gotten me an upgrade from the WL woods view, to AKL savannah for just a little bit more! WHOOPEE!

I floated back to the restaurant with a smile on my face! Have I mentioned how much I appreciate Dreams Unlimited!
We went back to our room & Jody packed us up for the move in the morning. I’ll mention here that just like not being allowed to screw up (I mean do) the laundry, I’m not allowed to pack either! She can get more stuff into those 2 big suitcases, than I could get into 10! Reminds me of another DISer I know that does all the packing on her trips, right sis?

Day 8 You've come this far!

 

[Poohshoney]

AKL??? Oh fantastic! Well done John - and DU!!!

Of course, I still want to know what you think of WL... any chance of you going back?

 

[pumba]

they always seem to come through.......We loved Port orleans when it was Port Orleans and Dixie when it was Dixie......I still get confused when they mention these now......I am sure that Emily did not miss the meat for supper........our grandson always seem to sleep the minute we walked into any restaurant.....must of been the AC and not being hot........thanks so much for your great report.......it has been great

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Why thank you John - for eating a mickey bar in my honor

 

[vald1977]

I really hope the Disney Playhouse show is around for awhile since we missed it on our first trip and I think DS would love it. Can't wait to hear how the AKL was -- that is the one Disney resort I would LOVE to stay at!

 

[nativetxn]

Donna is so nice. It sounds like Dreams helped make your trip <b>magical</b>.

It's so disappointing to go to a restaurant where you remember the food as being wonderful and then get a tough steak.

And by the way, you can claim all you want that you were going to get Emily a steak for dinner but we both know she would have had pizza

I enjoyed reading this, thanks for posting.

Katholyn

 

[Trekker]

WOW - finally rid of those clingy Wisconsin people and off on your own - and then you get a tough steak - HMMMM!

 

[oldkicker]

I can't wait to see One Man's Dream!

...and to read about your time at AKL!