Delicious Indeed!

[RachelNinja]

3 trips to the outlet! Did the employees recognize you guys each time?

That video was so cute! I love Howard's reaction. Glad it wasn't the ugly one!

I don't know what Mickey is dressed in. It almost looks like some type of band uniform?

Haha, I'm not sure if they did, but that did cross my mind! I was thinking that they'd start wondering why we kept returning! I didn't want them to get suspicious; we were really there to enjoy it! Haha, and we did buy something each time.

Ha ha! Aren't Vinylmations just fun? Our kids got hooked on them when we were there last year. I know DS already has plans to use some of his birthday money on more when we go back! DD has the castle one and I think it's so pretty, but I can see where it wouldn't be for everyone.

I love Target, ha ha! It's so much better than Wal-Mart...

I think I'd stop our kiddies from getting into Vinylmation. I'd be like, "Um, Daddy has enough. You can share those!"

More, More! LOL

I love your enthusiasm!

Love your trip report(s)!

The Band Leader Mickey is from the 1935 classic cartoon "The Band Concert".
Very cute cartoon! You can find it on You Tube.

Ooo, thanks for the info!!! Because of that, I love it even more! I love really classic Mickey stuff! And I'm also so glad you like my TRs! I really should finish the previous one ... haha.

I got Cinderella Castle, too! I think I would have preferred the Country Bears one. Big Al is so cool, ugly or not!

Oh and your tattoo from the car- I thought for sure it was a hidden Mickey. Once you said it was a heart, I could kind of see it, but it looked Micky-ish to me.

Love the Donald Duck shirt!

Haha, I am TERRIFIED of Country Bear Jamboree ...

Maybe that's what I should've done instead! I went with the heart because of the first mark that I accidentally made when I was writing. I'd never get a real tattoo, but the next time I go crazy and use a pen, I'll make it a Mickey head!

I can't wait to see what Vinylmation Howard got next! I hope you took another video of the box opening!

I've been looking at Vinylmations on ebay, and I found an adorable Marie one that I want! I wouldn't trade it though, I'd probably put it in my car or something!

Brandon has that Donald Duck shirt! He wanted to take a picture while he was wearing it with Donald, but by the time he thought of it, it was too late!

I can't wait to hear about Target! I LOVE that store!

Haha, just to let you know, we don't actually open it until ... a day or two later? We completely forgot about it! Don't worry though ... there'll be other Vinylmation videos!

I think Vinylmation is fun when there's something you know you want. I think it's so easy to get addicted to wanting ALL the cute ones, but getting one and trying to trade until you get it would be a fun challenge!

I'd be afraid that the Disney ducks would come up to me and surround me if I wore a shirt like that Donald shirt! Irrational? Yes. But who knows ... it's still a possibility!

Target ROCKS.

Yup, it's one of the Bear's from the Jamboree. He's not so scary once you hang around with him for a while.

Haha, I have a big fear of Country Bear Jamboree! That's why I think it's the ugly one. I HATE HATE HATE the buffalo head on the wall! I think that's part of why I'm so afraid of buffalo/bison. I will never step foot into CBJ for the rest of my life! I'm sorry to Big Al and the rest of 'em, but they hang with those heads!

Sweet Tomatoes! If you like salad, you like soup, and you like buffet's, you can't go wrong! I have one right by my work. Love eating there.

Oh man, now I REALLY want to try it! I don't like buffets where I feel like I have to eat meat and whatnot because of the cost. I want to just go and not have to make an excuse that all I want is soup and salad! Do you get to try ALL the soups?!?

 

[YukiPhnx]

When I was at Disney, I really considered getting some of those Vinylmation keychains!

I was going to buy that Ironman plush for my little brother! He loves things that have huge heads and small bodies. Andrew also made the spiderman plush and the ironman plush do high-5's because their arms are sticking out, haha.

 

[RachelNinja]

When I was at Disney, I really considered getting some of those Vinylmation keychains!

I was going to buy that Ironman plush for my little brother! He loves things that have huge heads and small bodies. Andrew also made the spiderman plush and the ironman plush do high-5's because their arms are sticking out, haha.

I wanted one of those keychains too! I just couldn't believe that they were $8.95. For something so small, you'd think it'd be half the price of a full-sized Vinylmation! I would've done $5 even!

Haha, I agree that huge headed and small bodied things are cute!

 

[RachelNinja]

Sunday, February 20: Right on Target!

We made it to Target, which is only 2-3 minutes away from the timeshare. It felt good to be that much closer to our home away from home for the week! We were at Target mainly to get some necessities that Ray forgot or that Nik needed.

There was this big circle at the front of the store (I took this pic on the way out). Just to be silly, Howard and I walked through it because we couldn't figure out why it was there!

I turned around and saw Ray coming along and knew he was going to jump, so I snapped a picture and caught this exact moment!!! Haha, I think it's one of the best pics of the trip not just because of catching it at that right moment but because it showed that even at Target, we were still having so much fun!

This Target was AMAZING because it had a huge section for Disney things! Wouldn't it make more sense for this Target to go easy on the Disney stuff since we're so close to the real thing and instead make the Target near my school have this huge DIsney section instead?!? Haha, just sayin! Of course, I'd be broke if that were the case! They had so many plushies!

Howard and I really liked the Sorcerer Mickey ones! I have a Build-A-Bear bear (Howie Wary Bear! Guess where I got the "Wary Bear" part of his name!) who is itching to get a sorcerer Mickey outfit when they release it for Duffy!

Look at all those mugs! Howard and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Disney mugs! We like a lot of the things for the house since it's fun yet also very useful!

I like the designs where the figures look like they are sketched. Haha, random, but it took me a while to write the previous sentence. I was saying "sketchy" at first, but it sounded like the characters were sketchy!

They also had a very nice assortment of caps! I always think I'm going to get a cap each year. I was going to get one at the Disney outlet, but I knew I wouldn't wear it. A few years ago, Howard and I went on a bike trip with our church, and I had to wear a cap (keep as many bugs out of your hair and shield from the sun!). I was thinking about how it'd be fun to have a Disney one. I guess that thought has stuck in my head despite the fact that I always have my sunglasses on my head when at WDW!

A hat for Howard wouldn't make sense because he has a rather large head. Hehe.

At one point, we were just walking around, and we lost track of Nik! Haha, she has a tendency to just wander off because something captures her attention. We "found" her (and I ended up keeping a close eye on her for the rest of the Target trip and throughout the vacation!), and she spotted socks! Haha, it's not what she needed, but she bought a couple. They were actually very cute! Too bad I don't like wearing socks! Oh, that Minnie she has was for a friend back home. One of the girls at our church wanted her to get a Minnie that looked exactly like the Minnie she has a child. That was pretty much it!

We headed to the shoe section because Nik was looking for sandals or flip flops of some sort.

Teeny-tiny imitation crocs!

We thought some of the shoe choices were rather ... uh ... interesting. Like this one! That's a lot of toe cleavage!

This is what Howard and Ray did while we were in the shoe section. They lined up all the shoes to look all pretty for the display!

Hmm, there's something about this shirt that bothers me. Why does Minnie seem so much larger? Why is she holding Mickey that way?

After the shoe section (Nikki didn't find anything), we headed to the bathing suit section because Nik forgot to bring that too! We had plans to head to the lazy river on Thursday, so she needed one. I guess if we ended up not going, she just would've returned it. Ray ended up finding something that he liked too, haha.

I saw this, and it reminded me of one of 6th grade students who wears headbands with big flowers and bows on them. It's very cute on her, but I could never wear something like this!

I couldn't get the headband to stop moving when I was trying to take the pic, so I was standing there for a while. Ray saw me ...

... and this is what he did as a result!

The next few pics are from the little itty-bitty cuties section! I just thought they were cute, so I just had to snap a picture of some of the outfits! How cute is this for a nurse who has a baby?

Of course, dinosaurs are so cute for little boys. I love the preppy look of this outfit.

Monkeyin' around!

It's not often that I see clothes with rhinos on them!

This would definitely be for Guy Fieri's son! He often says "That's how I roll" or some variation of it on his show!

Here's the other thing that we needed from Target. Ray forgot to bring contact solution for Dani and himself. I brought for myself in a small bottle, but it wouldn't have been enough for the 3 of us for one whole week. At least we had a Target nearby though! One time I forgot to bring contact solution when I on a family vacation in the Bahamas! The sundries store at the hotel didn't have any, so it was a big search for some! I don't even remember where we ended up getting it. I vaguely remember the hotel calling a pharmacy and sending it to us or something.

Howard and I laughed when we saw beef jerky because in the Florida 2011 email that we were all writing in, I made a joke about eating beef jerky in the shower.

After we spent a good amount of time in Target, the 3 of them made their way to the front to pay for their purchases. I was so excited that we were now officially headed toward our way to the timeshare!!! YAY!

 

[klacey1]

Gotta love Target! I love that picture of Ray jumping through that circle at Target! Intense!

 

[jane2073]

I love Target!! I think our record is an hour and half of aimless wondering!

I love the "jumping through the circle" picture! It could not be more perfect!

I like the Mickey/Minnie shirt. It is like she is lovingly giving him the heimlich maneuver.

 

[SoonerGirl]

Wow, if I had tried to jump through that circle I either would have tripped or hit my head on the top!

That Target looks like it has almost as much Disney stuff as our Disney store at the mall!

 

[YukiPhnx]

I love that you took so many pictures of what you saw!

The night before I left for my trip, I ALMOST forgot to pack shampoo! It was around midnight so nothing was open, so I ended up grabbing a bottle from my family's apartment. It was one of the things I kept telling myself not to forget too!

So did Nik ever get those shoes??? She reminds me a lot of my little sister. She also tends to wander off on her own a lot.

 

[Jennifer48]

Love that jumping photo!

I love Target! I could spend all day in there!

 

[PirateKate]

I've never noticed that section of Disney stuff at that Target before. We went to Target several times on our May trip, since we kept thinking of more forgotten items, but I guess we were too focused to browse much.

I love Target baby clothes. Looks like you all were having a lot of Target fun!

 

[Cat0727]

That shot of Ray is awesome!

Ohh I love Target. I wish they put a store in NYC (I don't count the one on 117th street lol ). It looks like they had a lot of Disney items in the one you went to!

 

[Nermel9]

Love the Target update!

I wish the Targets in CT had a huge Disney section...although like you said, I'd be broke if they did!

I LOVE Disney mugs! Disney mugs and Disney ornaments are my weakness, I could spend so much money on them!

What better place to eat beef jerky than the shower?

 

[RunningGirl]

Great picture! I really can't believe you've had so much fun and not even gotten to your timeshare yet!

 

[RachelNinja]

Gotta love Target! I love that picture of Ray jumping through that circle at Target! Intense!

We were all cracking up afterwards when I saw what I caught!

I love Target!! I think our record is an hour and half of aimless wondering!

I love the "jumping through the circle" picture! It could not be more perfect!

I like the Mickey/Minnie shirt. It is like she is lovingly giving him the heimlich maneuver.

Ooo, I love aimless wandering! But it can be rather dangerous because I can always find something I could use, especially before a vacation or on vacation!

HAHA, that's a great way to put it - "lovingly giving him the Heimlich maneuver"!

Wow, if I had tried to jump through that circle I either would have tripped or hit my head on the top!

That Target looks like it has almost as much Disney stuff as our Disney store at the mall!

Oh, I hear ya! That's why Howard and I just stepped over it! I KNOW I would've fallen if I tried anything else! I'm not a risk taker at all!

I love that you took so many pictures of what you saw!

The night before I left for my trip, I ALMOST forgot to pack shampoo! It was around midnight so nothing was open, so I ended up grabbing a bottle from my family's apartment. It was one of the things I kept telling myself not to forget too!

So did Nik ever get those shoes??? She reminds me a lot of my little sister. She also tends to wander off on her own a lot.

I've forgotten contact solution one year, and then another year, I forgot to bring regular bras! Haha, sorry if that's TMI, but I only had sports bras. Whoops! That wasn't that big of a deal, but I just couldn't believe I forgot to pack that! We drove so I wanted to be comfy during the trip.

Nope, Nik didn't buy any shoes. She found something she liked, but it wasn't in her size. She was fine for the trip though. It wasn't a HUGE necessity.

Love that jumping photo!

I love Target! I could spend all day in there!

I was so excited when they finally built a Target only a minute away from my school! If there's anything I want, I can just drop by. Of course, that can be dangerous! I don't look at the circular anymore because I know I'll probably want something. It was so easy to just drop by the day before we left because I picked up a few last minute things. I was in that travel section for so long! Haha, and then I also spent a lot of time in the snacks section!

I've never noticed that section of Disney stuff at that Target before. We went to Target several times on our May trip, since we kept thinking of more forgotten items, but I guess we were too focused to browse much.

I love Target baby clothes. Looks like you all were having a lot of Target fun!

Ooo, you go the Target on Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy? It's so reassuring to know that you can get anything at Target. There's never any fear that you'll have to do without something for a week.

It's going to be bad when my friends start having babies. I'm going to want to buy it all!

That shot of Ray is awesome!

Ohh I love Target. I wish they put a store in NYC (I don't count the one on 117th street lol ). It looks like they had a lot of Disney items in the one you went to!

I'm so glad there's a Target where I work! We used to have to go to Jersey. It was such a special treat to get to go there! I love all the sales at the ends of the aisles. Too bad we don't have Disney stuff here because I'd be scoping out those sales aisles like mad!

Love the Target update!

I wish the Targets in CT had a huge Disney section...although like you said, I'd be broke if they did!

I LOVE Disney mugs! Disney mugs and Disney ornaments are my weakness, I could spend so much money on them!

What better place to eat beef jerky than the shower?

YES, Disney mugs would fill our entire house if I had the money! I'd get rid of every other mug we have! Haha, cup too! All we need are Disney mugs!

Haha, I would imagine it'd just taste better!

Great picture! I really can't believe you've had so much fun and not even gotten to your timeshare yet!

Haha, if you saw my other TR from April 2010 (that I have yet to finish ), I had a ton of entries before we even arrived to Florida!

 

[RachelNinja]

Sunday, February 20: Timeshare Sweet Timeshare!

It was finally time to head to the timeshare! I was a little nervous because I was the one responsible for checking us in. Since the timeshare belongs to my parents, we had to chip in to pay for a guest certificate so it was under my name for the week. This was the first time that I was handling it by myself. I told you this was my first vacation without my parents! Come to think of it, I did go to Boston with my cousins when I was still in college because we were visiting another cousin. My older cousin dealt with it all (hotel reservations, driving/directions, planning), so I guess I don't consider that a real vacation. That was classified as a road trip.

Anyway, we pulled up to the front gate, and I was all ready to have Howard tell them that we were checking in ... but no one was there! Haha, okay. Off we go! We drove a little bit in to get to the Clubhouse. It was at this point that Howard and I started calling Dani, Ray, and Nik our kids. We were like, "Are you kids staying in the car?" It did really feel as if we were somehow the parents just because we were the oldest (although not by much! Dani and Howard were born in the same year, but January and December). They did go in though.

Howard and I waited on line, and still, I was a bit nervous. However, I was nervous for absolutely no reason! The girl who checked us in was very nice. She said it was a good thing I had the guest certificate. I was worried since we only got the certificate a few days earlier (my dad had to have them send it to us in a PDF file since we never got it in the mail). She also said that we had a great spot! Even though we were all the way in the farthest point of the entire propery (as in, we had to drive a good 5-10 mins and figure out each time where we were going!) because there was a pool next to our building (we didn't use that pool though) AND we could see Disney fireworks from our back windows!!! WOW! That was exciting.

We left the Clubhouse, and we found out that Nik bought her Disney tickets there. We loaded back in the car and found our building after a bit of searching. I think we carried everything in in one shot. Haha, I guess we all don't believe in making two trips! Especially since we were on the 2nd floor! Our door was very close to the elevator, which came in handy every time we had to leave or return. Of course, despite the fact that it was easy to remember where we were, I one time made the mistake of trying to get into another room! HAHA, whoops. I was sliding the keycard in and everything!

Here are pictures of the timeshare. If you read my previous (still unfinished) TR, it'll look a little similar in terms of the furniture, but the layout was different since we were in one of the buildings and not the single condos. At first I was disappointed, but this actually worked better.

One reason why it worked better was because the kitchen was right next to the living room. It was easy to all hang out together and be close by when one or two people were cooking or washing the dishes. In the other single condo layout, the dining room separated the kitchen from the living room.

I also really like the "bench" area or nook area as the dining room. We actually didn't really eat there that much. We mainly ate in the living room while watching a movie! We did have Goofy's Candy Co treats at this table though. Whoops, I'm giving away too much! Hehe. Sometimes we used our laptops here (Howard and I were always here), and other times it was at the high counter by the kitchen (you can see Danielle there in the previous pic).

Here's the living room. When we watched movies here, Nik would usually be on the separate chair, Howard and I would be on the couch, and Dani and Ray would pull up chairs to the side of the table opposite that single chair.

This is the little hallway leading to the front door. I was standing in the "dining room." To the right, you can see the door leading to the boys' room. To the left was the door leading to the girls' room, another door leading to the girls' bathroom, and a closet with the washer and dryer.

The boys shared the master bedroom. It was a king size bed, so they had plenty of room! I can't believe I didn't take a pic of their huge bathroom! There was a standup shower and a tub plus two sinks. The toilet was also in this little separate room that had a sliding door to separate it from the rest of the bathroom. I think Ray might have pics. If he ever posts them, I'll share them here.

We girls were in this room. Dani and Nik shared the bed closer to the camera. I was in the bed closer to the window where you could see outside on the 2nd floor. Haha, we weren't there long, but we already had our stuff all over the place!

Howard called to ask about the welcome package. I knew that we were supposed to get a package of starter things including paper towels, tissues, dish detergent, dishwasher detergent, and laundry detergent. The person Howard talked to apologized and brought it fairly quickly. We were excited to get it because one of the first things we do there is stick everything in the dishwasher! Is that a little wacky? I mean, the dishes are supposed to be clean, right? Haha, my mom always does it, so I automatically did it too!

After we settled in a bit, we knew we had to head out to get dinner and groceries. It was decided that we should do grocery shopping first. If we went and brought back food, there'd be no way that people would be willing to go back out at night after stuffing our faces to go shopping at the supermarket! We also knew we didn't want to eat at the restaurant. That's why we had a bunch of meals in the living room. It was a LOT more relaxed.

Where did we go for dinner? Cracker Barrel! To make it easier, we all looked at the menu and picked out our meals. I wrote it down in my trip notebook and made sure I had the number so that we could call when we were almost done shopping. We had to try to time it correctly so that our food would still be cold (like the meat and the ice cream!) and our dinner wouldn't be cold! Stay tuned for our trip to Publix and Cracker Barrel!

 

[wdwgirl03]

The timeshare looks really nice! I was kind of the same way when my sisters and I went since that was the first time going without our parents. Having to do the check-in was kind of weird! LOL.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oooh, the timeshare looks nice....plenty of room and pretty too.

 

[jane2073]

I love how front and center of the picture of the kitchen is a tub of Clorox wipes! I do the same thing!

I also comes from a family that washes dishes before using them (when we stay at a place with a kitchen).

 

[bluejasmine]

What time share is that, it looks familar?

Oh girl I love outlets and Target as well! Im a shopaholic so outlets are perfect for me. Did you go to the Prime Outlets? Stuart Weitzman shoes, Juicy, Victoria Secret (1 of only 2 V.S outlets in the world) Columbia, Oakley, North Face, Dooney and Bourke and a Disney outlet ( I got a beautiful throw for like $12 here). My bday was about a week and a half before we went last Sept, I told DH not to get me anything I just wanted to shop, it was fantastic!

Where is that Target I have to go there and how was the prices on the to go coffee mugs and stuffed animals? I need a new coffee cup for the car and I want a minnie, she is my girl!

 

[PirateKate]

I consulted Google maps, and the Target we go to is indeed off Irlo Bronson Hwy, but there is also another Target off Irlo Bronson Hwy on the other side of WDW, so I still don't know if it was the same one or not. I do know, that our Target was sort of by a Krispy Kreme.

Your timeshare looks really nice. I would never have thought to wash all the dishes first, but it does make sense, once you think about it. Which Disney fireworks could you see from there? Illuminations, probably?