Disney Barbie's TR.July'09-14 nights at the Yacht Club! updated 11/21 pg6 COMPLETE!

[disneybarbie]

At the MK bus stop...

We got off the bus at the Boardwalk – steve and I both wanted to walk through the resort.. it’s my parents’ DVC ‘home resort’ and we’d stayed there on our first trip together in 2006.

Back at the resort, we couldn’t find anyone in their rooms (I was secretly wishing we’d spent longer in MK!) so at 2.30pm we went down to the pool and found them all there (!)
Tink wasn’t feeling as bad – she & her parents had spent the morning by the pool…. Belle & Gaston had gone to DHS but by the time they got there the lines for the ‘good’ rides were already over 90 minutes so they just left and went back to the YC!
They asked us if we’d had long waits at MK so we said ‘nope.. we had a fantastic morning!’

We spent a few hours around the pool, swimming and sunbathing – then we went to our rooms and started packing & getting ready for dinner.

As part of the gift basket from my sister, there was a bottle of Moet champagne – steve & I had already decided we wouldn’t drink it between the two of us .. so took it down to DBFD & M’s room and poured out glasses for everybody to share… unfortunately everyone was too busy packing to stop and have a ‘cheers, happy vacation’ with us.. so we just went back to our room with our glasses of bubbly!

We met again at 6.45pm and headed to Epcot – once we got to World Showcase we wandered towards China, and as we were a bit early for our ADR we stopped for a drink at Sommerfest CS in Germany,

At 9 Dragons, we waited about 10 mins for our table

The meal was really lovely – it’s so much better than a ‘usual’ Chinese takeaway meal – I like that the paper placemats have activities on them like drawing Chinese symbols!

We each had an appetiser and then shared 6 main dishes between us with rice. I particularly like the honey chicken.

After dinner, we walked slowly through WSC and stopped by the American pavilion for Illuminations – again it brought tears to my eyes (everyone agreed that our view was best from the cruise boat two nights before!)

We headed back to the YC to finish packing

(the 'secret' walkway along side the canal to crescent lake..)

– Steve and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to the resort shop to buy a few more souvenirs… I also wanted to ask for some packaging to wrap the glasses included in our gift basket!
We met the others in DBFD & M’s room for a drink, then it was time for bed – last night in WDW!

Coming up.. finally … the last day! DTD check-in, Disney Quest.. or not! … and a ‘few’ hours at Orlando airport….

Emma x x

 

[Mindy5767]

Wow.... they didn't even appreciate the Brown Derby. We haven't even tried it yet because it is a $$$$. Maybe some day. We did our Fantasmic dinner at Hollywood & Vine and we had a 3:40pm ADR. It was the earliest one. We got there as they were opening for the Fantasmic package. It wasn't what we'd wanted, but it worked out great. We took our time, enjoyed our meal, then we had some time before our 7:00pm show time. We had great seats just a few rows from the front.

My niece had wanted to try the monorail for the first time. She is just 10, so we got on at MK and rode in a circle. That is much less crowded than going through T&TC when masses of people are arriving in the morning.

I also love the WoD store. Its awesome. I even hear they now have one in NYC! Can't wait to hear how your last day ended up and your trip home.

So great that you get to go back next month

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Emma

The little Cinderella you sewed onto your vest top - this sounds so cute and definately something I would like to do. Could you post a pic and let me know how you did it and where you got the Cinderella???

Can't believe your TR is coming to an end - still not long before you can do another!!

Sara x

 

[Mindy5767]

Emma

The little Cinderella you sewed onto your vest top - this sounds so cute and definately something I would like to do. Could you post a pic and let me know how you did it and where you got the Cinderella???

Can't believe your TR is coming to an end - still not long before you can do another!!

Sara x

Oh yes! I'd love to see a picture of that too! Must be so very cute!

 

[disneybarbie]

Oh yes! I'd love to see a picture of that too! Must be so very cute!

Emma

The little Cinderella you sewed onto your vest top - this sounds so cute and definately something I would like to do. Could you post a pic and let me know how you did it and where you got the Cinderella???

Can't believe your TR is coming to an end - still not long before you can do another!!

Sara x

The sewing kits are by DMC Disney cross stitch - I got mine from this website Sara (sure there'll be a similar US site for you Mindy!)

http://www.sewandso.co.uk/cgi-bin/find/db.cgi

I have bought the whole range of them now.. they are simple to do if you like counted-cross stitch
I bought plain vest tops and stitched onto them using the soluble canvas...

Cinderella

Nemo

Bit harder to see.. but I did Mickey for Belle

and Pooh for Tink (in their Disney eve boxes!)

and also Mickey & Minnie for the handkerchiefs I made for Jenny & Vinnie


Thank you for reading guys! can't believe I only have one day left to go although it has taken me much longer to write than I realised it would!

Emma x x

 

[Mindy5767]

OOh they are so very lovely. I do not actually do counted cross stitch, but my sister does. Maybe I can get her to make me something like that. I could draw the design on graph paper possibly. I don't know what soluble canvas is, but I'll look into it. They might have something like that at the fabric and craft store that I usually go to. I just never looked.

I see you call a vest what we Americans call a tank top. I love discovering expressions like that.

I'm looking forward to your last installment. But at least you're going to Disney next month. I loved seeing the holiday decorations. I wonder if the Grand Floridian still puts up the life sized gingerbread house. That was just great.

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

They are so cool. I had actually bought my daughter the Marie one for her birthday and we haven't got round to doing anything with it. Now I can see how good they look I am going to get cross stitching and ordering more!!!

I have also pinched your Disney Eve gift box idea and already buying Amber bits and bobs to put in hers!!!

Thanks again for the link xx

 

[disneybarbie]

Day 15 – July 23rd 2009 – Leaving the YC, Downtown Disney.. Disney Quest (or not?!).. and Orlando International Airport

So we made it to the last day!

First I want to clarify some things:

1) you may remember – we had 14 day wdw tickets.. so we decided NOT to go into the parks on our first night, so that we could use them on the last day of our trip after checking out.

2) Virgin Atlantic have two flights per day out of Orlando International to London.. when we were booking the vacation, I suggested to DBFD that we go on the second, later flight (8pm) so that we could make the most of our last day in Florida.. to which he agreed.

Keeping this in mind.. let’s see what happened on the last day!!

We’d arranged to meet at 9am to leave the YC and check in with VA at Downtown Disney.
Steve and I got up a bit earlier to finish packing, and once we were done we went down to Ale & Compass lounge in the lobby to get breakfast.. bagel, muffin, juice & coffee and went back to our room to enjoy it on the balcony…

Soon it was time to meet the others.. few last photos of room 2091 and the YC!

We loaded the ‘Beast’ rental car with the luggage and headed to DTD – Virgin Atlantic has a check-in area behind Cirque du Soleil. It wasn’t too busy there – only slight hiccup was that some of our luggage was over the limit … DBFD’s was only slightly over so he just got a ‘heavy’ sticker, whereas I had to unpack some of my stuff into Gaston’s bag (what I can I say.. I bought a lot of merchandise!!).

We reparked the car near Pleasure Island, and wandered towards the Market Place, stopping in the Lego shop, World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy, $10 outlet store & the Arriba glass shop.

We stopped for an early-ish lunch at Earl of Sandwich – I had a Mediterranean chicken salad
I suggested that we head over to Disney Quest for a couple of hours (we didn’t need to be at the airport til 5-6pm at the earliest) which DBFD agreed with.
It was very very hot that day.. Tink particularly was complaining about the heat.

After lunch I suggested we take the boat over to the Westside rather than walk (save listening to the complaining any more!)

We waited about 15 minutes for a boat, but at least it was in the shade.
Tink actually lay down on the floor here …. She said it was just so hot & she felt ill still.. it was pretty embarrassing to be honest.. a CM got off a Port Orleans boat at the dock to check she was ok!!

We got the boat over to the West Side…

Steve and I liked seeing Saratoga Springs as we stayed there on our last trip in Oct 2008.. we even saw our room (in Congress Park building)!

So… we get to Disney Quest.. I’m pretty excited - I’ve not been here since 2000 and was excited about the lift & experiencing the attractions again (No one else had ever been here)
We are literally walking through the turnstiles when…. DBFM realises.. she. Has. Packed. Her. Park. Ticket. In. the. Suitcases.. !!

WHY!!!! Oh I was mad… but couldn’t say anything.

Everyone else had their tickets.. so I thought DBFD might say let’s just pay for one more ticket (think it was $40) and go in… but no… we just leave.

We get back in the car… I keep my sunglasses on the entire time so no one can see my ‘angry eyes’! .. so now there’s nothing we can do in wdw (I’d thought originally we’d go to a park for a few hours on our last day), and Tink can’t take the heat so nothing outside is going to work either.

So we leave WDW.. (such a horrible feeling leaving under those archways!)

And head to… Walmart. Oh dear.

Gaston wanted to buy a bigger memory card for his camera there, then everyone just started wandering around.. we couldn’t buy anything else (luggage was all headed for the plane!) … Steve and I thought we’d go get a coffee from the café there, we had no interest in wandering around a supermarket for a few hours!! But the others decided they were done too.. so we got back in the car – at this point it’s not even 2pm…. And DBFD decides “lets just head to the airport”

I couldn’t believe it… I wanted to laugh out loud.. the airport?! We have 6 HOURS til our flight and we’ve already checked in!!
We get to the airport, drop off the rental car.. at this point, I overhear DBFM say “it’s a shame we couldn’t have got an earlier flight”
Ohhh.. that was it!! I was holding a water bottle and I literally crushed it in my hands, couldn’t believe it!

Granted.. they are not ‘good’ at travelling as a family – they seem so scared of being late for things that we often set off much much earlier than necessary.. but 6 hours before a flight? That seemed excessive to me!

We looked in the shops for a while – Space Centre, Universal and Disney Ear-port (yay!)
Next we went to the Fox Sports bar for a drink. While we sat there, I read through my Disney recipe book I’d bought at DTD earlier on… meanwhile, the others discussed our last two summer vacations (to Antigua and St Lucia) and were comparing which one was best. No mention of this summer’s vacation – it was almost like they were wishing it never happened?!
I was getting pretty upset.. all those months of planning & organising felt like a total waste.. they had seemed to enjoy soo little of WDW and the magic, I felt like I’d failed.. the only thing keeping me going was knowing that I would be back in December just with my sister and was guaranteed a magical trip!

We got through security and to the departure lounge about 5.30pm, I went to get changed (something more suitable for when we landed in rainy ol’ England!) and I’ll admit I shed a few tears while alone in the restrooms! Steve could tell something was up & kept asking me what was wrong - I didn't tell him til we got home, he completely understood!

Our flight was even a little delayed due to a storm , but eventually we were on board and taken off.. London bound.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So… that’s it folks! .. I didn’t think this would take me 4 months to write but life always gets in the way of these things I guess.

Writing up each day has brought back a lot of memories – both good and bad.. WDW will always be an incredibly special place for me, so just being there for two whole weeks was great – and once I’d accepted that the others didn’t ‘get it’ I got on just enjoying it for myself, especially the morning in MK just with Steve.

I loved planning all the surprises for the family and I think that was something they enjoyed too – they really weren’t expecting the gift boxes, the limo, the pre-purchased photo pass cd and the biggest surprise.. the Illuminations Cruise!

I must make a special mention of the “Official July 2009” thread that was so much fun to be a part of during the build up to our vacations… Lois, Tom, Mindy, Nikki, Karla, Jeana and everyone else… especially Jenny & Vinnie, it was amazing to meet you two and I know we’ll remain friends

Steve and I now have to decide if we’re going on the family vacation next summer with them all – it’s likely to be back to the Caribbean, I think the all-inclusive style resorts suit an ‘adult family’ much better… also, there’s no issues with tipping at restaurants and bars!!

However… not only do I have my trip to WDW booked next month with my sister… Steve and I are planning a vacation in December 2010 to… New York AND Walt Disney World! … let the planning begin.

Thank you all for reading, it’s been a bit like therapy to express my feelings about the vacation!

Love, Magic and Pixie Dust

Emma x x x

 

[Mindy5767]

Oh Emma, I am sorry I didn't see your final installment til just now. I surely enjoyed reading your trip report. I totally understand about DBF's family. My in-laws are the same way. We took my MIL with us to WDW on our July trip. She enjoyed it, but doesn't understand how it is different from just any old theme park!! Unbelievable!! They just aren't on the same page we are! I'm so glad you're going back in December with your sister. I do hope you'll write another trip report. I won't be going back til the end of March. We haven't even booked yet because my friend and her family are coming with us so we have to book together. I'll have to wait til she's ready to book. Getting scared... its getting close.

I wish you a safe and Magical trip in December... which is just days away.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Mindy

 

[disneybarbie]

Oh Emma, I am sorry I didn't see your final installment til just now. I surely enjoyed reading your trip report. I totally understand about DBF's family. My in-laws are the same way. We took my MIL with us to WDW on our July trip. She enjoyed it, but doesn't understand how it is different from just any old theme park!! Unbelievable!! They just aren't on the same page we are! I'm so glad you're going back in December with your sister. I do hope you'll write another trip report. I won't be going back til the end of March. We haven't even booked yet because my friend and her family are coming with us so we have to book together. I'll have to wait til she's ready to book. Getting scared... its getting close.

I wish you a safe and Magical trip in December... which is just days away.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Mindy

Thank you for reading Mindy! .. hope you get your trip in March booked soon.. Steve & I were going to go with friends last year, but they took so long to decide whether they could afford it (they couldn't in the end).. that we missed out on staying at Boardwalk Villas (our dvc home resort), that's why we stayed at Saratoga Springs.. we did enjoy seeing another resort though!

My sister and I have just 10 days til our vacation, we're are both soo excited!! - she is staying with us this weekend, so yesterday we went shopping for vacation clothes and bought our US dollars ... then cooked 50s Prime Time meatloaf for dinner & did some more vacation planning!

I am sure we will do a TR

Emma x x