Disney dangled the visual weinee & Mickeystoontown gobbled it up! 10/26

[Captain_Oblivious]

I went into super stealth mode and walked around the building and saw no sign of security.

How does your super stealth mode work? Do you wear black? Make bird noises? We need details!

To make matters worse, he was a closetalker. You know those people who stand right next to you almost rubbing shoulders with you and if they are the kind that spit when they talked, your face would be all wet. Yeah, he was one of those kind. It’s not my intention to sound mean but gosh dang it guy, I’m trying to help the Dis nation out!

Just holler if you need me! I'm here for all your condiment needs!

Our name was called and we were led all the way to the back of the restaurant to another quirkily (is that a word?)

It is now! My son has a rule that if a restaurant has lots of crap on the walls, it's a good place.

Taking pictures of a bathroom may be weird but I know that you, my fellow Disers, appreciate the fact that I took my purse and camera with me so I could take pictures if I could.

Nah, I'm used to Poolrat's Trip Reports.

Well, then, “If you’re happy and you know it, lick your nose!”

When in Rome!

Dinner looked yummy to me. Maybe I need to try this place out...

 

[Mommy Poppins]

Another great update, Lisa!

Sorry to hear about John's employment woes. Hope it all works itself out quickly!

How's Mama feeling?

 

[Marsheliz]

Love your detective work Lisa!! I enjoyed seeing the pics of CBR and reliving last October there!! It is on the radar for our February trip, as soon as I see the discounts for that time frame.

HOB looks pretty cool and I love the pics of the legos. My DH and I were talking the other night about skipping DTD next trip and then I said " We can't skip it, the boys look forward to going to the Lego Store every year and getting to pick something" Even if we just go in the store and nothing else at DTD

Is the next update your suprise of Ohana?? Can you believe I got reservations for 8 people for February??? I called the other day and I can't believe I got it.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Decided to put this into a PM instead

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Lisa I am so sorry about John's job situation...really I got another emotion reading that update...MAD! A man works freakin' hard his whole life only to be treated like that later. And to get that small amount for unemployment? SHAMEFUL! WE give so much more than that and food stamps to boot to so many less deserving Americans. Okay, stepping down from the soapbox...

Those funny faces had me making a weird face myself...but when I saw the "lick your nose"... YOU. CRACK. ME. UP!!!!

I agree with you on the cornbread...NOT sweet, with really cruncy crust, YUM! Oh, and you know a good, southern cornbread when it is made with WHITE cornmeal, not yellow! I too make a sweet version of jalapeno cheddar cornbread... love it with beans and ham! Lawd, I must be hungry...making myself drool now.

 

[KatMark]

As always, love your devotion to our DIS community and your detective work, my friend. I'm glad CBR is getting the sliding doors (LOVED those at the Coronado).

GREAT Family picture before you left CBR (smart woman using the cleaning ladies cart!).

UGH! DTD and the traffic and construction and the pushing and the shoving, and the stepping on feet...well you get the drift and you experienced yourself.


I keep looking at House of Blues as a choice and still haven't put it on the list yet. We saw that arch when we took the boat from OKW one night and I thought it rather odd. I can now understand the pick your nose and clap your hands reference.

 

[Clarf]

First, I"m so sorry to hear about John's job. I know first hand how awful that can be. I hope he's back working again very soon.


Love your House of Blues pics! What a funky looking place. Tell Hunter I love his hat.


And of course your CBR pics. Love them! I'll be there in 1 WEEK!!!!!!

 

[PolyPrincess19]

Love the pics of the drink stations, condeiments, etc.. at OPR. I am one of those people who LOVEs to see what the food courts look like at resorts and what type of snacks and goodies are available! I also enjoy looking at bathroom photos! The best bathrooms I have ever seen are on the Disney Dream. One bathroom had mirrors on the ceiling! they were really cool.

Excited to hear about the surprise!!!!!

 

[INPartyof5]

First off sorry to hear about your husbands lay off. I am the daughter of a sheet metal worker so I understand what you are going though.
Second loved the updates and pictures of CBR. They have me really wanting to try and stay there sometime, I have been told there is a slim chance they might be bookable for a family of 5 before our next trip.

 

[jane2073]

Enjoyed the update!
So sorry to hear about the layoff. Praying that everything works out for the best!

 

[jenseib]

I was so behind.
I am so sorry about John....isn't this the place that begged him to come back and work for them?

Seeing your CBR pictures make so much more sense now that I have been on the "other side" of the bridge.

Dinner looks good and the corn bread looks good. I bet I would be one that likes it. I have never thought to eat there, but maybe I might put it on a future list. I have too many places I need to repeat and too many to try. I think I need a month long trip!

 

[MEK]

This is a great picture! Love your shirt! So cute!

Cracking up at your "If you're happy and you know it lick your nose". That picture is almost obscene!

I ate of HOB in May and I have to agree that there is a lot to look at. It's a cool place. I had some type of chicken sandwich that was pretty tasty. Glad everyone enjoyed their meals. That is one HECK of a big cornbread. Good to know about the bread pudding. I'll file that now!

Fun update. Looks like a great night at DTD despite all that awful construction. I hated that in May.

 

[cheekypoppins]

oh oh oh i know i know It's called "fun finds" or at least that's what it says on the building anyways we love that store!!

 

[pwdebbie]

Just caught up on over a week's worth of posts.

About the Laugh Floor -- On our first visit there, guess who ended up in the spotlight? Yours truly of course. Now, background is that you must know that I was the only flunky in a college psychology test lab for overcoming the fear of public speaking. I didn't overcome. So, having a mic stuck in front of my face was terrifying. And then seeing that my face was magnified 1000x on the screen for all the world to see, well, that was beyond terrifying. And then they are asking me for a joke, any joke. My mind is blank, my brain is shutting down, my face is turning redder than a ripe tomato, I can feel sweat breaking out all over me, my heart is pounding, and all I can hear is "You must know a joke. How about a knock knock joke?" coming through the fog that has suddenly filled my ears. I bumbled through the only knock knock joke that came to mind, and nothing . . . they didn't get it. Lead balloon tied to a lead balloon. Crash landing. It wasn't pretty. So maybe the guy you are talking about is like me?

I was hoping to see by the time I got to the most recent postings that John is going back to work next week, but I guess not. I did the whole unemployment thing when my job cut me to half time instead of full. I actually had a good experience with getting it. My negative experience came from a two coworkers (one handled the payroll) who felt that I was wronging the company by filing for unemployment.

Has John adjusted to the new meds yet? I hope so!

 

[sewmess]

I'm so sorry to hear about the whole employment/unemployment situation.

And I love your politely stealthy techniques to get a glimpse of the refurbished rooms. I'll have to test my own in a couple of weeks, if we don't get one.

DH is not one for the southern cuisine, yes, we are aware of the irony given that we live in Alabama. But he was born in CA and I was born in NY, and then we both partially grew up in the midwest, so our palates are all sorts of bland.

Hope the rest of the year looks up for you all.

 

[johnsonginad]

Loved the updates! I was totally humming the "Mission Impossible" theme song when your were doing your detective work. Hehehe!

 

[natebenma]

Nice sleuthing around the CBR looking for the rooms in refurbishment!

You know I understand the need to document the condiments, and food serve areas and everything else in the gift shops. I got to do that during my quickie solo trip without having the rolling eyes of my family judging me!

But as I tried to take a picture of the toaster, some guy had put down a bag and refill mugs next to it and I tried to wait him out for him to take it away so I could snap a picture, but he was taking his own sweet time doing whatever he was doing and I just had to take the picture, bag, mugs and all

Soon thereafter, we were out the door and walking down the steps. There was a mousekeeping supply cart/buggy/vehicle/whatever it’s called parked there and it was the perfect height to sit the camera on and take a family picture:

That is a GREAT family photo!!!

We don't need no stinkin' Photopass when we have a housekeeping cart!

Hunter ordered a steak as well with fries:

Love Hunters steak. I spy double fries! I know because my picky-eater does the same. Swaps out the cole slaw for mashed potatoes. Love those skinny boys who can down all those potatoes without consequence.

Yum, that fried chicken looks awesome. Have you had the fried chicken at 50's Prime Time? How does it compare?

A wide view of the entire arch:

That archway is super cool!

 

[ddstratton]

Love the updates, as usual. Your dinner looks super-yummy. I'm hungry for lunch now, and that's still 2 hours away! That chicken just looks so cripsy and tasty....

And I love the picture of the three of you together.

Very cool decor at the House of Blues.

 

[mickeystoontown]

As always, Lisa...you and your family crack me up with your antics. If you're happy and you know it lick your nose! Only you would come up with that.

Wellllll, how could I not come up with that? I mean, seriously, there's a sculpture of a man attempting to lick his nose.

The HoB is veeeeery Austin. You find a lot of that same decorating in a lot of the restaurants here, and from what I understand it's much the same way in Portland. It's interesting and fun, but not really my thing.

I can't wait to find out what the surprise is going to be!!

I've been to a couple of other places that have that that funky vibe like House of Blues but, like you, it's not really my thing. To visit on vacation is one thing but to see it all the time is not.

so many trips wehahve been on, many with the "free" dining, and we have only twice used TS credits at DTD! both at Capt. Jacks. this trip we will try Fultons
. we have used CS credits at wolfgang pcks express, and paid OOP for Earl of Sandwich. and OOP at Trex.
I was so glad to see your pics of House of Blues, ! the chicken and steaks look great! the other place that looks interesting is Raglan Road.

(we do'nt bother with Rainforest because we have ne in Schumburg, Il, about 8 miles from us)

We ate at Downtown Disney multiple times this past trip....House of Blues, Planet Hollywood twice, T-Rex and would have eaten at Rainforest Cafe but I mixed up our days and we missed it.

whe we use to drive, going to DTD wasn't so bad. now that we fly (due to hubby's vision loss) we find that , even without the construction, the bus takes sucH a long round About way!

Oh gosh, we've driven to DTD a couple of times and I said no more. It was horrible! I'd much rather take the bus no matter how long or bad the traffic is.

And then we're always trying to squeeze in that Planet hollywood voucher. but you only get it with a package. and the only time we do a package is with the dining plan ("free" or not) and then, it's hard to squeeze in a meal! we're already too full (how people do the Deluxe dining, I'll never understand!)
no matter, got our vouchers for our upcoming CBR trip.. the PH voucher is only $10 now, no longer $15. I guess it wasn't worth it for them.. althought we always got 2 burgers, we didn't take up a table with just a $15 appetaizer. AND we always tip 20% BEFORE the discount. but I'll ber most people don't...

That's another thing that I forgot to use this trip..our Planet Hollywood voucher. As you know, we ate there at midnight one night and it was unexpected so I didn't have the voucher with me. The other time, we used the dining plan and I didn't think about taking the voucher for an appetizer.

I'm so sorry to hear about John's job, I hope he is called back soon. I remember collecting Unemployment back when I was out of work for most of 2011, not an easy system to have to deal with.

Thank you! No word yet on when he'll return, hopefully sooner rather than later. 19 days after filing and we still haven't received a dime.

Neat to see pics of Old Port royale

I like looking at those sort of pictures even if they are from other resorts. I'm odd, I know.

Looks like you had a nice dinner, John's fried chicken looked yummy!

The food was really good! I'd definitely go back again.

WOW Lisa I had no idea! Life can be hard when it sends you a curve ball. You guys are in my thoughts and prayers. I am praying that this is a tempory thing and that John will be back to work soon. Adjustments to new meds or new doses of medication is never fun but hopfully also temporary.

Thank you! I'll take all the thoughts and prayers that we can get! Hopefully things will smooth our soon.

 

[mickeystoontown]

A fun evening with the family, for sure. What INTERESTING decor! I really love that picture of the three of you outside the room. Good job with the cart!

It took a couple of attempts to get the camera set just right but the end result turned out pretty good.

I hadn't been to the site in several days, so I didn't know about the job problems. So sorry - hope the business picks up and they call him back really quickly. Also hope the new medicine schedule helps keep the epilepsy better controlled. Y'all don't need any more stresses! Know what you mean about nosy bodies, too! Hope the unemployment checks start rolling in and they are better than expected. I will keep y'all in my prayers.

Unemployment is a pain in the rumpus! We are at 19 days and haven't seen a dime from unemployment. Drives me nuts knowing that we are entitled to it but can't get any word from a live person to help us out.

First I want to personally thank you for attempting to find out about the renovation at CBR. CBR is such an assume resort. I just love your pictures of the walk way to Old Port Royal. I loved walking there because it was just so beautiful and pictures show that.

I tried my very best but it just wasn't happening. I can't wait to get back there and see the new rooms for myself.

Ahhhhhh those muffins and cupcakes!!!! I can taste them now!

They have the best baked goods in the grab n go section.

Along with those cupcakes I really enjoyed the Hot Cocoa from the machine your have taken a picture of. Even though we went in May and it was in the low 80's I still enjoyed drinking the Hot cocoa

I don't drink coffee but I agree that the hot cocoa is good even though it's hot outside.

I have heard alot of good things about House of Blues and always wondered what it looked like in side and what type of food they served. I have to say the steak looks good along with the Bread Pudding. May have to try it some time.

This was our third time eating at the DTD House of Blues and we'd definitely go back. I'm not a fan of bread pudding but the pudding that they serve at Ohana and House of Blues is delicious.

Yay for the CBR pictures! I love that you played detective while there. And thank you for the other pictures too. George and I will be there in December and you have pictures I don't have that I showed him and got him more excited for CBR!

I know that you are just itching to show George the resort and WDW!

I ate at HoB last year and enjoyed it. I agree that I don't like overly sweet cornbread, so I wouldn't have liked that either. I got the fried chicken that John got, and it was quite yummy but so much food! Their decorating is quite a hoot there.

The fried chicken proportions are huge and it sure is good!

I can't wait to find out how the guys reacted to their surprise!

Coming up in the next post.