Doing Our Part to Stimulate the Economy – Sept ’09

Welcome home Missi!!! I'm so happy you had a wonderful trip:banana:

I'm really excited to read your report AND see the Giselle dress ON!!!!

Paula

Thanks for reading my trip report. The Giselle dress was awesome. I have several great pictures from the Halloween Parties that I will post as soon as possible (early next week).
 
Welcome back!!!! :wave2:
Glad you had a great time, can't wait to hear all about it and see the photos!
Keep osting
Di x:flower3:

Hi Di. Thanks for sticking with my report. I am having so much fun writing it, almost as much fun as I had at Disney ;) Well maybe not as much but it is fun reliving the memories.
 
The beach sounds and looks beautiful!

Glad you had a great dinner at O'hana's!

Sounds like lots of fun so far!

Hi Kathleen. Hope you had a great trip with your son. I can't believe how packed the party was on the 26th. I kept an eye out for Indiana Jones and Haunted Pirates but all I saw was a bunch of Incredibles. :laughing: The party was awesome, I just think my January trip spoiled me on crowd levels. The crowds were still manageable, just way more people then the January Pirate & Princess Parties.
 

Yeah, I only stay at the AS resorts if I know I'm driving my own car to the parks. Pop has such a great bus system, but I still get discouraged when I see the line. But I just try to remind myself, especially at the MK, that the bus is more efficient than my own car.

I think the bus is only more efficient when heading to the Magic Kingdom since the bus skips the Ticket and Transporation center and drops guests right of at the gates. We finally got sick of the crowded buses at the end of our vacation and drove the last two days of our trip. We were amazed by how quickly we got to the parks (Epcot and Hollywood Studios).

Yep, January definitely spoiled us. We never had a packed bus in January and this trip we had nothing but packed buses. I'm don't want to sound like I'm complaining, just mentioning an observation. Crowded buses at Disney are still better then sitting in St. Louis daily traffic. :rotfl:
 
Very cute towel animal! I never get towel animals. :( And you definetly have alot of pins!!!

Thank you for reading my trip report. The swan was the only towel animal I got this trip. Last trip I got a small puppy. I think it is just luck of the draw so hopefully towel animals are in your future ;) .

I will risk being flamed and mention that I did take my towel animal home. I have read conflicting opinions on whether the towel animals are meant as gifts to be taken home. My opinion is that they are meant as gifts, especially the swan because she is glued together and I couldn't reuse her as a towel even if I wanted to. My swan looks very cute in my "Disney" room.

If you all think I have a lot of pins so far, wait until you see my next nightly pictures of pins. The first night that I have posted was actually the least amount of pins we traded for in a day. Yep, we are addicted.

***writing this reply just made me realize that I actually got the towel animal on Sunday, not Saturday. Saturday doesn't make sense because it was our arrival day so our room would have already been cleaned when we checked in and I know it wasn't in the room when we arrived. Sorry, my trip report might be slightly out of order. I should have took better notes but I was too busy pin trading. ;)
 
We woke up at seven am so we could leave the room by eight am. That was our standard wake up time everyday and we usually got to the parks right at opening.

The bus line for Animal Kingdom was longer then expected so we were unable to get on the first bus. We didn't make it to the opening ceremony but no biggie, I've seen the ceremony before and wasn't too impressed. The Magic Kingdom ceremony is our favorite.

We headed straight to Expedition Everest. The line was pretty much walk thru, which disappointed me because I wanted time to take pictures. I decided to take pictures anyway which probably annoyed people behind me but oh well, I was quick. I was just giving them the opportunity to stop and enjoy the que. ;)

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We then headed to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur. We passed by the Finding Nemo Musical theater with an usher yelling "Last Call." Perfect timing, we walking into Nemo and found pretty good seats. We both loved the show. Most of the musicals I am happy watching just once but this one I would definitely watch again. The actor playing Nemo was amazing and so was the one playing Bruce. Hmmm, actually all the actors were amazing. It is a must see show.

We then walked over to Dinosaur which had no wait either. We love Dinosaur. The ride picture turned out great so I bought it. I forgot to add the picture to my photopass cd so I will have to scan it in later and post it.

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We were getting hungry so we headed over to our favorite lunch spot Flame Tree Barbecue. I usually ask Donald to pick check out lanes because I having the unfortunate ability of picking the slowest lane possible. Donald was lagging so I picked a line, the line of 20 family members who just couldn't decide what to eat. :confused: I know Flame tree has so many choices: barbecue or more barbecue. ;) Yeah, I can get a little crabby when I'm hungry. I amused myself by irritating Donald until it was time for us to place our order.

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The food was awesome, so awesome that I ended up eating all my ribs and half of Donald's order. I think he was still feeling a little ill from the dinosaur ride. His loss, my gain. He did eat both corn muffins and dessert so he wasn't by all means starving himself.

I love all the birds at Animal Kingdom, I just don't love all the bird poo everywhere. :eek:

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Enjoying the updates!
WOW!!! You sure did trade a LOT of pins!!!!! I'm assuming you got even more!
Ohanas sounds great, I'll need to keep trying for an ADR.
We were getting hungry so we headed over to our favorite lunch spot Flame Tree Barbecue. I usually ask Donald to pick check out lanes because I having the unfortunate ability of picking the slowest lane possible. Donald was lagging so I picked a line, the line of 20 family members who just couldn't decide what to eat. I know Flame tree has so many choices: barbecue or more barbecue. Yeah, I can get a little crabby when I'm hungry. I amused myself by irritating Donald until it was time for us to place our order.
I'm glad to know it's not just me that has that problem. :rotfl:
PS, thanks for the HM tip ;) Shhh, need to know :thumbsup2
Di x
 
They have Photopass at the Dinosaur ride now? I didn't know that.

Sounds like you are having a great time. I love walk on rides like Expedition Everest, although the line is pretty neat!

I don't share your sentiments about the Nemo show. I still get mad because they took out Tarzan (my all time favorite Disney show) to put it in. I'll try it again next time we go, just to give it another chance.
 
After lunch we headed to the train station to Conservation Station or Rafiki's Planet Watch or whatever it is called. Sorry I'm at work and forgot my notes at home.

Anyway, on the way to the train station, we spotted Divine. :banana: Yeah, I have been lucky enough to spot Divine on each trip.

I know this isn't really important but just a sidenote, this trip I realized Divine isn't played by the same actress each time. For some reason, I thought Divine was just some artistic tree hugger who liked to hang out at Animal Kingdom. I have no idea where I came up with that idea but now I realize Divine is played by several different Disney employees, several different amazing Disney employees. I could stand and watch Divine all day but Donald on the other hand gets bored after two seconds. So I snapped tons of pictures and Donald dragged me off.

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We both enjoy Rafiki's Planet Watch. I like the short character lines, Donald loves the petting zoo. We posed for some pictures:

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Donald ran out the door screaming like a little girl while I petted this baby.

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Oh, not really but I'm sure he wanted to. Donald is deathly afraid of snakes. The fear goes back to some childhood trauma inflicted by his bully older brothers.

Slightly OT story: Donald and I like to walk on hiking trails around St. Louis. On one of our many walks and before I found out about Donald's weakness, I came across a baby snake in the middle of the path. Well I bent down to pick him up and move him out of harms way when Donald freaked, freaked big time. He thought I was going to throw the snake on him. I was like no I'm just trying to help the snake across the road. Donald then told me different snake stories from his childhood. :scared1: Now I understand his fear of snakes. My weakness is spiders. We have a perfect arrangement, he kills spiders for me and I scare snakes away for him (I don't see the need to kill snakes).

Back to the topic at hand, Goats. We headed to the petting zoo. Donald loves the petting zoo. I am only mildly amused by the petting zoo and so I took tons of pictures while Donald petted the smelly animals.

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I much prefer the less smelly, more colorful goats.

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I don't mind goats. It is just that my sister had two pet pigmy goats that were just adorable until they head butted my niece. Now those goats have been relocated to a different home and I'm a little more cautious around those seemingly sweet and innocent animals. Actually I keep my camera ready just incase one decides to attack Donald. It would make a good photo. ;)

While leaving the petting zoo, I noticed Push the talking trash can and his handler coming out. Donald didn't know about Push so I was quite excited explaining the talking trash can to him. Kids were surrounding Push so I walked closer to get a good picture. Push noticed my birthday button and wished me a Happy Birthday. We then chit-chatted for a bit and then Push asked me to give him a Birthday hug. Only at Disney will I not even hesitate hugging a trash can. Donald was bummed that I was holding the camera because he thought I looked so cute hugging the trash can. Push tried to get other people to hug him but apparently I was the only one brave enough to approach him. My Push encounter was one of the highlights of my trip. I waved bye to Push and then we headed back to the train station.

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After Rafiki's Planet Watch, we just walked around the different trails looking at the animals and chatting with the CM's stationed throughout the trails.

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We headed back to the Tree of Life and debated what to do next. I got a whiff of the wonderful smell of buttery popcorn so we headed to a popcorn cart. I bought some popcorn and then decided to trade pins with the CM. Big Mistake, huge...The CM was a pin nazi who made up her own pin trading rules. My pin wasn't good enough for her, first she couldn't trade for it because it was a "resort pin." Well I have never heard of the rule so when I pointed out there was no such rule she then said my pin was in poor condition. I was like whatever but Donald was furious. The CM and him then proceeded to get into an argument about pin trading rules, the decline of the housing market, and the state of the world economy. Well probably not the last two but at that point all I heard was "Blah, Blah, Blah."

Donald requested to speak to her manager immediately and I tried to dig myself into a hole which isn't easy when the ground is concrete. A line for popcorn had begun to form so the CM finally admitted defeat and traded pins. Of course she couldn't resist the last word and made some comment on not understanding why I would want the Tink pin I traded for. :confused:

The whole situation was odd and upsetting but I'm at Disney so I shook off the weird situation and tried to move on. Not so easy with my Donald who doesn't let water roll of his back like he should. All of a sudden it was my fault that the cm was rude because I didn't stand up to her and wait for her manager. Whatever. Like I want to waste my valuble Disney time on some silly CM. There are more important things to do like eat popcorn and hold lions.

My DBF and I get along almost perfectly and don't fight, maybe argue occasionally but we don't fight. I am pretty good at diffusing the situation. I start practicing my ballet moves...in public...in front of everyone who would care to watch...and laugh...and point. The key to diffusing Donald's angry is making him laugh. And trust me, I can make anyone laugh at my pathetic attempts at ballet. If the ballet moves don't work, I start tap dancing. If the tap dancing doesn't work, I finish with my Irish Clogging routine. Luckily I have only had to bring out the Irish Jig once because I would probably end up on the evening news with that one. :happytv: I have no problem with public humiliation as long as it makes Donald take his crabby pants off.

Donald is happy again and so I decide to play with the king.

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It is now around 3 pm and we are ready to move on to some air conditioning. We hope the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

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We are a couple hours early for our dinner reservation but Donald hasn't been to the lodge before so we do some exploring and some pin trading before checking in. This was Donald's first time eating at Boma. He liked it but didn't love it. I was perfectly happy with my plate of prime rib, salad, and sweet potatoes.

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So happy that I went back two more times, especially since the CM maning the meat station doled out the smallest slices of prime rib possible.

Of course I saved room for dessert.

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We both enjoyed the meal. The waitress was nice and everyone was friendly. It was nice to relax in air conditioning but the place started to get crowded so we decided to head to Magic Kingdom. We had park hoppers and I was making sure we were using them. Plus Magic Kingdom had evening Magic Hours. We also don't believe in returning to our room before Midnight. ;)
 
They have Photopass at the Dinosaur ride now? I didn't know that.

Sounds like you are having a great time. I love walk on rides like Expedition Everest, although the line is pretty neat!

I don't share your sentiments about the Nemo show. I still get mad because they took out Tarzan (my all time favorite Disney show) to put it in. I'll try it again next time we go, just to give it another chance.

No they don't technically have photopass at the Dinosaur ride. If you buy the picture, there is a code printed on the back that will pull up your picture if you enter in on the photopass website. I bought the cd so if I could have added the picture to my cd if I would have remembered to look at the code. Too late now because I have already ordered and received my cd. No biggie, it just would have saved me time by not having to scan the photo.

Tarzan was closed before I ever made it to Disney as an adult so I wasn't fortunate enough to see it. Which is too bad because I'm sure Tarzan was easy on the eyes.:lovestruc
 
Enjoying the updates!
WOW!!! You sure did trade a LOT of pins!!!!! I'm assuming you got even more!
Di x

Yep, we traded lots and lots of pins. I also bought a bunch of pins. I pulled out all the receipts last night to balance my checkbook and do a cost comparison spreadsheet and oh my goodness. :scared1: I went way over budget but I don't regret it. I'm pretty frugal in everyday life so it doesn't hurt when I go overboard on vacation and boy did I go overboard.

Just between us ;) , My souvenir budget was $250 and I spent $930 pins, t-shirts, pictures, etc. Yep, as my report title says, I am doing my best to stimulate the economy. And I am using fuzzy Disney math because I'm not even counting the cost of the pins that I took to trade. No regrets, I put my frugal pants back on and I'm already saving for our next trip. :dance3:
 
GREAT update!!!! Ballet, tap dance irish jig???:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: I would love to see that! If I ever meet you, I'll have to make Donald mad just to see you practicing your dance moves!

That pin CM was awful! It's not like they even pay for those pins! And then to question why you wanted the one you did???:confused3 I think you should have started your dancing ritht then and there!

I love Boma's. Your pictures are making me hungry!!!

I'm thinking when the kids are all grown up, Brian and I should do Disney alone again. You guys sound like you are having so much fun!
 
Mmm...corn muffins! I love them! But I can't figure out what makes them sweeter than regular corn bread. I guess I could experiment, but I get scared since I'm not a master chef.

What a crazy CM! I can't believe they would argue with you like that!

The food at Boma looks really yummy! Thanks for including a pic. I'm determined to try it soon.
 
Great update!! I am sorry about your experience with the crazy CM! I have only had a CM refuse my pin once. Looking at your food pics is making me hungry!!
 
After our great dinner at Boma, we headed back to Magic Kingdom for Evening Magic Hours. Magic Kingdom is our favorite park. Plus it has the best pin trading.:thumbsup2

We stopped to take some pics of the Halloween decorations and then pin traded our way to our favorite rides, Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. Yeah we pretty much repeated the night before but it was fun. We never get tired of those two rides.

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We did change it up a bit and rode Small World, Mickey's Philharmagic, Space Mountain, and Donald's favorite: Buzz Lightyear.

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All of the rides had no lines. I was shocked. The place was very packed but everyone was on main street watching Spectromagic and waiting for the fireworks. Neither of us were in the mood to sit for a parade and we had already seen Wishes the night before so we were quite happy moving from ride to ride. It was great.

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We finally agreed to call it a night around 11:30 pm and made it back to our room by midnight. The buses were crowded but we had a seat so we were happy. I even managed to take a quick nap on Donald's shoulder even though the bus was very loud. Everyone was very chitty-chat. I think they were high on Disney Magic. Donald was amazed that I fell asleep, I was just amazed that I didn't drool on him.

More pins. Yeap, I've got an addiction, I'm learning to live with it. ;)

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I love Boma's. Your pictures are making me hungry!!!

The food at Boma looks really yummy! Thanks for including a pic. I'm determined to try it soon.

Looking at your food pics is making me hungry!!

Woohoo look at me. I figured out what that multiquote button was for. ;) I am glad you all are liking my pictures, especially since Donald cringed everytime I took pictures of food.

I regret to inform you that I do not have any pictures of food from Victoria and Alberts. I had every intention of taking photos. Donald even called the hostess at V&A to make sure it was ok. She said yes, as long as other guests didn't mind. :confused: What, now I have to ask other diner's permission to take pictures? I was like whatever, I will take pictures if I want to take pictures, yada, yada, yada.

Once I sat down at V&A's my opinion changed and I had no desire to take pictures. It is hard to explain but the atmosphere was so subdue, posh, :snooty: surreal, and five more adjectives that escape me at the moment. Anyway, I didn't want to ruin the moment with flash photography. So I didn't take pictures and I don't regret it. I do have a great personalized menu for a memento. Plus the memories, tons of great memories which I will share, just no pictures. Maybe next time because trust me I will be back.
 
"Donald was amazed that I fell asleep, I was just amazed that I didn't drool on him."


:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2: Jenny, you are so funny!
 




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