Escape from Real Life to Paradise: A New Trip with New Memories - Completed 4/3

[MEK]

This is a lovely picture. What a wonderful view!

OMG - I just know you are going to get your iPad back, but I can only imagine how terrible you felt when you discovered it was gone. I'm like you. I just can't let something like that go until I can fix it.

I'm not sure why the bag would go to the WL lost & found and not some type of general lost & found. UGH!!!!! Waiting until Monday?????

Dinner looks like fun. I haven't between to Ohana since 2009 because my last meal there was so painfully LONG! But I did make an ADR there for June. I'm willing to brave the wait and the long, two hour meal again for my kids who LOVE to eat!

 

[MEK]

I almost forgot - great pics on RnR!!!!

 

[cstorm65]

This is a lovely picture. What a wonderful view!

Thanks, I think I could sit and ride the monorail around all day long and take pictures.

OMG - I just know you are going to get your iPad back, but I can only imagine how terrible you felt when you discovered it was gone. I'm like you. I just can't let something like that go until I can fix it.

I'm not sure why the bag would go to the WL lost & found and not some type of general lost & found. UGH!!!!! Waiting until Monday?????

Well I'm about to post another update that explains some of our searching and it is amazing how many different lost and founds there are and how no one could tell us what lost and found we needed to be checking. Working on that update in just a few minutes.

Dinner looks like fun. I haven't between to Ohana since 2009 because my last meal there was so painfully LONG! But I did make an ADR there for June. I'm willing to brave the wait and the long, two hour meal again for my kids who LOVE to eat!

Our meal was actually pretty quick this time with just the three of us. Last summer when my mom was with us on the trip and we had a party of four it took a little longer. Of course I could be way wrong as my mind wasn't even on the meal this time!

I almost forgot - great pics on RnR!!!!

Thanks. Since DW and I weren't getting to ride together we at least got to have fun with ride pics!

 

[cstorm65]

Sunday, June 29 – Part 1 – Does Anyone Know What’s Going On?

When we woke up DW and I were both still pretty disappointed from the whole bag incident, especially since we probably wouldn’t have an answer until Monday. We had planned on rope drop at Epcot, but decided to let DS sleep as long as he wanted before heading the Epcot since he was so exhausted the night before. I went to the front desk, as I just wanted to check again and make sure no one could check lost and found and tell us if the bag was there. In the process the front desk agent I had talked to said if the bag had been given to a boat captain that the transportation division has their own lost and found. They gave us a number to try and call, as we really had no idea if it had been turned in at the lodge or to a captain of the boat.

I went back and called that number and the people in the transportation office said if it had come to them they would have sent it to central lost and found at the Ticket and Transportation Center the next morning. By this point I was tired of being on the phone and it seemed like no one knew exactly what was going on or who we needed to contact. I did call central lost and found at 9 am when they opened and they did not have any record of a bag matching that description being turned in.

DS woke up about 9 and we started getting ready to head to Epcot as we decided we didn’t want to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves all day. DS had slept for a long time and was ready to go!

We were at Disney so we might as well try to enjoy our time and hope the bag shows up tomorrow. We got dressed and got a bus within about 2 minutes of arriving at the bus stop and DS wanted to sit at the back of the bus, “upstairs” as he called it.

We headed into Epcot around 10 am and stopped for some photopass pictures.

We were kind of off of our schedule, but it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. We were really just planning a World Showcase morning anyways as we were saving our FP+’s for tonight as we were hopping to the Magic Kingdom.

Up Next: Are You Getting a Hot Drink?​

 

[starousse]

I'm really hoping this story is going in the direction of you guys getting your bag and ipad back.

 

[MEK]

 

[cstorm65]

I'm really hoping this story is going in the direction of you guys getting your bag and ipad back.

Well.....
Thanks for reading along!

Thanks! I hope you all had a great holiday as well! I'm going to try and get some pics on of Christmas stuff today.

 

[cstorm65]

2014 Christmas Update

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and holiday season this past week. We had a wonderful time spending time with our family. I have a few pictures uploaded to share with everyone on here.

First of all, a few days before Christmas we got a gingerbread train to make with DS. He loved it and I got some good pictures of him and his mommy posing with the train.

Next, on Christmas Eve we spent some time at my parents house, but we weren’t really doing Christmas until the 26th as my sister is a nurse and had to work on Christmas Eve. After we hung out over there for a while we came home and did our Christmas Eve tradition of opening our stockings, which we all get each other Christmas pajamas each year and so we can then were those on Christmas Eve. We also baked and decorated our Christmas cookies for Santa and DS had a blast with this as well.

I also opened a gift DW got for the family that was a plate and cup for Santa’s milk and cookies. It is pretty awesome!

On Christmas morning we got up and opened our gifts with just DW, DS and I. My pictures came out really dark for this time and are not very good. After we were done we got on the road to my wife’s hometown to spend the day with her family. We had a great time and DS was worn out from playing with his cousins all day. On the way down he wanted to ride with one of his favorite gifts…his football helmet, which was all he had been asking for leading up to Christmas.

On the 26th we got together with my family that afternoon and evening and had our Christmas time. It was a blast and DS got some great stuff including a stick horse that he loves to ride around, and a ninja turtle big wheel that he is enjoying a lot. He just sits on it, presses the buttons, and repeats whatever it says. He is having such a great time.

Also, here are some pictures of the other stuff he got from us since my pictures on Christmas morning turned out dark.

Finally, I have to share some pictures of my favorite gift. I had sent my mom some things from the Disney Store, specifically from the Centerpiece Store at the Marketplace Co-op in Downtown Disney, and figured she might get one or two things. Well, she made it a great gift and got me 4 big plates with vintage Magic Kingdom pictures, 4 smaller plates for each of the Magic Kingdom lands, 4 glasses for each of the Magic Kingdom lands, 4 bowls with the Fantasyland logo, and a couple of coffee mugs with vintage Magic Kingdom pictures. It was a great gift and we already have it on display.

I’ll be back later today with an update to the trip report. Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend.​

 

[RachelNinja]

Sounds like such a fun trip! I still don't know if I can handle a cruise even if I were to wear the Sea Bands the entire time. I pop those on during longer car rides just to be on the safe side because depending on the stop and go of traffic, I start to feel sick. And a cruise is definitely not the place to feel sick because there's all that food! Yum, I would have so much fun ordering different appetizers to try!

Awww, what sweet Christmas memories! Those plates and cups are awesome!

 

[cstorm65]

Sounds like such a fun trip! I still don't know if I can handle a cruise even if I were to wear the Sea Bands the entire time. I pop those on during longer car rides just to be on the safe side because depending on the stop and go of traffic, I start to feel sick. And a cruise is definitely not the place to feel sick because there's all that food! Yum, I would have so much fun ordering different appetizers to try!

That is understandable. We really had no idea whether or not we would get sick or not, we just hoped we wouldn't, and thankfully we didn't have any problems. We honestly never really felt the ship moving much except for right after we left Port Canaveral on our first day, we moved pretty quick as we had to get all the way to Nassau before the next morning. Other than that though we had no problems.

Awww, what sweet Christmas memories! Those plates and cups are awesome!

They are great. I just love all of the vintage Magic Kingdom/Disneyland Park stuff.

Thanks for reading along.

 

[cstorm65]

Sunday, June 29 – Part 2 – Are You Getting a Hot Drink?

After getting into Epcot the first thing I had promised DW she could do was go get her something to drink at Starbucks. It was very hot already this morning and I have never known her to order anything at Starbucks other than some sort of hot latte. So I had to ask her if she was getting a hot drink or not and she said…yes! So you can imagine my surprise when she walked out of Starbucks with this:

I’m not sure what it was, but she said she was in line and the lady there told her how good it was on a hot day and she couldn’t say no. She did really enjoy it and I think got another one later on in the trip at the Magic Kingdom.

It was about 10:20 at this point and we noticed the line at the Character Spot said there was only a 10-minute standby wait. Now, I knew it was maybe too good to be true, but we got in line anyways.

It turned out we had to wait 20 minutes to get to the characters, but it wasn’t too bad considering. We had a great meet and first up was Mickey! I’m not sure why DS got to sitting on him so awkwardly, but it made for some funny pictures for how he is leaning/sitting on Mickey.

Next up was Goofy:

And finally Minnie:

After we were done we stopped at another Photopass photographer behind Spaceship Earth and he was really fun. He even had a picture frame out, which DS of course wanted to hold with me and DW.

Then the photographer wanted a kissing picture:

We headed on back to the World Showcase at about 11:00 and stopped in Mexico. We were a little hungry, but had reservations at 12:30, so just wanted something light. We decided to try the Chips and Guacamole at La Cantina de San Angel. The guacamole was excellent, but unfortunately the chips were a little hard.

I also got an order of Churritos for DS. He loved them. DW and I both thought they were a little chewy and not quite as good as the regular sized churros, but it may have just been a bad batch.

We rode one of DS’s favorites in Mexico, the Gran Fiest Tour, and he pointed and yelled every time we saw Donald! Then we headed back to Norway for a ride on Mealstrom. It was about 11:40 and we waited about 10 minutes. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be our final ride here:

After Maelstrom it was time to keep heading back in the World Showcase for lunch…but where are we eating? You’ll have to wait and see!

Up Next: Quattro Fantastico!​

 

[sommergirl25]

Sounds like you guys had a pretty great Christmas! I love the dinnerware!

Another great chapter! I am a lot like your wife with Starbucks. I usually get a Hot Latte and the occasional frappachino. I see the other drinks and just can't bring myself to try them.

 

[cstorm65]

Sounds like you guys had a pretty great Christmas! I love the dinnerware!

It was fantastic. DS, like all kids of his age, are getting to where they understand more and more each year, and this year was very special!

Another great chapter! I am a lot like your wife with Starbucks. I usually get a Hot Latte and the occasional frappachino. I see the other drinks and just can't bring myself to try them.

Sounds just like her. She loves her lattes, and would get one everyday if she could!

Thanks for reading along and commenting!

 

[cstorm65]

Sunday, June 29 – Part 3 – Quattro Fantastico!

As we finished up in Norway we headed a little further back into the World Showcase, but we still had about 30 minutes before our lunch reservation. DS was ready to roll in his sunglasses:

We stopped in the shops in China and found this interesting shirt!

After spending a little time there we moved on to Germany and browsed a little bit and found this odd Christmas ornament…a pickle!

As it turns out there is a story behind pickle ornaments in Germany and it is definitely interesting.

Finally we wound up at our final destination:

We were headed to lunch at Via Napoli. I had heard about how good the pizza was here and made this reservation a must do. We checked in right at 12:30, our reservation time, and the check in area was extremely crowded. I found out that their computer system was down, but they did have a print off of reservations times, so all was good. The system being down had things looking pretty hectic though. We were seated by 12:45 and DS did a little coloring before lunch.

DW wanted to start with an Aqua Fresca. She got the strawberry one and loved it. I tried some too and have to say I would definitely order that again, although those kind of drinks are not my thing. A lot of times drinks like that are way too sweet, but this one had the perfect mix. It was tasty, but not too strong, which we both liked.

We just wanted a good pizza for lunch, as there are so few places on Disney property where you can get just decent pizza, much less really good pizza. We knew we wanted to try the Quattro Formaggi, but I wanted to try another type as well. So we got half of the pizza as the Quattro Formaggi and the other half as the Piccante. The Quattro Formagii Signature Pie has mozzarella, parmesan, fontina, and provelone, whereas the Piccante Signature Pie has Italian Spicy Sausage. Here it is, although you can see we were hungry and couldn’t wait to get our first piece.

Let me just say, the pizza was great. We are not from a pizza town like Chicago or New York, but these two Oklahoman’s loved it. The Piccante had a great flavor and was spicy, but not so spicy you can’t enjoy it, I even added a few red pepper flakes to turn the heat up just a little! The Quattro Formaggi was fantasic. The blend of cheese was perfect and we knew it was good because DS loved it:

I had heard about a great dessert so we all split the Zeppole di Caterina: Ricotta Cheese Fritters, served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

They were really good! The pizza was still the star of the meal, but these were a nice ending. DS loved the whipped cream dipping sauce. As you can see here he was having the mental battle of whether or not he wanted to lick the bowl.

And you can see what he decided:

Finally, let me say a couple of other things about Via Napoli. Our server, Luca, was fantastic. He made great conversation and was very attentive, not to mention he made us feel like our pizza selections were excellent. He was going back home to Italy the week after we left, so it was nice to hear him talk about his home and family. It is always great to hear cast members open up to guests. It makes for a great, unexpected, conversation. Finally, We thought that the value of this meal was great. We had more than enough pizza for three of us and a dessert for $41 plus tax, which is less than we ate for at most table service restaurants, so we really loved the value here.

Up Next: We Love our Afternoon Breaks​

 

[RachelNinja]

I see review of the pizza at Via Napoli all the time, and there's a part of me that's still a skeptic because I live in NYC. I can't imagine just how good pizza could be, but I know the hundreds of reviews I've seen just can't be wrong! I'm sure it would actually be better than a lot of the pizza in NY. It looks like they would make each pizza with such care at Via Napoli.

 

[cstorm65]

I see review of the pizza at Via Napoli all the time, and there's a part of me that's still a skeptic because I live in NYC. I can't imagine just how good pizza could be, but I know the hundreds of reviews I've seen just can't be wrong! I'm sure it would actually be better than a lot of the pizza in NY. It looks like they would make each pizza with such care at Via Napoli.

Yeah, I understand. I have traveled to Chicago and eaten at a couple of the great places there and Via Napoli was not quite that good, but it is very good pizza, especially compared to what else is at Disney World. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

 

[cstorm65]

Sunday, June 29 – Part 4 – We Love our Afternoon Breaks

After our great lunch at Via Napoli it was about 1:45 and we headed straight out of Epcot for our afternoon break. Let me just say we LOVE our afternoon breaks. It is the best advice for people new to Disney World. It is so beneficial to tour in the mornings, take a break, and then go back in the evenings when you have small children. It allows not only the child to recharge, but it allows you as parents to recharge. It took us about 30 minutes to get out of Epcot. We decided to take the boat from World Showcase to Future World, so that was easy on the legs, and then we only waited about 5 minutes for a bus. DS fell asleep in the stroller on the way to the bus stop and DW did a masterful job of transferring him from to the stroller to the bus to the room without him waking up. We were back in the room by 2:30 and DW laid down to take a nap, while I went down to pay off our account with some gift cards and refill our mugs.

I took some lobby pics from the 6th floor on my way down.

After I filled our drinks I think I sat by the fireplace on the 5th floor for a while just relaxing, before going back to take a short nap myself. We all slept until 4:30 when we got up and got ready for our evening at the Magic Kingdom. We headed to the bus stop about 5:00, but had to wait about 20 minutes. I guess this was the one time we should have taken the boat. The bus ride is so short though we were there by 5:25. As soon as we got in we headed to use our FP’s at Big Thunder Mountain. I rode, and DW and DS posed for some selfies.

And these are two of my all-time favorite pictures of my two favorite people:

I got some pictures while riding Big Thunder.

DW had a FP scheduled at Splash Mountain, but decided she didn’t want to ride as she said she wasn’t dressed to get wet. So, I volunteered to take care of that FP for her and rode.

This was just the start of a really good evening at the Magic Kingdom, but that’s all for this update.

Up Next: What do you want for Dinner?​

 

[MEK]

[

This is the most adorable picture EVER! Love it!

What a fun day - great morning at Epcot with lots of great PP pictures, a nice rest at one of my favorite resorts, and a fun evening in MK.

One word for Splash Mountain - Dollar Store Ponchos (oh wait - that's 3 words )

 

[MEK]

Just scrolled back and noticed all your fun pictures from Christmas! Thanks for sharing. I love all the plates and glasses.

 

[cstorm65]

This is the most adorable picture EVER! Love it!

What a fun day - great morning at Epcot with lots of great PP pictures, a nice rest at one of my favorite resorts, and a fun evening in MK.

One word for Splash Mountain - Dollar Store Ponchos (oh wait - that's 3 words )

We always take dollar store ponchos with us, but DW just really doesn't love the drop on Splash Mountain and saying she doesn't want to get wet is her way of getting out of riding it! She will do it once per trip for the experience, but that is it.

Just scrolled back and noticed all your fun pictures from Christmas! Thanks for sharing. I love all the plates and glasses.

Thanks, they are really cool.