Flowers, Segways & DIS Meets, Oh My! - Updated 10/26, Final Thoughts-FINALLY!

[jenniferkeala808]

hey michelle! wow! I missed a couple updates but I'm here to catch up!! I am loving all your pics from CSR! Makes me want to stay there next time! Also loving your pics from AKL! Isn't that place just gorgeous?! I want to stay there next time also! LOL!! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU SAW THAT MAN NAKED! I mean, totally not your fault of course but you would think that he would close the curtains! LOL! guess not! thanks for the food porn from Jiko...I want to try that restaurant next time!

So glad you got to meet with katie! Great pic of you three!! Awww, that mama gorilla is so cute with her baby! I am loving those figurines your mom got you! Those are beautiful! And that was sooo sweet of her! and happy belated birthday! So sorry about the children at Nemo. So sad to hear that the parents were encouraging it also! Great pics from Nemo and from the Tree of Life!

Can't wait for the next update!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Great update! Love the Nemo pictures. That drink does look really good.

Thanks Sarah, Nemo is fun to try and photograph - it's so colorful!

very late to the party but joining in!

Naked guy in AKL

Hi there! Thanks for coming over

The naked guy was.....well......interesting.....

I just found your TR and love it so far. You and your mom are both so photogenic and got some great pics. Looking forward to your next update

Thanks and

I've really neglected my report over the last few days - hopefully I'll get an update up sometime today

Kudos to your mom for conquering the Yeti!

Mmmmm...that prezel looks mighty yummy! Now I know what my next snack will be in AK!

Can't wait to find out where you went for dinner in Epcot.

Yay! Mom faced the Yeti!

That pretzel is my favorite AK snack!

Happy belated birthday! I love the Jim Shore pieces you got from your mom for planning the trip!

Sounds like a really good day in AK, despite the heat. You got to see a lot; so glad your mom enjoyed it!

Thanks for the birthday wishes Denise!

We did get an awful lot done at AK that day, the only thing on our to do list that we didn't get done was the rapids - and as hot as it was we probably should have made that a bigger priority!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Subbing. I enjoyed your last TR and am looking forward to reading this one as well!

Thanks for joining in! I'm glad you enjoyed my Christmas report, that was a really great trip

Hi Michelle!! I'm back and all caught up!! Happy belated birthday!! I just LOVE the Jim Shore figurines that your mom got you for planning your trip!! I've never seen either one before! Glad you got to see both FOTLK and the Nemo shows!! They are both GREAT!! And that pretzel looks sooo yummy!!

Hey Becky! Thanks for the birthday wishes!

We had a pretty productive day at AK It was nice to be able to pop into the inside shows for a bit and cool off too! Was it still really hot when you guys got there? I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Climbing aboard for the fun! Looks like the trip is off to a great start! You took some fantastic pictures!!

I have never had the lost on safari or the pretzel but they are officially on my must-do list!!

Hi Christine! Welcome to my TR, thanks so much for coming over!

I don't think I'll be able to go to AK ever again without getting a Lost on Safari and a pretzel - yum!

Sorry I am late, but look forward to going back a catching up on your report.

Nah, your not late - heck I haven't even finished our first full day yet! Thanks for joining in!

hey michelle! wow! I missed a couple updates but I'm here to catch up!! I am loving all your pics from CSR! Makes me want to stay there next time! Also loving your pics from AKL! Isn't that place just gorgeous?! I want to stay there next time also! LOL!! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU SAW THAT MAN NAKED! I mean, totally not your fault of course but you would think that he would close the curtains! LOL! guess not! thanks for the food porn from Jiko...I want to try that restaurant next time!

So glad you got to meet with katie! Great pic of you three!! Awww, that mama gorilla is so cute with her baby! I am loving those figurines your mom got you! Those are beautiful! And that was sooo sweet of her! and happy belated birthday! So sorry about the children at Nemo. So sad to hear that the parents were encouraging it also! Great pics from Nemo and from the Tree of Life!

Can't wait for the next update!!

Hey Keala! Glad you made it over

CSR was very nice, I've got a lot more pics of the resort from our last day.

I love AKL, one day I will stay there! Hopefully I won't see exactly the same kind of scenery though (you know, the nekkid dude.....) the next time I'm there. Jiko was one of the best meals I've ever had at WDW, it was very good!

Meeting Katie and getting to spend some time with her that morning was really fun. I'm glad Mom was game for meeting some 'strangers' - DISers are such great people!

**********************

Hey everyone, sorry I've been MIA over the past few days. I really meant to get at least one, possibly two update up over the weekend, but my boys kept me busy!

Both were playing in baseball tournaments in parks over an hour away from each other. So, we were kept busy traveling back and forth to ball games all weekend long. Justin's team took first, run ruling our cross town rival in the championship game - that was fun! And, Jared's team took 3rd. All and all a very good weekend of baseball, but also hot and exhausting!

I'm hoping to get an update up sometime today. Thanks for being patient with me!

 

[photographymom517]

Happy Birthday a little late! Sorry its been a few days since I've been on your report! Your day at Animal Kingdom sounded great!!! I really, really want to see Nemo & The Lion King, but I know my son is too young this time. Hopefully they will still have both shows next trip...whenever that turns out to be.

I loved your pictures from Nemo...I felt like I was at the show! Thanks for posting the pictures of the pretzel & the Lost on Safari!!! Both sound yummy! I already put that pretzel on my list of things to eat at AK after you posted about them on my PTR!

I completely relate to your weekend! I had plans to be on DIS alot more, but we ended up being busy instead! lol Congrats to both of your boys' baseball teams!!!! I can't wait until my son is old enough to play sports! I'm sure it will be busy-busy because I have 2 nephews around the same age...they will all be involved in sports & all go to different schools! Its so much fun though...I'm looking forward to it!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Happy Birthday a little late! Sorry its been a few days since I've been on your report! Your day at Animal Kingdom sounded great!!! I really, really want to see Nemo & The Lion King, but I know my son is too young this time. Hopefully they will still have both shows next trip...whenever that turns out to be.

I loved your pictures from Nemo...I felt like I was at the show! Thanks for posting the pictures of the pretzel & the Lost on Safari!!! Both sound yummy! I already put that pretzel on my list of things to eat at AK after you posted about them on my PTR!

I completely relate to your weekend! I had plans to be on DIS alot more, but we ended up being busy instead! lol Congrats to both of your boys' baseball teams!!!! I can't wait until my son is old enough to play sports! I'm sure it will be busy-busy because I have 2 nephews around the same age...they will all be involved in sports & all go to different schools! Its so much fun though...I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks! Trust me, I know it's hard to keep up with everyone's reports - I've gotten behind on yours a couple of times!

You'll love the shows once you are able to see them. I've seen lots of little ones in those shows, your DS might surprise you and really enjoy them - they are so colorful with lots to look at. You can always try and then sneak out if he doesn't like them.

Darn busy weekends! I hate it when real life gets in the way of my DISing!

 

[SoonerGirl]

We left AK, hot and ready for a break. We thankfully didn't have to wait long at all for a bus and we made it back to our room in time to be able to lay down and take in the nice cool air conditioning for about 20-30 minutes before we had to get up and get ready to head to Epcot for dinner that night.

We were excited to be going to Epcot so that we could see first hand all the amazing topiaries associated with the Flower and Garden Festival. Let me just say, they did not disappoint! The first thing that struck me as we walked through the gates was how absolutely huge they were. I had seen many pictures, but in this instance I can honestly say that photos don't do them justice! Here are a few of mine from the entrance to the park

Mom loved the trees made from impatiens - aren't they pretty!

Next we made our way around and stopped again when we saw the giraffes

And the Lion King topiaries

When we arrived here, there was a family standing right in front of the display, they were cleaning up a child sitting in a stroller. I thought it an odd place to stop, knowing that people were wanting to take pics there, but whatever. I took the above pictures and then waited for them to finish and move out of the way so that I could take a shot of the entire display. And I waited, and waited, and waited....... The dad had left with the other child and the mom just stayed there wiping up the kid in the stroller, when she finally finished she let the child out of the stroller and then proceeded to take her time gathering up their things, cleaning the stroller, etc. Meanwhile, the group of people waiting to take pics just kept growing - the lady was absolutely oblivious. Finally she turned around and said, 'oh, sorry, we had an ice cream emergency'. Then she had to put the child back in the stroller and pack everything up before she could move out the way. I seriously can understand having to clean up a small child after they have eaten ice cream, but really? You have to pull over right in front of a display like that when there are 100 other places that you could stop and not be in people's way???? I probably got a little more irritated at that then I should have or normally would have, but I was still feeling a bit bummed about the unexpected heat and crowds - so I was grumpy. Here is a pic of the offender

And then one of the area after she finally moved

Next we noticed Timon and Pumbaa, we had quite a glare from the sun here, so the pics aren't the best

The flower mosaics around the water were so pretty

And I thought the jumping dolphins were really cute

We stopped to get our picture taken with the American Gothic inspired Mickey and Minnie

Then we booked our way over to Italy

for our dinner at

Continued in the next post

 

[SoonerGirl]

I have to say that I was sad when Alfredo's left Epcot and was leery about giving it's replacement a try, but after 3 trips to Tutto Italia, I am no longer sad. I love this restaurant! We started dinner off with a couple of drinks. I had an Italian Margarita and mom had a glass of wine. I perused the menu, looking for the Lobster Ravioli that I had in December, but it was no longer an offering - darn! I had been looking forward to having that again. I don't remember the actual name of what I had, but it was angel hair pasta with shrimp and artichokes in a cream sauce

It was good, not great, but very good. Mom had the cannelloni

And let me just say, she sooooo out ordered me! I took a bite and it was delish, so tasty and creamy. She ate every bite and I know I heard a few mmmmm's coming from her side of the table!

For dessert I had the chocolate torte with raspberry sauce, sorry, I took a bite before I remembered to take the picture (I'm new to this food porn thing ya know!)

And mom had the sampler which included chocolate cake, lemon cheesecake and tiramisu

After two great meals, I think Mom was seeing why I rave about eating while in WDW!

We finished dinner. Stopped to say hey to the donkey

Then made our way back towards Germany. We had had to bypass the Snow White topiaries on the way to Italy because we were cutting it short getting to our ADR in time and we wanted to go back and see them.

I also had to take a solo pic of Grumpy for my Grumpy DH

Then we went to look around the shops. I love walking through the shops in Germany, there are just so many wonderful things to look at!

I had to take a picture of the Mickey nutcracker that Wigd introduced me to. I really would like for him to come home with me, but with the price tag attached to it that's not going to happen, so a pic is as close as I'm going to get!

I think the wine shop is so pretty

We spent a lot of time looking around the glass shop, there are so many beautiful things in there, it's all so expensive though! Next we went to the toy store where they had Jiminy Cricket plush's on special

Check it out (if you can't tell - that tag says $251.99)

Love the coo coo clocks. When my Dad was stationed in Germany he sent me a clock. I loved it, but unfortunately it got broken in a move. I've thought about buying another one everytime I'm in the Germany pavilion, but have yet to do it!

After spending way more time shopping than we had intended, especially in just one country, we decided that we had better head over to France to get our cocktail and find a spot for Illuminations. We were sidetracked for a minute by the Flower Power concert going on though

Sorry about the bad pic - I didn't have my zoom lens on and didn't feel like switching them. It was Fran Cosmo, former lead singer of Boston. It was fun to stop and listen for a few minutes.

Finally we made it to France and I finally had my very first Grey Goose Slushie! Oh my gosh, it is another drink that has made it onto my must have list! Mom had the Grand Marnier slush, and while I thought it was good, it was a bit too sweet for my taste, I like the Grey Goose much better.

We then set out to find a spot for Illuminations, we should have headed back the way we came because we passed quite a few open good spots on our way to France, but we didn't, we headed across the bridge and of course, found nothing up front. Our view was partially blocked by trees as well, so I didn't take any pictures, sorry. We did enjoy the show though and I was glad we stuck around to see it.

After Illuminations we headed out with the herd towards the bus stops. We arrived back at our resort totally spent from our first full day at WDW. We had a great day, but our bodies just weren't ready for that heat and we were ready for bed! I had a phone call from Jared as we were walking back to our room. He was calling to let me know that they had won their baseball tournament that weekend. It had some really good teams in it and he was very excited to have won. After a brief conversation with the Don and boys, I washed my face and crawled into a very inviting bed, thus ending our first full day in WDW.

Coming Up: We join the Soarin' Stampede

 

[Nermel9]

I just realized I joined your TR when you first started it but never subscribed so I missed soooo many updates! I'll have to go back and catch up!

Those desserts from Italy look amazing! Love all your Flower and Garden pics!

$251.99 for Jiminy Cricket????

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I love that canneloni at Tutto!!!! I agree that it is a good replacement for Alfredos (and we really liked that place too!!)

Hmmmm.... the grey goose slushie isn't as sweet as the grand marnier one?? Guess I have to try them both later this week and do my own taste test!

The flower pics are great!! They were still so nice and fresh looking too!

Can't wait for more!!

 

[praisehisname]

Those topiaries are so beautiful! My very first trip to WDW was during F&G (although I didn't know it was going on), but at that time I knew NOTHING and didn't even pay attention to them! Now I want to go back and really see them.

I definitely would have ordered what your mom got for dinner; pasta is my go-to item! Your dessert looked really good, too!

So glad you enjoyed your slushie; aren't they delicious?

 

[floridascgirl]

Thanks for a super update!

 

[ladybugmom]

WOW! Your pics from the F&G Festival are gorgeous!! We saw it last year in the pouring rain--such a shame with all of the pretty topiaries and such that they had set up! Why in the world was a Jiminy Cricket sooo expensive?! That's insane! Glad you had such a nice dinner--the dessert looks sooo yummy!!

 

[MeMom]

I have a twelve dollar Jiminy that works just fine.

The cannelloni looks scrumptious!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

Hey Michelle!! Aren't those topiaries just beautiful?! And you're totally right about the pictures not even doing it justice! So sorry about that woman. You're totally right about stopping right on front of a display. I hear you! LOL! But I'm guessing you're glad you waited until she moved...you got a great pic after that! Great pics from Tutto Italia...makes me want to try it next time! I love that you had to take a pic of Grumpy for your DH grumpy! Too funny!wait.....that's the "special" price of the Jiminy Cricket plush?! wow!! LOL! Great update!!! Can't wait for the next one.

 

[MEK]

Great updates. I am not sure how I missed this weekend's update - but I did. You really had quite a full day at AK and your Nemo pictures make me miss that show. I love that show! I always see the morning show - so that's probably why I don't nod off!

Yum to the Lost on Safari and the pretzel. That looks like the perfect snack!

Silly lady standing in front of the topiaries. Maybe she isn't a picture taker - there can be no other explanation.

Your dinner looks great! What a great day!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I have always wondered how big the topiaries really are. How cool that they are BIG! Mickey with his pitchfork is my favorite!! So, so cute!

 

[kschafer]

Dinner looks yummy!

I know I went into the shops in Germany looking for a nutcracker because Patrick tells me he wants one but I never saw those (I figured I wouldn't pay Disney prices for one anyways) but I totally missed the cuckoo clocks. I love them and we looked for one that felt right when we were in Europe but didn't want a cheapo one and weren't quite in the position to pay for the nice ones.

No Illuminations pictures?

 

[micandminforever]

Great pictures of the topiaries. My favorite was the Snow White and the seven dwarfs.

Great news about the baseball tournaments.

 

[stace208]

Mmmmm, that Tutto cannelloni looked super yummy!!

The topiaries really grew in the month since I'd been there! Very neat to see the changes! Beautiful pictures, as always.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Even when they are topiaries, I love the giraffes!!!

Sometimes I wonder how people can be so oblivious to their surroundings.

Yep, that cannelloni that your mom ordered was what Charles and I had in October -- definitely delicious!!!