Food, Fun, and Frivolity: 8 Funtabulous days w/pics! UPDATE 1/20 HELP!!!!

[franandaj]

I was getting worried and starting to wonder, we hadn't heard from you for so long. Sorry it hit you that hard! Glad you are feeling better!

 

[Leshaface]

Because of all the shenanigans (I really enjoy this word, shenanigans) we pulled yesterday ALL DAY, we had lost a good amount of park time! So we knew we had to make it up today...but we didn't wake up until 11ish!! Wow, already lost at least 3 hours of park time, and we have a ressie at Chefs de France @ 12:20!!

So we busted butt, got dressed and ran out the door....continued in dining review


----Chefs de France----


After our delectable meal at Chefs, we decided to hit up some countries that we missed from a few days ago...

Japan!

For some reason, everytime I see this pic, it screams "Tourist" to me?!

A neato shot DH took

Then one with me in it!

Ooh we need some PP pics in Italy!!!

We then headed over to China

Another cool shot the hubbo took:

I believe it's inside the dome, standing directly in the middle of it, looking straight up..


I LOOOOVE Mulan the movie, so I took a picture where she should be..

On our last trip, DH told me about the story of the famous 'tomb men' and thought it was just so interesting!

I spotted a PP photographer!!


DH appears to be hiding behind me!! Haha!

I was hungry for some reason for something sweet (nothing out of the ordinary for me there) so I tell DH that I HAVE to try the famous schoolbread from Norway that everyone talks about here on the Dis!

And it IS very good!! And surprisingly cheap for what you get!


We decided to go back to CSR and get ready for what DH has been waiting for, for a looooong time! But I really wanted some shots in front of the iconic golf ball!!!

 

[Leshaface]

Love the pictures, my husband lost his pedometer at Beach club restroom after breakfast in Cape May. That reminds me to pack his new one right now. I'm in a middle of packing for our DISNEY trip tomorrow...

Love the update.

AAAHHHH I dislike you sooo much right now!!! My goodness, I hope you have THE BEST time ever!!! So I guess it is common to lose those things!?!

Are you thinking about doing a TR when you get back???

I was getting worried and starting to wonder, we hadn't heard from you for so long. Sorry it hit you that hard! Glad you are feeling better!

Allison!! Yeah, it was horrible! But am feeling way better now! So much so, I updated TWICE today!! I'll make my way over to your TR soon!

P.S. am a little jealous about all your tickers I must say...you have so much planned for you within the next year, I have nothing! Let me borrow one of your tickers! JK!

 

[franandaj]

Allison!! Yeah, it was horrible! But am feeling way better now! So much so, I updated TWICE today!! I'll make my way over to your TR soon!

P.S. am a little jealous about all your tickers I must say...you have so much planned for you within the next year, I have nothing! Let me borrow one of your tickers! JK!

I know you understand because you moved back home to take care of your mom, but we are making up for lost time....Fran's parents were in their 80's this last decade. In 2001 we had a fabulous vacation to WDW (and a cruise) and then after that we canceled trips to Australia, NOLA, my 20th HS reunion, and all sorts of places to stick around and make sure that her parents had people looking after them.

Her mother passed in 2006 and we were able to take some trips to WDW while her father was somewhat lucid. In 2008 he needed 24-7 caregivers, so we were able so slip in our Sept 2009 trip, but by that time Fran's joints were so destroyed by RA, she had to be careful that her hip didn't disintigrate while we were on vacation! She had it replaced within a week of our returning and we took the vacation which coincided with yours since we had the 24-7 caregivers, but he passed away 3 weeks before then, so we didn't have to worry.

Since then she has had both knees replaced, so we are totally making up for the time that we missed while her parents were invalids and she couldn't walk. She told me we had to take a trip somewhere besides WDW before we could go back there, hence the DC trip

Our friend Dana who we met on the DIS is celebrating her 27th B'day for the DCA trip and we happened to be going at the same time, although cancelling F&W sort of changed things, but we kept the reservation, and how can we miss the D23 Expo? You should go to, it's awesome!, and then finally a trip to WDW! After all the years of nothing, I'm so excited about a great year of trips

But aren't you guys going back in 2011 for F&W during DH's October Break?

 

[Leshaface]

I know you understand because you moved back home to take care of your mom, but we are making up for lost time....Fran's parents were in their 80's this last decade. In 2001 we had a fabulous vacation to WDW (and a cruise) and then after that we canceled trips to Australia, NOLA, my 20th HS reunion, and all sorts of places to stick around and make sure that her parents had people looking after them.

Her mother passed in 2006 and we were able to take some trips to WDW while her father was somewhat lucid. In 2008 he needed 24-7 caregivers, so we were able so slip in our Sept 2009 trip, but by that time Fran's joints were so destroyed by RA, she had to be careful that her hip didn't disintigrate while we were on vacation! She had it replaced within a week of our returning and we took the vacation which coincided with yours since we had the 24-7 caregivers, but he passed away 3 weeks before then, so we didn't have to worry.

Since then she has had both knees replaced, so we are totally making up for the time that we missed while her parents were invalids and she couldn't walk. She told me we had to take a trip somewhere besides WDW before we could go back there, hence the DC trip

Our friend Dana who we met on the DIS is celebrating her 27th B'day for the DCA trip and we happened to be going at the same time, although cancelling F&W sort of changed things, but we kept the reservation, and how can we miss the D23 Expo? You should go to, it's awesome!, and then finally a trip to WDW! After all the years of nothing, I'm so excited about a great year of trips

But aren't you guys going back in 2011 for F&W during DH's October Break?

Wow! You were up late! Or early?!?

I TOTALLY understand about your trips...I'm glad you guys are able to somewhat make up for them now! It just looks like you're going to be on the 'go' all year next year!! That's awesome!


I soooo want to go to the expo! Is that in Sept??

About the F&W, i'm hoping my hubby will give in and say yes, even if it can be a short 4-5 day trip...I just sooo wanna go and check out all the neat food!

OOoooh....so last night I was having dinner with my mom, bro, and sis in law, and my brother was talking about how awesome their Disney Cruise to the Bahamas was this past June, they want to go again, and skip WDW altogether (they did the land/cruise package, but didn't have much fun at the World because of the heat, which I understand, we're not used to that kind of heat, but I'm BEGGING them to give it another shot and go during the Winter)...anyways, my mom said, "Listen you guys, I want all four (me, my bro, sis in law, dh) of you to be able to go together, so think about it, and I'll help you guys go next winter." ..... Sooooo.....we'll see what happens!

I hate when there's so much that I want to do and see, there's never enough time or funds to do it! And I want to do it all before kids come into the picture! Sometimes I just want to say 'forget it' and let's just blow our money on trips and enjoy each other while we can...but I know that's not the smartest thing....

Rambling again sorry...so yes, I want to go to the F&W in Oct, but if it's possible for us to do the cruise in Dec, i'd have to forgo the F&W. But it's all in talks right now, nothing concrete, so we'll just see what happens within the next 6 months I guess!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Hi Bonnie! I was just telling Allison that we were still so sick when we returned, we couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving that Thursday with our families...we had our own Thanksgiving this past Saturday when we got our appetite back...that sickness really took us down hard and kept us down for a while...but finally feeling better...haven't worked out at ALL this week and feeling gross for it; will start back up next week when I KNOW i'll be okay to do so!

How's your son doing?!? That's the worst...seeing little kids sick! Another reason I don't want kids...being helpless and not in control is something I don't handle well!

I'm sorry that you guys were too sick for Thanksgiving. At least you got to celebrate it a little later...but I feel terrible for you. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is all about food and family. No presents to wrap! Just put on your elastic-waist pants, have some turkey, a few pounds of carb-rich-butter-laden side dishes, and about 5 slices of pie and call it a day! Oh and don't forget the wine!

My son is doing much better. My older one had a cold earlier this week but didn't need an antibiotic (was just viral, the doctor told us). He is much better now! I was sick this past week though, with a stomach virus. It hit me at work on Tuesday and I came home early. I took off Wednesday. I feel much better, but my system is still a little out of whack...just needs a few days to get back to normal. Luckily for me and my fear of throwing up, I didn't throw up this time. The worst part though...was that Wednesday was the first night of Hanukkah, and my mom made dinner for the family. I couldn't eat any potato latkes. They're loaded with onion too, and fried, so it would not have been a good idea. My mom had made roasted chicken, so I had some of that and she made me a baked potato to go with it. I did have a jelly doughnut though, I just couldn't resist! They were from a Jewish bakery near where I work, and the best!!! Tomorrow my sister is making this huge Hanukkah party at her house and she is making potato latkes and sweet potato latkes too! So I will enjoy some tomorrow!

And yes, I can't stand when my kids get sick with anything. I'm a huge worry wart, and I also don't handle it well when I feel I am not in control. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a controlling person with others, just need to feel in control of my own things and with myself. Probably where the fear of throwing up comes in...loss of control. And the fact that I don't go on thrill rides...loss of control. I guess that's also why I obsess over the planning of vacations! Oh well...it comes in handy sometimes I suppose!

 

[franandaj]

I'm sorry that you guys were too sick for Thanksgiving. At least you got to celebrate it a little later...but I feel terrible for you. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is all about food and family. No presents to wrap! Just put on your elastic-waist pants, have some turkey, a few pounds of carb-rich-butter-laden side dishes, and about 5 slices of pie and call it a day! Oh and don't forget the wine!

Again Lesha sorry about your feeling icky for the holiday. I'm glad the two of you could have a celebration. I cook so many turkeys a year that we don't find it a celebration, but just an abundance of cat food! I do love Thanksgiving so we went out and had plenty of wine along with our Prime Rib...

Just read the post here and somehow I thought so, but didn't realize when I sent it that you don't celebrate Xmas Bonnie, hope you don't mind the PM I sent. Just thought you might like a holiday ball since I've seen them on lots of people's sigs.

Anyways, Happy Holidays to everyone here regardless of how you celebrate it, this is the season have a wonderful time throughout, enjoy your friends, loved ones and anyone else you like! Have a safe and happy season!

 

[franandaj]

Wow! You were up late! Or early?!?

I'm never up Early! When we have band rehearsal I usually get home late and am wired so I stay up WAY too late!

I hope you folks figure out something, we loved Castaway Cay, but I still love WDW, if you get along with family it's really fun to travel with them. If your dad will NEVER make rope drop and you want to it's frustrating! i know from experience. You need to know your peeps and plan the trip so everyone gets along!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Again Lesha sorry about your feeling icky for the holiday. I'm glad the two of you could have a celebration. I cook so many turkeys a year that we don't find it a celebration, but just an abundance of cat food! I do love Thanksgiving so we went out and had plenty of wine along with our Prime Rib...

Just read the post here and somehow I thought so, but didn't realize when I sent it that you don't celebrate Xmas Bonnie, hope you don't mind the PM I sent. Just thought you might like a holiday ball since I've seen them on lots of people's sigs.

Anyways, Happy Holidays to everyone here regardless of how you celebrate it, this is the season have a wonderful time throughout, enjoy your friends, loved ones and anyone else you like! Have a safe and happy season!

Allison, I got your PM! Don't worry about it...we're very liberal in my family. We actually go to a close family friend every Christmas. They came to my sister's house yesterday for Hanukkah too! DH and I are raising our kids to be good people and to surround themselves with good, nice people no matter what religion anyone believes, no matter where they are from or what they look like. In today's world, it's hard enough just to find nice people without getting picky about things that shouldn't matter anyway. That's how my parents raised me, and that's how we're raising our kids. DH and I have felt like this since long before we had kids, and we agreed that no matter what they end up believing when they are adults, no matter who they end up with, that as long as they end up being good, respectful gentlemen, that is what matters.

By the way, I love driving around and looking at Christmas decorations, I LOVE Rockefeller Center during Xmas time, and I love Xmas music!

Have a safe, happy season as well! And a Happy and Healthy New Year!

 

[amyrella]

yay!i'm so excited i booked chefs! we are doing the dining plan, and i had booked a couple of character bfasts so my daughter could interact, but after thinking about it i have decided to pay OOP for those and savet he TS credits for "real" TS meals!! yay!! i'm so happy you enjoyed it!

I want to book one more dinner TS meal, but dont know where... what other suggestions?? (1 credit meals if possible)

 

[bangzoom6877]

yay!i'm so excited i booked chefs! we are doing the dining plan, and i had booked a couple of character bfasts so my daughter could interact, but after thinking about it i have decided to pay OOP for those and savet he TS credits for "real" TS meals!! yay!! i'm so happy you enjoyed it!

I want to book one more dinner TS meal, but dont know where... what other suggestions?? (1 credit meals if possible)

Wonderful 1TS restaurants for dinner:

-Biergarten (Epcot)
-Kouzzina (Boardwalk...no theme park ticket needed!)
-Sanaa (AK Lodge...no theme park ticket needed!)
-Kona Cafe (Polynesian Resort...no theme park ticket needed!)

These were some of our favorites! We ate at all of these for dinner in July. We had our 2 sons with us, ages 3 and 5. We also did some character meals for them, but wanted to do some regular TS places too! Check out my reviews (in the format of a countdown)...the link is in my signature.

 

[heathsf]

It took me 3 days but I'm caught up on your TR!

1. You are so entertaining. I love reading your stories, I feel like I am in wdw living them!
2. When I read about your cat, my heart broke for you. I am an animal lover too and I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you are enjoying your new family members though.
3. The shirts you wore on your trip are fantastic.
4. Love the dining reviews tucked in to the TR.

Seriously one of the best TRs I've seen!
I'm almost disappointed to be caught up because now I have to wait for updates!

 

[Leshaface]

yay!i'm so excited i booked chefs! we are doing the dining plan, and i had booked a couple of character bfasts so my daughter could interact, but after thinking about it i have decided to pay OOP for those and savet he TS credits for "real" TS meals!! yay!! i'm so happy you enjoyed it!

I want to book one more dinner TS meal, but dont know where... what other suggestions?? (1 credit meals if possible)

Hmm, this is tough...Tutto Italia (not on dining report) is really good!! So is Coral Reef! Your daughter would enjoy looking at all the different kinds of fish!

It took me 3 days but I'm caught up on your TR!

1. You are so entertaining. I love reading your stories, I feel like I am in wdw living them!
2. When I read about your cat, my heart broke for you. I am an animal lover too and I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you are enjoying your new family members though.
3. The shirts you wore on your trip are fantastic.
4. Love the dining reviews tucked in to the TR.

Seriously one of the best TRs I've seen!
I'm almost disappointed to be caught up because now I have to wait for updates!

You're so nice!!! I'm so glad you've enjoyed reading!!!

I know what you mean! I'm always disappointed when I start reading a TR that's not fully over and I have to wait for the updates!!!

But I promise not to hold you in suspense much longer!

 

[Leshaface]

So we get back to our room and find this!

Mousekeeping even rearranged all my accessories for me!!

So we get changed and head out the door to our long-awaited Signature Restaurant...California Grill!

Here's a pic walking to our destination...

----California Grill----


So as you saw from my dining review, we watched 'Wishes' from top of the Contemporary and it was disgustingly cold!!! But awesome! Here are some more pics...I couldn't steady my camera in the bone-chilling wind so these are as good as it gets folks!

After dinner, I wanted to go to Downtown Disney to get some hot chocolate and browse the shops..

Aww the old Pleasure Island (that I never got to go to! )

A little dance spot..

And this pic you already seen but I have to put it in here...

I've decided that this needs to be a tradition, cuz look at the year before (2008 with blonde hair )

Don't make fun of my hair!!!!

Anyways somewhere in between this pictures, I got my Ghirardelli hot chocolate and it was delicious, but busy in there!!

We returned back to the resort at 11pm which was late because I HAD to be up early in the morning to make up for our slackness the past few days...

 

[heathsf]

But I promise not to hold you in suspense much longer!

Thanks for not making me wait tooooooooooo much longer. But I really am somewhat addicted to your thread. I forgot to mention that the reason I found it to begin with is I was looking for Jan TRs. I may be taking a short 3 day trip at the end of this Jan and I was curious to see what kind of experience I can expect, especially in terms of crowds and weather. So thanks for giving me exactly the info I was looking for

 

[Leshaface]

Thanks for not making me wait tooooooooooo much longer. But I really am somewhat addicted to your thread. I forgot to mention that the reason I found it to begin with is I was looking for Jan TRs. I may be taking a short 3 day trip at the end of this Jan and I was curious to see what kind of experience I can expect, especially in terms of crowds and weather. So thanks for giving me exactly the info I was looking for

Oh man, you're in for a treat indeed!!

The weather is great!! I'd much rather it be cooler than warmer ANY day, ESPECIALLY at WDW! I pretty much wore long sleeve shirts during the days (some days I wore a t-shirt and had a sweatshirt just in case) and at nights I def wore warmer items.

Crowd-wise, it was PERFECT!! Not sure if you'll be going over MLK weekend, where it picks up a bit, but other than that, the days are great! Not crowded at all (except for DHS when there were only Fantasmic! showing on Tues, Thur, and Sat I believe.

 

[Leshaface]

Today we were originally supposed to be going to DHS, but because of our fun night a couple nights ago, we had to make some revisions!....hate revisions...so we wake up pretty early (7am) and head out the door to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop at 9am!

We got there about 20 mins early so we were RIGHT up front and were lucky enough to see this:

I've never seen the opening show before so it was quite a treat! And I didn't even expect it!

So then of course we made the mad dash down Main street and I ask Dan to grab us some FP's for Space Mountain and to meet me right under the castle so we can go ride some things in Fantasyland...while he was busy grabbing FP's, I took a few shots!

Here come the hoards!

I call DH cuz now he's been gone for a good 10-12 mins...he says, oh well, there was a huge line for FP's so I had to wait, I'll see you in 30 seconds...ok so 5 mins goes by and I'm just watching person after person walking through to Fantasyland, and I'm like, What The Heck!! So I call him again and ask where he's at! He decided to walk around through the other side of Tomorrowland to come to Fantasyland, even though I asked him to meet me under/in front of the castle!!! I'm thinking i'm gonna kill this kid...so I meet him by Winnie the Pooh and he's grinning, and he says, I'm not gonna lie, the first time you called me I was in line to get ON Space Mountain since there was virtually no wait!!! WHAT A BRAT!!!

Anyways, so we get on Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Haunted Mansion with no waits!

After Haunted Mansion, we agreed to get something small to eat and head over to our ADR's at Epcot at 12pm. But I wanted to take a few pics in front of the castle first...

Then I spotted a PP so we take a few shots!

After our pic sess, we go to the bakery and grab a bagel for him and a crumb cake for me with an orange juice and ride the monorail to Epcot from Magic Kingdom..

I have to say this was so relaxing! There was no one on the monorail since it was still early in the morning, so we got to sit in our own car, and slowly eat our mid-morning snack in silence, while looking at our surroundings...it was so nice and it sticks out in my mind vividly!

 

[Leshaface]

We arrive in Epcot at 11:15 and our ADR isn't until 12 so we leisurely walk through Canada and just about as we're walking through the UK, we see this large opening/gate on the right hand side and we see a few characters in there so we decide to walk over and check it out since we had time..just as we walked through the door, a CM closed it and there were quite a bit of characters in there, with hardly ANY people!!!

This was an interesting meet and greet!

I felt so torn between these two!! Then afterwards I was like, OMGosh I need to sanitize my lips!! Who knows what kind of hands have been all over that face!

and here DH decides to sing a track from a Goofy Movie for Max...

This was literally the FUNNEST meet'n greet I've ever done!! We didn't feel rushed because there was never anyone waiting in line behind us and the characters had time to 'chill' with us. It was great!

It was getting close to our lunch time so we head over to....


----Teppan Edo----


Lunch was soooo yummy there, but I was ridiculously full, so we walked around the World Showcase, one of my favorite pastimes I believe!

(need to make a new post since i'm out of room for pics!)

 

[Leshaface]

We went back through Italy, just because it's so gorgeous!

I love this one..the sun shining right through

Then hopped right over to Mexico!

Right now, it's around 2:00pm and we wanted to rest for a little bit since we had such an early morning, plus we wanted to change for our ADR at 5:30 which was right around the corner.

We leave our room around 4:15 and take a bus to the Magic Kingdom. Here is a VERY empty bus

Trying to get the resort name in the photo

We hop on the monorail to the Grand Floridian for our 5:30pm ressie at...


----Citricos----


One of the best meals ever!

Next post is all "Wishes" photos!

 

[franandaj]

GREAT pictures! We were at the Grand Floridian the night before at V&A's other than the night that we might have passed each other in Epcot, we probably didn't cross paths...we spent this day at AK and made dinner in our villa, it was "free for all leftovers night". I made a crab and cream cheese dip out of our Fulton's leftovers, my mom heated up something, and I made the rest of us Pasta Carbonara because we had so much bacon and eggs left! We watched Julie and Julia and went to bed.