FOOD, WINE, AND SANDERSON SISTERS OH MY!

[luvpoohandcompany]

My kids are spaced apart. My oldest (son) is almost 5 years older than Michelle, and Michelle is 9 years and 2 days older than Danielle. It took a LONG time before my schedule was freed up some.

I didn’t realize we are so alike. There’s 8years between my first two and then 9 years between the my middle and youngest. I’ve never had 2 kids at the same school-as one leaves the next one starts. By the time the youngest finishes grammar school I”ll have been doing school runs there for 21 years . Only 2&1/2 more years to go then it’s “freedom” from school holidays

 

[vamassey1]

I’m catching up!

Welcome back!

Wow Hurricane Ian has caused a lot of trouble! It sounds like tons of rain and wind in the Disney area.
I saw Disney is doing a phase opening today. Good day to go if you are there, crowds will be very low.

It really was rough for some. Danielle did really well. She never even lost power. She woke up Wednesday with a bad sore throat and Covid had been going around at work. She took a test and is positive so she is banned from Disney grounds until Tuesday. I wish she could work since there are so many CMs that don't have power or flooded.

I think your daughter is bounding as Esmeralda from Hunchback?
Really cute outfit and mask!

That's a good guess and someone we need to try someday with all this dark hair we have. She was going to Ariel. I got the mask from Ambrie (which is now going out of business) off of Etsy.

 

[vamassey1]

Sorry again, I corrected the original post. I am safer being a lurker.

Oh no! Please keep posting. I make flubs all the time. I blame it on my fingers and over 50 eyes.

 

[vamassey1]

I didn’t realize we are so alike.

Amazing isn't it. We even both have grandkids.

There’s 8years between my first two and then 9 years between the my middle and youngest. I’ve never had 2 kids at the same school-as one leaves the next one starts.

I only had 2 in the same school at the same time once. Michelle was in kindergarten when Brent was in 5th grade.

By the time the youngest finishes grammar school I”ll have been doing school runs there for 21 years . Only 2&1/2 more years to go then it’s “freedom” from school holidays

I didn't think my time would ever come. Danielle was a senior when Michelle found out she was pregnant with JP. I was finishing up with my kids at the same time as being a grand started. I had no time to get bored.

 

[disneyAndi14]

It really was rough for some. Danielle did really well. She never even lost power. She woke up Wednesday with a bad sore throat and Covid had been going around at work. She took a test and is positive so she is banned from Disney grounds until Tuesday. I wish she could work since there are so many CMs that don't have power or flooded.

Oh no that stinks! Andi had Covid last week, her first time. She was tired with a fever and aches for a couple days.
I hope your daughter feels better soon!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Hoping Danielle and Andi @disneyAndi14 feel better soon .

 

[vamassey1]

Thanks Moira! Danielle is fine now, just really bored. She goes back to work tomorrow and then has her regular Wednesday and Thursday off. She's coming home in 26 more sleeps!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Thanks Moira! Danielle is fine now, just really bored. She goes back to work tomorrow and then has her regular Wednesday and Thursday off. She's coming home in 26 more sleeps!

Happy to hear Danielle is doing ok. I’m betting you can’t wait to have her home. Won’t be long now

 

[vamassey1]

Happy to hear Danielle is doing ok. I’m betting you can’t wait to have her home. Won’t be long now

She was so happy to go back to work today. She plans to visit a park after work.

I was wrong, yesterday was 24 more sleeps so today is 23!

 

[suse66]

Danielle has also put in for a vacation the last weekend of October to finally come home. It hasn't been approved yet so send good thoughts.

Fingers crossed!

We finally booked our trip to visit Danielle before Christmas. We pulled the trigger when the AP rates dropped. We really wanted to go for Dominic's 1st birthday but there was absolutely nothing for the first week and a half in December. We really wanted an AOA family suite but there was nothing there or anywhere. What is going on during that time frame? We ended up booking the Saturday after Thanksgiving through the 1st. Dennis and I may stay a day or 2 later to get the car in her name and take care of some other things. We had to book the only option we had which was a cabin at Ft. Wilderness. We're actually really happy to try something new but I'm really worried about the only 1 bathroom situation. I do like that it has a separate bedroom and the kids are going to love the bunk beds. It has a full kitchen but we don't plan on cooking. Having a full fridge and microwave with be great. Jimmy will only be with us for 3 nights so that might help some. We have always wanted to do the Chip n Dale campfire sing a long so we will finally have a real shot to do it. I'm also looking forward to seeing the Electric Water Pageant. I'm still trying to work out how to get around and still considering renting a golf cart. Dennis and I will drive down but Michelle, Jimmy and the kids are flying. We have less that 90 days to plan our getaway. There is so much to do at Ft. Wilderness and so little time. We won't be doing a Christmas Party or the Candlelight Processional. I think they would both be pretty hard with Dominic. We haven't told the kids we're going but we have said we would be going in the future. John Paul has only 2 requests. He wants Blue Milk and doesn't want to ride Slinky Dog. He still has memories from their Labor Day weekend trip from 2020.

We are missing you by one week! We arrive the 9th and are at Boulder Ridge until the 13th.

The heat was getting to us, so of course it was time to get a treat to cool off with. We grabbed some Dole Whips and headed for some shade. The Frontierland Arcade was not open so we found a shady spot to enjoy our treats. I went with the Pineapple and ice cream swirl. A Dole Whip is a must for all trips.

Yum!! I love the coconut /pineapple swirl and of course the Dole Whip with pineapple upside down cake!

Danielle will be finishing up her DL vacation and heading back to Orlando tomorrow. We have really enjoyed her photos and updates. If you follow her Instagram she has dropped a few posts and some in her stories. She has had a really had a great time. She didn't go to D23 but could have. R and T went while she and S played in the parks. It was very interesting on Sunday as the announcements were made, the guys were texting her then she would text us. They walked right past Josh Gad in DCA on the same day he got inducted. The best siting she had was meeting Jordan Fisher the same day he sang Happily Ever After in the Marvel area of DCA.

So exciting for Danielle! We are planning our first DL trip for 2024 and I can't wait!

They have spent most of their time in the parks. They did drive around and see some of the real places that are represented in the WDW parks. They also went to Malibu yesterday and she FaceTimed us while she was there. She was so thrilled to see Fantasmic. I'll share a few of her pictures.

The pictures are gorgeous. Danielle is such a beautiful young woman.

It didn't take us long to get comfortable in our beds. Our next day would be Epcot and our first taste of Food and Wine, sort of. This year was an abbreviated Food and Wine combined with what was left over from the shortened Flower and Garden. Epcot would not open until 11 so we didn't have as early a morning. I was looking forward to eating at the resort and getting some Mickey Waffles.

Mmmmm, mickey waffles!

Now for some good news. Danielle's vacation was approved and she has booked her flights. She is coming home for the first time in over a year for the last weekend in October. She will fly in very early Thursday morning. I'll be working from home that week so I'll get to visit with her Thursday and Friday. We will be headed out Friday afternoon for a family get together with Dennis' family. We come back home on the Sunday and she will fly back to Orlando on the Tuesday afternoon. We all so excited she's coming home! We will of course be treating her to some good Louisiana food.

Yay!!!!!! So happy that worked out.

I'm going to go ahead and say it now, this was not our best day. Never go to Epcot on a Saturday during Food and Wine. Even with reduced capacity it seemed more crowed here than the other parks, especially when everyone was so concerned with keeping their distance. It was also very hot. We really did not need an ADR with all the food options available at the food booths. We also did not get near as much food as we wanted due to the heat. It wasn't a bad day, just not our best.

I try my best to avoid Epcot on the weekends.

I didn’t realize we are so alike. There’s 8years between my first two and then 9 years between the my middle and youngest. I’ve never had 2 kids at the same school-as one leaves the next one starts. By the time the youngest finishes grammar school I”ll have been doing school runs there for 21 years . Only 2&1/2 more years to go then it’s “freedom” from school holidays

I am the exact opposite from you two. I had all three boys within 21 months.

 

[vamassey1]

We are missing you by one week! We arrive the 9th and are at Boulder Ridge until the 13th.

Darn it! I seem to be missing a lot of people by just a bit.

So exciting for Danielle! We are planning our first DL trip for 2024 and I can't wait!

I'm sure you will love it!

The pictures are gorgeous. Danielle is such a beautiful young woman.

Thank you! I think she is lovely, but I'm partial.

I am the exact opposite from you two. I had all three boys within 21 months.

Oh boy!

 

[vamassey1]

Epcot-Saturday, October 10,2022- For the First Time in Forever

When I left off last, we were in Epcot and had joined the crowds headed to Frozen Ever After. The line was LONG. How long was the line you ask? Once we entered the line it stopped in China, all the way back to where the stores are. This is where we were standing at 10:56 am.



The line was all the way through Norway, curved down the side little road outside of Norway, curved back up and then through China. We we so hot and sweaty after making that walk. We took turns going into the House of Good Fortune. I took one for the team and held our place in line first. The line was slowly moving. Once we entered the little side road between Norway and China we got to experience the Cavalcades. They ended right where we were. There was a big set of doors that opened for the cars to go back stage. We saw Elsa and Anna first.




Notice that Anna is wearing the crown since she was now the Queen after Frozen II.

As we inched forward a little more we were visited by Pluto, Goofy, Mickey and Minnie.





I really miss this. I'm glad the characters are meeting people again but it was really cool to see the characters so randomly.

I took a few photos of Norway as we got closer, besides everyone in line it really was pretty empty.








As we were getting even closer I snapped this shot of the wait time.

I tried to take some photos of the inside of the que but it was pretty dark. This was the first time I had ever seen it up close. We normally rope drop this with a line that is constantly moving or with a FP.

So how long did we wait?

Here is our ride photo.



It was taken at 11:50 so we waited almost an hour. And guess what? It was the only ride we road the entire day.

Now that we had a ride under our belts it was time to experience some of the Food & Wine. We started walking back the way we had come with the plan of going to the World Showcase Marketplace. We caught the Princess Cavalcade along the way.

In the next post.

 

[vamassey1]

Are you seeing the dark clouds forming in some of these pictures? This will come into play later.

We stopped along the way to do some shopping. I purchased a Remy Hunt Map and I think Michelle got some things too. I'm pretty sure she got the wine glass with the F & W logo.

We had big plans for trying as much food and drinks as we could so the Showcase Market place was our first stop. It had 4 different kiosks, merchandise, bathrooms and AC. It was perfect. I know we had pictures in here but the only one I could find was this one.


Once we looked over all the menus we decided to divide and conquer. I took the Desserts & Champagne booth. I can't remember which ones Michelle and Danielle had but we ended up with stuff from the Mac & Cheese both and Appleseed Orchard.

While I was in line I was watching the LSU vs Missouri game on my phone. The couple next to me got interested so we chatted a bit about LSU. They were Florida fans but had family that were LSU fans. The wife complimented my Epcot outfit. I thanked her and ended up telling her about our Sanderson Sister outfits from the day before. She asked if we were the ones she saw on the AP Facebook site. I confirmed that was us. She said she loved it and stated we were AP Facebook Famous. It was really nice to hear this. Most of the feedback I got was good, but it was great to hear it from a real person.

I ended up getting the Liquid Nitro cake pop w/Twix and the Frozen S'mores drink. They were both very sweet. Michelle and Danielle had grabbed one of the standing tables and by the time I got there it was filled with food. We had the regular Mac & Cheese and the Lobster Mac & Cheese. There was also a drink from the Apple Orchard. There may have been other things but I don't remember and have no photos. We spent a large chuck of time in here and enjoyed the food, drinks, merch, bathrooms and AC.

We next headed to the UK and started our Remi Hunt. We visited with Alice and enjoyed the English gardens but didn't get any food or drinks. It was pretty empty inside the pavilion, most of the stores had not opened at this time. I think only the side of stores where the tea merch was were open. Looking back this was true for most of the pavilions. The area around the water where the food and drinks were was very crowded, but inside the pavilions were pretty empty.








We started to cross the bridge over to France and saw these dark clouds.

Once in France we took a peak at the Ratatouille area that was still being built.



Up next, will we eat some more or will we get wet?

 

[disneyAndi14]

I loved when Disney made use of the World Showplace pavilion. It was such a nice area to cool down and relax!
Wow an hour for Frozen, I give you credit, lol Andi won’t even wait 10 minutes for this ride.
I’m thinking you get caught in a rainstorm!

 

[suse66]

I really miss this. I'm glad the characters are meeting people again but it was really cool to see the characters so randomly.

I wish they would continue with the random character sightings as well as the meet and greets.

It was taken at 11:50 so we waited almost an hour. And guess what? It was the only ride we road the entire day.

Love your Ambie top! I have that pattern in the skater dress and love it! I actually just ordered three mystery skater dresses from their going out of business sale. I ended up getting Dapper Dans, Sleeping Beauty and 50th anniversary. They are so comfy!

While I was in line I was watching the LSU vs Missouri game on my phone. The couple next to me got interested so we chatted a bit about LSU. They were Florida fans but had family that were LSU fans. The wife complimented my Epcot outfit. I thanked her and ended up telling her about our Sanderson Sister outfits from the day before. She asked if we were the ones she saw on the AP Facebook site. I confirmed that was us. She said she loved it and stated we were AP Facebook Famous. It was really nice to hear this. Most of the feedback I got was good, but it was great to hear it from a real person.

Aww, that is so sweet!

 

[vamassey1]

I loved when Disney made use of the World Showplace pavilion. It was such a nice area to cool down and relax!

We loved it too. I think they used it again for Flower and Garden 2021. I'll have to go back and look at my pictures. I think I remember being in there when we went in May 2021.

Wow an hour for Frozen, I give you credit, lol Andi won’t even wait 10 minutes for this ride.

It was brutal.

I’m thinking you get caught in a rainstorm!

I'm thinking you may be right.

 

[vamassey1]

Love your Ambie top! I have that pattern in the skater dress and love it! I actually just ordered three mystery skater dresses from their going out of business sale. I ended up getting Dapper Dans, Sleeping Beauty and 50th anniversary. They are so comfy!

Thank you, it's the dress. It was very comfy and I loved the pockets. I thought about ordering from the sale but ended up passing. Sounds like you good some good f dresses.

 

[vamassey1]

We made some changes to our trip to see Danielle for Christmas.

It looks like Disney just dropped some more rooms for the AP discount. Thursday night I was finally able to see some more options for us. I used a trick that was mentioned in the AP discount watch thread. I haven't been able to even access the option to look at AP rate rooms lately. The trick that worked for me was logging out. The trying to see all the discounts available. I clicked on the AP rate than was asked to log in. This worked! The AOA suites were all offered. I priced out a Cars suite and it was a little less than our Cabin reservation. I called Michelle to see if she wanted to make the move but she was putting the boys to bed and needed to check with Jimmy first. I never heard back for her until Friday when I was at work. She wanted to try for a room in the Lion King area. When I tried there was nothing. I had discussed making the change with Dennis the night before. We both were torn on making the change. We had really been getting excited for staying at Fort Wilderness. We also liked the idea of having 2 bathrooms, access to the skyliner and not having to worry about an internal bus system or the added cost of renting a golf cart. We had decided to let Michelle make the call. I waiting a little bit and even called Reservations to see if they could check to see if there was anything available. I ended up having to hang up since I was at work and couldn't sit on the phone. I tried the log out and logging back in trick and guess what? It worked again and everything was available. I switched our reservation to AOA Lion King since it was Michelle's first choice. We were all really happy with the change after going over the pros and cons. I also texted Danielle and begged her to check her discount again since it looked like more rooms had been released. Michelle and Dominic were over last night when Danielle called to let me know she had found some rooms too. She priced out Cars and Lion King and Nemo. Nemo was only a little over $100 more and she was getting 50% off. She booked it for us. We ended up with a reservation saving us over $800 from our original reservation for the cabin. I still need to see what she can do for the extra 2 nights we have after AOA. I don't want to push my luck too much.

We have 19 more sleeps until she comes to visit and 49 more sleep until our trip to see her.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I am the exact opposite from you two. I had all three boys within 21 months.

You definitely had your hands full but at least you got all the nappy changing and night feeds out of the way while you were still young and fit for it lol. By the time I had my youngest I was 41 and those middle of the night/early morning feeds in the dark winter were harder than when I was 24 or 32 (though he is worth every moment of them). On the plus side I was much more chilled about it all and determined to cherish everything as I knew that while the days are long the years are fast.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

We have 19 more sleeps until she comes to visit and 49 more sleep until our trip to see her.

Danielle will be with you in no time at all. I can sense how excited you are to have her home. I’m sure she will be shocked at how grown John Paul and Dominic are since she’s last seen them.
Fantastic savings on your upcoming trip too. More money in your pocket to spend is always good at Christmastime especially when there’s grandkids involved .

I enjoy the Frozen ride but my boys aren’t fussed so there’s no way they’d wait an hour for it. Well done you on sticking it out in the heat. I’m sure the cavalcades eased some of the time. They are so much fun to see. I hoped they would keep them.
Sounds like your food and wine journey is off to a great start but boy do those clouds look menacing. I’m guessing you get more than a wee bit wet!