Ginger Family Getaway: 8/30-9/6 Trip Report DAY 7 & 8 UPDATED 10/2

[WDWBetsy]

Part 2

The boys showed up at the room around 3PM. We all freshened up and headed back over to the Magic Kingdom. We had a 6PM ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern, and this meal is one DH and I always have looked forward to. I’m sad that it will no longer be a character meal, and knowing that we had one last time there on Aubree’s first trip means a lot to me.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom a little early so we took in some shopping and then went over to LTT. I checked in and received our pager. DH pushed Aubree around for a bit before joining us inside. We kept her busy, and she was much better behaved while waiting for this meal.

A couple shots of the group (minus me, of course) while waiting. The waiting area wasn’t as crowded as we’ve seen on past trips.

We were seated a few minutes later, and we were soon greeted by Dale!

Then Chip stopped by!

And Minnie!

Goofy next!

And PLUTO!

This meal was excellent! I have always been a fan of LTT. The food isn’t fancy, but it was hot and delicious. DH and I both thought the flank steak was the best ever – with better seasoning this time. Aubree really enjoyed the food and characters, too. We all did! The characters came by several times and spent lots of time with us. I’ll miss LTT as a character meal.

After dinner, we took a leisurely walk through the shops before heading back to the Polynesian. As much as I had hoped for watching fireworks, we were all tired from walking (yes, we’re wimps!).

2009 TRIP UPDATE: SEE POST 45 - already a change!!! I had mentioned us staying at POP for our next trip. I’ve since changed my mind – we’re staying at Coronado Springs Resort with the quick service dining and 7 day base tickets. November 21-28, 2009 baby!! That will be over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I’ll have to keep watching for flights ASAP. I reserved standard view and requested the Cabanas section. Thankfully, I was able to get a $206 AAA discount off the room portion by going through my AAA agent. From what I can see when looking at current discounts for that time, most are not available for my whole stay since it’s over Thanksgiving. I’ll gladly take what I can get, plus Jon only has to use 3 vacation days. It’s just the 3 of us, so we’ll be doing more Magic Kingdom and fun stuff with Aubree. We are going to stick to mostly quick service type meals, but Jon said he does want to have at least a couple character meals, too. I’m thinking that it will be Hollywood & Vine’s Play ‘n Dine and Chef Mickey’s. Possibly Crystal Palace, too. Can’t wait!

 

[Sooze]

I will come back and comment on your updates... but I want to celebrate your upcoming trip with you! Isn't AWESOME when you can add a ticker to your signature?!?!

And HOORAY for Coronado Springs! We have yet to stay there, but I've only heard wonderful things about it.

Okay.. back to work.. got papers to grade...

 

[Philadisney]

LTT is one of those places I've always wanted to get to and never have! Someday. Have you been to Coronado Springs before? I stayed there in 2005 and loved it! It's so beautiful - one of my favorite moderates. We were only there for a few days and didn't have a lot of time to explore the resort, but I remember being taken with the lake and the decor in the rooms.
And I am about you getting whapped in the face by the balloon after tying it to Aubree's stroller

 

[WDWBetsy]

I will come back and comment on your updates... but I want to celebrate your upcoming trip with you! Isn't AWESOME when you can add a ticker to your signature?!?!

And HOORAY for Coronado Springs! We have yet to stay there, but I've only heard wonderful things about it.

Okay.. back to work.. got papers to grade...

Thanks Sooze!! I am really excited to be planning our next trip. I stayed there 1 night last year and was very impressed. I read where they are putting in queen beds too... which will be much more comfy for us. The Pepper Market was awesome - we had dinner and breakfast there.

Have fun grading papers - I have to go change the litterbox. YUCK!!!

LTT is one of those places I've always wanted to get to and never have! Someday. Have you been to Coronado Springs before? I stayed there in 2005 and loved it! It's so beautiful - one of my favorite moderates. We were only there for a few days and didn't have a lot of time to explore the resort, but I remember being taken with the lake and the decor in the rooms.
And I am about you getting whapped in the face by the balloon after tying it to Aubree's stroller

Hey there! Yes - I stayed there 1 night in Sept. 2007. It was really beautiful, and I loved the pool. I showed Aubree a pic, and she said, "WOW!"

I was not liking the balloon, but I tell you - that thing lasted until our last morning. I had to secretly take it into the bathroom and "put it down" without Aubree seeing me. I kept the Mickey head weight for Aubree to play with. It was worth it for the fun she had playing with it in the room.

 

[Happy Elf]

Love the LTT pictures! Lucky you getting to go again! I'm hoping we might be able to sneak a fall break trip in next year...but we'll have to wait and see!

 

[belle8306]

Great pictures! I am considering LTT for dinner on my upcoming trip. On my honeymoon (and 1st trip to Disney) the very first place we ate was Pinnochio's. We ate there again last summer and we waved to the boats on It's a Small World. Congratulations on your upcoming trip! I love planning new trips!

 

[WDWBetsy]

UDPATE to our 2009 trip!!!

Barry and his mom (my sister, Amy) are going with us! We are now staying in a family suite at All-Star Music. Same dates, without the quick service dining. I figure we can eat breakfast in the room. We're also going to plan on driving down. Amy needs a scooter (she has the same CMT disease as I do, but it's worse in her case), so this will be the best way for us.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this!

 

[micandminforever]

Great pictures of the MK. Your next trip sounds great Thanksgiving at Disney with family.

 

[always_learning]

Hi Betsy! I am all caught up on your TR now. We will be in the world starting Nov 27th next year so we can celebrate my ds's 7th birthday on the 28th. I am a tad nervous about crowds the first few days though.

Is it sad that I can look through your TR and name every single line that Miss Aubree is wearing from Gymboree

Was the humidity unbearable? I get so sick of it here I can't fathom going during this time of year. I would love too though.

 

[WDWBetsy]

Great pictures of the MK. Your next trip sounds great Thanksgiving at Disney with family.

Thanks! My sister and I chatted yesterday about our upcoming trip. She is a bit nervous about the characters getting too close to her!

Hi Betsy! I am all caught up on your TR now. We will be in the world starting Nov 27th next year so we can celebrate my ds's 7th birthday on the 28th. I am a tad nervous about crowds the first few days though.

Is it sad that I can look through your TR and name every single line that Miss Aubree is wearing from Gymboree

Was the humidity unbearable? I get so sick of it here I can't fathom going during this time of year. I would love too though.

I'm nervous about the crowds, too. But I was trying to find a week where DH only needs to use 3 vacation days, plus when it's cooler out.

Love the Gymboree line comment. I have had to force myself to stop buying the newer lines. I just go way too overboard... I had stockpiled the outfits I took for the trip. I do have my favorite lines that I find on eBay for DD! I also notice the Gymboree lines when seeing pics on the DIS! Seriously, I get way too anxious when I have to cut the price tags off her clothes - if she doesn't wear it, I can resell it for more $$ than used. Typically, I resell her previous season's clothes to pay for the next season.

 

[WDWBetsy]

Day 6 (September 4)

Today was our pool day. We woke and went to get some breakfast at Captain Cook’s, then brought it back to the room. After that, we all put on our swimsuits (except DH who forgot his, then the Polynesian gift shops didn’t have the size or style he wanted). An in-room pic of Aubree while we waited for Barry to get ready.

It was a lot of fun and the pool wasn’t very crowded at all! We were not sure how Aubree would react – she had refused to get in her baby pool and wouldn’t walk through her sprinkler mat at home. She loved the baby fountain area over by the Hawaii longhouse, especially the button you push to activate it. Then we tried walking her into the zero entry part of the pool. She was really interested! For a while, she wanted to go between the fountains and the pool, so Jon would rinse off her feet each time before she’d get back in the pool. She and I also walked out on the beach, holding hands. I'll spare you the scary pics of me in my bathing suit. LOL She really liked the sand, except when we got to the part near the water - she didn't like the wet sand. We walked back and washed off our feet. Then I grabbed her and took her into the pool - going in deeper and deeper. I am always scared I’ll trip when carrying her – she’s pretty heavy and it doesn’t take much for my knees to dislocate or for me to sprain an ankle. Well, I found a new favorite thing to do with her! She was so weightless in my arms! I walked her around the pool, cuddling her as I bounced her up and down in the water. I was able to feel confident in carrying her for the first time. We loved it!

Her splashing me in the eyes.

Overall, a great day. We played for quite a while, then Granny stayed while Barry swam so more. DH and I took Aubree back to the room to change. DH ran over to get some lunch from Captain Cook’s while I dressed her. He returned a little irritated. I guess he’d had a problem days before with a breakfast order being wrong and hadn’t mentioned it to me (I guess a kids’ meal was missing bacon, which he did end up getting). He’d ordered a kids’ meal and an order of fries and asked to pay OOP for both, and wanted to charge my stir fried noodles, drink and parfait as a meal credit. The CM had screwed it all up, charging us an adult credit for the kids’ meal and charging us for the fries, which he didn’t even get (didn’t realize it until he got back). So being the calm person that I am, I had to go over to Captain Cook’s to get the credits fixed since I wanted to make sure we had enough left for our last full day. When I explained what happened and that I didn’t want the forgotten fries since Aubree was probably already done eating by now, the CM (the same one who rang up DH’s order) was not friendly at all (probably because she saw her name on the receipt in question). She didn’t apologize and barely spoke, except to grumble as she tried to call the manager. He had to refund the credits so she could ring it up again. I had to sign several receipts - really not a huge deal, but boy, did it take forever. Anyway – I finally got it straightened out, and was soon back in the room enjoying my noodles, which were surprisingly still hot and fresh.

Granny and Barry wandered in a little later and decided to go over and use a few snack credits for their lunch. Then we napped!

We had a 5:45PM ADR at Le Cellier, so we headed over to Epcot around 3:30PM. We took our time and looked in a couple shops. Barry bought a coonskin cap at the Canadian gift shop. He looked so funny in it - it looked like a bad mullet.

After checking in, we waited around the door area for our name to be called. We were all amused by a rogue squirrel hopping from stroller to stroller in search of food. He was quite resourceful and knocked a little cup out of one, obtaining a cracker. Then little girls started trying to chase and grab it. Our Cub Scout Barry nicely warned them to watch out, it might bite. While we waited, DH walked Aubree around in the stroller – she saw bunnies and squirrels and was entertained.

I can’t remember how long we waited, but it wasn’t that bad. We were soon seated and had a nice server. Aubree was being very good, although a bit loud in giggling. The pretzel bread and other bread was excellent, as usual. Barry and Granny had the New York strip, while Jon and I had the mushroom filet. We ordered the hot dog & steak fries kids’ meal for Aubree, with a little bowl of the Canadian cheddar cheese soup for her appetizer. Everyone else ordered cheese soup, except for me – I shared Aubree’s little bowl with her. Okay, I ate most of it. She was more interested in the pretzel bread and coloring. She did eat a little of her hot dog and fries. The food was really good, although my filet was not as pink as I like. I had really been looking forward to that steak and mushroom risotto; while it was good, it wasn’t as tasty as I remember from our last visit. We all had the chocolate “moose” for dessert. LOVE it. Overall a wonderful meal. I think the people around us were entertained by Aubree's giggling. She was very silly.

After dinner, we stopped off for a diaper change, and then Barry decided to buy a $15 black light neon string toy from a cart. We were all stuffed from eating, and decided to head back to the Polynesian. I had hoped to take my mom around the World Showcase, but once again we were all tired and had seen enough.

Back in the room, Barry played with his new toy, and Aubree enjoyed trying to grab the strings. We also watched more resort TV cartoons before going to bed.

UP NEXT: our last full day – the Magic Kingdom and RAIN!

 

[Philadisney]

Is Aubree wearing a little Minnie Mouse shirt with her name on it in the first picture? CUTE! What a lovely day for hanging out at the pool.
Le Cellier sounds good - I have been there a couple of times, but not in years!

 

[WDWBetsy]

Is Aubree wearing a little Minnie Mouse shirt with her name on it in the first picture? CUTE! What a lovely day for hanging out at the pool.
Le Cellier sounds good - I have been there a couple of times, but not in years!

That's her cover-up. I bought it from disneyshopping.com and had them personalize it - it was almost too small and we struggled to get it over her head! She was not thrilled when I put it on her.

Le Cellier was pretty tasty. Of course, any restaurant food is good to me since I don't have to cook or clean up!

 

[Happy Elf]

Looks like you had a lot of fun swimming! Dinner sounded like fun! The pretzel bread is yummy!!!!!

 

[belle8306]

The pool time looked like a lot of fun! I found a recipe for LeCellier mashed potatoes (on All Ears). My DH and I made them to go with our lunch yesterday. They were really good. Although, I haven’t been to LeCellier so I don’t have anything to compare them to. I am glad that the meal credits got worked out.

 

[heath-and-javens-mom]

The pool looks very nice! I cant belive your Dh forgot his swim shorts!!! Thats the first thing that goes in our bags. LOL

 

[WDWBetsy]

The pool looks very nice! I cant belive your Dh forgot his swim shorts!!! Thats the first thing that goes in our bags. LOL

I know! I really believe he intentionally forgot them. He's been trying to lose more weight and didn't like how they looked on him. So when we went looking for some new ones in the Boutiki gift shop, they didn't have his size in the drawstring waist style. Of course on our last day, they had the size he needed, but it was too late.

He's a great swimmer (compared to me - I can basically dog paddle!). I'm definitely making sure he has swim trunks with us on our next trip.

 

[WDWBetsy]

Day 7 (September 5)

It was hard to believe that our last full day had arrived. Of course, we wanted to spend it at the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain. We quickly showered and dressed to head over to Captain Cook’s for some breakfast.

I grabbed the ponchos out of the closet – we had brought two with us and bought additional ones for Granny and Barry. I had a rain cover for Aubree’s stroller, although I wasn’t sure if she’d let me use it. In practice at home, she had kicked and yelled when I put it on the stroller. I went ahead and attached it at the top and hoped she would comply.

As we walked over to Captain Cook’s, we could see that the rain had let up a bit, and we kept the ponchos in the bag under Aubree’s stroller. After a tasty breakfast, we headed over to the monorail to begin our journey. I was so proud of Aubree for being such a big girl about the elevators – and she was very vocal about saying “You did it!” each time we got off.

After arriving at the Magic Kingdom and going through security, we decided to head over to It’s a Small World for Aubree, and we also went on Pooh. Then we decided to have the boys head over to Tomorrowland so they could have some fun. We agreed to meet at Crystal Palace at 11:15AM for our 11:30 ADR. Granny and I tried out the Baby Center next to Casey’s, and boy – were we impressed. It’s really nice that Disney provides these. Aubree, of course, tried to flirt with a little boy who was getting his pants changed. Like mother, like daughter. LOL

Some pics Jon took of Barry after riding Buzz Lightyear:

We met up at Crystal Palace, and Jon strolled Aubree around while I checked us in. I was one of the first ones to check-in and get our pager, and I was so glad I got there when I did. That place got busy very fast. Granny and I found a bench. I have to tell you all about this funny CM who stopped me after I checked in – he’s one of the character handlers. He pointed at my shirt and said, “Excuse me, your shirt is dirty.” I, of course, looked down as he laughed saying, “there’s a little Pooh on it.” I cracked up and told him my daughter had a little Pooh on her shirt, too. He was very nice, and we saw him inside a little later when the characters were floating around.

Jon soon parked the stroller, and he and Barry brought Aubree over to us. She, of course, was fascinated by all the little kids running around, and the glimpses of Pooh and his friends from inside. The characters were occasionally coming up to the window, and the kids went crazy (in a good way). Soon our pager went off, and we marched past the other families in the huge line that had formed. We were quickly seated and Aubree was smiling like a loon. She could see the characters walking around, and I was so glad we had scheduled this meal. I took a photo of her with Pooh that we’re using on our Christmas card. The food was very good, and we loved the character interaction. The CM/character handler stopped by our table with Tigger and talked to Aubree. I will mention that he is a Little Person, and he asked if she was afraid of him since she kept putting her hands over her eyes. I told him, “Oh, no – she does this all the time when meeting new people.” She did peek out and smile at him, flirting a bit.

Here are some pics from our meal:

The Christmas card shot:

and Aubree giving me “the look”

We finished up our lunch, and headed out to put Aubree in the stroller. We proceeded over to Fantasyland, taking a quick photo:

We stopped off at the restroom near the Teacups, and it started raining as we waited for Jon. I pulled out the ponchos and started distributing them. We were short one! I had left one in the closet under the hundreds (ok, not really) of shoes I had brought. THANKFULLY, Aubree cooperated and let us put the rain cover on her stroller. She struggled a bit at first, and I pulled it back to show her how wet she’d get. She quickly said, “OK, Mommy!” We took off and walked as fast as possible to the Teacups. While we took shelter under the awning, Jon went over and bought me another poncho. I LOVE HIM!!!! LOL He’s very frugal, and he did this without yelling at me for leaving the other one in the room.

Thankfully, we were soon on the Teacups, and Aubree really loved them this time. She had been cautious before, and the pic I took of her says it all.

and Jon and I:

We reluctantly got out of our beloved Teacup, and met up with Granny and Barry. It was still raining, but we put on our ponchos and walked to Toontown. Thankfully, it was sprinkling as we arrived at Minnie’s house. Aubree was so excited. We took Aubree out at the door (there were lots of people hanging out on the porch to stay dry), and I parked the stroller across from the house.

Aubree really enjoyed walking through Minnie’s house. We all did. Then we headed over to Mickey’s house. Again, Aubree was all eyes looking at everything.

We walked over to the Judge’s Tent for a quick photo. I was really surprised that we didn’t have to wait. The CMs instructed us to take off our ponchos, which we did, and you can now enjoy our last photos from the Magic Kingdom.

Here’s Aubree meeting Mickey and Minnie – she really didn’t know what to think and was shy. I had to grab her as she tried to run out.

We’re a little soaked in this one. Granny’s hair cracks me up! LOL

It had stopped raining by the time we left, and we decided to head on back to the Polynesian as Aubree was getting tired. We took the train back to the front of the park – it was nice watching Aubree’s face as we took our little ride.

After taking naps, we woke up and decided to have our final dinner at Captain Cook’s. I can’t remember what we all had, but Barry ordered a flatbread pizza and then told us he couldn’t eat it very well as he had a couple loose teeth! Silly boy…

Back to the room we went, as Granny and I started packing. The boys, of course, played on the laptop. It took us FOREVER to get them to stop and start their own packing.

And so our last full day ends. BOO HOO HOO…

 

[belle8306]

The last day is always so hard! The picture of Aubree with Pooh is precious! That will make a great Christmas card. I really want to try CP. I have heard a lot of good things about it. Great update!

 

[Happy Elf]

Your CP pictures are so cute! Aubree looks like she had fun! Hannah loved seeing Pooh and friends when we went in 2006! That last day is so hard, it is so hard to head home!