Grab The Trash Bags, We Are Going to Disney!

[Kelrykengab]

It always amazes how people can be so self -centered....like nothing exists in the world but them and what they have to do!! I don't know why, but it irritates me even more when I'm at WDW!

Your pictures are beautiful. I love the fairy topiaries they are gorgeous! I think I would have done exactly what you did with skipping Coral Reef! It used to be one of our very favorite restaurants, but last summer we actually went twice, once with my sis and her family and then once with just Jasmine and I and both times it wasn't enjoyable. I don't know if they switched chefs or what, but even the service wasn't what it used to be

Can't wait to hear all about your last day!! Hope you're having a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Thanks! Those pix ended up being some of my favorites and they almost didn't happen. I went to Coral Reef once in 1996 and remember liking it but for some reason we keep missing it lately. I have been hearing very mixed reviews about it lately so I don't know if I will keep it for the November trip or not. I have one park day left and one "down" day left to write about and guess I will have to emerge myself in planning the maybe Nov trip when I am done with this TR. Thanks again for reading!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Coral Reef, Boma, Chef Mickey's and Ohana's are great we loved there food. The others we have not gone to, we try to do one new restaurant every time we go down.

We love trying new places and if we do go on this November trip with Mom it will "force" us to go to some places that we may not have done without her. I am reading that Epcot can get a little unruly and crowded on Fri/Sat nights during the F & W Fest. so I am leaning toward no Epcot ressies on these nights. I made one at Drive in at DHS just in case. I think the whole family make get a kick out of that.

 

[Kelrykengab]

So, we are already at Day 8, our last day at the parks . When planning out our days prior to the trip this day was set aside as a "whatever" day so we could spend our last park day doing things we missed or really enjoyed. Before falling asleep on Day 7 I asked everyone if they could do whatever they wanted on Day 8 what would it be and made our plans in my head as I was falling asleep. The nice thing about this was we all felt like we had the best vacation ever (which we also said in 2008), but were all pretty tired and were certain that we were going to be ready to say goodbye to the parks after day 8. The 8th night felt like a bonus to us because it was one more night than our last trip. However, a couple more days at the pool would have been fantastic! Alas, all good things must come to an end, right?
So the plan for this day was: 1. head to DHS to ride TSM one more time, get the Scaredy Pants Uncle on ToT and head to the Star Wars gift shop 2. head to Epcot to try for the 3rd time this week to meet Mulan, which was a must do for both my DS and DD5 and 3. Head to MK for any rides possible and Wishes. So how did our plan go? Here is the answer:
So, we didn't make rope drop, but we woke up much earlier than usual and headed right there. We went straight to TSM and saw that there was a 60 minute wait and FP were being given out for the afternoon so we decided to be grateful that we rode it once and look forward to a ride in the future. So, DS, DH and DB were off to ToT after much prodding. See, my brother is not a fan of roller coasters or any fast ride, but made the mistake of telling my kids last trip that he would ride ToT on the next trip. Well, in 2 years they did not forget. We told him how cool the theming was and that he would love that part. So off they went. I took my 2 daughters shopping and we had a ball using that last free gift card! We bought Mommy a pair of Mickey Croc flip flops, a Tinker Bell dress up set for DD5 and a prince dress up set for DS. Now, considering he plays with Star Wars figures and soldiers and everyone is shooting each other normally, you might think I am a little strange buying this for him. However, we bought DD5 a Princess Lea dress up set the first day in DHS and my DS kept playing with it all week. Of course more for the "action" sequences he could create than the dress up, but he loved it nonetheless. So, I thought the worst case scenerio we take it back. So we were done shopping for the moment and thus, we decided to get something cold and people watch in the shade to wait for the men. We ran into one of the street performers who spoke with my DD5 for a couple minutes and was very funny. As I see the guys coming I am dying to know if my brother rode or if he chickened out. It turns out not only did he ride, but he wanted to go again! He thought it was the coolest ride of the trip. Who knew?
Well, it was time to leave so his next ToT ride was going to have to wait for a future trip.
Here we are waiting for the Epcot bus from DHS. I was taking pix of everything knowing it was our last day in all the magic.

DD5 hardly ever lets me put piggy tales in her hair, but I love it when she lets me.
It took awhile for this bus to come, but it wasn't too full so we could relax a little before our next stop: Epcot. I was praying the whole way that Ms. Mulan would come out to play on this our 3rd time attempting to find the girl who saved China. Stay tuned for the next part of Day 8 and as always thanks so much for being with us on our journey!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Ok, for those of you who read my post about our possible trip in November if my Mom decides she would like to go with us finally.....she has not given us a definate answer yet, bet when I arrive at her house for dinner last night she says "Oh, have you heard about the new Harry Potter park?!" "We have to do that!". So, I said "Does this mean we are going?" and she says "We have to do it if we go!". Aaahhhh! She has no idea that I should be planning up a storm right now! Oh well, there are much worse problems to have, right?!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Well, as we are waiting for the Epcot bus to come I remember that I forgot to show DS his surprise prince set. Just cracks me up to say that. So, I tell him I got something for him and of course DH and DB expect it to be some Star Wars guy with a huge light saber, but out comes the fashion Prince set. The look on the men's faces was priceless, but my son's reaction was more hysterical. He took one look at it and yelled "Alright! I want to go back to the hotel room now to play with it!". I reminded him that we were on our way to Epcot and he pleaded to go back now to play. I never thought I would be having to talk my son into going on rides over playing with mini princes. Anyway, the good news was that he was very happy with the purchase and finally, we are on our way to Epcot. As I mentioned before the main purpose of going to Epcot again (we spent a lot of time there this trip) was to look for Mulan one more time. My DS really wanted to meet Mushu, but I knew from the Dis that he was retired . Probably a good thing b/c he wanted to "hold Mushu" which probably wouldn't have worked out for him.
So, all 6 of us are off to China again. This time I knew where to tell my DH to go in case there was a line and I went to look for the CM I had spoken with the day before. Sure enough, when I got back my DH was holding a spot in line for us and it was looking like we were going to finally meet Mulan. This is a movie that my kids just saw for the first time this year and they both LOVE it!. It is probably their favorite Disney movie. So after about 5 minutes of waiting, out she comes!! Thank goodness!! Both my kids were so anxious for it to be our turn. Finally, it is and she was so nice and made sure to spend time with both the kids. First, she asked to see my son's muscles and when he showed her she made sure to inquire that he doesn't use them on his sisters. He turned a little shade of red there for a moment. I was sure DD5 was going to come up with some big brother story, but she didn't. Pheew!

I figured 3 tries to meet her equals 3 pix posted

I was so glad my children got to do this as it was one of their requests the moment they saw the movie.

So, we finally met Mulan and now it was off to do more Kim Possible. Apparently, they had not had their fill of this yet.

Appropriately, DD got China this time!
After this it was time for more Soaring and then off to our last ADR of the trip: The Garden Grill.

I love this pic! Epcot is such a nice place for beautiful photos. Next stop, our last May 2010 ADR and do we make it to our 3rd park of the day?

 

[Kelrykengab]

So, we are hot and hungry and ready for our last table service meal of our trip, The Garden Grill. My DH and I had eaten here many years ago and recalled it being fun and it got so many great reviews that I decided it would be a fantastic last night dinner. Heaven forbid we don't have a meal without characters . I will admit, I am a little nuts with this. I feel I can dine without characters in MA so better bet at least for now, we are going where the gang is. So we arrive at the exact time of our ADR and are given a buzzer and we were more than happy to go sit on a bench in the AC. We were "buzzed" quickly and were taken to our seats. We were in the top inside area, which at first I was a little bummed about, but it ended up being great b/c the characters kept coming out doors right near us and frequently stopped, waved or fooled around with us on their way somewhere else in addition to the time they spent at our table. One observation was that the tables were so small considering they bring everything to your table on big platters. We hardly had room for anything, but as always we made it work.

First out was Dale, although he needed to correct me b/c I called him Chip. In my defense his nose was not nearly as red as I expected it to be and it looked black to me. I love the way Baby is looking at him as he writes his name down for me.

By this time, Baby was more than happy to high-5 various large and crazy animals.
They each made sure to spend time with each child and joked with us adults too. Hands down this was the best character interaction of the whole trip.

And then of course it was time for the big guy himself! This leads to another cute story, again with my son. Mickey had asked for Baby's face to be wiped (seems like a theme in this TR) so he could kiss her and she was thrilled to get a special kiss from Mickey. Next he kissed DD5. What he didn't notice was my DS8 who was patiently waiting with his forhead in the air for his kiss. I am sure that Mickey saw him and quickly assumed that he would not want a kiss from a Mouse. Well, I am so glad I noticed this and pointed in out to Mickey b/c sure enough this is what DS was waiting for and he went back to his normal posture once he got his kiss. My DH and I think he would have been asking why Mickey did not give him a kiss if we hadn't caught this. Anyway, he spent some fabulous time with us and even came back for some fist bumping with my son later.

And we can't forget Pluto. My kids loved him this time around. He was hysterical and the craziest of the group.

When I was taken to WDW as a child I was allowed to pick out one stuffed animal and my choice was Pluto. I find it interesting that in 2008 my DD5 (then 3) also picked out Pluto as did the Baby this trip.

I have now learned that I should be taking pictures of my meals so I can put them in my TR, but for now here is all I have. A picture of the kids yummy Worms in Dirt.

Here is Dale trying to steal this dessert:

We really enjoyed the food here and pretty much finished the first platter and all the mouth watering dessert. We all agreed that dessert was fabulous and wanted to take home the recipe. The kids got a kick out of the changing environments and asked if there were going to be any wild animals jumping to get our food when we were in the rain forest. Love it!! It is questions like this that remind me why I am in Disney. This was my DD5's favorite ADR.
We were full and wondering what to do next. Do we have the energy for MK and Wishes or do we go back to CBR after another busy and wonderful day and swim? This was a hard decision being our last night..........

 

[Lbg206]

As always I love your post and the photos. I especially love when Dale was correcting you on who he was and also your first picture there with Pluto....I adore the look on your youngest daughter's face looking up at him...she's SO cute!! Can't wait to hear the rest.

P.S. Looks like our upcoming trip may be at CBR, hope it's as good of an experience as you guys seemed to have.

 

[tazdev3225]

Loved your report so far. I have never used the pools at the resorts. I did think about it this last trip but just never seem to find the time. Your kids are really cute. I can't wait til my grandkids get to go down next year. Seeing the pics from Park Fare gives me an idea where to take them for one meal. I'm sure the boys will love it there too.

 

[Kelrykengab]

As always I love your post and the photos. I especially love when Dale was correcting you on who he was and also your first picture there with Pluto....I adore the look on your youngest daughter's face looking up at him...she's SO cute!! Can't wait to hear the rest.

P.S. Looks like our upcoming trip may be at CBR, hope it's as good of an experience as you guys seemed to have.

Thanks so much! She was either staring lovingly, waving or puckering up every time a character came near her toward the end. It was sweet.
I read in one of your threads that you were in a pickle trying to decide where to stay next. When is that trip? Last, I read you were sticking with ASM?? Well, we really did enjoy CBR. The pool was fantastic, the resort was quiet and relaxing and pretty, the food court was fine, everyone was friendly, it was clean and well run....the buses were better than expected, we would go back but we would get another preferred room....keep me posted!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Loved your report so far. I have never used the pools at the resorts. I did think about it this last trip but just never seem to find the time. Your kids are really cute. I can't wait til my grandkids get to go down next year. Seeing the pics from Park Fare gives me an idea where to take them for one meal. I'm sure the boys will love it there too.

Thanks for coming over!! We had more pool time planned this trip, which we were more relaxed doing since we had just gone in 2008 and didn't feel the same pressure to see and do everything. Also, it was so much hotter than the same week (and more crowded) in 2008 and we needed the pool time.
You will have a blast with your grandkids and they will love PF!

 

[Lbg206]

Thanks so much! She was either staring lovingly, waving or puckering up every time a character came near her toward the end. It was sweet.
I read in one of your threads that you were in a pickle trying to decide where to stay next. When is that trip? Last, I read you were sticking with ASM?? Well, we really did enjoy CBR. The pool was fantastic, the resort was quiet and relaxing and pretty, the food court was fine, everyone was friendly, it was clean and well run....the buses were better than expected, we would go back but we would get another preferred room....keep me posted!

You're right, my last post I had decided to just stay at ASM, but now....who knows! LOL It's defiitely going to be ASM or CBR now though. I've been to CBR before and would love to go back. The problem is when everyone you're traveling with just tells you to plan it all and they'll go along with it, but then as soon as I do they start asking about doing this or that or changing things. If you were to go back to CBR which preferred building would you choose? Looking forward to the rest of your TR, now I think it's time I go and work more on my own.

 

[Kelrykengab]

You're right, my last post I had decided to just stay at ASM, but now....who knows! LOL It's defiitely going to be ASM or CBR now though. I've been to CBR before and would love to go back. The problem is when everyone you're traveling with just tells you to plan it all and they'll go along with it, but then as soon as I do they start asking about doing this or that or changing things. If you were to go back to CBR which preferred building would you choose? Looking forward to the rest of your TR, now I think it's time I go and work more on my own.

That would be difficult. I do ALL the planning for our group of 6-7, but everyone likes it that way and non of the others know enough about WDW to mess with it much. My brother did ask to do the Drive in TS at DHS, which I can deal with. Saving CSR for another time? We are considering that one too for a future trip. Anyway, if I were going back to CBR, I probably would request exactly what I already had: Trinidad North. It was super close to the pool, counter service, gift shop and close to two bus stops. We always used OPR bus stop. This gave us only 2 stops going out and about 4 coming back (most of the time). It was also quiet.
Isn't it funny how happy we are to hear that other people are enjoying our TRs!? Thank you!

 

[Angies1274]

Hi! I've spent the whole morning reading your TR and have loved it!! Your kids are so adorable!!! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip!! Although, I must admit I was a little worried when you started your trip and your DH was not feeling well. I'm glad he recovered quickly!!!

Love all the pictures of CBR. We love Pop, but we're ready for a change and the boys want to stay at CBR next trip. It really didn't take too much to persuade them with the Nemo rooms and the really cool pool! I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much! It looks really beautiful there.

Oh and great character pics!!! I'm glad that you were able to meet Mulan!! Garden Grill looks like fun! I'll have to add it to our list for next trip! My boys love Chip and Dale so I know they would love it!

Can't wait to find out if you make it back to MK......

 

[Kelrykengab]

Hi! I've spent the whole morning reading your TR and have loved it!! Your kids are so adorable!!! It sounds like you had a wonderful trip!! Although, I must admit I was a little worried when you started your trip and your DH was not feeling well. I'm glad he recovered quickly!!!

Love all the pictures of CBR. We love Pop, but we're ready for a change and the boys want to stay at CBR next trip. It really didn't take too much to persuade them with the Nemo rooms and the really cool pool! I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much! It looks really beautiful there.

Oh and great character pics!!! I'm glad that you were able to meet Mulan!! Garden Grill looks like fun! I'll have to add it to our list for next trip! My boys love Chip and Dale so I know they would love it!

Can't wait to find out if you make it back to MK......

Thanks so much for the kind words!! I was trying not to panic when my DH was sick, but it all worked out. Pixie Dust!! We did love CBR and I am sure your boys would love it too. My kids loved the waterslides and you should have them do the pirate cruise!! Garden Grill was so nice. Best character interaction. Thanks for reading. I am sad I am almost done! I will be going back to yours soon too!

 

[Goofy442]

I love characters meals too, my kids still pose with the characters. I love going back and looking at the pictures from years ago. Your DD look's like she is in love with Chip, how cute. I bet the count down has begun for your November trip.

 

[Kelrykengab]

I love characters meals too, my kids still pose with the characters. I love going back and looking at the pictures from years ago. Your DD look's like she is in love with Chip, how cute. I bet the count down has begun for your November trip.

Aren't they the best! As for the countdown to the November trip, not really b/c we are still waiting for my mother to decide if she is going. If she doesn't, we will probably cx and go in May 2011, which we will start counting down for at that point .

 

[Queenofallthings]

Love the pigtails! Jasmine would never let me do anything but a ponytail when she was little, but lord knows I tried

Great pics at Garden Grill...we've never eaten here! Looks like fun!!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Love the pigtails! Jasmine would never let me do anything but a ponytail when she was little, but lord knows I tried

Great pics at Garden Grill...we've never eaten here! Looks like fun!!

Thanks. Neither of my girls are huge fans of having their hair done by me, but the girls next door or their cousins they will let do anything. I am hoping to finish my TR tomorrow (sadly).

 

[Queenofallthings]

Thanks. Neither of my girls are huge fans of having their hair done by me, but the girls next door or their cousins they will let do anything. I am hoping to finish my TR tomorrow (sadly).

Isn't it funny how that works....my youngest niece whines and cries when her mom does her hair, but Jasmine can do anything she wants to it...too funny.

I can't believe it's coming to an end.....

 

[Kelrykengab]

Isn't it funny how that works....my youngest niece whines and cries when her mom does her hair, but Jasmine can do anything she wants to it...too funny.

I can't believe it's coming to an end.....

I know they scream bloody murder when I even brush it. I haven't had a chance to finish the TR b/c it is looking like we are going in November so I have been busy researching info for that trip. I am not used to having trips so close together not that I am complaining. Have you done Universal? My mom's one request is that we do the Harry Potter stuff so I have been trying to figure that out. Do you know if there is a bus that will take us from AKL to Universal (for $)?