Gramma jinxed disney on spring break! PARTING THOUGHTS 06/15/09

[MAGICFOR2]

I love the picture of the hiney scratcher.........

I had no idea that's what it looked like - I just thought the sculpture was interesting!

 

[Camster0307]

Great update Tammie! Love the pictures of the Poly - . It's so pretty to just take the time and walk around the grounds there. All while sipping a LapuLapu, of course! Can't believe you had to wait that long for dinner though!

As for the smoking by the pool? I don't know what makes me angrier - the smokers who don't smoke in the designated area or the CMs who don't enforce the rules.

 

[punkin413]

This guy has an itch he can't scratch, and so does the lady in the background!

We waited for an hour and 10 minutes! I actually had time to drink my whole drink, we met two other families, and watched another couple decide to divorce while their kids cried - nice. I know vacations can be stressful, but COME ON! These are the memories you're making for your children. Really I hope they made up. Poor grandma was sitting there beside herself trying not to comment.

an hour and 10 minutes????? i don't know if there's any food i'd wait that long for. ray would've been PEEVED. glad you had a good dinner. i've eaten at ohana's once and i wasn't impressed. the meet was DRY and it was so loud i couldn't carry on a conversation in there. but maybe i was just there on an off night because everyone else loves it!

don't you just love watches wishes from outside MK? as far as i know they do this every night at ohana, narcoosee's and cali grill. we love it from narcoosee's - it's so nice to eat a nice dinner there and enjoy the show from the water.

 

[CRdisMom]

I'm guessing the wait could have been the fault of people like lorrie's PF.

 

[podsnel]

sorry i keep forgetting to take a picture of it will try and do it very soon.

that lady is scratching her butt.

i think i have a mission for my next trip, try and get pics of other people doing embarrasing things in the background of my pictures.

to bad about the couple airing there dirty laundry not only on a vacation to disney but talking about it in front of there kids and the rest of the people waiting for dinner.

must have had a really bad day or something.

THAT would be an interesting new thread! I'll have to take some to contribute when I'm there in 2 WEEKS!!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

an hour and 10 minutes????? i don't know if there's any food i'd wait that long for. ray would've been PEEVED. glad you had a good dinner. i've eaten at ohana's once and i wasn't impressed. the meet was DRY and it was so loud i couldn't carry on a conversation in there. but maybe i was just there on an off night because everyone else loves it!

don't you just love watches wishes from outside MK? as far as i know they do this every night at ohana, narcoosee's and cali grill. we love it from narcoosee's - it's so nice to eat a nice dinner there and enjoy the show from the water.

I know! We saw others seated that checked in way after us, so I finally went up and asked - hmmmm "we're getting your table ready right now!"
I think the only reason Jim waited was because I was drinkin' that big pineapple! Oh, and it wasn't an "off night" - it's loud and crazy like that every night. I thought the turkey was dry, but everything else was good.

I didn't know they did that - I definately want to do Narcosee's next time. When you watch from the beaches at the resorts, do they have the music piped in?

I'm guessing the wait could have been the fault of people like lorrie's PF.

That could be true!

THAT would be an interesting new thread! I'll have to take some to contribute when I'm there in 2 WEEKS!!!

I can't wait!

 

[punkin413]

When you watch from the beaches at the resorts, do they have the music piped in?

i'm not sure but i know when i watched a webcast of the fireworks from INSIDE a beach-front room at the poly on new year's eve last year, you could barely hear the music so i'm thinking they do. but i'm not positive.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Great update Tammie! Love the pictures of the Poly - . It's so pretty to just take the time and walk around the grounds there. All while sipping a LapuLapu, of course! Can't believe you had to wait that long for dinner though!

As for the smoking by the pool? I don't know what makes me angrier - the smokers who don't smoke in the designated area or the CMs who don't enforce the rules.

I'm sorry I missed your post Thanks for coming by - I know you are so busy right now. I do love the poly. I would love to stay there, but I don't think it will happen - the DVC points are crazy and SOG is right across the street. I can just hear Jim - "why are we paying $300 a night when we can be across the street for $109 a night?"

I know - apparently smoking at the pool is the thing to do, cuz a bunch of moms were smoking at the off-property resort we stayed at after we left SSR, too.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Wed Mar 25th was our MK day! Funny, I wasn't looking forward to this day as much, because I was feeling like MK is just like DL, and we've done these rides a million times, plus it is always so crowded. I KNOW! How could I say such a thing

This day turned out to be the best day of our whole trip!

We got up at 7am again - when I called for a wake up, the CM said, "What? Getting up early on vacation?" Does she know where she works? After listening to that annoying Stitch, I was up and ready to roll in - well, let's see - I thought we would make RD. I forgot about parking at the TTC. So I took my time drinking coffee out on the balcony and taking pics, then I ate some rice cream. We headed out at 8:30, arriving at TTC at 8:45 - plenty of time for a 9am RD, right? Well a bunch of buses dumped right ahead of us, and the lines for the monorail were crazy - we noticed the ferry had no line, so we speed walked over there.

"Sorry folks, Wally World is closed!" The CM said as he held up his hand and put the chain across. any National Lampoon's Vacation fans reading? That is our little joke when a CM or park ranger is taking their job way too seriously! What? Oh well, we'll be first on the next one so it will be okay. Here's where I really need to have a better memory. We get on first, then stay to the back, because we think the boat will turn around. We ended up being about the last ones off the boat!

The poly:

Getting close!

We arrived in the park at 9:30! I had my sweatshirt on and it was going to be a long day, so we rented a locker and I stashed my bag in there for a little while.

We headed to SM and got a FP for 11:45. We rode Buzz, and the jinx began again!

Buzz was a walk-on. We got through the first room, and then stopped in one place for a few minutes just as we entered the second room. We racked up alot of points shooting at the same robot over and over again!

We headed over to Adventureland - POC was a walk-on, and we enjoyed it so much, we decided to do it again - it was still a walk-on. So we took off, and just as we got past the ship and into town, the lights came on and the sound turned off. We continued the whole voyage in silence, (except for the guy behind us who said he wanted to hear the song, and I asked him to sing it for us, so he started it and everyone laughed ), watching the animatronics. Yah, not quite the same. They didn't even give us a FP or anything We stopped and bought some pirate loot for Myles,4 and Mason, 1 then headed over to BTMRR.

BTMRR was a walk-on, almost! Ya-Hoo! I love this ride! We got in our car, moved forward a little bit, and the ride stopped. "Hold on partners, your rootin' tootin' adventure will begin in just a minute!" And....we were off!

We got a FP for Splash, then I wanted to do some shopping in "cowboyland" for the boys. Jim, of course, didn't know why I wanted to shop when we already "had stuff for the boys." Hello? I'm a GRANDMA - GET OVER IT!

We headed back to Fantasyland to see Philharmagic - Jim loves that one.

I decided we needed to do some Princess Shopping, so we went to Fairy Treasures. I wanted to buy everything in the store, but I found a little Belle music box for Londynn, 1.

We went back to the locker and retrieved my bag so I would have my camera, and stored my jacket and purchases. We made good use of the locker that day.

We stopped in a glass shop on main street - I wanted to see the pretty things, and this guy was demonstrating glass blowing:

We stopped to listen to a barbershop quartet for a few minutes

Got me some castle pics:

Our heroes:

At this point, I was thinking, "now why wasn't I excited about this day?" We were having a magical day, and this is what it's all about! We decided this is the best park after all! Or It's a small world after all!

We headed over to SM - no jinx here, thank goodness!


I don't know why those pics up above are sideways, I have edited them and rotated them and pasted them 3 times. I give up - sorry!
I see I need to go and get ready for church - Next Post:

MORE KETCHUP!!!!

 

[morgtroy]

Sorry to join back in the party so late. After our trip ending with the car crash in Jacksonville, FL, I've been wrapped up in insurance and car shopping drama...for the last month. It's really a shame it has over shadowed our great trip. I wasn't sure I was going to do a TR, but I may, just to recelebrate the fun we had, before the car incident.

But I'm caught up.

Your comment about working for disney as a boat driver, made me laugh. When we were there, we took the small boat from WL back to MK. After one of the larger boats went by, we got a little bump from their wave. The driver said, "Whoaaa, that's all the excitement I get out here." in a very sarcastic tone. I got choked laughing at him. I do really admire the CM's.

I looked for us in any of the backgrounds in your AK pics. Didn't see us. We had to be at EE at the same time. and had to cross paths at some point that day. I think we were in and out of dinosaur around the same time too. And yes, I noticed the mustard and ketchup and mayo pipes thanks to your trivia contest.

Then I died laughing when I saw you with Santa. Me and the kids really got a kick out of that guy. We saw him scooting by us. I told the kids, "look, it's Santa, his hat says so." That is a little freaky, telling you to sit on his lap????
Can't wait to hear more.

 

[anewmac]

I feel the same way about the Magic Kingdom and DL. But I think a stop there is what makes it all feel like magic! Man talk about jinx's your poor things!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Sorry to join back in the party so late. After our trip ending with the car crash in Jacksonville, FL, I've been wrapped up in insurance and car shopping drama...for the last month. It's really a shame it has over shadowed our great trip. I wasn't sure I was going to do a TR, but I may, just to recelebrate the fun we had, before the car incident.

But I'm caught up.

Your comment about working for disney as a boat driver, made me laugh. When we were there, we took the small boat from WL back to MK. After one of the larger boats went by, we got a little bump from their wave. The driver said, "Whoaaa, that's all the excitement I get out here." in a very sarcastic tone. I got choked laughing at him. I do really admire the CM's.

I looked for us in any of the backgrounds in your AK pics. Didn't see us. We had to be at EE at the same time. and had to cross paths at some point that day. I think we were in and out of dinosaur around the same time too. And yes, I noticed the mustard and ketchup and mayo pipes thanks to your trivia contest.

Then I died laughing when I saw you with Santa. Me and the kids really got a kick out of that guy. We saw him scooting by us. I told the kids, "look, it's Santa, his hat says so." That is a little freaky, telling you to sit on his lap????
Can't wait to hear more.

Morgtroy! Welcome Back! I didn't know about your car accident - I'm so sorry. Sounds like you're all okay? Was it on your way home? I hope the drama has settled for you.

It's funny that we didn't see each other at some point! I didn't notice Santa's scooter, but it must have been the same guy!

I feel the same way about the Magic Kingdom and DL. But I think a stop there is what makes it all feel like magic! Man talk about jinx's your poor things!

I know TGM said not to go there on Monday, but I think the magic was missing a little bit until we visited there. The jinx just got to be funny after the 2nd day!

 

[Camster0307]

I LOVE that glass-blowing shop! I go in there and see so much that I want to buy but just don't want to deal with schlepping it on the airplane. But it's all so pretty!

And c'mon now - I know you've done DL quite a few times but it just does not compare to WDW! How could you not be looking forward to your MK day?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I LOVE that glass-blowing shop! I go in there and see so much that I want to buy but just don't want to deal with schlepping it on the airplane. But it's all so pretty!

And c'mon now - I know you've done DL quite a few times but it just does not compare to WDW! How could you not be looking forward to your MK day?

I think my hesitation might have been the size of the crowds when we were there before - there have been so many tour groups we couldn't get to the rides sometimes!

The world is bigger, but MK and DL are almost exactly the same - truth be told, the rides at DL are better - they are longer because the crowds are smaller. POC has a restaurant it goes through - Blue Bayou - so cool - really fits the New Orleans atmosphere. And it has a big drop inside! I think Splash is better at MK, though And of course the castle is much bigger at MK!!! I guess you just have to do both as often as possible!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

never knew there was a glass blowing shop, where is it located.

 

[CRdisMom]

I think my hesitation might have been the size of the crowds when we were there before - there have been so many tour groups we couldn't get to the rides sometimes!

The world is bigger, but MK and DL are almost exactly the same - truth be told, the rides at DL are better - they are longer because the crowds are smaller. POC has a restaurant it goes through - Blue Bayou - so cool - really fits the New Orleans atmosphere. And it has a big drop inside! I think Splash is better at MK, though And of course the castle is much bigger at MK!!! I guess you just have to do both as often as possible!

Yup have to agree with you here. POC at DL was better. I love the fact that it is indoors and you feel like you are in new orleans.

 

[MagicShell]

I just got caught up. I have been out of town. I loved the Santa Clause pictures. Magic Kingdom is my favorite park for sure. I could go there everyday.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

never knew there was a glass blowing shop, where is it located.

It's on Main Street, right hand side - the glass shop - there is a side street entrance on the right side if you are looking toward the front of the Glass shop - on the 2nd corner, I think.

Yup have to agree with you here. POC at DL was better. I love the fact that it is indoors and you feel like you are in new orleans.

I love to eat in the Blue Bayou and wave at the people floating by in the boat, and I love the crickets and fireflies as you float by the little house on stilts - looks just like the swamp house in the last POC movie.

I just got caught up. I have been out of town. I loved the Santa Clause pictures. Magic Kingdom is my favorite park for sure. I could go there everyday.

Welcome Back! I keep thinking it would be fun to work at MK or DCL when we retire!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

When I last posted, I was saying how Magic Kingdom really was magic for me!

We used our FP at SM with no incident.
I took some pics of these guys on the way back toward Frontierland for lunch:

I stopped to admire the back side of the castle - amazing on all sides!


We found a photopass girl back there, and asked her to take our pic together so we'd have proof we really took this trip together!

I had previously planned on eating lunch at Pinochios, then looked for a healthier choice for Jim. I planned on Columbia House, but he looked at the menu and asked for our usual - Pecos Bill's. We looked at that newfangled self-serve Kiosk, got scared and ran for the nearest real person to place our order! There was no line, but most of the tables were full, so I got a table while Jim waited for our food. I had a delicious turkey wrap and Jim had a burger - switcheroo of appetites for us - he's usually the turkey!

We really hit it at the right time, because right after we got there, the place really filled up. There was one poor elderly guy whose family left him to carry the tray - he walked all over trying to find them - he had really thick glasses - he almost tripped over a bench at our table, so I stood up and moved the bench out of his way - he got to the next room and fell over a bench poor guy - they called paramedics for him, but I didn't see how he was - stupid family.

We had pretty much done everything on our list for this morning, and the crowds were growing, so we got a FP for later at JC. We came upon the Pirate tutorial - girls, don't drool - I really tried not to stare with Jim standing next to me!

This little boy is so cute!

Captain Jack was hilarious - another boy had him down on the ground, and told him he fought like a girl - Jack stood up and yelled, "you'd better RUN!"



We headed to Main Street so we could do some shopping. We made it to the big Emporium store, and started shopping. Some high school bands came down the street outside, and we noticed it was almost parade time We panicked, because we didn't want to be TRAPPED! Jim is not a fan of parades. Getting stuck in the crowd can ruin his day So I was frantically running through the store trying to make decisions on gifts.

I found Dan's 4-park puzzle he had requested.
I found a Tink snow globe for DDIL.
We bought a Pirate's shirt and a huge mug for DS25.
We bought Pirate boxers for DS24 - he's a Brave's fan, so we planned to get him something at the game.
I looked at toys for DGS 2, but didn't really find anything. I found a shirt for him, and I had purchased a pirate outfit to save for his birthday, which was yesterday.
Jim saw a set of patio dishes for our other DDIL, we decided to keep those in mind and pick them up at DTD later if we didn't find anything else.
We had pirate treasure and a shirt from POC for DGS 4.

Oh Oh! The music was getting louder and louder! Why can't you just make up your mind..... Oh the pressure!

We made it out the end door, only to see the beginning of the "Celebrate the Magic" parade! I was actually very happy to see it! Jim sat down on the curb, and I got a nice view right in front of a pole - we were not "space crowders" As you can see, the group was in front of us near the rope, but we had a great view!

The Grand Marshall family:

Continued next post.....

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Parade continued:

We were ready for a break, and we had ADRs at WCC, so we hopped on the boat for WL. We had never been there, so I was ready to explore what I'd heard so much about!

We walked up the never-ending dock turned wooden sidewalk to encounter this sign - oh, I had seen Samantha Brown at this very spot!

I told Jim how exciting this would be when "Firerock geyser erupted at any time"

Yah, well my patience lasted about 3 minutes - Okay, Okay it's obviously not going to erupt, so let's keep moving!

I have to say that this resort hasn't been on top of my list, because it's so much like home. I mean we don't live in a log cabin, and it's not Yellowstone, but most of our quick getaways involve pine trees and mountains and lakes and cabins - I always want to try something more unusual.

Funny how you can surprise yourself. First, this resort is so beautiful and packed with fun. Second, it was so relaxing because it felt like home! I have to say that I am amazed at Disney's knack for staging a scene. I was sitting on one of the side porches off the VWL area - I felt like I could have just been out at the lake here!

Resort Pics:

I didn't realize there was a beach here

DVC Pool

I loved the decor in the Villa

Lunch ADRs in earlier times at WL

To be continued: