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

[anewmac]

OHH like that room, hmmm good to know.. you know incase of any future trips LOL

oh no you cant be over already!

 

[jordanyosh]

That bed looks like you would want to stay in it for days....

 

[MAGICFOR2]

OHH like that room, hmmm good to know.. you know incase of any future trips LOL

oh no you cant be over already!

Just like the vacation, it's over too soon. I have enjoyed re-living the memories - thanks for reading!

That bed looks like you would want to stay in it for days....

It was, and I did want to.

 

[MagicShell]

I can't believe the end of your trip is here. It seems to take so long for a trip to get here and it flies by when you get there. I hate that. Your bed looks nice. We have stayed off property several times at really nice places but it just is not the same as staying on property.

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Your suite looked very nice! Glad the bed was comfy!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I can't believe the end of your trip is here. It seems to take so long for a trip to get here and it flies by when you get there. I hate that. Your bed looks nice. We have stayed off property several times at really nice places but it just is not the same as staying on property.

I know - vacation goes by way too fast.

You really are immersed in the whole disney experience on property, but I enjoyed our meals off property more!

Your suite looked very nice! Glad the bed was comfy!

It was very nice for the price.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Saturday, March 28th - This is the day we all hate. Last day at Disney. We wanted to make this day relaxing because we had to travel so early the next day. So we slept in and took advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel. It was okay - nothing to brag about. There were several soccer teams there, so once we dished up our waffles and syrup, we were permenantly stuck to any and all surfaces, and the noise was deafening!

Having consulted TGM on which park would be best to repeat, I decided we should go to AK, which I love, anyway.
We decided that today we would just see FOTLK, walk around, shop and visit AKL to try to check out the new villas.

We arrived at about 10am. Just inside the gate, we stopped at the first gift shop to check out something that caught our eye, and I found the premier edition of D23 magazine! I had read something about it, but D23 actually started while we were gone, so I didn't even know what it was, but I knew the magazine would be a collector's item. From then on it was Jim's job to guard it with his life so that it didn't get bent or spilled on. What a guy! I am still dying to open it and read it, but It won't be the same, so it's sealed in plastic, waiting for

We went back to see that FOLK was just about to start, so we headed in and became elephants.

I am always amazed by this show. I hope to see it on stage sometime.

We decided to ride KRR, as it was a walk on. We rode with a couple with their small little boy, and a very heavy family who were all together on the other side. The mom on our side was wondering out loud who was going to get wet. We both nodded over to the other side. "Oh really? Is that how it works?" "Trust me." Yup. We ended up with just a little water on our legs - the heavy side - totally drenched from head to foot! I have seen it time and time again. Whereever the most weight is - which alot of times happens to be Jim and his Uncle - that's the side that turns and goes down the drop first! Note to self - always lose weight before going on KRR

We walked around and saw some friends (oops! This was outside FOTLK)

Apparently this lady knows I'm a famous DIS reporter and posed so she could be in my column!

more friends - I had seen this on other TRs, but never noticed them for myself. Thanks Dawn, Dan and Jordan!

Our plan was to eat CS for lunch, then find a nice dinner off property. Well, we suddenly became very hungry, just as we were walking past Yak and Yehti - what? Again?

Yes! I had read that the TS was so good, and it just sounded right at the moment. I checked, and they could seat us right away! We were seated on the Mezzanine level - the decor was very fun inside:

Our server, Sarah, was from our home state, Oregon. She was alot of fun - went out there for school like so many and just stayed! I guess she loved the sunshine! Anyway, the food was delish and I would highly recommend this restaurant! In fact, the food was so good that Jim became a DIS convert....... That's right - HE SUGGESTED I DO FOOD PORN!!!!

"Why don't you take pictures of this food, you know you want to!" I didn't have to be asked twice - so here it is - my first food porn pics (drum roll please)

We shared the Dim Sum basket:

and the Maple Tamarind Chicken with coconut rice:

I had a delicious Cherry Limeade and Jim had iced tea.

We decided that we had seen what we wanted to today, and it was about 1:30, so we took our time walking out of our last park one last time

Next Post: Final thoughts

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Yay for DH encouraging food porn! You're doing a good job of converting him!

So sad that it's your last day.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Yay for DH encouraging food porn! You're doing a good job of converting him!

So sad that it's your last day.

That's the only way we can get them to take more Disney trips, right?

 

[podsnel]

Oh! Maybe I'll bring the babies and Dan can babysit!

Now I want to mention that Dan's gift was selected personally based on his fav character. In our family, everyone has to have their character.

Thanks for posting the pics, Dan!

Kara, I'm sure FF is a great place - I think my all time favorite at WDW is still HBD at DHS in 2004. Others have said they didn't care for thier meal there. I think it depends on the night they eat there! I really enjoyed the area and atmosphere, though!

I have to say, I agree with you, Tammie. We did not have a great experience at FF either, and that was in 2007- although I spoke to the MGR about it, and she was VERY nice, and gave the boys some cool bags o disney stuff which were back at the BC when we went home to the room. For us, dinner took 3 hours (Sean was going NUTS by the end, Pods had to leave with him) and the food was just- eh. I had the signature dish, the potato encrusted snapper- it was kind of greasy, and the potato crust was floppy. I've had snapper with the potato crust elsewhere, and it has been fabulous- all crunchy, yum! But the mgr told us the kitchen was having a bad night- so I would be willing to give it another shot. I also wanted to say my DGF Janie won't go back- and it used to be her favorite restaurant...and it's all because of the steak her son Greg ordered, just like yours! I really love HBD, had one of my best WDW meals there, too! SO I made Janie go and guess what her NEW favorite WDW restaurant is???

Ok- back to catching up-

 

[podsnel]

I'll bet your softball days were fun! Are you a "lefty?" My oldest DS is a lefty and played 1st Base! It was fun when the boys played on the same team - they could read each other pretty well.

I have to ask - what is LMT that sucked the life out of you? That is the airport code for our city, which "sucks the life out of everyone here daily!"

Timmy (DS10) is a lefty and he's a great 1st baseman, too- he has very, very long arms (his wingspan is longer than his height, and he's a tall kid). He can really stretch to get that ball!!

So THAT'S what's over there at WWoS! I always wondered- it does look beautiful. On the west coast, do your kids teams ever go to Cooperstown? Just wondering if that's just something on this half of the country. Great place, Cooperstown- like stepping back in time to the most American town ever. If you haven't been, Tammie, with your love of baseball, you should check it out someday. You'd love it!

 

[podsnel]

Sorry about all the posts, but I'll forget what I want to say if I wait til the end of my catching up!! There used to be a guy on the Dis (he could still be on here, I don't know) that had a blog about Celebration. He moved there with his wife because of their love of Disney. The guy was HYSTERICAL, he talked about how he got fined for putting a fountain in his yard (he wasn't in the "fountain allowed" part of town) and alot of other restrictions. So your Stepford assessment may not be that far off! Nantucket is like that, too. Very pretty place, but the board tells you what color your house has to be when you re-paint, etc. It's a little creepy, but I guess it works for someone...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I have to say, I agree with you, Tammie. We did not have a great experience at FF either, and that was in 2007- although I spoke to the MGR about it, and she was VERY nice, and gave the boys some cool bags o disney stuff which were back at the BC when we went home to the room. For us, dinner took 3 hours (Sean was going NUTS by the end, Pods had to leave with him) and the food was just- eh. I had the signature dish, the potato encrusted snapper- it was kind of greasy, and the potato crust was floppy. I've had snapper with the potato crust elsewhere, and it has been fabulous- all crunchy, yum! But the mgr told us the kitchen was having a bad night- so I would be willing to give it another shot. I also wanted to say my DGF Janie won't go back- and it used to be her favorite restaurant...and it's all because of the steak her son Greg ordered, just like yours! I really love HBD, had one of my best WDW meals there, too! SO I made Janie go and guess what her NEW favorite WDW restaurant is???

Ok- back to catching up-

Oh, that doesn't sound like a good experience. 3 hours

Timmy (DS10) is a lefty and he's a great 1st baseman, too- he has very, very long arms (his wingspan is longer than his height, and he's a tall kid). He can really stretch to get that ball!!

So THAT'S what's over there at WWoS! I always wondered- it does look beautiful. On the west coast, do your kids teams ever go to Cooperstown? Just wondering if that's just something on this half of the country. Great place, Cooperstown- like stepping back in time to the most American town ever. If you haven't been, Tammie, with your love of baseball, you should check it out someday. You'd love it!

What a fun time for you and Timmy. It goes by so fast! No, we don't organize trips to Cooperstown, at least. I think there is always that hope that we'll get out that way when the boys are in Little League - you know heading out because of the LL world series.

We should plan a trip out there. Jim wants to go to the Basketball hall of fame, too - can't remember where that is, but it would be a fun trip for him.

Sorry about all the posts, but I'll forget what I want to say if I wait til the end of my catching up!! There used to be a guy on the Dis (he could still be on here, I don't know) that had a blog about Celebration. He moved there with his wife because of their love of Disney. The guy was HYSTERICAL, he talked about how he got fined for putting a fountain in his yard (he wasn't in the "fountain allowed" part of town) and alot of other restrictions. So your Stepford assessment may not be that far off! Nantucket is like that, too. Very pretty place, but the board tells you what color your house has to be when you re-paint, etc. It's a little creepy, but I guess it works for someone...

I'm not sure I could follow the rules I got a different perspective though on the DIS. I've been reading Lurkyloo's TR - she has friends in Celebration - her wedding photographer. Anyway, she has a cozy, "love to come back" kind of feel cuz she knows someone there.

 

[anewmac]

YEA for converting Hubby on the food porn, tell him we all apriciate it!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

YEA for converting Hubby on the food porn, tell him we all apriciate it!

Will do - when I see him again

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

glad i could help you find the statues in AK and see something you have not seen before.

 

[MagicShell]

I was sad to read about you leaving your last park for you last time. At least you got to see the FTLK. I love that show. I have never heard of anyone who doesn't.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

glad i could help you find the statues in AK and see something you have not seen before.

You're almost like TGM!

I was sad to read about you leaving your last park for you last time. At least you got to see the FTLK. I love that show. I have never heard of anyone who doesn't.

I know! It is so amazing what they can do in such a small theatre!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

We got back to the hotel, and decided to walk over to the sister hotel there, Caribe Royale and check it out. We had priviledges there for the dining and pool. It was beautiful, but it seemed like everything was really empty and we felt like we'd be kicked out at any moment We decided to go out somewhere for dinner (we had cancelled our RR ADRs cuz Jim wanted an early evening) and be satisfied with our pool. Jim decided to take a little nap and watch a game. I got my swimsuit on, made an adult beverage and headed for the pool. Now this pool is nothing special, but there are a few pretty plants around and lots of chairs. I got settled with my book, and guess what - Smoking Area again!

Apparently pools are the smoking zone. It didn't end up being a problem, because the wind was blowing. I settled in with my book, and just fell asleep with CRASH!!!! A family had to sit right next to me and crash into my chair - I mean there were only 30 other empty chairs at the pool, and I wasn't even front row. Thanks, I didn't want to oversleep anyway! I took a little dip, and then the pool got really really crowded with the soccer kiddos, so I went upstairs to get my nap.

When we got hungry, we went out looking for a restaurant and ended up at Ruby Tuesday I had never been before, and I really enjoyed it. I don't remember what I ate, except we had the artichoke dip and a really good salad bar. So much for our "little snack" for dinner!

We stopped by one of those tacky souvenier shops, because we didn't have enough Disney junk. We found some cars for the boys and a little lemur for Londynn, which she sleeps with every night.

Now I really felt vacation was over. We had to pack. This should have been easy, because we had only been at this location for a couple of days, but I was all disorganized, and the bags were "uneven." So the first thing I did was pick up a bag that was unzipped and dumped everything out on the floor. That set the tone for grouchy me. I really hate to go home. i just get grumpy. I need a Grumpy T-shirt to wear on the last night. We got all the air out of our Space Bags, got all the shoes and toiletries divided amongst our things, cleaned out the frig and went to bed early. We had a 4:30 wake up call.

Our next morning was really early, but we made it out to the airport and car return with no issues, and we got some security MOJO! When Jim showed his military ID, they let us go through the VIP line, and security was a breeze! We managed to upgrade to economy plus on our flight from Orlando to San Francisco, and had clam chowder in the airport there - I love the clam chowder in the sourdough bowl they have there

We got in to Portland, took a shuttle over to our car, and hit the road. We got home about 4:30pm. The babies were really happy to see us, and of course we brought goodies for them in our suitcase, which they love!

Next: Final Thoughts

 

[jordanyosh]

As much as last days in the parks are hard and sad, there's also a freedom in just going with the flow. You notice things you haven't seen before. You stop and appreciate things and you usually have some good luck....The Yak and Yeti food looks good.....

Coming home=not gud.