How Disney turned Grumpy's Frown Upside Down! August 2010 TR!

[annmarieda]

What yummy pictures of the food from Le Cellier!!! I love the food there. I wish that they didn't change dinners to a 2 ts credit place. Maybe it will make it easier to get an ADR for dinner there now.


I love the family pic!

 

[flamestarrdust]

What yummy pictures of the food from Le Cellier!!! I love the food there. I wish that they didn't change dinners to a 2 ts credit place. Maybe it will make it easier to get an ADR for dinner there now.


I love the family pic!

I love the food there, too, and now so does DFi. He says it's a must for our December trip. I also think the change might make it easier to get a dinner ADR but I think getting a lunch one will be impossible.

Thanks! I have that pic set as my desktop background on my computer.

 

[flamestarrdust]

After lunch, we decided to explore WS for a bit. At this point DFi's feet were really starting to swell and hurt. This meant we didn't know how much longer we could stay at Epcot without a hotel break. I was hoping we could make it through but it wasn't looking good. We at least wanted to stay long enough to use our Soarin' FPs. So first, we stopped at one of the kidcot stations so that the girls could make a mask.

AJ's

Haylee's

We stopped for a few minutes to watch these guys perform:

After that we continued through WS

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[flamestarrdust]

This is one of my favorite parts of the trip. I love going in the perfume store in France. Alleyah agreed to go in while Haylee chose to stay outside with her dad. We went in and Alleyah picked up different bottles trying to see which one she liked best. This is when a CM comes over to her and offers her one of the perfume cards so she can spray the scent she likes on it. Then he asked her which one she liked the most and told her things about them. That was just one of the sweetest things to me. I guess because when you're not at Disney and go to a store like that, the sales assocs. may not be as nice to a young girl about such an expensive perfume. I know it's probably not such a big deal but it was just a really special moment for me and for Alleyah.

More WS exploring:

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[flamestarrdust]

After our exploring, we stopped at the Japanese Pavilion to check out their store. While the kids and DFi explored the store, I went off on my own to check out the sake. I had wanted to get DFi a bottle since he is such a sake fan. However, they were all out of my price range. Just as I am about to go to another section, DFi walks up to me telling me he has been looking for me and that we need to hurry over to the clothing section. So I follow him over to where he was pointing and it turns out while I was sake shopping, a CM had asked the girls and DFi if it would be alright for the girls to try on kimonos. DFi explained that we couldn't buy any and they said it would still be ok for them to try them on. DFi was thrilled about this since he is a huge fan of Japanese culture. So yet again, another magical WDW pixiedust moment :

Alleyah (Haylee is in the back picking out a kimono with the CM)

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[flamestarrdust]

After the girls trying on Kimonos, we went outside and were fortunate enough to catch the candy lady making some of her famous candies. This was a big deal for us since we had seen her included in a Food Network Special.

By this time, DFi's feet were really bothering him and it was almost time to use our FPs for Soarin, so we made our way back to the front of the park. We rode Soarin and everyone liked it but did not seem as enthused as the rest of the world is about this ride. I had been on it before and loved it just as much as the first time. After Soarin, we decided it was time to go back to POP for a break. On our way out, we saw that Spaceship Earth only had a 5 minute way so we rode that. Everyone also liked this ride. After that, we left the park and made our way back to POP. It was about 5:30 when we left Epcot. Once we got back to POP, we grabbed some dinner. I don't recall what we ate but everything we had there was good so I'm sure ths wasn't different. After dinner, we went for a swim. After about an hour it started to rain and they closed the pool. So went back up to the room. At this point, we were much too tired to go back to the parks and decided to call it a day. We had hoped to go swimming again before going to sleep but the rain never let up. We ended up watching two repeat episodes of "Glee" and then going to bed.

Up Next, our first day of the trip with no TS and our longest park day...

 

[annmarieda]

I love WS. Some of my favorite WDW memories have been there.

Very cool about both the kimonos and the perfume. I think that is just one of the many things that impresses me about WDW. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are staying.. EVERYONE gets wonderful treatment. I know that around here... there are many places that this is NOT the case.

Aw, the candy maker!!! I have seen her a couple times but have never been able to get good pictures. Your pictures are awesome!!!

Can't wait to read more... and I hope your dfi feet end up feeling better.

 

[flamestarrdust]

I love WS. Some of my favorite WDW memories have been there.

Very cool about both the kimonos and the perfume. I think that is just one of the many things that impresses me about WDW. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are staying.. EVERYONE gets wonderful treatment. I know that around here... there are many places that this is NOT the case.

Aw, the candy maker!!! I have seen her a couple times but have never been able to get good pictures. Your pictures are awesome!!!

Can't wait to read more... and I hope your dfi feet end up feeling better.

I love it, too! And that is also where alot of my favorite WDW memories are from.

I agree that EVERYONE gets wonderful treatment. It just amazes me how wonderful Disney is about that.

Thanks for the compliment. Though DFi is the one who took the pics. He really wanted to see her show. It was interesting but she kept repeating the same phrases over and over again. I am glad we got to see it but I'm not sure I would see it again unless I was bringing someone new along with us.

DFi's feet did get a little better through the trip. It had a lot to do with his shoes. He forgot to bring his tennis shoes and only had his boots. So that didn't help things. Next trip, I am going to double check that he packs the right shoes.

 

[flamestarrdust]

I don't recall the time we got up this day and for some reason I didn't write it down along with the rest of the info for this day. Though the time stamp for the below picture is 8:24am and that sounds about right.

Once we were up and dressed, we went to Everything Pop to get some breakfast snacks and fill up my refillable mug with coke. We got 2 chocolate croissants, a banana and an OJ to split. It was a nice breakfast to split and filled us up just enough to get us through to lunch. We arrived at DHS around 10:30 and already had a plan. The girls had no intention of riding either ToT or RNRC so we used their KTTW cards to get FPs for one ride and ours to get FPs for the other. After getting FPs for both ToT and RNRC, we let the kids stop at a kids station to make some "CDs".

Next we went towards Alleyah's favorite attraction, VOLM, and we stopped at a giftshop along the way. Haylee tried on a few hats and we took pics of some wish list souvenirs.

(I love this pic! So cute!)

Once we got to VOLM, we found that is was closed down and would be open later but they didn't know when. We promised Alleyah that if it didn't open back up that day, we would change one of our other park days to come back to see it. Next, we checked out the Animation area so we could draw a character but the next time was too close to our ToT FP time so we decided to come back later. We decided to check out a few shops on the way over to ToT and take a few pics.

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[flamestarrdust]

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[flamestarrdust]

Up Next, ToT and a delicious lunch...

 

[vikkil70]

Sounds like you all had a great time at Epcot, except for DFi's feet. Hope he did better the rest of the trip. I loved the pics of the girls in the Kimonos, and the ones from HS with Haylee in the hats, very good choices.
Spaceship Earth must be the ride to hit on the way out. We did the same thing on our trip. We checked it out in the late morning and the line was long. As we were getting ready to leave for the night we walked by and the wait was only 5 minutes.

Finally after much talking I got DH to agree to a trip next year so I can't wait to start planning. We are either looking at Feb, Oct, or Dec. Not sure yet but have to decide soon. We are also hoping to do August of 2013 with some friends of ours who were suppose to join us last year but had to cancel. DH will skip that trip since he said he was not going again during the summer. I'll miss him terribly but he's ok with us going without him.. Can't wait to read more.

 

[annmarieda]

We took these same pictures! I love all the others you took. I am in awe of all the artwork there... but we never get enough pics. Thanks for sharing yours.

 

[flamestarrdust]

I apologize for the delay in posting. We have a good bit going on right now. One, I am going to school but I will post more about that in our PTR. Also, we had to cancel our WDW trip in December but are now rebooking it. I will explain that in the PTR, too.

 

[flamestarrdust]

We made our way over to ToT to redeem our FPs. DFi went first while me and the girls checked out the giftshop. This has to be one of my favorite giftshops in WDW. It has such interesting things. DFi took the camera with him so I don't have any pics of the shop. Here are a few pics he took while waiting in line and then a redneck photo of a photo:

DFi is the one in the blue hat

He got on and off the ride very quickly with the FP. It was my turn next so DFi took the kids towards Starring Rolls where we planned to have lunch.

Once I got to ToT, I got into the FP line but noticed that it didn't seem to be moving and that the regular line wasn't moving that much either. After a while, a few people in front of me in line turned around to leave mentioning that something was wrong with the ride. I decided to turn around as well since I was hungry and also because I didn't know how much longer it would be before the ride would start again. Once I got to the start of the line, a CM was there and I asked him what was going on with the ride. He said it was down and they weren't sure when it would be running again but that my FP would be good all day because of the malfunction. So I went towards Starring Rolls to meet up with DFi and the girls. We were very excited about eating here and the food did not disappoint.

DFi got a fountain soda, spicy tuna sushi, chips, and the butterfinger cupcake (not pictured):

Haylee got california rolls, chips, orange juice and a brownie with regular and white chocolate chips:

I got spicy tuna rolls, a fountain soda, chips and a banana split mousse:

Alleyah got the turkey sandwich (missing a bite because she couldn't resist), fountain soda, chips and a cupcake:

More Dessert Pics:

We all ended up splitting desserts and trading. My banana split dessert was yummy but DFi liked it better than the butterfinger cupcake so we traded. Then I helped Alleyah finish off her cupcake and she shared some of the butterfinger cupcake with me, too. We ended up saving our chips for later because it was just too much food. We will definitely be returning to Starring Rolls on our next trip.

Up Next, RNRC and do I ever get to ride ToT?

 

[annmarieda]

First, I can't wait to hear what your plans are for December!

Second, isn't Starring Rolls the best?! I too will be returning.

 

[vikkil70]

Second that! Interested to hear about your plans for December.

I love Starring Rolls, just seeing the pictures of those yummy cupcakes was making my mouth water, and wishing I was there having one.

 

[flamestarrdust]

So we have had a change of plans and postponed our next trip to April 2012. This is great news to us since this is mine and the girls bday month which is a dream trip for us. Mine is the 18th and the girls is the 23rd. So we are going the 17th-24th. I will update you more on this when I start my PTR. Tomorrow, I will post the next update in this TR so I can start my new PTR very soon.

 

[annmarieda]

So we have had a change of plans and postponed our next trip to April 2012. This is great news to us since this is mine and the girls bday month which is a dream trip for us. Mine is the 18th and the girls is the 23rd. So we are going the 17th-24th. I will update you more on this when I start my PTR. Tomorrow, I will post the next update in this TR so I can start my new PTR very soon.

Sad that you won't be there in December.. but on getting to go during your birth month. For me.. I feel like I am kinda cheating myself since we almost were going to go on my birthday. (12/26) Who knows... maybe I will change our dates again. You and the girls are going to love it. My dd and dm and ds have enjoyed going for their birthday. Ds... well, he is was a large grumpy teen...so didn't get a lot of dm and dd did though! It was awesome

 

[flamestarrdust]

After lunch, we went back to ToT to see if it was running and it was, so I rode it while DFi and the kids checked out the gift shop. DFi took a few pics while they waited.

After ToT, DFi and I rode RnRC together while the girls watched The Beauty and The Beast show. DFi and I had great time riding this and it really made us consider a possible us only trip in the future. The girls also enjoyed the Beauty and The Beast show.

Next we went to see if VOLM was running and it was so we watched that. AJ loved it and it actually brought tears to my eyes to see her so happy and excited.

After that we went to the Art of Animation. We skipped the movie and went straight to the drawing session. They were about to start and almost full so we didn't get desk and to prop the board on our laps to draw. We still had a lot of fun though. We ended up drawing Angry Donald Duck which was not too difficult. At the end, the animator asked a trivia question and AJ ended up answering correctly and won the Angry Donald sketch that he drew. I will take a pic of her sketch and his later to share with you. As for the rest of our sketches, they wandered off a few days later along with AJ's backpack and were never recovered. I will explain more about this in a future update.

Next we rode the Great Movie Ride and got the cowboy ending which was nice since I always get the gangster ending.

After that, we went to catch the last showing of LMA. DFi really liked this and took a ton of pics. I'm not going to post them all. I'll just post the highlights.

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