How to do Free Dining AND lose weight!!! - FINISHED! p. 3 #34

[LegoMom3]

I apologize once again for going so long without an update! We have been busy, busy, busy with our house - had the whole kitchen taken apart over the last week so you can imagine how crazy and upside my life has been!!

The least I can do is toss in some more photos. Those are always good to look at!

On Day 3 we went to the Studios first thing for opening (it was a regular opening day - 9am - so I had the whole crew with me!). It was also already quite hot at that hour. I have NO idea how anyone survives WDW in July! We were meeting up with Mil and Fil here, so as we milled around the main area just inside the gate, this guy came around in his little car and interacted with the crowd with his little megaphone!

He was a riot!!!!! We all had our custom, homemade "Incredibles" t-shirts on (except for Grumpy, who wanted Rock-n-Rollercoaster instead), with names on them. This guy saw Silly first (except obviously it was his real first name) and calls out to him, "Silly!...I like your style, don't change a thing!" And the guy's got this little accent going, too. It was great! He made a comment to Sleepy, also, who suddenly was very shy. My shirt had Mrs. Incredible on it with simply "mom" written underneath. A short time later as we were walking down Hollywood Blvd., this guy comes by again and since I was at the head of our group, he calls out "And here we have - MOM!....starring in the role of "Mom!" Yes ladies and gentlemen, look at her, how fabulous! Just like a mom!" Another great "Disney" moment. Things like that don't happen to you anywhere else! It was SO fun!

Another neat street act, this one on Sunset Blvd.

This sign was on the fence that was up around the muppet fountain!!

Me and Grumpy with Woody!!!!!! Woo-hoo!

Me and Silly with Buzz!!!! Double-Woo-hoo!! (can you tell I LOVE characters?!)

It's a good thing I love the atmosphere of the Disney Studios so much, because I did a lot of waiting here that day. First attraction we hit was Tower of Terror. I rode it once, in '96, before it was "randomized." Been there, done that, NOT going back! So Mil and I waited while everyone else rode it. After that Hubby and Grumpy went to do RNR right next door, so the rest of us waited for that. Next stop was Star Tours, which Sleepy had been waiting all trip to go on, so it was now or suffer his wrath. I waited that one out with Mil and Grumpy, who simply didn't care to ride. I took this photo of him while we were waiting....

This child does not take a serious photo. Ever.

So where was I? Anyway, we moved from Star Tours over to MuppetVision 3D, stopping for the above character pictures in between. After Muppets we were making our way to hopefully meet up with the Incredibles at the Animation area, but that never happened. I'm not sure why. I remember being accosted by the music that accompanies the Power Rangers. All 3 boys wanted pictures with them but the lines were hugely long and totally out in the sun!!!!!!!! You know what's coming, don't you?

POOL TIME!

We had dinner ADRs at the Biergarten that evening, so an afternoon rest would be just the ticket.

Boy, would we need that refresher more than we knew!....

"Ha...ha....ha....ha....!"

 

[lexmelinda]

Another great installment and fabulous pictures as always. I love the streetmosphere performers at MGM and will definitely make more time to see their acts next time. You're on the third day now so I've lost track...what day was that? Saturday, 23rd?

 

[Marla Hellwig]

I am loving your pictures thanks for taking the time to write and post

 

[swankybeth]

Great report and pictures! Your boys are cute. About the solo time thing, I totally understand it. I did a trip a few years ago where I went solo and met up with friends. It was 6 days total, so it was about 1/2 and 1/2 solo. I really enjoyed it!

 

[LegoMom3]

Another great installment and fabulous pictures as always. I love the streetmosphere performers at MGM and will definitely make more time to see their acts next time. You're on the third day now so I've lost track...what day was that? Saturday, 23rd?

Day 3 was actually Friday the 22nd. In an effort squeeze every last milli-second out of my Disney vacations, I count arrival day as Day 1! So the previous installment at MGM and the upcoming tale of Epcot that night, was all on the Friday.

I just realized something this afternoon. I am in a deep, deep Missing Disney Funk. Before our trip I would log onto Live365.com every day, and leave it playing for hours. I've hardly touched it since we got back, which was a whole month ago now. However, I figured a little background mood music might help jog my memory as I write more on my TR, so I log on and choose a station that's playing MK music.

My WHOLE mood just sank! It's kind of like when you were in high school, and your boyfriend breaks off your relationship (or you do it to him - take your pick), and you think you've put him out of your mind and then WHAM!...you hear a song you haven't heard in a while but it was "your" song and suddenly all those emotions come flooding back and you get that pit-of-your-stomach feeling.

That's what I have now!

I wanna be there!

Of course, if you are reading this it's because you want to know how my actual trip went, and not the emotional gamut that I'm dealing with now. So on with the story....

On Friday evening, we had dinner ADRs at the Biergarten in Germany. It was for 5:45pm, so we had planned to leave POR by 4:00.

We failed to take into consideration that it was Evening EMH at Epcot that night.

After just a few minutes at the bus stop, an Epcot bus came into view. It was packed and didn't even stop.

Uh oh, that can't be good.

Next Epcot bus comes into view about 20 mintues later. It stops but there is no way on God's green earth that we will fit on there!!!! Ok, it's only 4:30, we have time.

To spare you the boring details and extreme tension that happened after that, fast-forward to the Epcot bus stops. It's now 5:35pm. As soon as the bus door opened, Hubby literally jumped off and sprinted to the gate. I got the boys off and we took off running as fast as Silly could go. By the time we got to the gate (it's a long walk from the bus stop to the gate!), Silly was tired and I had to carry him. Bear in mind that it's still probably 90 degrees out! We fast-walked, jogged and a few times sprinted, all the way from the Epcot gate to the Germany pavillion. I swear it's at least a mile!

Hubby had made it and managed to save our reservations, and was waiting with Mil and Fil when we got there. Of course now we were all hot and out of breath and "damp" (read: sweaty) for our dinner! Nice.

The dinner, however, was a lot of fun. I wasn't as thrilled with the food as I'd remembered being the last time we ate there. But it was decent enough and the atmosphere is just so fun there. Hubby got the full liter of beer, which I wish I had gotten a picture of! No, he didn't finish it. But us adults sure got into the antics and I'm sure we embarrassed the boys at least once.

Ticky-ticky-ticky-ticky, OY OY OY!

After dinner we stepped outside to this beautiful sunset over the World Showcase Lagoon!

And, as we were getting our EMH wrist bands...

We had planned to see Illuminations on this evening, so while we waited for the time to get closer, we went into Mexico and did the boat ride there. I had never, ever been on that. It was kinda cool! I also made a mental note about how cozy and romantic the restaurant looked and put it on my list of places to go when DH and I go back. Alone.

On our way from Mexico over towards Canada, we stopped to see what has to be THE most amazing acrobatic act I've ever seen in China. The boys couldn't see well, however, nor were they terribly into what was going on, so I took them aside and broke out the glo-sticks and bracelets. NOW they were having fun! So much entertainment for so little money...

By the time we got over by Canada, there were still some pretty prime viewing spots available on the railing for Illuminations, but they were going fast. We decided to do the Oh Canada film afterwards, and secured our spots for the show. The last time I saw Illuminations was in '96, so this was the "new" version for me. It was spectacular, and the boys loved every minute of it. Of course, being familiar with the music score from all my hours of Live365 listening, I was totally into it and it went down in the books as one of those very "Disney" Disney moments of the trip! That sentence made no sense but I think I got the point across.

Seeing Oh Canada after Illuminations (especially since the pavilion was literally right behind us) turned out to be a good strategy. By the time we got out of there, the crowds had dispersed and you could navigate the walkways once again. Mil and Fil left us at this point, but since it was EMH and we had our wrist bands, we decided to stay as long as the kids held out.

This was also the turning point in my mind that makes me say "never again" to evening EMH. Since only parts of Future World are open, we went there and headed for Test Track. The wait was almost an hour long, and they weren't doing FastPass. On to Mission Space. The Orange (spinny) side also had a wait of almost an hour, but the Green (non-spinny) side was only 10 minutes. Since Hubby and Grumpy were really wanting to experience this ride, they opted for the Green side (probably a wise 1st time option, anyway!), while I took Sleepy and Silly over to some little fountain area nearby. At this point Silly was nearing his breaking point. I had told Hubby we were going to browse through Mouse Gears, but thought better of that on the way, and fortunately the fountains sidetracked the boys. Tired children in a store full of Disney merchandise just cannot be a good thing!

When Hubby and Grumpy emerged from Mission Space, we called it another day and headed for home.

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Up next: A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Lion King....

 

[LegoMom3]

Saturday morning came and I was up at 6:00am as usual. And this without an alarm clock! Gotta love that Disney magic....keeps the ol' internal clock ticking to the Mickey beat. Despite the marathon to Germany the night before, I was still rarin' to go for my morning walk. Get dressed, make myself as presentable as possible in the dim light of the vanity area, grab the refillable mugs and my Card and I'm out the door. I decided on this morning to see some more of the POR grounds, so when I got to the main walkway at the river, I turned left instead of right. I was only this daring to venture into new, uncharted POR territory - in the pre-dawn light, no less - because I knew if I followed the river, I would indeed eventually reach a bridge to the main building.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, POR is a beautiful resort! My left turn took me in short order to the mansion buildings. They look like something out of the old South. I love the old South. Dang my Yankee parents...I shoulda been born where the palm trees grow!

Did you ever think about why people put so much importance on where you're from? I mean where you originally hail from? Does ANY one actually have a say in where they are born and raised?! Yet your answer can elicit scorn or even contempt. Hmm....Interesting.

Back to Port Orleans.

We were meeting Mil and Fil at Animal Kingdom this morning. This was the day my dad and his wife were coming up from St. Pete to visit and spend a night, so our afternoon was reserved for meeting up with them. This morning, however, was reserved for AK and the "must see show" of the Festival of the Lion King. Or so says Mil.

Fortunately the love bugs had subsided somewhat since Wednesday afternoon. Not entirely, but somewhat. This day you only inhaled one every 4th or 5th breath, instead of every other... Since Friday night had been so late at Epcot, we'd decided to let the boys sleep a bit, but still they were pretty dog-gone tired. I don't remember exactly what time we arrived at AK, but Mil was determined to get us to see the Lion King show. Since our time here on Wed. afternoon had been so short (this place is HUGE!), and we'd spent a lot of time looking at the animals, today I was really wanting to walk all the way around the Tree and photograph some of the carvings.

This is the one, lone shot I got....

Oh, and a neat deer grazing in its shadow...

(ohmygosh, I just noticed the elephant behind the deer!!)

This is where Mil's commando-style of touring took over. Gotta get to the Lion King show now-now-now! Move it, move it! Hut hut hut!! To her credit she had refrained from such tight scheduling up to this point. I guess it became too much of a strain!

So, I left my Tree for later and off we went towards Camp Minnie Mickey. Apparenlty the boys had missed Mil's drill-sargeant instructions, 'cause they were s-l-o-wwwww. Even managed to take a few photos along the way while waiting for them to catch up!

Lo and behold, we made it to the Festival of the Lion King with time to spare, got good seats, and enjoyed what I have to admit was a really, really great show. Sorry for the fuzzy pics, but I had the flash turned off...

I really got into this show. Not with the antics, but just in total enjoyment.

Cue the Disney magic!

My boys were awed by the guys with the fire batons. First they held them on the soles of their feet, then they put them in their mouths. When you have three boys, you have to convince them (true or not) that it's a bunch of special effects and NO, you CAN'T try that at home. We also really enjoyed the monkeys.

After the show, there were a bunch of characters out so we grabbed another photo op. I think is one of my favorite pics of the whole trip:

Nobody else wanted their picture taken at this point, but most of us did need a restroom. Hubby took the two older boys to the men's room, while I took Silly with me.

Somewhere between pictures with Koda and the restroom, it happened.

Silly caught a mood. He went from being a bright, smiling delightful little boy to one who was inexplicably cranky. In the stall I asked him if he needed to pee. He nodded yes but made no further move. I asked again. He folded his arms up against his chest and made a face. More like a wincing frown. From me, a 3rd and final query: "Do you have to pee or not?!" He mumbled something about it being too dark in there to see. The lights were dim in this particular restroom, but you could see what you were doing just fine. I was trying to be patient but wasn't going to stand in that stall all day, so finally we left to rejoin the group. By this time Silly wasn't feeling very silly. Matter of fact there may have been a shift in the fourth dimension at that moment, causing Silly to take on Grumpy's 'tude and Grumpy did indeed become rather jovial and goofy! Hubby tried and ultimately succeeded in taking Silly to the restroom himself, and immediately following that he melted down (Silly, not Hubby...).

I knew our number was up at this point. My dreams of riding Everest and Kali River Rapids were carried away on the winds of a mood. No way Silly was going to make it going all the way to the other side of this park. I asked him what he'd like to do, and he opted for going back to the room.

We parted with everyone else somewhere around the Tree, and Silly and I headed for the front of the park and the exit.

Within 30 seconds, his mood disappeared as suddenly as it had come. There was this little concrete fish statue along the path, which Silly took a liking to. "Take my picture with the fish!" he asked, and of course I did.

Suddenly, he was Silly again and feeling quite happy! Since it was h-o-t again that day, he thought a cold drink might be nice and I had to agree. I got him one of those huge cups with the animal topper on it. He chose the cheetahs. We sat at a table in the shade and shared that for a bit. Since he was feeling so chipper again, I asked if he thought he might like to stay and find his brothers, or still go back to the room. He still wanted the room, but he wanted to look at animals on the way out.

We meandered along the Discovery Island trails and saw lots of neat birds...

There were some really stunning blue macaws, but their handler was interacting with them and I didn't get a good picture. Silly really enjoyed watching them, though. We saw some other animals besides the birds but they were too far back in the shadows to get a good photo.

I actually enjoyed my morning with Silly, just the two of us. We made our way to the bus stop, then to POR, and got off at the main bus stop there and had a bite to eat in the food court. It was one of those nice mother-son bonding times. I'm closest to him in some ways, anyway, simply due to him being the "baby" of the family. I want to hold on to him being little for just a while longer....It slips by so fast. *sigh*

Anywho!!!....since we were meeting my dad at Downtown Disney that afternoon, I decided that Silly and I would go ahead and head down there, and meet up with the others later on for dinner. I called my dad, then Hubby, finalized the plan, and after a bit of a rest in our room, Silly and I headed for the boat launch at the marina. I had been looking forward to taking the boat from POR to Downtown Disney. Seemed like a cool thing to do. It was a nice relaxing thing to do in the afternoon, and really what that tired little boy needed that day.

A sign along the canal

We passed the Treehouse Villas on our way to DD. Way back when I had always thought those would be a really neat place to stay. Of course we never did, and now they're not open to the public. They use them for international cast members who come for their year of work, but if they were to use them for guests again, they have to be modified to be handicapped accessible now, and that would require construction that they can't do anymore due to their proximity to the water in places. How sad! Well, at least they're getting used. Someday, I imagine, they'll outlive their usefulness and have to come down.

We were meeting my dad at the Lego store. Where else?!! I had given each of the boys a spending "allowance" to use there, so Silly did his shopping straight away, then spent some time playing in the bins while we waited.

Have I mentioned yet in this TR that I LOVE Legos?!!


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Next Chapter: Yet another bus snafu, and late for our ADR!!!!!!

 

[lexmelinda]

Wow, two installments in one day....impressive. Hope that brought you out of your post-Disney funk. I know what you mean about wanting to just walk around and take some photos at the AK. That is exactly what DD16 and I did. And about the little man copping the attitude....we also had this happen. The inexplicable demon child comes out of nowhere after too many days of Disney fun. It's hard on the little guys sometimes. PS....we will not hold your yankee heritage against you.

 

[xpor2geechica69x]

I felt being on the DDP was a great way to lose weight, not only are you walking all the time but your pretty much each three balanced meals a day. When we back in August the way we worked out the plan was if we had a Table service for breakfast then we would eat a snack for lunch and the a counter service for dinner. If we had a table service for dinner then we would eat a snack for breakfast a nice lunch and the dinner. It seemed to work out great!

 

[svalencia1]

Great report and I love the photos. You are very talented. Keep it coming!

 

[LegoMom3]

The plan for Saturday afternoon was for Silly and I to meet up with my dad and his wife, then we would head to FW to meet Hubby, Grumpy and Sleepy for our dinner at Trail's End. Simple enough.

The four of us caught a FW bus from Downtown Disney. Don't remember what time we left, but I built in time to catch an internal FW bus from the main depot at its south end. Got there no problem and had a few minutes to spare waiting for a "purple", direct-route bus up to the Settlement and Hoop-de-Doo area.

We made it up to Trail's End in plenty of time. Our ADR was for 5:30, and I had secured one for my dad at 5:10, so around 5:00 I went to the podium to see if they would be able to acocmodate us all together sometime in between there. I also explained that we were missing 3 members of our party, but they were due any minute. No problem, they signed us in and I would let them know when we were all present and accounted for.

Here is what's left of the lawnmower itself! Ten years ago when I last saw it, there was much more still sticking out.

And one of the few remaining "Mickey with a Musket"s left at FW....sad.

While my dad and his wife relaxed on the porch, I took Silly to the playground where he could play and I could keep an eye on the ferry boats coming to the FW dock. Hubby was going to bus to MK from POR, then take the ferry over to FW. Simple enough.

Or it would have been.

Around 5:30 we were called to be seated. Still no Hubby, Grumpy and Sleepy. At this point I was nearly in a cold sweat. WHERE was everybody?!! My first instinct was to get mad - couldn't they even manage to leave in time?!...He KNOWS to leave "x" amount of time ahead to make it!

The host suggested that those of us who were there go in and be seated, so didn't lose our table. Since I had gone to great lengths to have my dad come up and eat with us, I owed him that at least! Besides it was cool inside and they looked ready for a break from the heat.

Fortunately we got a table with a view of the walkway from the marina. Now I switched from being mad to starting to panic....

What if someone had an accident at the pool? Is someone sick?! What if someone had an accident at the pool?

It was very hard to relax at that point but I wanted my dad to enjoy himself, too!!

Somewhere in the midst of our first round of the buffet, I finally spotted Hubby - he was making like a bolt of lightning up that walkway with Grumpy and Sleepy in hot pursuit! I bolted from the table to meet them at the front door.

The reason for the delay?

One of the ferries out in Bay Lake had lost ALL power and was ADRIFT! Hubby didn't know which launch it was but needless to say it wreaked havoc with the schedule and created a huge backup at the MK (where, of course, they had been waiting). It took them over 2 hours to get from POR to FW!

First, overloaded Epcot buses, now a free-floating ferry.

WDW Transportation - 2
Our family - 0

Note to self: bring own car on next trip.

The rest of the meal went great. Hubby was ravenous and as usual got his money's worth out of the buffet. Really liked the food here. I'm a meat 'n potatoes kind of gal anyway, but the food was really tasty. The mashed potatoes and gravy were awesome!! So was the fried chicken and the ribs.

Drooling....

So, we salvaged the evening just fine. Caught this picture waiting for a bus back to Downtown Disney - the depot is next to the riding stables...

And another beautiful sunset, this one from DD...

Upon our return to DD, we headed straight for - what else - the Lego Store. Sleepy and Grumpy had to do their shopping, too! Not long after that we made plans to meet Dad & J (wife) the next morning, then called it a night. Saturday night at Downtown Disney is busy! The place was really hopping and the crowds were starting to get to all of us, and when fuses get that short, it's time to head back to the serenity of POR.

We were going to need our sleep. Sunday turned out to be THE meltdown day of them all. Ugh. I shudder to think of it now. Woulda-coulda-shoulda. Hindsight is so clear, isn't it?

I awoke at my usual 6:00 Sunday morning. It was laundry day and I wanted to have it done and overwith before we headed out for the day. Our building wasn't too far from a quiet pool and laundry room, so I popped in a couple of loads before heading out for my coffee walk.

Fast forward about 2 hours. Laundry is done, Hubby and I have our coffee, and since we're meeting Dad & J again, we're not on a park schedule this morning. We let the boys sleep in until almost 9:00. Even then they were reluctant to get going. But who could blame them.

We didn't want to eat too heavy since we had a lunch ADR at Sci Fi at 1:20pm, and once again finding ourselves at DD, we opted for a bite at Earl of Sandwich. It was about now that I was realizing just how far the Lego Store was the front of the Marketplace. Having made the trek no less than 4 times in the last 24 hours, the mileage was adding up. After our "breakfast" the kids found some fountains over near Earl, and they stomped and jumped and had a grand ol' time while we adults chatted. With our lunch ADR in mind and the transportation that would be required to get there (we had to go back to our room first to drop off some homemade goodies that J had brought us!), we said our good-byes and caught the water taxi back to POR.

Before the rest of this tale is told, let me interject an adorable photo of my boys, lest you soon come to paint a horrid picture of them in your minds...

This was taken with all their new Lego guys - Knights and Bionicles! - posed in our window! We let them stay there the rest of the trip and often wondered what Mousekeeping thought of them. Certainly not something they must see everyday!

This is where the day suddenly went wrong. Very wrong.

Once back at POR, all the boys wanted to do was swim. To be honest, as much as I'd been looking forward to the Sci Fi Dine-In experience, the thought of the process of just getting there was daunting even to me. We had all come to the end of our Disney Magic ropes. There wasn't even a thread left. Grumpy, Sleepy and Silly were too busy playing with their Legos to even cast a vote on what to do. When we did manage to elicit a response from them, the one intelligible word was "pool." I reminded them about our lunch at Sci Fi. Not much enthusiasm in reply. Just more "pool."

We cancelled our reservation for lunch at Sci Fi.

I spent some time pouting on the bed. I think Hubby dozed off. And the boys began to get cranky....

Honestly, I don't remember what we ended up doing that afternoon! I'm sure there was pool time in there. I remember calling Mil and Fil and telling them we wouldn't make it over for Fantasmic due to the meltdown that had occured. Since this was their last night, they did come by POR for a visit later in the evening. But the rest of the day is just a blur.

Must be one of those mental things where you block out the bad memories.
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Next time: Our last two days, and my final thoughts (it will be done!)

 

[lexmelinda]

How many trips to the lego store??? You are the Lego Mom! Now you are up to our first day at POR. We were at MGM that Sunday and DH and 2 kids spent the afternoon by the pool at POR that day and we did go to Fantasmic that night....hot and sticky. Be glad you weren't there. Pictures are great as usual. Do you have an auto focus camera or a digital SLR?

 

[LegoMom3]

How many trips to the lego store??? You are the Lego Mom! Now you are up to our first day at POR. We were at MGM that Sunday and DH and 2 kids spent the afternoon by the pool at POR that day and we did go to Fantasmic that night....hot and sticky. Be glad you weren't there. Pictures are great as usual. Do you have an auto focus camera or a digital SLR?

Yes, we made no less than 4 trips to the Lego Store in that 24 hour period. We didn't buy something every time but the boys just couldn't get enough, and it was also a good place to meet up with my dad.

Believe it or not, every one of these photos was taken with a little Nikon Coolpix 775! Fully automatic with a bunch of scene settings. I didn't want to lug my 35mm film camera around, since the Nikon fits nicely into a fanny pack (now if that doesn't say "geek"....). A 35mm digital SLR is next on my list (ohhh Santa!... ). I'm not quite ready to ditch film just yet, but you've really gotta love being able to pick and choose which photos you actually want to print!

Ok, back to our story:

This seems like a good place to insert this little side gem. When I woke up this morning (NOT at 6:00am!) I had been having a stress dream. One of those dreams where you can't get away from something or find something - you just cannot get closure to whatever is going on. So what I was doing in this dream?

Wandering the paths of POR, back and forth and around and around and around!!!!!!!!!!! I could see where I wanted to go, but couldn't seem to take the right path to get there.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh! Make it stop!!!!

And yes, this actually happened to us while there. More than once we got brave and decided to follow a path that "ought to take us where we want to go," only to find ourselves stuck in that maze of winding pathways, with our building in sight through the trees but no direct way to reach it! Lesson learned: stick with what you know.

And, since my last update, I actually remembered what we did on that Sunday afternoon! It was Epcot! We took the scenic route over - caught a bus to MK, then hopped the monorail to Epcot. Of course, without an ADR to worry about, it all went off without a hitch. On the way over, Silly wanted to try out the camera, so I let him snap a few pictures. The beauty of the digital is the little screen on the back, so you can immediately see your results. Upon seeing this one, Silly exclaimed in disgust, "Ugh!...I didn't want a picture of his head!"

It was a pretty laid back afternoon at Epcot. We tried to do Soarin' but the wait was 40 minutes and we weren't sure if we'd all last long enough to do a FassPass. We decided we'd be coming back first thing the next day (Monday) and we'd try it then. Since we'd missed our lunch at Sci Fi, we were pretty hungry and the Sunshine Seasons Food Fair (do they still call it that??) was readily avialable so we ate there. Had a really good lunch there; Hubby and I got these huge sandwiches which were SO good. One of us got ham and the other got smoked turkey, and we split them. The kids got these neat little meals in Mickey-shaped plates! For some reason I got a real kick out of that.

After eating we took in the Living with the Land boat ride, which I was surprised the boys all really enjoyed. I've always loved it but I figured it was more of an adult, "educational" attraction. But they thought the plants growing from tubes and along conveyors were pretty neat stuff! The pumpkin in the Mickey shaper was a hit, too.

Next stop was Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment. I LOVE this ride! I never experienced the old, original one, so can't make a comparison, but I don't care. I think this one is funny. I'm also an Eric Idle fan so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. Now, Sleepy had maintained all along (since our last trip in '04, matter of fact!) that he was NOT going on this ride this time.

He hated the skunk part....

I told him he could hold his breath, since he knew exactly when that part came, but no, he was adamant. He was also still very tired, so I didn't push it. Hubby volunteered to sit it out with him, so Grumpy and Silly and I ventured in. We spent quite a bit of time in the Imagination station thingy at the end, not to mention the camera shop after that, and by the time we made it back out around to the entrance area, Sleepy was lying down on the bench with his head on dad's lap....

You can pretty much guess our day didn't last much longer! Everyone wanted another ride on Spaceship Earth, so we did that on our way out. Returned the stroller, made the loooong trek to the bus stops, and once again answsered the Call of the Pool.



Day 6 - Monday: OMG we LOVE Soarin'!!!!!!!!.....and, Honey, change the ressie 'cause we're NOT leavin' the park!

There was shift in the Disney paradigm this day, since when I awoke and looked at the clock, it was 6:45am!!!!!! And I still didn't get up!! I had to finally admit, I was tired. By the time I actually made it to the food court for coffee, it was pretty crowded, and just killed my early morning revery. So I did the long walk on the way back instead, and strolled along sipping my coffee, taking in the grounds in the early morning light. Gotta stay in one of the mansions buildings someday! Not only are they beautiful, they're right on the main walkway and you just cannot get lost.

We were headed back to Epcot for the morning, but wanted to go to MK in the afternoon and hopefully catch SpectroMagic that evening. We had a dinner reservation at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL, which I'd heard great things about but it would mean leaving MK. Even though it's just a quick water launch away, by this time all the back-and-forth was getting to us and leaving a park had really become a process. I wasn't looking forward to it, and Hubby agreed. Before heading out for the day, I pondered my limited table-service options at the MK and finally decided that Liberty Tree Tavern looked inviting. One quick phone call and I had my dinner at WCC cancelled and a late lunch at LTT all set up.

Once at Epcot, we again stopped for a stroller. While there the day before, Sleepy had gotten the pin-trading bug and asked for a starter set. I balked, thinking we only had 2 full days left and what if he lost interest as fast as he seemed to get it? He was still asking this morning, so I broke down and got him set up with his own lanyard and about 6 pins.

Boy, did I under-estimate his enthusiasm on this one! He LOVED pin trading! He became a trading fool, asking me to stop for every other CM he saw with a lanyard. Right by the fountains we stumbled upon a whole kiosk of just pins....he was in heaven. And then, a CM showed him to "the Board..."

He could have stood there all day and just traded pins, back and forth. Who knew?!!

So, with time a-wastin', we finally made a dash for Soarin'. Pins could be traded later - we had a new ride to experience! Wait time: 5 minutes! Jackpot! A five-minute wait is a walk-on to me. They measured Silly, who duly bonked his head on the marker to show he was indeed over the magic 40 inches. We walked up the ramp, down to the pre-boarding area, and as soon as the guy came on the computer screen for our intro, I was immediately struck by an overwhelming urge to "high-five" someone!....

If you haven't done Soarin' yet or never watched Seinfeld, you wont' get that.

We ended up in the 2nd row. I was a little apprehensive over all I'd read about dangling feet, but it really wasn't that bad. There is SO much screen all around you that there's plenty to see. We buckled in, the lights dimmed, the seats rose, and suddenly I was...

SOARING!!!!!!!!!

It was SO COOL! The sensation of going through the clouds, then swooping down over the Golden Gate bridge....the smell of pine as you skim just above the river, and the orange grove!...Hello!!...how cool is that?!! And the sensation of picking up speed as you crest the top of the ski mountain!...HOW do they DO that?!? Ohmygosh, this ride is awesome!!!!! As soon as it was over, we were all dying to go again. Back out to the entrance - still 5 minutes! We "walked on" to Soarin' twice!! Got the 3rd row this time, but on the other side of the theater so it was a different view all around.

We were on such a roll at this point that we agreed to hold off on breakfast a bit longer so Hubby and Grumpy could do the "orange" spinny side of Mission Space. It only had a 10-minute wait, as did Test Track, which Sleepy and Silly and I went on. That is another new ride that quickly became one of my favorites. The outside speed part is great!

Wooooo-hoo!

We were now ready for a break, so we found a little cart on our way to Universe of Energy that had pastry and coffee. Hubby and I actually got iced coffee. Yep, it was hot. Again. Just across the way was a mister (as in fine water spray, not a title for a man... ), as well as some shade, so we grabbed a patch of grass and had ourselves a rest. While we were there the Jammitors came around and put on their show. It's quite creative! I enjoyed it. The one thing we missed at Epcot that we'd wanted to see was the Kristos. Amazing show they put on!

I had been afraid that Ellen's Energy Adventure might be too long and uninteresting for the boys (at least Sleepy and Silly), but it turned out to be just the thing after our park-opening-dash to the "big" rides, in the heat.

One change I noticed on this ride: last time I saw it was 3 years ago on a day trip to Epcot with my dad. Part way through the boat ride, one of the dinosaurs had "Ellen's" legs hanging out of its mouth! That scene is no longer. Wonder how many kids it scared the bejeebers out of before they scrapped it?!

Next stop: Magic Kingdom!


Monorail approaching the TTC station

Mickey topiary at the TTC

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[lexmelinda]

Hey! We were at Epcot that day too....but not til later in the day. Wasn't it great? Love Soarin'! And Puddy! Did you see Crush? Great installment!

 

[LegoMom3]

It's time to put this little trip report to bed.

It's starting to take on the life of a cranky toddler. It's been dragged all over the place, and what started out as fun has now become tiresome and a burden. "Just finish it already!" I scream to myself. Memories are fading fast and it's just becoming a "went there, saw that" report which is boring and no one wants to read such stuff.

I don't have much detail to share about our last day and a half. We left Epcot for the Magic Kingdom around noon time or thereabouts. I don't remember! Doesn't matter, either. It was hot, and I remember spending an undue amount of time at Donald's Boat in Toontown. By the time our lunch ADR arrived, we were more than grateful for the AC inside the restaurant!

I do remember that we took in the Haunted Mansion after lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. For some reason it seemed much "ookier" this time than I had remembered it. I always carry around a mental picture of the fun parts of it, but the scary parts seemed overwhelming this time. Maybe I was more concerned about my kids. I rode with the 6 and 4 yr. olds. I don't know, maybe it's just me but it really seemed creepy this time around. I was glad to be done! I looked for the ring in the pavement on the way out but herds of people kept pouring out the exit so it was hard to just stand in the middle of the walkway! I think we found it though.

After this we ended up on Tom Sawyer Island. Another "who knew" part of the trip. My boys could have spent the rest of the day there! Hubby and I did take advantage of just sitting in the shade over at the fort. All three boys were happy as a clam to just run around and shoot the guns and play whatever story it was they were acting out.

If you have active boys in your party, you MUST build in time for Tom Sawyer Island. And bring a book for yourself.

This was the night for SpectroMagic but by 5:30 it was plain that the boys were not going to last. That ol' pool at POR has quite an audio range because they were sure it was calling them again and they just HAD to go swim! Since I had been waiting all vacation to see this parade and it was the last chance we'd have to watch, Hubby agreed to take the boys back for a swim and let me stay.

Have I mentioned how much I love this man?

They left right around 7pm and people were already beginning to gather in spots for the 8pm parade. I knew where I wanted to be so I hoofed it up the stairs to the train station. I grabbed a spot over on the right-hand railing and dug in. For the next hour I just took in the Disney magic, knowing in my heart we only had one full day left. I watched the sun go down, the lights come on, and mobs and mobs of people vying for position on the sidewalks!!!!!!! Wow, glad I'm not down there!

Then, at long last, Jiminy Cricket announced the parade, the lights all went off, and out came the grandest Disney spectacle.... If I could cue the music right now I would, but if you've seen this parade you know the feeling it gives you....

I apologize for the blurry pictures but that's the one thing my little portable digital camera just cannot do well. If you turn off the flash, it simply has to delay the shutter, thus the fuzzy pics. If you want to see some really nice pictures of Spectro, go to lexmelinda's trip report.


The next day started with breakfast at Chef Mickey's, which we all thoroughly enjoyed! Great food and lots of fun. I'm definitely going to do more character meals next time around (even if it is only DH and me!).

This ended up being the one rainy day we had all week. It was off-and-on showers so it wasn't a wash out, but it did prevent us from seeing Fantasmic that night. The beloved pool was even closed for part of the afternoon due to the lightning. We did score some less-common characters that day!

Alas, we come to the end of our wonderful family Disney trip, and - finally! - this TR.

So, how does one manage to do Free Dining and still lose weight?!...let's recap:

1)Get up at 6:00am every day for a coffee walk. Often take the long way around the resort just to suck up Disney atmosphere; it logs more miles.

2)Use the Disney transportation system to your advantage at least once - preferably twice - to mess up your ADR timing, causing you to be late and have to sprint to the restuarant in 90 degree heat. You have already burned off that meal before you even eat it. If you have carried a 40-lb. child for any portion of that sprint, then go nuts at the dessert bar.

3)Make use of FastPasses to maximize criss-crossing of parks. In 90 degree heat.

4)Watch any afternoon parades in full sun. You will sweat off that day's meal just by standing there.

5)Finally, stay at the Port Orleans Riverside resort and do NOT request a preferred building. A 2nd floor room at the far end of Alligator Bayou is your best bet. Also, make use of the refillabe mugs, but share among your party so you have to make multiple trips to the food court in an afternoon.

I will leave you with some random shots taken over our last two days. Thanks for reading!

 

[LegoMom3]

 

[LegoMom3]

 

[Ellester]

LOVED your report. We are taking our three in January and your report has gotten me more excited! Ours are fairly close to yours in age, although our oldest two are girls. My IL's are great too, I've been really blessed. Thanks for sharing your vacation!

 

[lexmelinda]

Awwww, Legomom! Thanks for the nice mention of Mimi's pictures. Enjoyed being along for the ride but I love your analogy of the TR being like a toddler....so true! I, too, am growing weary of trip reporting but determined to finish none the less. I love your writing style and your photography is nothing short of brilliant! Thanks again for sharing your vacation with us and don't be a stranger!

 

[Disfan3]

love your pics and BTW...I made GOAL in WW on our return from free dining in the world in 2005 so it can be done! I think I may have done the same in 2006 but I have been lifetime for forever now...



ok LOVE the pics btw! GREAT