"I never complain - so why did Disney comp our room?" trip report! *UPDATED 10/28*

[lauren_elizabeth]

Busted!! Yes - Jen0925 on BG - been there forever. You look familiar now that you mentioned it! I am on here all the time now and not so much BG - but I did upload some Disney pics on there, too!

I am sure Jake will enjoy the trip as well. Gianna loved it so much. I know people say she wont remember it, but we have plenty of pictures and videos to show her to years to come!

My username on there is Lauren Elizabeth.

But, I'm the same way you are. I'm on here all the time and only get on BG to talk to a few girls.

 

[Kimberly815]

Yippee! I can see photos now!! You have a lovely family, and your daughter is adorable!!

 

[Jenvenza]

I'm staying pics or no pics!

Thanks Kathy!!

The picture of your daughter sleeping gave me such baby lust! My poor husband..I went home and whined all day..."I want a baby"....

Our babies are all grown up...they keep telling me to wait for Grandchildren!

Awww! Thank you! She is our little angel. And it is MY husband who has the baby lust right now again!! I am willing to wait a little longer - but he wants another one soon!

My username on there is Lauren Elizabeth.

But, I'm the same way you are. I'm on here all the time and only get on BG to talk to a few girls.

I will have to llok you up next time I am on BG. I go on when girls write me - or to post a few new pictures of Gianna - but I got tired of all the drama. I love the Dis much more!

Yippee! I can see photos now!! You have a lovely family, and your daughter is adorable!!

Yeah!!! Thank you!! I am so glad my photobucket account is back up!! I had never had that happen before!

On with the TR!!

 

[aharbin88]

I just found this TR today, and I am really enjoying it! Your family is just like ours; I'm 30, DH is 31, and DD will be 13 months in 9 days. We leave for the World in 17 days!

I am taking notes on your TR. I had no idea about the "Pick A Pearl" thing. I love it! I will definitely have to check it out. I also like hearing about the rides that your DD is able to go on, because that gives me an idea about what Caroline might like. I was thinking that I probably wouldn't take her on The Great Movie Ride, but if your DD can handle it, maybe mine can, too.

Keep 'em coming!
-Andrea

 

[Jenvenza]

Day 5 - Part 4

We head into Le Cellier and they let us bring in the stroller because Gianna is still sleeping. I figure, as long as she needs and wants to sleep, she gets to. I was glad Le Cellier didnt mind either.

Le Cellier is a very romantic place - dark and romantic. We loved the atmosphere as soon as we were seated. It was a little loud in there and in her sleep, Gianna does this....

She actually put her hands over her ears!! Too cute!

So this will be a bit of a food report here, since so many people love Le Cellier or want to try Le Cellier.

Matthew tells me he has no surprise here for me today and I tell him not to worry. I didnt need anymore dessert as it was.

My mom decides to go with a lunch salad, so she can get the cheese soup. I think it was just a regular chicken ceasar salad.

And she says it tastes like a regular ceasar salad. Good - but nothing special. Now the soup on the other hand - she said was incredible. I really wanted to try it, but it has bacon cooked in it and that is a no-no for me.

Matthew - still on his meat-eating kick - goes with the mushroom filet, since I tell him that is what everyone on the Dis raves about.

He loved it. He said the risotto on the bottom was some of the best he has ever had. He practically licked his plate clean.

I went with the seared king salmon over lentils.

I was so disappointed with this. I know Le Cellier is a steak house - which is not my cup of tea anyway - but I really thought this would be better. I didnt care for the lentils at all and Matthew makes better salmon at home. So far, I am not all that impressed.

Gianna has woken up now and discovered something..

Pretzel bread! This was really good! Tastes like a big soft pretzel. Matthew didnt understand why I was so excited to try this.

So, I figure dessert HAS to be good here, so I was ready!

I was torn between the smores and the maple creme brulee. But being the creme brulee girl that I am, I had to try it.

It did not disappoint!! It was wonderful and creamy and perfection! I scraped the dish clean. Seriously - this was so good!

Matthew goes for the ever popular chocolate mousse.

Adorable and very chocolately! I had a bite, and even though I am not a huge chocolate person, I enjoyed it. He liked it a lot, too.

My mom didnt want anything too heavy, so she got the seasonal sorbet. Which was cherry. She figured Gianna might like it as well.

This had a very strong cherry flavor. Too strong for my mom. She didnt like it at all. But Gianna did, so it wasnt a total loss.

Overall, the dessert was the best part of the meal for me. I would not eat here again. Maybe if I ate red meat or chicken, I would have liked this place more, but I was pretty disappointed with Le Cellier. Probably the worst meal of the trip for me. Great atmosphere, but the food - only so-so.

 

[Jenvenza]

I just found this TR today, and I am really enjoying it! Your family is just like ours; I'm 30, DH is 31, and DD will be 13 months in 9 days. We leave for the World in 17 days!

I am taking notes on your TR. I had no idea about the "Pick A Pearl" thing. I love it! I will definitely have to check it out. I also like hearing about the rides that your DD is able to go on, because that gives me an idea about what Caroline might like. I was thinking that I probably wouldn't take her on The Great Movie Ride, but if your DD can handle it, maybe mine can, too.

Keep 'em coming!
-Andrea

Thank you! And Caroline is just adorable! And we did a lot more rides with Gianna that I probably havent mentioned. She rode POTC and really liked it. And she did love The Great Movie Ride. It really kept her attention.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about anything specific we did! Have a great trip!

 

[Jenvenza]

Day 5 - Part 5

After our meal at Le Cellier, we try to get in a few more attractions before we head back to the resort. This is our last day at Epcot, so anything we want to do, needs to be done now. Gianna is still in a good mood, so we make our way over to Mouse Gears to do a little shopping.

Gianna LOVES Mickey Mouse. She can point him out, no matter where he is, or what he is on. She will take him over Minnie anyday! And she also loves cell phones - so when I find a talking Mickey cellphone, she was in heaven! And what does Matthew buy?? That is right - a Mickey Mouse shirt!!

Mr. I dont wear labels and I definitely not wearing a Mickey shirt - is buying a Mickey shirt. I am very pleased!

My mom wants a frozen coke, so she goes to Club Cool, while Matthew and I go into Innoventions. I sat down and let Gianna walk around while he explored.

Mimi comes back with frozen cokes and I take one sip and say - Ugh!! This tastes awful! Something is wrong. Then Matthew comes by a few minutes later and does the same thing and decided to bring them all back. Their machine wasnt working properly and the carbination is off or something. We throw them all away and head to Spaceship Earth.

I loved it! This was my first time since they redid it and we all thought it was great!

After that - we say goodbye to Epcot until next time and make our way back to POP.

 

[cherokeemamma]

Hi Jenvenza!
I have sat and read your entire TR. It is great! Love your pics. Also, your DD is just beautiful. I also wanted to say, you are blessed that your mom is enjoying Disney with you. My mom will not even entertain the thought of a WDW vacation. As a matter of fact, she gets angry at us anytime we talk it...go figure. But, what wonderful memories you all get to enjoy from your time together.

What were your trip dates? I am thinking our trips might have overlapped. We were at Epcot (in the worldshowcase) on a very windy day a couple of weeks ago. It was great, loved the breeze, but my hair looked wild (and awful).

Thanks for sharing and I am looking forward to more.

TTFN
Cherokeemamma

 

[charlielinda]

Sign me up -- your report is great!

 

[Jenvenza]

Hi Jenvenza!
I have sat and read your entire TR. It is great! Love your pics. Also, your DD is just beautiful. I also wanted to say, you are blessed that your mom is enjoying Disney with you. My mom will not even entertain the thought of a WDW vacation. As a matter of fact, she gets angry at us anytime we talk it...go figure. But, what wonderful memories you all get to enjoy from your time together.

What were your trip dates? I am thinking our trips might have overlapped. We were at Epcot (in the worldshowcase) on a very windy day a couple of weeks ago. It was great, loved the breeze, but my hair looked wild (and awful).

Thanks for sharing and I am looking forward to more.

TTFN
Cherokeemamma

Thank you so much! We were there from September 20-26 and that windy day at Epcot was on September 24 - which was a Wednesday. Were you there?

Sign me up -- your report is great!

Thank you and welcome!

 

[Jenvenza]

Day 5 - Part 6

Our plans for this evening were to go to Animal Kingdom for EMH. But Gianna seemed like she needed to rest, so we decided to stay in. Then Mimi chimed in that she would stay with G and Matthew and I could go to the parks for an evening by ourselves. Gianna didnt act like she was feeling sick, so we took her up on it. After asking her if she was sure about a million times. She said they would go down to the food court and eat and have a great time.

So by now, I am thinking we will go to MGM for the evening, since we didnt get to do everything there. But I ask Matthew as we are leaving the room what he wanted to do. I told him to pick any park he wanted to do. They all closed pretty early tonight, so we would have about 4 hours at any of them.

And he picked Magic Kingdom! Ah, I love him. The park that is most geared towards children and that is one he wants. I am so happy, because it is one of my favorites as well. You cant go wrong with MK!

We get there and it is dead!! We hadnt even stepped foot in Tomorrowland yet, so we head over there. We see Buzz Lightyear has NO WAIT! I have never been and not had to wait for this ride. We jump in and and I tell him I will lose on this ride. I always do. But I love it anyway.

But somehow I hit some target and I end up with a score over 150,000!! I was stoked!! I totally beat him!

I pose for a picture on the way out. And yes, I look a little drained today. Not much makeup and no sleep will do that to a girl.

After Buzz, we go to Stiches Great Escape. I didnt remember this ride really well and Matthew loves Stich, so we jump in line. It said 10 minutes, but it was more like 5.

Okay - so that is not my favorite ride. It is gross and dark and scary!! Matthew thought it was okay - but nothing special.

We make our way over to Space Mountain now!! Woohoo!!! And what does the wait say???

5 MINUTES!!! I seriously cannot believe it. I have never only had to wait 5 minutes for SM. That is insane! We decide to get a snack before and sit down for a few minutes and people watch.

We then walk right on SM and I get the front seat. I love this ride. It is a classic and so much fun. After it is over, we walk right back on and ride again.

We decide to see what the waits are for BTMRR and Splash Mountain. Splash Mountain had a 5 minute wait, so we jump on and get soaked this time!! It was still fun though.

Then we go ride POTC again, since it is my favorite ride. The guy in front of us is snapping pictures with his flash on. I say "NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!" and he puts his camera away quickly. I am sorry, but it takes away from the ride and they say no flash photography in the beginning of the ride.

After that it is getting close to time for Wishes. We grab another snack, since we didnt eat dinner and find a spot. I love Wishes. It was great and Matthew loved it, but Tink must have had the night off.

After Wishes, I tell him we should go to Main Street Bakery since the crowds are all heading for the exits. We get in line and get one of their famous ice cream cookie sandwiches.

Okay - this picture does not show how HUGE this thing is. It was seriously as big as my head and totally delicious!! We got chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream. I am drooling thinking about it now...

This is a great way to let the crowds exit and just relax before heading back to your resort.

And thanks to the Dis - I knew about the Kiss Goodnight - or Goodnight Kiss - I am not sure which it is. We get a spot in front of the castle by ourselves and watch it. It was so magical and not many people know about it obviously, because there was no one there. It happens 1 hour after the official closing. Watch it if you can next time you are there!

We head back to the resort after a magical evening!

Up next!! Oh my goodness....I am 30!!!

 

[TigerKat]

I don't think I've ever been to MK when it was not crazy crowded, how awesome that must have been!!!

 

[Jenvenza]

Day 6 - Part 1

It's was my 30th birthday today!! I had no problem turnng 30 and was so excited to be doing it in WDW!! I knew Matthew had something special planned and I was excited to see what it was!

Mimi had bought Gianna a Minnie Mouse shirt and she was wearing it today. The mouse ears didnt stay on long at all though.

We are going to Animal Kingdom this morning, because there were still a few things we needed to do there.

It was so much nicer there this day than the last time we were here. Much cooler. We know we have to see the Nemo Show and Festival of the Lion King and ride Dinosaur. We check out the times for the show and Nemo is going ot be first, but it is an hour and a half away, so we grab an early lunch and go ride Dinosaur. I love this ride. It is so much fun. Matthew and I were screaming in our photopass pictures. It is a great ride! Very realistic!

When we come out, we see a plane in the sky making happy faces.

We go see Finding Nemo the Musical and it was wonderful! These actors are amazing! The guy who rode on top of Crush and did his voice was amazing! His voice was wonderful! The whole show was so good and even though Matthew doesnt care for musicals, he thought it was great, too. Gianna seemed really interested in it as well. But she was more interested in walking up and down the stairs and telling everyone she saw "Hi!"

After Nemo, we stop for a drink and Gianna had to make a phone call.

I snap a couple of pictures.

Now we are going to my favorite show!! Festival of the Lion King!! And Gianna has fallen asleep. I am sure she will wake up when we get in there....right???

 

[Jenvenza]

I don't think I've ever been to MK when it was not crazy crowded, how awesome that must have been!!!

I have never seen it like that before. I was so excited!

 

[Crystal824]

I am really enjoying your trip report. Your daugther is so cute. I hope you had an awesome 30th birthday at WDW. I spent my 20th there, and my DH is taking me for my 30th next August. I am actually excited about turning 30 and in someways can't wait.

 

[aharbin88]

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about anything specific we did! Have a great trip!

I may have to do that. Thanks for the offer! Is there anything you wouldn't do with her again?

 

[aharbin88]

I've heard the steak at Le Cellier is incredible. But I have been to other steakhouses, bought something other than steak, and been very disappointed. My problem is that, even though I love steak and can eat a filet for every meal of the day, I hate mushrooms. So that dish is a no-go for me, too.

 

[aharbin88]

Day 5 - Part 5

Gianna LOVES Mickey Mouse. She can point him out, no matter where he is, or what he is on. She will take him over Minnie anyday! And she also loves cell phones - so when I find a talking Mickey cellphone, she was in heaven!

This is Caroline EXACTLY! I will definitely be looking for this phone while we're there.

 

[Jenvenza]

I am really enjoying your trip report. Your daugther is so cute. I hope you had an awesome 30th birthday at WDW. I spent my 20th there, and my DH is taking me for my 30th next August. I am actually excited about turning 30 and in someways can't wait.

Thank you! And yes, it is the best place to spend a birthday!

I may have to do that. Thanks for the offer! Is there anything you wouldn't do with her again?

I am trying to think now if there was. I dont think so. Everything she rode, she was fine with. Never any tears. Some she enjoyed more than others though.

I've heard the steak at Le Cellier is incredible. But I have been to other steakhouses, bought something other than steak, and been very disappointed. My problem is that, even though I love steak and can eat a filet for every meal of the day, I hate mushrooms. So that dish is a no-go for me, too.

Le Cellier wasnt a hit with my mom either and she does eat meat!

This is Caroline EXACTLY! I will definitely be looking for this phone while we're there.

We got it at Mouse Gears in Epcot. Gianna loves it!

 

[firechick139]

OK, I'm hooked. I just read your whole report and had to subscribe!

Can you tell me more of the Goodnight Kiss? I haven't heard of this.