I want to ride the cotton ball--A 4th of July family celebration! NEW PTR 8/31!!!

Love Cali Grill! So glad you and your DH got to enjoy it. It has such wonderful food! We tried to get in for our upcoming August trip but couldn't get an ADR. Bummer. But oh the memories of it!

And I did a solo trip last year and much like you said I spent lots of time checking out the details. Just being able to look, really really look, at the window displays alone on Main Street was so much fun. No one dragging me or rolling their eyes at me to hurry up! I highly recommend a solo trip for any Disney lovin' Mom, it is a great little break/escape/adventure!

Good for you for waiting till the next day to do Buzz and taking your little guy home. Give them an inch they'll take a mile next time!

Allyson

Oh keep trying on the ADR -- especially as trips get close to that 45 day mark, some people cancel then, and something might open up!!! We got into a few restaurants that week, no problem, I was surprised, happy, but surprised, so you never know!!! EXACTLY on the dragging me along stuff!!!! I am glad to know a solo adventure is a positive experience, I am really planning for it. :goodvibes

Hey... I notice you did the 1/2 marathon.... is this the race in January?
 
Whew! Life has gotten in the way and I was really behind but I am all caught up now!
I'll just sum it up and say that I have really enjoyed reading along and your boys just look like they are having the time of their lives.:goodvibes

Thanks for your review of OKW. We are researching DVC resales and this is one of the places that looks appealing to us so it was nice to read your comments and see some pictures!

Can't wait for more!
 
Well, we all have days at Disney that get turned upside down. DAY four of our trip was that day for us. I had planned a great day, signing up the boys for the Pirate Cruise at the GF pirate:, and getting an ADR for DH and I to have breakfast leisurely at the GFloridian Café and then a little time to walk around GF to see what all the hub bub is about this place… :goodvibes Well, remember those rain clouds from the day before? Well, it was looking pretty iffy outside this morning, and I was worried what would happen with our Pirate Cruise. When I called reservations, they said the cruise turns into a treasure/scavenger hunt around the resort if it rains, so either way, the kids will have an activity… I wasn’t too thrilled with the option, but we figured we would go to the resort and see what was up. My DH was encouraged that the sky was more patchy than earlier, so no rain had been falling the past hour. We arrived at the GF a few minutes before 9, and walked down to the boat launch. There we saw the “pirate” crew, but no little kids…. I inquired and they said that the cruise had been cancelled for the day. :sad2: I asked about the alternative, and she said "Oh, no we don’t do anything else, but we can try to reschedule you…" I was a little irritated, of course, b/c we drove to the GF for nothing, and I wish they had this info when I had called. They did have openings available the next day, but that would totally create a snow ball of activities that I didn’t want to do tomorrow, so we decided to just cancel it. So NO cruise, NO breakfast: NOW what?!!

Well, it was 9:30, so we decided to go ahead and swing over to DHS… This was probably not the best plan, but at this point it was the only park we hadn’t been in, and I had left the day really quite open, including lunch at DTD. So we headed over to DHS.
This is one of the ONLY photos I took that day.... I don't know why, I think the day was rather spur of the moment at times I just forgot!

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We got there before 10, but the rest of the am is a blur for me. We did get TSM passes, and rode Star Tours. Took a few pictures, got coffees and muffins at the Writer’s Stop, and watched the Jedi training. DS7 still didn’t want to volunteer for a shot at it, who knows? Maybe December!

We went on The Great Movie Ride, and then decided to get lunch at DTD, since our FP for TSM was not before 1pm. At DTD we went to Wolfgang Puck Express… the first of TWO visits there this trip!!

WHAT great food for the QS credits!!! Easily $75.00 lunch for the credits. We all had pizzas, and frozen yogurt sundaes for dessert. It was a great lunch! My DH was particularly happy with this choice. :cloud9:

We went back to DHS, rode TSM and played in the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground. Then we headed back to OKW to catch the pool for a little while.

The pool was a great solution, especially since the rain that "was coming" (hence the cancelled cruise) never came… :headache:

But after a short break and a quick change, we headed over to the Contemporary for The Wave…. Again a few borrowed pictures... the entrance is really so cool! The photos I didn’t take, but at least you get the idea if you have never seen the location!

The_Wave_01.jpg


The_Wave_06.jpg


OKAY. We tried The Wave shortly after they opened this past Nov. It was my DH’s favorite meal. He wanted us to add it twice for this trip!!!!! I told him we were not repeating restaurants on the same trip!! BUT of course I did make him one reservation there, and boy it didn’t disappoint!

The margarita that I just loved, is the Agave Nectar margarita. DH and I had two each.. :upsidedow

DS 7 and 4 had Grilled Chicken Strips (with potato wedges) and Linguini with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. We split both between them, so they had a little of everything. I had a very nice cinnamon rubbed pork tenderloin (having had a lamb shank before) and my DH had the sustainable fish…. don't recall what it was (having had the flank steak last time)… We ordered the lettuce cups appetizer as well… very tasty. We had these lovely desserts, where they are small “tastes” of three different things, "creamy indulgence" and "decadant flavors" and cappuccinos. I love you can have that as a beverage on the DDP! :yay:

Happy and fed, we walked back over to the MK… We were going to brave it again tonight. :rolleyes:

We arrived just as Spectro was starting, and just as the final train ride around the MK was departing from the main street station. I snapped these shots just as we were waiting for the train to pull up. Seeing the parade from the train station is cool, because you see it as it progresses down Main Street which is pretty neat. My camera isn't that fancy, so the photos are nothing to write home about!!

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Then once on the train I took these while we were riding around to Toon Town.

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We repeated our trip to Barnstormer again, riding it twice, in very little time, again no lines, for obvious reasons!!! That has to be the shortest ride in the park!! THEN we went ahead and got on the Tomorrowland speedway, again, because it too was minimal line…

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DH rode with DS7 and I was blessed with the steering challenged DS4... :rotfl:

We then moved over to the Laugh Floor, which was just getting ready to close the doors, so we slipped right in. Here are the DS’s having a good laugh at “Mike’s” door…

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Then we went right over to Buzz … and we walked right on to Buzz… and then we walked right on to Buzz again … and then the CM let us sit and ride Buzz a THIRD time, because, well, there wasn’t anyone there!!! We were totally surprised! But then we realized that Wishes was keeping everyone captivated… This picture is probably my favorite of all that I took this trip, it just makes me laugh!

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We tried to get a Zurg shot!!

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So then, of course the ultimate test was what the Astro Orbiter looked like, with that slug-slow elevator…. A handful of people. We were up and riding in no time!

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So while Wishes was going on, we had the luck of some great ride time. After the Astro, we figured we were not going to press our luck, and headed back to the Contemporary to pick up the car and head back to OKW. It was actually later by an hour than the night before, when DS4 was being a pain in the rear. I was so surprised, and of course delighted, and truly, this evening and our final am at Disney before we went home, were our best times at the MK. We had a great evening despite the rain and the cancelled Pirate Cruise... I hope to try for the Cruise again in December, and a new breakfast place. DH declared that the GF Cafe was a "yawner"... :headache: back the the breakfast drawing board!!! THOUGH I did just discover that The Wave does breakfast... HA!!

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We go to the AK tomorrow for a repeat performance!!!!
 
That pirate cruise fiasco was just crazy. I can't believe that someone was giving out the wrong information.:headache: HOWEVER it seems that you were able to come up with a very successful plan of attack. The Wave sounds very yummy, we may have to give it a try!
I think the Astro Orbiter at night is really fun!
 

OK, now heading over to Pumpkin Patch....

:banana:

DS10 has gotten very into the cool urban boy look and they have adjustable waists all the way up to size 14, which my super skinny boys need. Part of what I love about the miniboden pants but the Pumpkin Patch jeans are a slimmer cut which works better on my boys. It's a little more hip than the Boden for dress shirts (using "dress" loosely lol but shirts with buttons that are "cool" according to DS10) and vests, Boden is better in the T shirt category and oh I love their fleeces and jammies!

The quality at PP is wonderful and the sale prices, great. Adjustable waist jeans for $12 that hold up are priceless! Even better if the kids actually love them and they look good. If you just wait, eventually everything will go on sale. He has the coolest black "pleather" jacket...that was $25 :) He feels good and it was a great xmas gift where he thinks DS12 and DS16 spent a lot on him lol!

They have stuff online too I think but the site is rather unfriendly....
 
How funny is that!!! :laughing: my guys use them as jammies too, lounge wear in the summer!!! perfect :thumbsup2 I have heard of Pumpkin Patch, will have to check them out -- I like Gap as well, they too have good deals, but with oBden, it is just like you say the quality, excellent. I can justify buying the clothes b/c I know I will get two wearers out of them!!! I pulled out stuff for the younger boy that still looks brand new...after DS7 wore them... they don't look worn at all. And each can get two years out of the sizes, so that is really helpful! :upsidedow

It's funny, I used to get a lot of gap, and gap outlet and gap online but now unless I can find adjustable waist slims (which you can order but aren't often in the stores) I don't shop there much. What I love about all of these brands is it IS worth the money as with 2 boys, most things do make it to DS8. Although as they age they are harder on things so not everything makes it down and while camo might be "very" DS10, not so much DS8! I think DS10 wore out his camo pants from mini boden, he had at least 2 pairs, maybe 3. I get 2 years out of almost all my mini boden stuff:goodvibes

I made the mistake of letting DS10 "look" at abercrombie once (the kids one). Need to keep him out of there until at least 7th grade (of course by then he'll have moved into the main store sizes, sigh)! Nothing is on sale, ever! Or if it is...it is purposely destroyed. I realize it might look cool but those strategically placed holes expand like crazy on a 10 year old boy.
:rotfl:

Now...is someone could only come up with a reasonably priced kids sock that lasted....:confused3
 
Well, we all have days at Disney that get turned upside down.

and what a marvelous job you did running with it! Way to regroup!

:confused: on the pirate cruise, how incredibly disappointing. It doesn't sound like the boys were too upset though which is marvelous. It sounds like you had an amazingly full, and fun day with lots and lots of rides (you got more out of your evenings at MK than we did and we had much older kids! very impressive) and a lovely dinner.

Going to have to check out that margarita one of these days:beach:
 
I've been wanting to try The Wave and now I REALLY want to! Did someone say margarita? ;)

I'm glad you didn't let the change in plans ruin the day. Sounds like you went with the flow quite nicely.

That picture on Buzz is adorable. And woohoo for riding three times in a row!! :woohoo:
 
That stinks about the cruise. It looks like you were able to regroup and have a great day, though.

That picture of your boys laughing at Mike's door is one of my favorites!! They are so stinkin' cute!

I shop mostly at Gap because ds wears a husky size and Gap is one of the few places that fits him well. I still shop at Boden for lots of his tees and for my daughter. (and lots of Gymboree for her..) I've never tried Pumpkin Patch but I'll head over there now and check it out!!
 
What a shame about the pirate cruise :(!

I am glad I am not the only one who sometimes doesn't take a bunch of pictures! ;)

The Wave sounds downright delicious -- especially those two margaritas that you had! :thumbsup2

You had a great spot for Spectro and a lovely evening at MK -- I can't believe how quiet it was!
 
How odd that the pirate crew and the receptionist had two different answers to cancellation of the cruise.:confused: It sounds like you took it in stride.:thumbsup2

The Wave sounds like a must try sometime.

Buzz Lightyear 3 times in a row? My little guy would have been in heaven!:cloud9: AND from picture of YOU little guy it looks like he was!
 
That pirate cruise fiasco was just crazy. I can't believe that someone was giving out the wrong information.:headache: HOWEVER it seems that you were able to come up with a very successful plan of attack. The Wave sounds very yummy, we may have to give it a try!
I think the Astro Orbiter at night is really fun!

I know!!! :mad: I was a bit mad too, if only because we dragged ourselves over there!!! It didn't rain, as it turned out, only in the early am, but they were concerned about a storm system that was supposed to come through shortly. I called the reservation line, and that is who told me they have them rain or shine -- but that they don't go on the water in the rain, they do the resort thing... The crew was surprised by my relaying this, and so I almost wonder if they each do different things... ANYway, I let it go, the guys were not really disappointed, they didn't know what we were doing exactly, since I had told them we had a fun surprise but didn't build it up. SO we'll try in Dec! RE the WAVE, YES. GOOD. Re Astro, I love Astro :)

and what a marvelous job you did running with it! Way to regroup!

:confused: on the pirate cruise, how incredibly disappointing. It doesn't sound like the boys were too upset though which is marvelous. It sounds like you had an amazingly full, and fun day with lots and lots of rides (you got more out of your evenings at MK than we did and we had much older kids! very impressive) and a lovely dinner.

Going to have to check out that margarita one of these days:beach:

No they weren't which made it so easy, I think because I hadn't told them much... but we did indeed have a wonderful evening!! and I was so impressed with them b/c they were so very cooperative. But they had a lot of fun that night.

I've been wanting to try The Wave and now I REALLY want to! Did someone say margarita? ;)

I'm glad you didn't let the change in plans ruin the day. Sounds like you went with the flow quite nicely.

That picture on Buzz is adorable. And woohoo for riding three times in a row!! :woohoo:

The margaritas are seriously the best... And no, we rolled with it, I mean what else are you gonna do?! Thanks! Yes, it was weird it was so empty!!!

That stinks about the cruise. It looks like you were able to regroup and have a great day, though.

That picture of your boys laughing at Mike's door is one of my favorites!! They are so stinkin' cute!

Yeah, that picture is one of my favorites too!!!!

What a shame about the pirate cruise :(!

I am glad I am not the only one who sometimes doesn't take a bunch of pictures! ;)

The Wave sounds downright delicious -- especially those two margaritas that you had! :thumbsup2

You had a great spot for Spectro and a lovely evening at MK -- I can't believe how quiet it was!

Oh well, we could have tried for the next day, but I didn't want to totally change the rest of our plans, and since we would be coming back, I figured we could pass. AND while the first half of the am was "okay" the evening more than made up for it!!! YES the margaritas are FAB. They have a BAR, btw... if you and DH and whomever else want to try the bar on for size you can just walk in... I would!! :thumbsup2

Yes, Spectro from the train platform was new for me, a little crowded, but a nice vantage point. We didn't see the whole parade that night, but with 1/2 the night before we saw the whole thing!!! That night, and the Sunday am of the 5th, were the most ideal MK times EVER. They reminded me of the fall, with low crowd levels...


How odd that the pirate crew and the receptionist had two different answers to cancellation of the cruise.:confused: It sounds like you took it in stride.:thumbsup2

The Wave sounds like a must try sometime.

Buzz Lightyear 3 times in a row? My little guy would have been in heaven!:cloud9: AND from picture of YOU little guy it looks like he was!

Yeah! Odd, annoying, frustrating, bothersome, pick your adjective!!!:headache:

And yes, THREE times in a row. I couldn't believe it. The CM outside said go on in, it is empty. We were thrilled! I should have taken a picture of THAT. :rotfl:

They were very happy that night!
 
:banana:

DS10 has gotten very into the cool urban boy look and they have adjustable waists all the way up to size 14, which my super skinny boys need. Part of what I love about the miniboden pants but the Pumpkin Patch jeans are a slimmer cut which works better on my boys. It's a little more hip than the Boden for dress shirts (using "dress" loosely lol but shirts with buttons that are "cool" according to DS10) and vests, Boden is better in the T shirt category and oh I love their fleeces and jammies!

The quality at PP is wonderful and the sale prices, great. Adjustable waist jeans for $12 that hold up are priceless! Even better if the kids actually love them and they look good. If you just wait, eventually everything will go on sale. He has the coolest black "pleather" jacket...that was $25 :) He feels good and it was a great xmas gift where he thinks DS12 and DS16 spent a lot on him lol!

They have stuff online too I think but the site is rather unfriendly....

It's funny, I used to get a lot of gap, and gap outlet and gap online but now unless I can find adjustable waist slims (which you can order but aren't often in the stores) I don't shop there much. What I love about all of these brands is it IS worth the money as with 2 boys, most things do make it to DS8. Although as they age they are harder on things so not everything makes it down and while camo might be "very" DS10, not so much DS8! I think DS10 wore out his camo pants from mini boden, he had at least 2 pairs, maybe 3. I get 2 years out of almost all my mini boden stuff:goodvibes

I made the mistake of letting DS10 "look" at abercrombie once (the kids one). Need to keep him out of there until at least 7th grade (of course by then he'll have moved into the main store sizes, sigh)! Nothing is on sale, ever! Or if it is...it is purposely destroyed. I realize it might look cool but those strategically placed holes expand like crazy on a 10 year old boy.
:rotfl:

Now...is someone could only come up with a reasonably priced kids sock that lasted....:confused3

I shop mostly at Gap because ds wears a husky size and Gap is one of the few places that fits him well. I still shop at Boden for lots of his tees and for my daughter. (and lots of Gymboree for her..) I've never tried Pumpkin Patch but I'll head over there now and check it out!!

All I can say is.... BOYS FASHION... :confused: :sad2: :headache: HA HA!
 
I don't know how I missed your update earlier when I was catching up on my subscriptions!

What a wonderful MK "do-over", glad that there was no meltdowns this time around!

Too bad about the Pirate Cruise, hope you can squeeze that in on your next trip. :thumbsup2
 
I don't know how I missed your update earlier when I was catching up on my subscriptions!

What a wonderful MK "do-over", glad that there was no meltdowns this time around!

Too bad about the Pirate Cruise, hope you can squeeze that in on your next trip. :thumbsup2


Thanks! I already have that in the plans... hopefully the weather won't be as moody in Dec. :thumbsup2
 
Finally all caught up! :faint:

What a fun treat to take the train all the way to Florida. I wish we lived closer to VA, but we would have to make an 8 or 9 hour drive just to get to the train! Maybe some day?? :confused3

Your villa looks great!! I love our off-property 2 BR villas that we've stayed in, but I also love staying on-property. How great to have both at once!! :thumbsup2

Your boys have adorable smiles!! And I love the "cotton ball". :laughing: Very cute!!

Looking forward to more... and I'll try to keep up with you this time. :goodvibes
 
Oh keep trying on the ADR -- especially as trips get close to that 45 day mark, some people cancel then, and something might open up!!! We got into a few restaurants that week, no problem, I was surprised, happy, but surprised, so you never know!!! EXACTLY on the dragging me along stuff!!!! I am glad to know a solo adventure is a positive experience, I am really planning for it. :goodvibes

Hey... I notice you did the 1/2 marathon.... is this the race in January?


Yes DH and I did the Disney Half this past January. We met our best friends there, no kids, and spent 4 days in Disney for the race and then 4 days in the Bahamas to recuperate! LOL! It was great! DH and I were not runners but we started running Spring of 2008 and got ourselves ready. We both finished the race and it was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Right up there under having kids. To go from feeling like it was something I could never do, to actually doing it and finishing, was just incredibly satisfying! I highly recommend it!

Allyson
 
I can't believe the cruise was canceled and the rain NEVER came!:sad2:

You rolled with it well though! Another great day! And a great evening in the MK! You did good getting into bed a decent times. I'm so impressed.

btw...all this talk of boy's fashion is cracking me up!!:laughing: DS is particular about his dress these days...
 
I just found your report and it has been a joy to read. Your boys are adorable!

It was a bummer about the pirate cruise but you will definitely have to try it in December. My DS7 loved it on our Thanksgiving trip last year. It gave me and DH a few minutes of alone time to enjoy ourselves. One thing I learned on here is that you can give your child a camera to take with them (disposable is what I recommend!) but Jeremy came back with some cute pictures.

I loved the report on the train. DS7 still loves trains, even at this age. He claims he is going to be a conductor one day! I never thought of taking your car along as well. That would be great! We are surprising him in September and going to Louisville to see the Disney Christmas Carol train. It looks so neat!

Look forward to your next update!

Erika
 
I hate to hear that about the pirate cruise. DS is scheduled for the one at CBR in August.

The wave sounds amazing. :yay::yay: We are going in August and cant wait now.
 




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