I'm Back, and I STILL need my head examined! Updated 3/27

[camsmomE]

Ok, so I know it's been THREE MONTHS since I've added an update to my original Trip Report from AUG 2010... but since I only had a day and a half left to report, I thought I'd open a new thread here and FINISH IT (hehehe) this weekend. I hope I still have my buddies to read it.

Let me catch up the newest readers...
I'm Stacey, my DH is Mike, and our little Stitch-look-alike is Cameran (she's almost 2 and a half now! wow!) For those of you that started with me being blonde...

Things are pretty much the same around here, well, except for THAT little change!

Mike, Cam and I took our first family vacation in August 2010 to WDW and stayed for 6 days, 5 nights at Wilderness Lodge. Please, if you haven't "met" us until today, begin by reading the first 5 days of this report in the link located in my signature entitled "I think I need my head examined."
This thread will begin as the last portion of my trip report (since I'm unable to add anymore post to my "way too long as inactive" TR). We will begin where I left off HERE on Day 5, after DHS and before our night at Downtown Disney.

I will use this thread to continue the chapter list.

See you in the next post, continuing DAY 5 part two, Downtown Disney

 

[camsmomE]

After lunch from Roaring Forks (which is always awesome), some last-minute splish splashes in the pool, and a few minutes in the gift shop, we all took a much-needed nap, then got ready and left (a little early) to take the bus to Downtown Disney. We had a superb bus driver, I really hated reaching our destination so fast because he was just that funny! When we arrived, even though we had come to DTD two days previous, we still couldn't remember how to get to Raglan Road for dinner... Here's a shot that will serve as proof that Mike HAS indeed asked for directions at least once in his life.

We found the place lickety split! but... we were over an hour ahead of schedule and Cameran was STARVING, so instead of begging them to let us into Raglan Road for our ADR early, we decided to walk around the corner to Cookes of Dublin and let her have a snack of her favorite thing in the whole wide world...

Oh yes, if we didn't already have a reservation around the corner, I would have gladly stayed right there and ate dinner! Soooo yummy!

We sat there a good while, then we decided we were ready to eat too, so why not beg them to let us in early... Not even a little bit of a problem! We walked up at exactly 6pm, stated "we're here for our 6:30 ADR," and we were escorted directly to a prime table in the center of the restaurant! No beggin required!

Cameran and I were thrilled to be here!

These are BOTH my drinks! One is iced tea... the other is ummm... iced tea of a different sort. You know? The kind a mommy deserves after 5 days in WDW parks with a soon-to-be 2 year old!

Hopefully, you can tell from this picture that we were seated, literally against the center table-ish mini stage on which a very talented young man would soon be dancing

My DH ordered lamb...

I had the "it's not bleedin' chowder"

which I'd been day-dreaming about for weeks, and it turned out Cam liked it more than I did! (It's ok, I ate some of her batter-dipped sausages- YUM!)

And there he goes!

And the three dancers together were GREAT!

Mike ordered the creme brulee cheesecake (which I ate)

I ordered the Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding (which I ate)

You can't tell from the photos, but our experience here was tainted by some REALLY bad toddler behavior. Mike had to remove Cam from the restaurant three times, so as not to ruin every else's meal. I guess this is where being seated in the dead-center of the place was bittersweet. If any of you reading where present that night... I'm SO SORRY! All in all, the food was amazing, and at least i had a good time. teehee or should I say "tea heehee"

We caught the tail end of a street performance on the way back to the bus

and headed back "home."

Next update will be "Day 5- last night at WL"

 

[camsmomE]

When we returned to the Wilderness Lodge that Friday night, I had a few things I desperately wanted to do (packing to leave the next day wasn't one of them). I wanted to take a few night shots of the resort, I wanted to watch the Electric Water Pageant with Mike and Cam, and I wanted to buy a Christmas ornament from the Mercantile. Because of all the hoopla Cameran put Mike through at Raglan Road, he just really wanted to shower and sleep. So... I took my Nikon D40, my kid in the stroller, and my refillable mug and I took to walking the grounds one last time.

Beautiful isn't it??!! It is stunning at night. It was so much fun to walk and walk, and just look around, trying to take it all in. Cameran finally noticed the animal tracks in the cement pathway...

She was pretty pleased that her feet were bigger.

What? What the? Is that my dear husband who decided that hanging out with is girls on the last night was more important than sleep?! YUP!

That or we just caught him sneaking over to Roaring Forks to refill his mug.

Either way... we did get to see the EWP together at exactly 9:35PM (I thought they were kidding about that!)

And I did get to buy an ornament from the gift shop (which i forgot to put on the Christmas tree this year), and I saw this cute apron that I had to talk myself out of...

I headed back to the room feeling relaxed and accomplished. Mike was exhausted by this point, and Cam? Well... she was asleep in the stroller.

Next post: Day 6- Packing up is hard to do.

 

[annmarieda]

I am so excited that I just happened upon your continuation!!! I saw you post on another thread (the food porn one) and I noticed your sig had more to it.

Anyway, I am here to read the rest!!!

 

[camsmomE]

I am so excited that I just happened upon your continuation!!! I saw you post on another thread (the food porn one) and I noticed your sig had more to it.

Anyway, I am here to read the rest!!!

YAY! you found me!! I promise to be more diligent to get this done, this time So here I go- Day 6.

 

[camsmomE]

This will be my favorite update because I finally get to tell you WHY I chose "I think I need my head examined" as my title. So we (meaning I) woke up early that Saturday morning, began getting everyone's final day outfit ready, and packing up- believe me, the hardest time to pack is when you DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!
Anyways. I packed up the "kids"

and grabbed the cooler to repack all our unused bottled water from the mini-fridge. I was bent over the cooler loading the bottles just inside the sink/vanity area, BY THE WALL (important to remember), when my "I thoght you said you were sleeping 'til 8" husband walked to the edge of the area and said (rather loudly) "Hey Stace! How can I help?"
WAMMO! I jumped twisted and spun my face into the corner of the wall!
Instant knot on my head. My answer... "You could get me some ICE!"

It really wasn't until we were in the boat on the way to MK that morning that I rubbed my forehead and said (to no particular person) "Man, I think I need my head examined." I realized at that point that several other people riding the boat with me that morning were thinking the exact same thing!

Before I begin telling you about our breakfast at Chef Mickey's, I'd like to tell you just how lucky I am to have such a smart daughter! After we were packed and ready to leave our room for the last time, we called bell services to assist us with getting our things to the car. I really didn't expect someone to be at our door in less than two minutes, so the following situation occurred...

I took both my wedding and engagement rings off and handed them to Cameran (I know, I know... but this proved to be a good idea later!) I said very clearly to her "Cami, PLEASE hold on to these REALLY TIGHTLY until I take them back from you, ok? Show me what really tightly looks like... ok, good girl."

I then started rubbing sunblock all over Cami's face and neck (see now why the rings came off...) but in the middle of this process, bell services showed up and loaded our stuff in literally MINUTES! Since I was the one with the coupon organizer that contained tip money, important paperwork, confirmations, etc... Mike hollered at me "Babe, I need the tip money.. NOW PLEASE." We also had to walk down with the bellman because we hadn't walked over to get our car yet, so in a huge rush, we all jst left... just the way we were...

Standing in the front drop-off area, Cami and I admired the buffalo topiaries and I took a nice sigh. The kind of sigh that says "wow. what a great trip. what a fantastic family. I have a super kid. I have an awesome husband and a loving marriage... marriage... looking down at what SHOULD be my wedding rings... OMG!!!!! And yes, like any mature adult, calm and classy individual, I took to screaming. "I think I lost my rings, Oh God! Oh God, I'll never find them, no no no..."

A little hand stuck up from the back of the stroller.

"Here Mommy. Really tight."

OMG- I LOVE HER! At this point, I was promising Cameran "lol-pops" galore and balloons, and french fries... I swear I would have bought her a car right now!

So now. Car packed, bellman tipped, car re-parked as we were leaving it there for that day while we visited Mickey once more before we went home, now it's time to say goodbye to Humphrey.

Since I was rushed out of the room earlier, I missed my chance to snap a shot of Cameran leaving the room, so... I went back to the room and told Mike I was going to "fake it" -no one will ever know that we really left 20 minutes ago. Mike keeps reminding me that if I tell the entire world what I did, it completely defeats the point. Sortof in the same way that getting a $400 purse for $60 is less exciting if you reply to compliments by saying "Thanks! I got it dirt cheap at TJ MAX- You should go- I think they have two left!"

Anyway- here's my "faked" picture of Cam leaving;

Now it's officially time to say bye to Humphrey and go catch that boat!
I think Cameran missed the point. Looks to me like she was thinking "If I rubbed his nose on the way in, then surely on the way out...

I shall slap you now!

WAIT CAM- BE NICE!

Another lovely walk to the boat dock

next update: See you at Chef Mickey's!

 

[annmarieda]

OH MY GOSH!!! I had happy tears form in my eyes with your story. You are so lucky you have such a sweet smart little girl.

I love the "faked" picture. I can't help myself with things too. If I get a good deal..or do something I have to say "but it only was this much or...etc" Dh tells me I am too honest.. it really is that I am an over sharer...which makes the dis boards wonderful for me...since I like to over share

BTW, in the "fake" picture... is Cam holding onto your rings? Her little left hand seems to be clasped tight around something.

 

[camsmomE]

BTW, in the "fake" picture... is Cam holding onto your rings? Her little left hand seems to be clasped tight around something.

I had to open the photo and zoom waaaay in because I KNOW I had them back on when I took that pic. It was my car key I saw that she had the key ring on her thumb.

 

[camsmomE]

When we got off the boat at MK, we hung a quick right and decided to walk to the Contemporary to make our ADR at Chef Mickey's. Note: It was one hour before our ADR time, so when we got there, we took an elevator (Oh MAN I forgot that at the time of this trip, Cameran was scared silly of elevators and would hyperventilate in them!!), and we spent some time in the gift shop...

We arrived about 40 minutes early, so they took us into the waiting area (we declined taking the photo...) Here is where Cameran harrassed a poor kid so badly about his hat "I like your hat, ky haf it??" that my DH had to go in and retrieve our child

We were finally seated, and I volunteered to go get plates for Cam and myself. I loaded them up baby! This was my second favorite buffet!

Pretty soon we had our first visitor... "Pluuuuno" (AKA Pluto)

Caught Mike off guard I guess!

Next?

The love of her life...

then she bit his bill. Funny, she wasn't eating her breakfast at all!

Then she checked out his shoes.

Next came Minnie...

She really only cared about her shoes...
Good thing Minnie shared the same fascination!

She loves Goofy (so much that she didn't notice the shoes!!!)

Cameran then started running around the restaurant blowing kisses at everyone.

and the LONG wait for Mickey was leaving me feeling...well... like this...

Cami did the napkin dance like a CHAMP! (while admiring Mickey's shoes... geesh! ...and I thought my mother was bad about shoes!!)

And as fast as, well as fast as anything CAN be at WDW, we were outta there and on a monorail to our happy place (since it was oh-so-less-than-happy previously in the week.

Next Stop: Magic Kingdom!

 

[annmarieda]

Awe, Cam was so cute at Chef Mickey's!!! What a wonderful age that is. Makes me miss when my youngest was that old.

 

[camsmomE]

Awe, Cam was so cute at Chef Mickey's!!! What a wonderful age that is. Makes me miss when my youngest was that old.

Thanks! She keeps getting more and more beautiful every single day!

 

[Princess116]

I'm in

 

[marymac123]

Me too!

 

[camsmomE]

With a nice full belly and a gut full of determination... I was highly motivated at "getting DH and DD to fall in love" with the Magic Kingdom today. We all know what happened on our only other MK day this trip, and I sure wasn't letting a day like that happen again.

PLUS, I was missing a DIS meet to take my two lovey's back to MK.

So here we go...
for nostalgia's sake- I love this shot

"Hey there Mayor... NICE SHOES!"

hahahahaha

First stop?what Mike started calling "Stacey's favorite ride"- the Baby Care Center!" I will spare you the 20 or so pictures, well, after this one

Isn't this a nice shot of my house? errr... I mean the castle?

Mini-break from report to show you the last of the photopass CD pictures from our trip

Ok, now a little traumatized by the events earlier in the week, I was treading lightly on not upsetting the magical day at WDW gods. I thought we'd try something Cameran LOVED, something she watches on Backyardigans, is familiar with, later went as for Halloween!!! PIRATES!

This was a fool-proof plan. There was NO wait, we were speeding through the queue, all three of us smiling and singing "yo ho yo ho, a pirate's life for me." Foolproof. F-o-o-l-p-r-o-o-f.
ummm...

and that was the last I saw of a "CALM Cami" for next next, oh, twelve minutes or so! She was screaming like her butt was on fire! Every person, man, woman, child, and ghost on that little boat of ours was glaring at us. So... to try to nix the total FREAK OUTedness of the moment, I started singing the ABC's at the top of my lungs. She sang with me, between sobs, but at any glimmer of a chance that I may stop singing the ABC's and behave like a normal person, she went back into freak out mode. It was a LONG boat ride, that even Jack Sparrow couldn't neutralize. I did manage to blow a kiss at him though- somewhere between "LMN" and "OP"

and THIS was Fantasyland when we were there

We grabbed fastpasses for Peter Pan and slipped right in to Philharmagic.
While we were in the show, it rained cats and Plutos! Our stroller was soaked,like literally holding 2-3 cups of water, but before Mike or I wrapped our brains around this concept, we had already placed Cam into the bathtub that used to be her stroller seat. So back to "Stacey's favorite ride" we go for a quick diaper/ clothes change.

Now you can note that THIS is the outfit you saw her in when you looked at the photopass CD pics. I had that shirt made by this awesome lady I know that does custom orders on the internet.

After we got Cam all changed, we headed back out into the hub and made our way toward Tomorrowland...

Next Update: Stitch meets Stitch.

 

[stayhomemom77]

Just read your TR (both threads ) in one go here!

I'm loving it!

We too had our stroller snap in half (in Epcot in our case) but luckily my son was 5 and my daughter 6 and we had two strollers so they just had to share. NO WAY I was forking over $50 for a new one for kids as old as they were. We only HAVE the strollers for Disney.

Can't wait for the rest of your final day!

 

[annmarieda]

I missed the update.

Sorry that Cam freaked out on Pirates. My dd had a hard time on some rides when she was that age too. Now she is a dare devil... and wants to go on everything. It was hard though to endure those moments though... Back then even driving up the on ramp to the freeway set her off. (not sure why, but we had to sing itsy bitsy spider to calm her..EVERY time)

Love the castle pics!

 

[camsmomE]

Entering Tomorrowland, we were on two missions: fastpasses for Buzz and introduce Cami to stitch.

Mission accomplished. We grabbed fastpasses for Buzz (available in two hours) and headed over to the Stitch gift shop to snap these photos... c'mon, you see the resemblance right?

Since we had quite a while to wait for Buzz, we headed over to Cosmic Rays for a snack.
For me, this would serve as an Iced Coffee.

For Mike, this would serve as a bacon cheeseburger and fries (note the drip of cheese sauce on one or two fries... they were out already.

And for Cam, this would serve as pickles and tomatoes that DH planned on putting on his burger

After snack time, we decided to go back and ride Peter Pan, using our fastpasses...

By the time we got off Peter Pan and walked around looking for the Dole Whip kiosk for Mike, we ran smack into THIS! YAY!

Continued next post.

 

[camsmomE]

So somewhere amongst our wandering, we stumbled upon the 3PM parade and had PRIME viewing space, so we stopped to watch. This was Cami's very first daytime parade EVER. Some of this she's on her daddy's shoulders, and some she's in her stroller, because let's face it, she's a little, ummm... pooh-ish on this trip.

Cami was squealing when she saw Donald!

You will begin to notice a pattern... everybody has to touch Cam!

Look at this face in reaction to the Mad Hatter! she's like "Um, you're no Johnny Depp!"

Note the ominous weather change that occurred in a split second...

Why does this pic freak me out so???

Next Post: Finally tried a Dole Whip!

 

[camsmomE]

So around the same time I was supposed to be meeting with my friends (DISmeet) at the Poly for a Dole Whip- Mike was sampling his very first at Aloha Isle.

That was orange/vanilla twist floating on pineapple juice. UHG, you won't catch me anywhere near one of these babies! I can't stand Dole Whips (shhhh... don't tell my bff's on the Poly thread)

I patiently waited for mike and Cam to finish that "treat" so that I could hurry off to Main Street to get mine. I had my heart set on something well... like this!

The three of us didn't even get halfway through this ice cream sandwich... it was that big! While we attempted to conquer it though, we both decided that we'd had probably all we could take for the week and it was time to head home. We crossed the street and grabbed our last CS credit at Casey's for a hot dog nugget meal to-go. Then headed for the..........

Cami was OUT.

So while she slept her way out of the park, Mommy and Daddy took their turns at acting like kids!

"Oh C'mon man! Was that so bad?!"

"Oh THANK YOU GOD that it's over!!"

While we waited in line to get on the boat back to Wilderness Lodge, we noticed something disturbing...

She LOST her LOST child tag!!! This is a mixture of funny and troublesome. somewhere out there, someone knows my phone number and how cute I am!

Next Post: We made it out alive... and still married!

 

[annmarieda]

for the update! I absolutely love the look on Cam's face when looking at the mad hatter. Too funny!