It's a Jolly Holiday with Katiebell and Brrt!

[Katiebell]

Lovin' the TR KB!!! Can't wait for more!

Aw, thanks Sulley! I am so sorry we missed seeing you there...Brrt just LOVES M:S, I think the orange mission is one of his favorite rides anywhere I am already mentally planning our next trip -- we were batting around the idea of February 2010 *sigh* it seems so far away...but we were thinking of trying to make it down to DL for a few days mid-December. Maybe we could meet up with Sea and his family for a day!

Ohh all those drinks sound loovaleee! I'm sure that's how I would say it after having one of those drinks!

Love the Wishes pictures. I've never seen it. My kids get too freaked out with loud noises.

I think my husband and brrt have the same vacation philosophy. I find it very hard to chart his freedom of choice in my planning spread sheets.

There are some great videos of Wishes on youtube...just type "Wishes WDW" in the search, I found several. That way you could hear the music, it's really special And who knows, if your kids got a chance to see it a few times on the computer, they might feel brave enough to watch it some night on a future trip, because they would know just what to expect. Maybe earplugs might help them feel more comfortable? I still remember my youngest the first time we took him to fireworks on Independence Day. I think he was a little over two. He buried his face in my shoulder at the loud "BOOM"s, then would point up at the sky and say, "Oooh, pretty!" then bury his face again

OK, gotta make dinner...then I'll try to get another installment or two posted

 

[Katiebell]

Alrighty...chili is simmering on the stove , so I've got time for the next episode

On our list of things we learned: If you do not have your own vehicle and are relying on WDW transportation, do not make an early breakfast reservation at a different resort than the one where you are staying. For the most part, unless you are at a deluxe on the Monorail line, there is no transportation directly to said resort. The earliest buses will go to the parks, but then you would have to wait for another bus to get to your breakfast...and probably be late. And so you will end up taking a cab, and it will add approximately $18 (including tip) to the cost of your breakfast

It sounded like a good idea at the time: early breakfast at Boma (8 am), spend the morning at Blizzard Beach, change to park clothes and pack our wet suits in big ziplocs (stash 'em in a locker for the day) and spend the afternoon and evening at DHS. Well...it was just too much for the day. And we decided we wanted to get to DHS early so we'd get a chance to ride Toy Story Mania (we were hearing the fast passes were often gone by noon). So the water park got scrapped, and we didn't want to wait at DAK for a bus to AKL, so we called a cab.

Made it to Boma in plenty of time. AKL is just beautiful:

We went downstairs and got seated within a few minutes.

We had dinner at Boma on our last trip and loved it -- they also serve a fantastic breakfast. We had intended to pay for a press pot of coffee, but the regular coffee that came with the meal was so good that it wasn't necessary -- NOT NESCAFE (more about that later...)

There were some more exotic and interesting choices -- Brrt fell head over heels for the curried sausage and biscuits, he loves curry -- but there was something for everybody, even the pickiest eaters:

Oh wow...the potatoes were great, the Frunch ([FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]lemonade, pineapple juice, guava juice, orange juice, and papaya juice) was delicious, the fresh fruit was perfect, carved ham and corned beef, bacon, sausage, pastries (including these wonderful cinnamon rolls with big crunchy sugar crystals on top), oatmeal with a variety of toppings (raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon)...and the coffee...mmmmmmmm...good coffee [/FONT]

Yep, we'd definitely do a Boma breakfast again However, we'd probably make it about 10 am, call it brunch, and just not eat again until dinner. Too hard (and ultimately, expensive ) to get there by 8 am.

Next up: Hooray for Hollywood!

 

[Katiebell]

Tummies full of delicious Boma food, and bloodstreams full of delicious Boma coffee caffeine , we hopped on the bus for DHS.

Little sidetrack here: good coffee is very, very important to us. The Nescafe that is served almost everywhere at WDW is NOT good coffee. We absolutely have to have lots of bottled water to drink, so I had made an order from Garden Grocer -- couple of cases of bottled water, a few bananas, some Diet Dr. Pepper (one of my few vices, and no where to be found at WDW), gingerale, and a pound of Starbucks coffee. Next lesson we learned: wonderful ground coffee is useless without coffee filters. So we ended up using the little pre-packaged coffee pods that were in the hotel room. Ah well, they weren't too bad -- at least they weren't Nescafe, and we brought home a full pound of Starbucks coffee to enjoy at home

All right, back to our regularly scheduled program

We got to DHS not at rope drop, but just a little after opening. We strolled around a bit to get our bearings:

First goal -- Toy Story Mania. We located it on the map, and headed toward Pixar Studios. We grabbed a Fast Pass first thing; the wait time was 30 minutes, so we decided to wait for our first ride, since we heard the queue was definitely worth seeing:

You can really see through the giant View Master reels:

Hey, I had that View Master reel when I was a kid! In fact, I had most of these toys -- Candy Land, Tinker Toys, Barrel of Monkeys... It was such a cool perspective to be tiny among all of these giant toys, like we were shrunk down to toy-size and walking around a kid's bedroom floor:

Mr. Potatohead told jokes and kept us all entertained while we waited in line. The ride was totally worth the wait. I'm not that big on shooting gallery style rides -- I like Buzz Lightyear, but I'm not all that great at it. These games were a blast, though! But I'm really glad we got a Fast Pass for later, because by the time we left, the wait was up to 60 minutes...

Next: "How Would You Like to Help Us Out In the Show?"

 

[Jana49]

Katiebell - we just missed the opening of Toy Story when we visited in mid-May. I love the photos you shared, and will show them to my DGD Makenzie, the Woody nut! Btw, the photos of breakfast at Boma have me salivating! Mmmmm!

 

[rusafee1183]

Hey hon! I am definately hooked on your TR! More please! Although, I know that your're probably at work.....

I owe...I owe.... Makes me smile everytime

So, I have decided that you should definately consider a May '09 trip to WDW!!!!! So, then we can have a real live MAYer meet up!!!.... Just a suggestion....

I'll be waiting anxiously for your next installment!

 

[rusafee1183]

sorry KB - computer difficulties.

 

[rusafee1183]

diamondintherough - lovalee sounds exactly how i would sound after a few cocktails too

.... or just ONE of the "year of a million dreams" drinks - whew that's all i can say

 

[JoBird]

Hello to KB, MAYers and everyone else reading this fab TR!!!!

Oh wow, cherry sorbet...it was incredible. I will definitely keep my eyes open for other flavors next time. Blood orange would be fabulous, I'm sure... WDW serves more varieties of creme brulee than I even knew existed! I had maple at LC, milk chocolate at the F&W booth, last trip I had orange at Sunshine Seasons, I saw that Chefs had vanilla on their menu (although I ordered the chocolate tart instead), both Raglan Road and R&C had some kind, I think with Bailey's, and I know Kona serves one with carmelized banana... can you imagine the trip report -- sorbet and creme brulee around the World!

That is one TR I'd love to be a part of!

I think my favorite non-Disney drink is the Wallaby Darned at Outback Steakhouse -- champagne, vodka, peach schnapps, and frozen peaches all whirled into a decadent smoothie

All right- i just cannot abide Peach schnapps anything- has to do with a little matter from my teenage days when I woke up on the beach with a sunburn on only half of my body....????? I'd passed out on my side- darn fuzzy navels.
But you didn't hear that from ME........

Love the report!~

Your pic of the castle at night is beautiful- did you see Spectro from the you-know -where???





Jo

 

[rusafee1183]

Uh Oh! I messed up the handshake didn't I????
LOL

oops!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

We love to do the 10:30 breakfast and treat it like lunch. My guys eat so many more breakfast foods than dinner foods that it is often a stress free meal for us.

How did you get the crowds to part at the food stations to get the pictures? Was brrt standing guard?

 

[Katiebell]

Katiebell - we just missed the opening of Toy Story when we visited in mid-May. I love the photos you shared, and will show them to my DGD Makenzie, the Woody nut! Btw, the photos of breakfast at Boma have me salivating! Mmmmm!

Your DGD will love the ride! We laughed the whole time. And Boma was so good, we loved it for dinner too. Don't know which I liked better, so I guess they are both on my list for next time!

So, I have decided that you should definately consider a May '09 trip to WDW!!!!! So, then we can have a real live MAYer meet up!!!.... Just a suggestion....

I'll be waiting anxiously for your next installment!

Wellllll...next WDW trip will probably not be until end of 2009 or maybe February 2010. It's just so expensive since we have to fly across the country and everything *sigh* BUT...we are looking at maybe driving down to DL for a few days mid-December of this year! Wow, that would be in just over 2 months! We'll see...I'm pricing things now...and I could do it much cheaper at a Good Neighbor Hotel across the street, but Brrt loves the DL Hotel and really, really wants to stay there again (that's the one we usually go to). Paradise Pier is a little less expensive; the Grand Californian is totally out of our price range...and DL doesn't give out 40% discount codes, at least not that I'VE ever seen

All right- i just cannot abide Peach schnapps anything- has to do with a little matter from my teenage days when I woke up on the beach with a sunburn on only half of my body....????? I'd passed out on my side- darn fuzzy navels.
But you didn't hear that from ME........

Love the report!~

Your pic of the castle at night is beautiful- did you see Spectro from the you-know -where???

OK, true confession time (and I hope the tag fairy never reads this because it's not how I'd like to be immortalized... ) When I was a teen in Los Angeles, I drank way too many pina coladas at a friend's house, passed out on the beach in a bikini and...well...part of me sunburned that should never have ever seen the light of day. But ya know...I still like pina coladas

We did go to the Spectro viewing area that had been *ahem* recommended to us but it was already full No worries, we sat on the porch area outside of Country Bear Jamboree, and we were right up next to the rope and no one could get in front of us, so same general location, and it was great. But I'll have pics of that later...no jumping ahead!

 

[Katiebell]

We love to do the 10:30 breakfast and treat it like lunch. My guys eat so many more breakfast foods than dinner foods that it is often a stress free meal for us.

How did you get the crowds to part at the food stations to get the pictures? Was brrt standing guard?

Brunch is good for us too. Usually first thing in the morning we just want coffee. I want cream and sugar; Brrt wants it black, and lots of it. Now. Hurry up. But we love a leisurely brunch, and it definitely tides us over until dinner time. I bet it would work very well for your group, especially with your picky eater. I know my DS likes buffets because he can get exactly what he wants: plain meat, plain potatoes, and keep everything from touching on his plate!

Here is my photo secret (and the same one I used to get empty rooms at Minnie's house): I take 80 bazillion pictures. I was terrible with actual film -- I burned through rolls taking shot after shot and not having any idea what I'd come out with until it was developed. Thank goodness for digital cameras, so I have room for my 80 bazillion pics...well...actually only 777 pics, but that's ok because I edit as I go and delete a lot of the ones that don't come out. So I'm very patient, and will shoot and shoot and shoot, and wait for the one second when no one is blocking my shot and shoot again. And then delete most of them Even so, each of our day's folders (9/19, 9/20, etc) have about 250 pics, WAY more than we'd ever have made into prints. But that's because both Brrt and I were taking pics at the same time. So I just try to pull out the best ones to tell my story, but I hope I'm not overloading you guys with too many photos 'cuz sometimes I get carried away...

 

[Diamondintheruff]

I hope I'm not overloading you guys with too many photos 'cuz sometimes I get carried away...

NOPE. I'm loving all the photos. Keep em coming.

 

[Katiebell]

NOPE. I'm loving all the photos. Keep em coming.

Alright, but remember, you asked for it!

Man, I'm beat tonight, but maybe just one more installment...

 

[Katiebell]

It would be a while before our Fast Pass time to ride TSM again, so we wandered over to the Studio Backlot Tour. 5 minute wait, sounded good. Brrt didn't know anything about this attraction, and all I knew was that it involved a tram and some water at some point. So we were waiting with a handful of people, a few more were trickling in...and a CM approached us and asked the fateful question: "How would you like to help us out in the show?" Brrt immediately started grinning. As much as he is shy with strangers, and hates a crowd, Brrt just loves being on stage. Me, not so much. I did some drama stuff in high school, was in a couple of plays, but that's when I knew the script and had been rehearsing. Being thrown up in front of people with no preparation...uh...I'll pass. But Brrt is grinning, and you know, he has been rather indulgent with me, so why not? They lead us away to where they prepare the victims...er...volunteers...

If you've taken the tour, I'm sure you know the scene: we got to be in a mini movie called "Harbor Attack". Some other sucker, er, guest got to be the ship's mechanic, Brrt was the captain, and I was the wacky deckhand -- think "Gilligan". My job was to run around screaming hysterically, pointing at imaginary planes in the sky that were bombing us, and pointing at the non-imaginary water that was blowing up in our faces. At one point, I was supposed to frantically get the captain's attention, waving my arms in his face, while he ignored me. "Oh good, he knows how to do that really well," said I. Fortunately, they had protective gear for us, because the scene involved a LOT of water -- we had slickers and rubber boots and pants that were supposed to be waterproof that we pulled over our clothes...and they were sort of waterproof

The scene was filmed, then they cut in thrilling music and action sequences of planes flying and put it all together. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no pics of us because we were both IN the scene But I got a few pics of the next group after us, so you can see what we did:

The poor guy that got picked to be the ship's mechanic (who was supposed to be below decks when the ship was hit) had to sit in this chair and have about 200 gallons of water dumped on him:

\

So we stripped off the fairly waterproof gear and, slightly damp, joined the rest of the tour on the tram.

The famous mouse-ear water tower:

An orignal costume worn by Captain Jack Sparrow:

Catastrophe Canyon (aptly named) with the tanker truck on fire and thousands of gallons of water rushing toward us:

Villains exhibit:

The witch from Enchanted -- really cute movie:

Davy Jone's pipe organ:

After we left the tour, we saw this cool mermaid fountain -- I love mermaids, and have sort of a collection. The plaque said that it was featured in the movie Splash:

Tomorrow: More Hollywood Magic!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

How awesome that you guys both got picked to help out with the scene! I think they should have photopass photographers to take pictures of people that help out like that. I haven't done that one yet. We were in line once but the kids were frazzled and breaking down. So we left. I'll bribe my DD with the chance to see the enchanted evil stepmother dress. She loved that movie (I think it is cute too!) and she is quite the fashionista. Not sure that would work on my boys though.

You're really pounding out the chapters. What a trooper!

 

[Katiebell]

How awesome that you guys both got picked to help out with the scene! I think they should have photopass photographers to take pictures of people that help out like that. I haven't done that one yet. We were in line once but the kids were frazzled and breaking down. So we left. I'll bribe my DD with the chance to see the enchanted evil stepmother dress. She loved that movie (I think it is cute too!) and she is quite the fashionista. Not sure that would work on my boys though.

You're really pounding out the chapters. What a trooper!

Y'know...that's a really good idea. If I'd had time I would have handed my camera to a perfect stranger in the audience and asked them to take pics, but oh well. It was fun anyway The exhibit at the end was all villains, so maybe your boys might like it...there were life sized mannequins of Darth Vader, Darth Maul, the Telmarine soldiers from Prince Caspian, crew members from the Flying Dutchman and the pipe organ Davy Jones played in PoC3...it was a cool little museum. And the boys would probably enjoy the water explosions at the beginning of the tour

And you know...I'm pounding out the chapters because I want to be back there so bad!!! But for now, back to everyday life. It's so much fun to relive the trip...and I'm trying to see if we can make December at DL work

 

[Katiebell]

About this time, we discovered that Brrt had lost his sunglasses. The CM's went back to check if any had been turned in, but they hadn't. It was fairly cloudy and sprinkling off and on, so fortunately he didn't need them at that moment, although it was definitely an annoyance.

We walked through "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream", a very cool lil' museum:

Rode TSM again, and walked around a bit:

I looked at this pic and thought, I don't remember the sky being that blue that day! And then I saw this pic and thought...oh, ok, it wasn't that blue:

LOL, movie magic! We decided to grab some lunch, and went to Starring Rolls, which is right next to the Brown Derby. DHS is notorious for having some of the worst CS places in all of WDW, but this place was really pretty good:

We each got a foccacia sandwich (one ham and one turkey), a couple of pieces of fruit (could have gotten chips), two bottles of water, and two bakery items (Brrt got a giant oatmeal cookie, I got a tiramisu). Very yummy, and great deal for 2 CS credits.

The two things I wanted to see the most were the Little Mermaid Show (which played continuously all day until about 7:00 pm) and the Beauty and the Beast show, which played at specific times throughout the day. Timing these two was going to be problematic, and as it kept raining off and on (one parade was cancelled due to the weather), I was worried that B&B might also be cancelled. We rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, which we both love, and love the music that goes with the ride. On the first inversion I almost lost my glasses which would have been a disaster -- I can't see a THING without them. I somehow got them off my face on a speeding coaster, and couldn't manage to put them away anywhere, so I held on to them for dear life. And I found out that if you move your head forward from the head rest, it tends to whack your head back and forth against the (fortunately cushioned) sides, but still feels a bit like you got your ears boxed. So...lesson learned: keep your head flat back against the headrest Oh, and take your prescription glasses off BEFORE the ride starts! Exiting the ride, we grabbed a Fast Pass to ride it again later. We shopped around a bit:

Now, here's MY kind of souvenir:

Time was up for our R&RC Fast Pass, so we grabbed a Fast Pass for Little Mermaid (but looking at the time, I could see we might not make the show), rode R&RC again, and then they were letting people in to sit for B&B when we got off the ride -- the CM assured us that the weather wouldn't stop the show because the theater was covered, even though it was outdoors. So...calculating in the time for our LM Fast Pass (and it would be last show of the day), B&B just starting seating (and it would be the last show we could catch), and the time for our dinner ADR coming up...had to choose. I picked B&B, even though I really wanted both -- as the Stones said, "You Can't Always Get What You Want".

The live B&B show is really cute, great casting, great costumes, great singing. The continuity of the story suffers terribly, however, in cutting it down for a half hour show. There is no mention of Belle's father, then the narrator says, "Through a series of mysterious circumstances, Belle finds herself in this enchanted castle", then Mrs. Potts says the poor girl has lost her father and her freedom all in one day -- what??? If we didn't already know the story, we would be seriously confused. All in all, great fun, though, and definitely worth seeing:

Yay! *applause, applause* Hoping for the best, checked the time on the LM Fast Pass, nope. Standby line, nope, too long. Oh well, next trip...

We had a little bit of time, and we saw the Indy stunt show had just started, so we ducked in there:

They had to cut some of it because of the weather (would have been unsafe for the performers) but we did get to see the big finish:

Almost time for our dinner reservation...we walked through the Echo Lake area. We thought about Star Tours, but we've ridden that one a lot at DL, so decided to skip it. We did get these cool photos on the Forest Moon of Endor, though:

We walked through The Magic of Disney Animation attraction, very cool, saw some preview stuff for the new Pixar movie coming up, Bolt...then headed over to Prime Time 50's.

Next Installment: Just Like Mom's Cookin'...

 

[Brrt]

Great job DW! Don't stop now...

 

[Katiebell]

Awww... to Brrt....

So it had been raining off and on, and my hair was really delightful, humidity and rain, what a combination :

But at least I still had my glasses! Lesson learned: might be a good idea to have a back up old pair in the luggage just in case. If they'd flown off my face on R'n'RC, I would have been blind for the rest of the trip.

We found our destination for the evening:

Inside, the place was packed...but there was a lot to see. The place was a scream, looked like my Great Aunt Mary's house in the 60's:

Took a while at the bar, but finally Brrt got a beer, and I had a Maui Wowie -- with a glowing ice cube, yay!!!

We were seated by our "cousin" who handed us our silverware and told us to get busy setting the table. We had better things to do:

Yep, he's My Favorite Martian...

Aren't we mature? Brrt took off to the restroom, while I caught up on the Mickey Mouse Club:

I look just as spiffy as Annette, dontcha think?

Our cousin came back and wanted to know just who gave permission for Brrt to leave the table? He scooted back in to his seat sheepishly, then another girl cousin clearing a nearby table joined in, and wanted to know if he had washed his hands. He assured them he had, and they asked, hands on hips, "Oh yeah? Then what color is the soap?" Now...Brrt definitely washes his hands, but he doesn't always pay attention to those details. "Uhhh...white?" he tried. "NO -- it's BLUE!" they both scolded "Oh yeah?" he shot back, "And when was the last time you two girls looked at the soap in the men's room?" After some more teasing, we finally got our dinner. Soooo good...pot roast for me:

There were chopped roasted celery and carrots mixed in with the gravy, and served over mashed potatoes -- yowza! I was still sipping on my Maui Wowie, but Brrt ordered a chocolate malted with his dinner. He had the meat loaf:

which was also DEElicious, we traded bites to taste I warned him to eat all of those green beans, because they've been known to carry uneaten vegetables off to the kitchen, top them with whipped cream and sprinkles, and serve them to you for dessert...

We had something better in mind for dessert:

We both ordered this; I have absolutely no idea how Brrt managed to eat it after the chocolate malted, but he did. I couldn't quite finish mine, but I came close. It was the most ridiculous sundae I've ever had: brownie, ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, M&M's, Cracker Jacks...it was wonderful

We rolllllled out of the restaurant, and shopped a little more, then said our good nights to Disney Hollywood Studios:

Next Episode: Down to Downtown Disney