It's a Jolly Holiday with LL. *FINISHED* Final Update on pg. 58.

[Lady Lallie]

I just found your trip report yesterday and am enjoying it!!
You and your husband are so sweet - Can't wait to read more!!

Thank you for reading!! More is coming!!

 

[Belle_princess]

Love it so far! Can't wait to hear more!

(I was really hoping you'd chose the Kona. We are going there, and I was anxious to hear what you thought! Glad you enjoyed it!)

Kristin

PS: beautiful photos, too!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 1.

September 3, 2008 dawned a bright and cheerful day. Why you ask? BECAUSE IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday DEAR LL!
Happy Birthday to ME!

No Unbirthday's here folks! It was my actual 26th Birthday.

Our wake up call was for 6:40AM. I showered and got ready with extra bounce in my step. We had arranged the day before with the nice the nice people of luggage services to transport our items over to the Lodge of Wilderness. They assured me they would be transported over by our dinner ADR time. They told us that that they do the transfers between 12PM - 3PM so it would be to the Lodge by 3PM at the latest. Being the nut that I am, called 2 to 3 times to ask different people and I got the same answer from every person who answered the phone. See, I find comfort in quick, assured answers. People who hem & haw give me heart failure. Luggage Services were on their game! Our luggage had also grown. Added to the pile was are snazzy WDW Bag that we bought at DTD and Vera. Poor Vera. She had been replaced by my Disney Backpack. We needed her though to lug our growing loot.

After we dropped the luggage which was a 5 second process, though we did have to tell them it was for a transfer to the Lodge and not the airport but again we were assured they would be there by 3PM. So we head to the bus stop. A DHS bus is rolling in. We walked at our own leisurely pace, because NO ONE was in line, so we figured the bus would wait at least the 30 seconds it would take us to get to it. NOPE! The bus barely stopped. It did a rolling stop and then left with NO PASSENGERS. I was MAD. ANGRY. FRUSTRATED. That is not the Disney Way! I fumed. We had to wait another 20 minutes for a bus to come.

Marc called MIL while we waited for the bus, she wished me a Happy Birthday and we got a status report on the kitties. She had checked on the kitties on Monday and was going back on Friday. Can I just note, that we told her she only needed to go once and that could be Tuesday or Wednesday. I know I shouldn't get frustrated because MIL was doing us a favor but this is an example of how she doesn't listen to us. We did tell her to keep our house keys and Marc would pick them on Sunday on his way to work. One of the Hurricanes were brewing and in case we got stuck in FL, we wanted someone to tend to our kitties. We're thoughtful parents like that.

We finally arrived at DHS, at the entrance they checked our names on an ADR list. MK did not, FYI. We took lots of pictures as we walked to the area of Hollywood & Vine. We took our time. The park didn't open for another 45 minutes so I clicked my heart out.

We make it over to H&V and sit on one of those nice benches that face the water. It was peaceful.

View from our Bench.

After being there about 5 minutes the girl who was working check in at H&V comes over to us. She asked if we were dining, I was prepared with a story about not feeling well. When I am sneaky, I have a story. She said that if we weren't going to dine that we had to go back out onto the boulevard behind the rope. The main drag was roped off right smack dab in the middle. I was HUMILIATED. I felt like a little school girl who had gotten yelled at by the teacher. Sigh. Marc & I sit there for a few more minutes and we meander back to the roped area. Fine. As we walked, I was getting more and more freaked out. Didn't she see my Birthday Button?! At this point I wasn't wearing my Birthday Shirt because I was saving that for our dinner. Both Marc & I were wearing our Wall-E shirts.

So we walk back over towards the bathrooms right after the gates. I made Marc pretend to go to the bathroom and then I did. When I was coming out, I heard one of the CM's say to Marc, "Are you trying to hide over here?" That was it! I was done being sneaky! I tell Marc that I want to go back through and just wait in line. Marc looks at me as though I have grown 16 heads in the last 30 seconds. He thinks I am being ridiculous. He says that we are in the roped area therefore doing what the CM asked. I mutter that everyone in line doing the "right" thing is glaring at us and I am sick of it. I am afraid we are breaking some cardinal Disney Rule and I like Disney. I want to keep coming back. Finally I do the clenched teeth, lips not moving, "It's my Birthday and we are leaving." Case Closed. Marc follows behind me muttering and shaking his head at me the whole time.

Before I move on, I want to say something. If we had tried this at MK, there would have been no problems.
1. They didn't even check to see if we indeed have an ADR.
2. People were milling around everywhere at MK.
3. There are three places for early morning ADR's, CP, CRT and The BB Boutique.
4. I think DHS was being so strict because of Toy Story Mania.

When people were done with their ADR's they were being led back out into that roped area. Would I do this again at DHS? No Way Jose. (NoBeaches&Cream) Would I try this at MK? Darn Tootin.

As I was pondering "This is what I get for trying to beat the system" and "Karma always gets you", Marc was still muttering and making fun of me. In fact Marc is still making fun of me. Marc is tickled pink by the fact that the only rule I break is the speed limit. When we were dating, he wanted to go swimming in this private area, I refused. He gets a kick out of the fact that I am a goody two shoe. So this is the first or second story he tells everyone when we talk about trip to Disney. Gotta love Husbands. The line wasn't bad. We only had about 20 - 25 minutes before opening. We were probably about 15-20 people back from the front of the line.

I took this picture so I could prove to Marc that the line wasn't so bad.

At about 10 minutes before opening we were led to that infamous roped area for the preshow. The preshow was cute and I enjoyed it. The actors kept telling everyone the rules about rope drop and evidently no one had their listening ears on except for me.

Marc & I's game plan was for me to speed walk to get fastpasses and Marc would follow with our bag. We didn't know if we would hop into the standby line or not. The rope dropped and we were moving. There were CM's all along the path to TSM. They wouldn't let anyone take shortcuts and they were pulling people over to the side if they caught them running. I was smug. That's what you get for breaking the rules. You get stopped and you get mortified so badly that you head back out with the crowds even though you had an early morning ADR.

We got our TSM Fast Passes. They were for 10:15 - 11:15, I believe. We decided to hit up One Man's Dream first then Backlot Tour. I love One Man's Dream. I love looking at all of the displays.

Walt sitting, Roy standing. I love pictures of Walt when he was a boy, doesn't he look like he just full of mischief?

Walt's Office. I believe this was the actual stuff. Though I am not 100% sure, I thought I read that near the display.

Disneyland

Marc's favorite picture of me from our trip.

I was very moved by Roy's dedication speech. It just brings tears to my eyes that Roy died shortly after Magic Kingdom opened. It's like he had to make sure his brother's dream came true first, you know?

Someday I will see this one in person. Disneyland in Paris.

We were the first ones in the theater and the CM's asked if we wanted to watch the movie. Umm. Yes. We were the only ones in the theater until they went and told everyone in the exhibit that they were starting the movie.

About 6 or 7 others came to watch the movie. I love the movie. I found that from reading a couple of Walt Disney biographies since my last trip that I knew most of what was in it but it's a movie therefore I like it.

Next it was time for the Backlot Tour. We were at the very front of the line. Only one show had gone before us. The CM's come out and ask for volunteers! I have never seen them do that before. I, of course, don't want too. I know what's going to happen. The CM spots my Birthday Button and says, "Come on Leslie, it's your Birthday." I told him, "I want my husband to do it." That's what he gets for making fun of me. Muhahahaha. Marc refuses. The CM & I badger him but he won't do it. I give him the look. You know what look I am talking about. That look you give when you want them to do something and that they better or they are going to hear about it for MONTHS. Yeah, it didn't work. I was so bummed out. They ended up picking three other people. Sigh.

We go watch Harbor Attack. Marc watches the people and then he turns to me, "If I knew that's what it was, I would have done it." ARGH! Apparently me telling him he wouldn't get wet or made fun of it didn't cut it.

We were the 2nd and 3rd people to walk into the prop room. There was a nice CM there, greeting us and told me Happy Birthday. I was kinda bummed because I wanted to look around but we couldn't, no line so we were going straight through. We walked around the corner and BOOM! THE DREAM SQUAD IS THERE!! In my TR Journal I have, "YAHOO! YAHOO!" written in there. So....

YAHOO! YAHOO!

LL, master of the DIS, wearer of Dream Squad JuJu didn't realize that nice CM saying hello was in the Dream Squad Blue or that she had a counter in her hand. I am ashamed of myself!

We won....

Maybe I should tell you in the next installment?

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Continued...

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 1. Continued.

We won Year of Million Dreams Lanyards!

I was so shocked and dazed. I almost cried as we were getting into the Backlot Tram. I won a prize on my Birthday! Thank you Dream Squad JuJu!! Sadly, I only took a pic of Marc with his lanyard.

It clearly show his confusion from what we won.

I was so flustered that I took this odd pictures while waiting for the tour to start.

The Backlot Tour was fun. I enjoy it. Even though it never changes.

I have a thing for the movie Pearl Harbor and these planes were in it.

My favorite area is the costume shop area.

I love this picture.

I was thankful we went on the Tour as well because we saw the new area for Sulley & Mike and we saw what time they were out so we could head back.

FOR TK. Yes I thought of you when I took this picture of saw anything the least bit Pirate. Needless to say I thought of you a lot....which is weird.

After Backlot, we headed over to Toy Story Mania for our fastpass time. Sadly our wait was so short we never got to see Mr. Potatohead. I am hoping the next time we go back, it won't be so crazy long to wait in the regular line so we can see him. The queue is amazing though. Absolutely amazing. Beautiful, fun and entertaining.

Marc unfortunately beat me but my accuracy was better, so there. The ride was flipping fraktastic! We had so much fun. It was awesome to hear Marc giggling and having fun. I loved those moments of our trip when I could just see him enjoy himself.

Continued.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 1. Continued.

We went back for the Sulley & Mike Character greeting. This was a must do for me. On my last trip in July 2005, it was my honeymoon with my ex. This was my favorite picture from that trip. Unfortunately, the way we were posed I couldn't crop him out. Balderdash, so I had to have a do over. I needed a picture with Sulley, he is my kitty's namesake after all. The area to wait for the greeting is SUPER HOT. Sweltering. They wouldn't let us into the shaded/cover area until the characters were out. We had to wait about 10-15 minutes, while High School Musical was going on. Joy. The greeting was nice, I love that big furball. As you can see, I cropped a few pictures of just me & Sulley.

After our greeting, we were hot, tired & hungry. We decided to head over to Wilderness Lodge to check in and relax. But not before a few more pictures! Sadly this was our last time at Hollywood Studios this trip.

Ironically the WL bus stop was further away then Pop's. D'oh! We waited with another family and they appeared to have been waiting for a bit. A bus from Grand Floridian stopped, and asked if we were going to WL. We all said yes, and since she had an empty bus she took us to WL. WOO HOO! This kinda made up for the DHS bus barely stopping earlier. We made it to WL, it was around Noon.

Walking into the WL was like hearing a choir of angels sing. It was relaxing, comfortable, inviting and beautiful. We had entered the land of Deluxe-iness. And I was in heaven.

I figured that our room wouldn't be ready but that we could at least go check in and eat at Roaring Fork. To my surprise, it was ready! We had room 3108. While I was checking in, I gave Marc camera duty.

Note the light fixture pictures, I have trained him well.

For Luck!

Not only a picture of an Indian Headdress, but a picture with a light fixture reflected in it!

We got to our room and we had a beautiful Woods View that we did not pay for. The best kind of view, if you ask me. We had two beds and they were delightfully comfy. One had a Mickey Towel Head! Woo Hoo!

I laid on mine as fast as you can say bounceback. Which by the way, there was a bounceback flier in our room whereas there had not been on at Pop even though I called. I promptly hid the flier so we could think on it and it would not disappear from our room.

Marc took more photos.

As you can see my bed had the bunny on it, and Marc's had the beaver. Which are the prizes we won during Toy Story Mania. Hehehe.

Look at those lights! I'll have you know that there were light switches on the bed posts for those lights. Heaven!

Marc was very happy with the coffee maker and used it quite a bit for the rest of our stay.

Continued.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 1. Continued.

View from our balcony.

I think this sand box area is part of the Cub's Den.

I was thrilled to have my own bed. Since Marc works overnight I am used to having the bed to myself the majority of the time and I was looking forward to good nights sleep. We weren't in the room for 10 minutes when Marc said, "Can we stay here next year?" Even though he grumbled at the money per night, thinking it was wasteful. Marc is the driving force of staying at WL next year too. Don't get me wrong, I loved WL but if my husband wasn't pushing for us to stay there, I would be doing the POR route which is more practical money wise. Who am I to argue Deluxe?

I dragged myself out of bed to go eat lunch with Marc at Roaring Fork. I had the Turkey & Brie sandwich, Marc had the Roast Beef & Blue Cheese.

Both were very good. Though, there was too much brie on my sandwich so I had to pick some off. The magic bar was to die for. So delish! I thought our sandwiches here were much better portions than Earl of Sandwich, we got more bang for free bucks.

Roaring Fork was very nice. It was very enjoyable. So much more peaceful than Pop. It was a welcome quiet too. Marc & I were on noise overload, me especially. Even Marc commented that it was so much more relaxing than Pop.

I wanted to take a nap. I was exhausted and knew we would be up late again. I wanted to take a peaceful nap. I learned something about my husband on this vacation. He. Doesn't. Stop. Talking. I love my husband with all of my heart. I truly do. But he doesn't stop talking. I swear he just likes to hear himself talk. At home, I can handle it. I can go do different things but it's hard to do different things when you are on vacation. I politely told him during lunch that I need some quiet time. I coaxed him to go take a walk around the grounds so I could get some peace. I tease Marc that he uses 50 words to describe something when 5 will do. Never until this vacation did I realize I was so much like my practically word-less Father's side of the Family.

Here are his beautiful pictures!

He loves me! He really loves me!

See that tree on the far right? Remember that tree.

*I will post more WL photos during the next update. I am photo tired.

He came back to the room after I was sleeping and then we both slept until 4PM. I was relaxed, rejuvenated and ready for motor mouth. Hehehe.

We did have to call Luggage Services since our luggage hadn't been delivered yet. I wasn't worried. Marc called and literally five minutes later, a nice man came with our luggage. He was awesome. I can't remember his name but he put our luggage on the little racks for us and was just so polite. Showed us where everything was in the room. I wish I remembered his name. Marc gave him a tip, and he said, "My wife thanks you." I thought that was just freaking adorable. Hehehe.

We both showered and dressed. Me in my Birthday Wish shirt made by the wonderful TK. We headed down to the BOAT to Magic Kingdom around 6PM. I love the boat. It's wonderful, relaxing, quick, enjoyable and not the bus. Enough said.

A funny thing happened on the way to the boat. We were walking by the pool on the path and Marc starts laughing, I look up and WHAM-O, a little boy is peeing in the bush near the pool! Yikes! Remember that tree? Yes, that is the bush that we were looking through. The WL is lush but not that lush! Now. I am from Maine. When you are out in the middle of the woods, that's just what you do. But at a deluxe resort at Walt Disney World? Not so much. The boy saw us and freaked out. Um...dude? What did you expect? It's not like we were standing there gawking, we were walking by...on the path. This was not a potty training aged boy either. Probably 9 or 10. And his Mom was standing guard. I know you gotta go when you gotta go but .....go in the bathroom. End scene.

That's it's for this update!

Coming up....
Our first magical boat ride.
My birthday dinner.
Wishes!

 

[TarzansKat]

FOR TK. Yes I thought of you when I took this picture of saw anything the least bit Pirate. Needless to say I thought of you a lot....which is weird.

Aw, honey! Once again you take a picture of something I didn't! I LOVED seeing that prop. I literally stared at it for at least fifteen minutes, no joke. And kept coming back to it. It was massive, and the detail. Oh my goodness, I loved it. But I knew my camera wouldn't take a good shot, so I let it pass.

LL to the rescue!!!

Honey, those were some GREAT updates! And I love your photos of the Wilderness Lodge. Is it wrong that they make me feel homesick? Truly, I got this pang in my gut when those photos loaded. It is so peaceful there, and so relaxing. I just love it. So far, it seems like you and Marc did too.

 

[Charleston Princess]

It's so cold and windy outside tonight, but all is well with me, because I have an LL update!!!

Okay, I have to break up my comments so I don't forget them all!

Don't despair -- I am a rule follower at Disney! I can't stand to get in trouble there even if Charles makes fun of me every single time!

Woo hoo for Dream Squad JuJu! That is soooo awesome and on your birthday, too! I was cracking up over your random pics afterwards because you were so frazzled!

I love that they had Susan Sarandon's Enchanted costume -- that's what I want to be for Halloween!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

great mega update

Congrats on the Win

I somewhat find it funny that you were punished at DHS (sorry, that's probably mean of me) For future reference, don't try it at Epcot either. There is only one character breakfast and it's literally roped off from the front all the way to Norway.

Gorgeous pics by the way!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Okay, I am done reading now! I am kind of sad that you are finished with DHS .

Okay, tonight Wilderness Lodge is my favorite resort. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful photos!

I need to go eat one of the Magic Cookie bars that I made this weekend now.

about the boy peeing in the buses -- that is not deluxe behavior.

 

[LegoMom3]

FANTASTIC updates!! Love the pictures, of course!

I am so wishing now that we got to do One Man's Dream.... Rats.

I also loved taking a boat anytime we had the chance. The buses got worse for us as our trip progressed. You can read about that sometime if I ever get around to finishing MY trip report...


.

 

[julezdisney]

Great update Lallie! Awesome pix of WL! Marc is a GREAT photographer! Does he know that? Symmetry, composition... everything! Great!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I am loving all your WL photos!!!!!! So beautiful. We were there for dinner once, but there is SO much more to the resort than what I ever knew even when we booked it. I love the grounds and the architecture of the building, the trees, EVERYTHING!!! 16 days, 16 days for me! Well, 17 until we check in at WL.

The Backlot Tour looks like a fun and interesting ride...I plan to ride it this trip since we didn't make it to that one in 2006.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA about winning a dream on your birthday!!!!!! I laughed out loud at Marc's expression with the lanyard, completely baffled by your excitement and his prize.

 

[Sarilas]

Wonderful update, LL! And congrats on the Dream Squad win! Woohoo!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Next it was time for the Backlot Tour. We were at the very front of the line. Only one show had gone before us. The CM's come out and ask for volunteers! I have never seen them do that before. I, of course, don't want too. I know what's going to happen. The CM spots my Birthday Button and says, "Come on Leslie, it's your Birthday." I told him, "I want my husband to do it." That's what he gets for making fun of me. Muhahahaha. Marc refuses. The CM & I badger him but he won't do it. I give him the look. You know what look I am talking about. That look you give when you want them to do something and that they better or they are going to hear about it for MONTHS. Yeah, it didn't work. I was so bummed out. They ended up picking three other people. Sigh.

You should have done it! Last year my bff and me agreed to do it and had a blast. My friend had no idea what was coming. I was feeling a bit evil, but hey she was game. We got to play the captain and the deck hand roles. We wanted to get my brother to do it this past trip (figuring the girls would love to see their dad acting like a goof), but we ran out of time and the backlot tour was ditched in favor of the Indiana Jones show.

The pics of WL are wonderful. I'm mentally deceiding if I can ditch POP next year all together and do all WL. Sadly the answer is no, but I'm thinking I have to make it a 2 day POP/4 day WL at any rate.

Congrats on the dream squad win! So exciting especially for your birthday.

 

[ericamcl]

I've just read every installment of your TR.....I can't wait to read more!

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

You updating fool, you! You...you...poster girl!

Well, not like, a poster girl.

But. Like a Poster. Girl.

Argh.

You get it.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 2.

Here are more WL photos that Marc took during my nap.

I got a little thrill everytime I walked across this bridge.

After the unexpected "show" we made our way down to the boat. Ahhh, the boat. The boat just makes the Wilderness Lodge that more special. Our favorite park by far is Magic Kingdom, we spent the most time there and having the boat option just about makes WL perfect for us. We didn't wait too long for the next boat, maybe 5 to 7 minutes. It was nice to not have to stand up, we could relax, look at the scenery. I especially loved going underneath the monorail track.

We got to MK around 6PM or so.

First up, I went and found the Lady & The Tramp Paw Prints. They are right in front of Tony's.

Then it was time for some photopass!

We head towards Tomorrowland.

The first thing we did was Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. No wait, we were able to get right through the line into the preshow loading area. It was only a few moments before going into the theater. I love how the queue is themed. Very funny. It was nice to look around. Monster's Inc is one of my favorite movies. We got into the theater and we took a seat in the way back. We could have sat closer but I don't like being picked out of a crowd. I saw the CM's staring at my Birthday Wish tshirt and I didn't want to picked out. Marc & I had a bad experience at a comedy show before and I don't need any unpleasant flashbacks.

The show was awesome. It was funny and everyone they picked in the audience were really good sports. Our favorite joke the whole show was "What did Snow White say when she dropped off her film to be developed?" Hehehe. "Someday my prints will come!" This cracks me up. It cracked Marc up too. Whenever Marc is in a mood or teasing me or just being a little on the annoying side, I sing, "Someday my prince will come!" He knows I am joking, I am not mean. So to us, this joke was just hilarious. We say it to each other often. About a week after we got back from our trip, I was getting my brother a Wedding Card and I saw a Snow White singing card that sang " Someday my Prince will come", of course I bought it for Marc. Hehehe.

After Monster's Inc, we headed over to Stitch's Great Escape. I know everyone said it wasn't worth the time but there was no line so I had to feed my curiosity. It was stupid. I'm glad I went to see it....once but I don't think I will ever do it again. Marc & I have agreed to tell our future children that it is a bad bad ride where they eat little kids.

A lot of CM's were telling me Happy Birthday and commenting on my Birthday Shirt. They kept asking me what my Birthday Wish was. Ummm. I was confused by this because I thought my shirt made it clear that my Birthday Wish had come true by being at Disney. Hmmm.

After Stitch, we headed over to Cinderella's Royal Table for my Birthday Feast! We were told that we couldn't check in until 10 minutes prior to our ADR. Okey Dokey. We waited around Fantasyland. I went to go find a bathroom and Marc took some photos. After I got back, we did a photo session with my Birthday Button and Tshirt. My brother had also left a message on Marc's cell phone wishing me a Happy Birthday so I tried to call him back and thank him but I couldn't reach him.

Continued...

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 2. Continued.

Yep. I still think my shirt is pretty clear.

We checked into CRT and were ushered inside. There was no one in the waiting area and Cinderella was taking a break. We had to wait a few minutes for Cindy but I took the time to take a few photos of Gus & Jaq. I love those little mice!

Does anyone remember the stuffed Christmas Ornaments McDonald's had years and years ago of the Cinderella Characters? Well my family had Gus Gus. My cousin Ricky, younger than me by a few years love Gus Gus and would always try to steal him right off our Christmas tree. He was probably only 4 or so at the time. My mom loved Gus Gus too and refused to part with him. We have searched for years for another Gus Gus but we can't find one. My mom told my cousin when he got married she would give him her Gus Gus for his Christmas Tree. Last year, I reminded her of this and she looked HORRIFIED. I don't think she wants to give him up. I have to find a Gus Gus! Never mind that Gus Gus was originally mine, everyone overlooks that. We have the family Christmas Swap at my Mom & Dad's and every year my cousin Ricky looks at that mouse and glares at my mom in a joking way that she still won't give him up. It's cute. And I went way off track, so there you go.

Cindy came out and we had our picture taken. I wish I had thought to do one with just Cindy & I as well but I didn't. Sadly I only have prints of those and haven't gotten them scanned. Sorry! We went up the long & windy stairs and were sat at one of the higher up tables. We could look out the windows but we weren't near them. Does that make sense? I had really been hoping for one of those window tables but alas it wasn't granted. There was however, confetti at the table for my Birthday. Which had Mickey's and a few Castles. I saved some of it, I figure it will be nice if I ever scrapbook our trip.

I loved the menus! So pretty!

For our appetizers, Marc had the spring roll. It was very fresh and very very good. He shared, he's a good husband. He also angled the spring roll so that the filling would show in the pictures. He even shares with DISer's. Hehehe.

I had the Corn & Crab soup. It was a bit spicy but still good.

Our yummy rolls!

Marc had the Lavender Chicken for his entree. He said it was good but he was expecting better.

I had the Prime Rib. YUM! Very, very, very good! I have written down, "Melt in your mouth good." So yeah, it was good. The potatoes were very yummy too as was the asparagus.

I have to say that there was a table lower than us and I think they were making fun of me taking pictures of our food. It was annoying. Because they started miming people taking pictures of the food. Jerks. Marc didn't pick up on it, but he misses stuff like that all the time. I didn't care, I was taking pics for the greater good of the DISers!

We ordered desserts, we both got the Cream Cheese Buckle and it was just meh. Neither of us were really crazy about it.

I was starting to get anxious about my White Chocolate Cinderella Shoe. Where was it? I know Marc had ordered it because I had not so subtly told him too. Finally it came out...and it was a Chocolate Cinderella Shoe. Boo! I wasn't going to let it get me down. It was very pretty. The mousse that was inside the shoe was awesome but the actual shoe itself was gross so we didn't pack it up to go.

I enjoyed my dinner in the Castle, it was nice being there. I felt very special being able to eat in the Castle on my actual Birthday. But there was something that bothered me about the evening that I just can't put my finger on. It was enjoyable, the food was good so I don't know what it is.

Continued....

 

[Lady Lallie]

Day 5. Part 2. Continued.

After our dinner, we made our way down to find a spot to watch Wishes. The Castle was already roped off so we took our time and took more photos as we headed to the Main Hub.

Marc was very upset that people kept walking into this shot, I took it in stride. Nothing was going to get me down. I was in Disney, on my Birthday!

We decided to watch the fireworks from the little building between the Castle and Tomorrowland near the Rose Garden. Now I had read TourGuide Mike and said this was a good spot.

It was nice to sit on the benches and I set up my gorillapod. My gorillapod didn't work as planned. This was the one time I had really wanted to use it and it just didn't do the job. It wasn't long enough to wrap around posts and be secure in not dropping my camera. I finally wrapped it around the fence railing and it was okay but it was too low and didn't tip up enough. Ah well, you live & you learn. I will bring a real tripod next time.

We had quite a bit of time to wait until the fireworks so we goofed off a bit, taking pictures and such. There was a few people around us so I thought we had snagged a decent viewing area.

It took Marc forever to take a photo of me with the Castle in the background. I appreciated the effort but I was wondering if we would still be there on my next birthday. You can tell in some of the pictures that I was getting restless. Mind you, I am not posting the ALL of them either.

You can see the roses at the bottom. Gorillapod wasn't tall enough in the spot I found for him.

I love this picture. It's hanging on my living room wall.

After a bit, the sweetest little old couple came down to sit on the bench with us. They were adorable. They were from Florida and staying at Pop I think. We had a nice chat with them. We talked about everything from Disney, St. Augustine (where they were from), there last trip to Disney, my camera, Marc & I's wedding, everything! It was fun talking with them.

Jiminy started making announcements and I got ready for Tink.

Sad attempt at Tink.

In case you missed her, she's that weird dragonfly shaped blue blur.

Continued...