"It's So Much Fun Not Knowin Where You're Goin" Oct. 2013 Celebration! **6/22 FIN**

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh Amber I love that the CM's caught your eye during HalloWishes. I love doing that too. To think that they see/hear this so often, but it still makes them happy. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Yeah, I am stealing that "Memory card" idea. I so love that.

I LOVE BOO TO YOU!!! I can't wait to see this again. But YES THANK YOU!! The whole cowboy/cowgirl thing just seems completely out of place. The year before when I saw it, the cowboy's had their own section by themselves. It was just weird.

Yeah you better hide until you see the Country Bear Jamboree.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

aw, the dace party before the parade looks like fun

"When I have children, I wish to take them to this party and make them go dance." ... sounds like the start of a YA novel - the turning point of which is when the eldest child becomes a teenager and rebels against her mom, refusing to "dance", only to find this left a hole in her heart that only one of the parade performers can fill as their doom bugger ride turns into a trip through the tunnel of love.

Some parts of the parade seem really cool (the grave diggers, etc.) but agree that some seem a bit "eh"

Pretty good candy haul!

Hope things didn't get too bad with the great Pooh debate ... seemed like a bit of a sticky situation

 

[amberg93]

LOVE the costumes!!! Y'all are adorable!!
I love the MNSSHP!

Thank you! I loved it too!

Oh Amber I love that the CM's caught your eye during HalloWishes. I love doing that too. To think that they see/hear this so often, but it still makes them happy. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Yeah, I am stealing that "Memory card" idea. I so love that.

I LOVE BOO TO YOU!!! I can't wait to see this again. But YES THANK YOU!! The whole cowboy/cowgirl thing just seems completely out of place. The year before when I saw it, the cowboy's had their own section by themselves. It was just weird.

Yeah you better hide until you see the Country Bear Jamboree.

It was hard not to have them catch my eye, they were very talented And go ahead, I'm glad that it seems to be a good idea.

It's a great parade for sure, but yeah, the Cowboy/Cowgirl thing just seems weird after everything else? And Yeah I read that and it was weird then in your TR too. At least the cowgirls added some variety.

Hey, we'll try and see it with our friends in a few weeks

aw, the dace party before the parade looks like fun

"When I have children, I wish to take them to this party and make them go dance." ... sounds like the start of a YA novel - the turning point of which is when the eldest child becomes a teenager and rebels against her mom, refusing to "dance", only to find this left a hole in her heart that only one of the parade performers can fill as their doom bugger ride turns into a trip through the tunnel of love.

Some parts of the parade seem really cool (the grave diggers, etc.) but agree that some seem a bit "eh"

Pretty good candy haul!

Hope things didn't get too bad with the great Pooh debate ... seemed like a bit of a sticky situation

That was brilliant. You should write that YA novel. I'd buy it and even do some promotional things for you

I personally think that they could just get rid of those parts and it'd be fine as it is. But hey, maybe some people like it

It was a good haul, so at least there was that. More fun than the cookies and coco at the Christmas Party

I don't think that they got terrible. I just used some of my dazzling array of arguments. Besides, I think Marie has finally forgiven me for it.

 

[amberg93]

Day 6, Part 1: "Should I come back later?"

While every other day we had the problems of going back to the room and having the maid turn up. I can tell you that wasn't a problem this day.

Why? Because the maid knocked on the door at 8:30 to come and clean the room.

I'm sorry. What? Are you kidding me? She asked if she should come back later and we said yes, yes she should.

We went back to sleep until 10:15 when Marie got up and I stayed in bed to sleep some more. I woke up at about 11:00 and took my pills, but started to feel bad and (as the theme of the trip might have you imagine) cried.

Marie was an angel though, as also the theme of the trip, she got me to take a nausea pill and laid down and talked with me for a while to calm me down.

We still didn't end up leaving the room until about 12:15.

As you can see, I was chilly.

We got in line for the bus and waited until about 15 minutes for one to show up.

On the ride over Marie chatted in French with some Quebecers and I sat quietly alone not understanding French (I need to get on that).

We got into the park and headed straight for the FP+ kiosk.

Because we'd missed our Soarin FP+, so we changed it to a later point in the day. That was a good thing to be able to be done. FP+s changeable after you miss them because Soarin is Marie's happy place and if we'd have missed riding it because of me... after the Winnie the Pooh incident... I think she might have kicked me off the trip.

With our new late time for Soarin in mind, we headed over to Club Cool to grab some pop.

No, neither of us tried the Beverly. However, I tried the watermelon from China and Marie tried the apple from Mexico and we both liked our choices.

We then switched to try the other and didn't like the choices the other had made.

With our bellies happy with free pop, we headed toward the World Showcase where we were planning on getting lunch.

We would not taste our way around the world.

Instead we hoped the Friendship boat over to Germany.

A kind stranger offered to take our picture after a failed selfie.

Mexico!

Italy!

After we made it to our destination of Germany, we headed over to Sommerfest.

I feel bad for the costumes they have to wear sometimes.

I had a frankfurter without sauerkraut and Marie had a bratwurst without sauerkraut. We each got the apple strudel with vanilla sauce for dessert.

I didn't care for this meal. I don't know why, I just didn't like the frankfurter and then while the apple strudel was good, it had raisins in it and it kinda threw things off for me. I don't know, I just didn't like it.

This was where we sat for the meal.

Once we were finished, we looked around the pavilion some.

Marie noticed this store and of course we had to go inside.

They have several decorated trees all with different types of ornaments.

Feather tree!

Pickle tree!

What Christmas shop would be complete without a nutcracker?

With Marie's Christmas needs indulged, we went on walking.

And headed over to Italy because the previous year we'd kind of missed most of this pavilion.

Which is sad because it's so beautiful.

I mean, really. It's gorgeous. Makes me want to go to the real Italy.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[amberg93]

Day 6, Part 2: "But it's a Kidcot Station!"

These masks are so cool!

Statues everywhere though.

More masks.

I always wonder if like someone reading this TR is going to be like, "woah! That's me! I'm that random person in your picture!"

I secretly hope for it to happen, just because it'd be cool to know the stories of the people in these pictures.

So please, if you see yourself, tell me and explain what you were doing

Okay, confession time. See, during Marie's photoshoot of Italy which you just witnessed. I was, not looking at Italy.

That's because I was here:

At the Kidcot station. Which I'd initially argued with Marie about, because I was afraid of taking space away from children but I still ended up here.

Cancer perk: Even if you take up extra space somewhere at a kid aimed activity, parents never get annoyed with you. In fact, they ask their children to stay out of your way. Crazy.

Once Marie had finished her tour, she sat down to color a Duffy.

She's so talented. Clearly, coloring inside the lines is her forte.

Duffy and Perry in hand, we left Italy and headed off to get an unpaid internship working for O.W.C.A. (the Organization Without a Cool Acronym).

Perry and I are ready!

Since we'd already done missions in Germany and Japan the year prior, the nice CM allowed us to pick where we wanted to go. So, we chose France!

Which we had to head to right away. So, off we went!

America, spread your golden wiiiiiiiings.

We arrived in France and I did my mission. Marie mostly just stood back and let me do it because she isn't a huge fan of them. And then we dropped the phone into the ending location pictured above.

Before just exploring France a bit.

It's also very beautiful.

Hmm, something here looks a little off. Maybe Agent P knows why?

Allow me to use my vast French knowledge to translate. Ahem. Exit (to? okay I don't know I don't speak French but I'm sticking to it) To The Promenade. Volia!

Since we were hungry, we decided to stop and get some ice cream. Or, as the French-Canadians call it, crème glacée.

I have to admit that while I get the reasoning behind the atmosphere here it felt a bit strange? A little too open and empty? I don't know, maybe I imagined it.

What to pick?

I got the mint-chocolate and it was super yummy! It was a great decision, I highly recommend it.

Marie, on the other hand, got the Mixed Berry Sobert. She said that it was good but a bit too sweet, so she wouldn't recommend getting it unless you share, otherwise it gets overwhelming.

After we finished eating our ice cream, we stayed seated on the benches a little longer and just relaxed while I caught up on my notes for the trip. Besides, it wasn't like we had anywhere to be for a while.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

It drives me nuts because I want to flat out hate FP+, but there are little things I really really like. It's a dilemma.

OK, you're from Michigan right? OK, so I need to know, did you always say "pop", or did you pick this up in Canada? I've heard there are pockets of people that say "pop" in the US rather than "soda", but it's not common.

Raisins in the apple strudel?? I wouldn't like that either. I love raisins, but for some reason I hate them baked in stuff.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great photo tour ... really, all of the World Showcase is so photogenic

oh, and you can always make up backstories for the people in your photos. You'd be surprised how many people in the Witness Location program are in my photos

You should write a book as I definitely think "Cancer Perks" is an under-represented market at book stores

 

[amberg93]

It drives me nuts because I want to flat out hate FP+, but there are little things I really really like. It's a dilemma.

OK, you're from Michigan right? OK, so I need to know, did you always say "pop", or did you pick this up in Canada? I've heard there are pockets of people that say "pop" in the US rather than "soda", but it's not common.

Raisins in the apple strudel?? I wouldn't like that either. I love raisins, but for some reason I hate them baked in stuff.

I know, like there are the few benefits but other than that I don't like it. Darn them for giving us things that we can like.

I am from Michigan. I always say pop and as does everyone in Michigan that I know of. It's a midwestern thing mostly. In fact, we even have our own brand of pop called Faygo based from Detroit and they have marketed a brilliant pop that's called 'Red Pop'. No Joke. That's how we roll Meanwhile, my Canadian wife calls it both pop and soda because she grew up speaking French.

The more you know

I know, it was really strange and it doesn't mention it on the menu either so I was so confused at first.

Great photo tour ... really, all of the World Showcase is so photogenic

oh, and you can always make up backstories for the people in your photos. You'd be surprised how many people in the Witness Location program are in my photos

You should write a book as I definitely think "Cancer Perks" is an under-represented market at book stores

The World Showcase is one of my favorite places in Disney, it's just so beautiful all the time.

Ooh that's what I'm going to start doing. Though I'll have to think of something different than the Witness Protection, I don't want to steal your idea.

You're right! It's a totally untapped market! I could write a whole list of perks you get from having cancer Though I'm not sure everyone would take it the right way... oh well, their loss.

 

[amberg93]

Update re:Winnie the Pooh situation from Day 5, Marie still has not forgiven me it seems because when I mentioned it she told me I'd fought dirty. Oops.

Day 6, Part 3: "You have a nice accent!"

Once I'd caught up on all my notes, we decided to go and find the Kidcot station to get our Duffy and Perry stamped.

We thought we had to go through and watch Impressions de France to get to it, so we ended up doing that.

Only there were two CM girls running around and acting very... childish? I guess would be the best way to describe it, since they looked like two girls playing tag and shrieking like small children do. Very unprofessional. Also, they were speaking in French (unsurprisingly) but apparently they weren't saying very nice things because Marie started talking to me about how that sort of language was not appropriate, especially at Disney. Oops.

We settled in to watch the movie though and it seriously needs to be updated. Marie was especially unimpressed and made several comments under her breath toward me that made me want to giggle.

Though we did get out and get our stamps. I tried to use my brief French conversational skills with the Kidcot Cm and he was unimpressed. Oh well.

Okay, I do have to ask something though, if anyone reading has an answer. In the gift shop, they sell figurines of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI? But why? Like, they literally killed them both and overthrew their monarchy? I'm confused why they'd sell things about them in the gift shop?

Answers? Anyone?

Stamped and confused, we decided to move on because we had a FP+ to make.

We even passed up on watching Sergio on the way.

Where were we headed?

Yes, that's right, we had our FP+ reservation for the Maelstrom because it was needed, clearly.

Look at that fab viking working it out. So fab. I'm jealous.

After we had finished our high sea adventure, we stopped to get our stamps at Kidcot before moving on.

Only we didn't go far because Marie needed a bathroom break. So, of course, you'll notice where I'm parked:

Trash can. I actually moved myself a little bit further away from it.

All set, we made our way to Mexico to get our next stamp.

It was actually our first time going inside, since in our 2012 trip we hadn't really explored Mexico in our time at Epcot.

We were just there to get our stamps though and when we talked to the CM working there, I used my little bit of Español knowledge (3 years in high school has to count for something?).

Unlike the French CM, he was impressed! He even told me that I had a nice accent, which made me feel very proud (and partly like he might be being extra nice because I can't roll my Rs at all).

Either way, I felt good when we left. Which, we did have to leave because we had another FP+ to use.

We headed up this way. I like this area because it's always so empty that it makes me feel like the whole park is mine.

Ahh, the days before Epcot was tiered. That's right, we had a TT and Soarin' and Maelstrom FP+ in the same day. And basically one after another with how we'd set it up since I'd made us miss our morning Soarin' FP+

This was our car. It was the most capable of the day

When our ride was done we headed straight over to Soarin' because our time was just about to open up.

We ended up sitting in the middle front row. Marie was thrilled and I was still terrified of falling out.

Safely back on the ground, we headed out and went over to trade pins at Sunshine Seasons. Despite being there and being hungry, it was not where we ate.

Instead, we got into the jankiest elevator ever (avoid it if you can) and headed up and out of the land over to the Electric Umbrella to grab some grub.

Yes, that's how we roll. Electric Umbrella, clearly the superior choice.

Marie went in to get the food and I grabbed a seat outside.

Approximately here.

I got the chicken nuggets with fries, a cookie and some water.

Marie got a mac-and-cheese bacon burger with fries, strawberry cheesecake and a lemonade.

The nuggets were as good as usual and since when I just asked Marie about her food she didn't say anything negative, I'm going to assume she enjoyed it.

When we were finished Marie had to go to the bathroom again, so I stayed at the table and wrote some notes.

You can see my terrible handwriting right here.

Bellies full we headed toward Canada and managed to find a place where we'd be able to watch IllumiNations.

Duckies! They wanted to party with me, but fences kept us separated.

While I was fangirling over the duckies, Marie went into the Canadian stores to look for shirts because I wanted to get one. So she took pictures of them to show me so I could go buy my favorite one post-fireworks.

We ended up sitting next to a really nice family of three who were DVC members and talked with them for the 30 minutes or so before the best nighttime show at Disney World started.

As you can see, there was a tree that sort of blocked part of our view. But I didn't care. IllumiNations is the best firework show that Disney puts on in my opinion.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[amberg93]

Day 6, Part 4: "Are you crying?" "Yes."

I cried tears during this show, just as I did the first time I saw it. And once more Marie was amused by it.

I cry tears listening to the music for this show though. It hits me right in the feels.

When it was finished, we went to go buy my shirt because there were EMH but we found that the store was closed

So we went to see O Canada! instead.

I love O Canada! I could see it probably a million times and not get tired of it.

Post show, we stopped at the Kidcot station and got our Canada stamps.

Someday I do have to eat at Le Cellier. Hopefully on a free dining plan, because I'm cheap and this place is not. Also, steak though. I need it.

With EMH we decided that we should just go get more Kidcot stamps. So we headed into the UK to do that.

I like that they sell HP related books in here.

We got our stamps and then headed forward to try and get them from Morocco.

Only to find it closed.

But we went forward to Japan anyway.

Also closed. Oh well, we set out to ride Spaceship Earth at that point but instead we ended up heading to the Character Spot because the wait was practically nothing and we did have to meet Mickey!

One of the attendants asked if my bow as a Magic Kingdom park map, but I told her that it was the Epcot one instead and she seemed glad to hear it. And then I talked to another that came from a small town about twenty minutes from my old Michigan home! It was crazy.

Then it was finally time to meet the big celebs.

Mickey was a perfect gentleman.

Goofy was properly nice and Goofy.

But then, we met Minnie and she was the sweetest.

Honestly, she was sooo cute and excitable.

Also, very tiny.

At first I thought she was excited because she was on my shirt, but nope, she noticed my celebration button and was super excited for that!

Really, it was just another great meet that made me happy with our decision. At that point though, we decided to head out of the park and skip riding Spaceship Earth.

Don't worry, I still captured a picture of it because I follow the Disney laws.

We headed out and just missed a bus.

So, we ended up waiting and it looked like this.

I was very cold. Hence the blanket and the jacket.

Another bus came shortly after 11:20. The music was stuck on the French Quarter music (which sounds like crickets and banjos if you weren't aware) for a few minutes and I was super nostalgic and sad because we weren't heading back there.

Life is a Highway did come on though when the music switched back and it cheered me slightly. Our bus driver was really nice too and he wished us a good vacation and good night when we got back to the All Star Music at 11:35.

Our walk to our room us the usual 6 minutes and after we got cleaned up, I caught up on the rest of my notes for the day and then we headed to bed.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[heaven2dc]

I know, like there are the few benefits but other than that I don't like it. Darn them for giving us things that we can like.

I am from Michigan. I always say pop and as does everyone in Michigan that I know of. It's a midwestern thing mostly. In fact, we even have our own brand of pop called Faygo based from Detroit and they have marketed a brilliant pop that's called 'Red Pop'. No Joke. That's how we roll Meanwhile, my Canadian wife calls it both pop and soda because she grew up speaking French.

The more you know

I know, it was really strange and it doesn't mention it on the menu either so I was so confused at first.



The World Showcase is one of my favorite places in Disney, it's just so beautiful all the time.

Ooh that's what I'm going to start doing. Though I'll have to think of something different than the Witness Protection, I don't want to steal your idea.

You're right! It's a totally untapped market! I could write a whole list of perks you get from having cancer Though I'm not sure everyone would take it the right way... oh well, their loss.

Loving your TR! I have always hoped to see myself in someone's trip report and if I did see myself in yours, I'd definitely share what we were doing at the time you took the pic

I lived in the Midwest (Iowa and Kansas) when I was really young but grew up in Oregon and we called the drink "pop" too. It wasn't until I moved to Virginia that I heard people calling it "soda". I remember years ago it was called soda pop and then I think we just went with the latter by calling it pop. Here's a soda vs pop map I found just to figure out what most people across the US called this carbonated beverage (sorry - not trying to start a whole rant about it so hopefully everyone respects your thread. I heard for the first time at WDW someone saying they were standing "on line" for a ride and had no clue what that meant. Just a different way of saying it. Anyways...here's the map lol . http://www.dula.tv/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/popvssodamap.gif " BTW that map is realllly old lol

 

[amberg93]

Loving your TR! I have always hoped to see myself in someone's trip report and if I did see myself in yours, I'd definitely share what we were doing at the time you took the pic

I lived in the Midwest (Iowa and Kansas) when I was really young but grew up in Oregon and we called the drink "pop" too. It wasn't until I moved to Virginia that I heard people calling it "soda". I remember years ago it was called soda pop and then I think we just went with the latter by calling it pop. Here's a soda vs pop map I found just to figure out what most people across the US called this carbonated beverage (sorry - not trying to start a whole rant about it so hopefully everyone respects your thread. I heard for the first time at WDW someone saying they were standing "on line" for a ride and had no clue what that meant. Just a different way of saying it. Anyways...here's the map lol . http://www.dula.tv/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/popvssodamap.gif " BTW that map is realllly old lol

Thanks and welcome I actually do the same thing, and try to hope that I'll be a random person in someone's TR to share all my lame adventures with. Like, hey, that's me! I was walking to the bathroom!

Ahh the great soda vs pop debate. I like the map and it seems about right. I've got a friend from Michigan who goes to college in Tennessee and people made fun of her for calling it pop so she went with 'carbonated beverage' as the new word too

 

[TheMaxRebo]

sounds like a very nice afternoon/evening ... other than the inappropriate French girls

someone needs to develop and sell "Feels protectors" so once can prevent oneself from being "hit in the feels" at inopportune times

Bummer that the Canada store was closed when you wanted to go back and buy a shirt

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I know I sometimes take Marie's side on things, but in the great Winnie the Pooh debate, since you were dressed as Winnie, I have to give you the nod this time.

I have to admit, while I do think that the CM's of World Showcase are some of the very best in all of Disney, I have noticed instances where some behaved a little unprofessional. Most of what I've seen appears to be a lot of complaining to one another in their native tongue. I may not understand them, but body language and tone reveals a lot. The worst offenders I've found to be France and Germany.

Aww man, unimpressed CM. I once said a mere "Merci Beaucoup" to a French girl serving in probably the Slushie place, and she seemed like she couldn't have been more delighted.

The only answer I can give to your question is maybe just because people would recognize who they are even if they don't know the history. Also, tourists are dumb.

Obviously I'm a Wishes guy, but I will concede that Illuminations is wonderful AND probably the most "impressive" fireworks in Disney. Hey, it's something.

 

[amberg93]

sounds like a very nice afternoon/evening ... other than the inappropriate French girls

someone needs to develop and sell "Feels protectors" so once can prevent oneself from being "hit in the feels" at inopportune times

Bummer that the Canada store was closed when you wanted to go back and buy a shirt

They did bother me briefly but not enough to ruin a good day

You should do it! I would buy a feels protector to keep myself safe from all the inopportune Disney feels that strike at the worst times.

Don't worry (spoiler: I got it later)

I know I sometimes take Marie's side on things, but in the great Winnie the Pooh debate, since you were dressed as Winnie, I have to give you the nod this time.

I have to admit, while I do think that the CM's of World Showcase are some of the very best in all of Disney, I have noticed instances where some behaved a little unprofessional. Most of what I've seen appears to be a lot of complaining to one another in their native tongue. I may not understand them, but body language and tone reveals a lot. The worst offenders I've found to be France and Germany.

Aww man, unimpressed CM. I once said a mere "Merci Beaucoup" to a French girl serving in probably the Slushie place, and she seemed like she couldn't have been more delighted.

The only answer I can give to your question is maybe just because people would recognize who they are even if they don't know the history. Also, tourists are dumb.

Obviously I'm a Wishes guy, but I will concede that Illuminations is wonderful AND probably the most "impressive" fireworks in Disney. Hey, it's something.

Don't tell Marie that but thanks I thought it was necessary.

I mean, I understand why they could be unhappy at times. Working at an amusement/theme park is no easy gig. Plus, working in the US is very different from other countries, so it might not be what you expect when you first come over but I just don't get why you can't act like an adult who is working? Work can be fun, but you should always be professional.

"Tourists are dumb" that is probably the best answer to sum things up.

Thanks for that, I know it must have been hard for you to admit Wishes is great too. I mean, I love all the shows, but for me Illuminations is just the top of the line, blow me away, make me cry tears show.

 

[amberg93]

Day 7, Part 1: "Let me hear you roar!"

We set up a wake up call for 9, to get up and going earlier than we had been previously. Marie got up and got online because I wasn't ready to get up and get moving.

When I finally did get up I was in a lot of pain, so I took an oxycodone and waited for it to kick in while Marie organized all of our bows to go with our outfits for the rest of the trip.

Seriously, it's crazy how much of a hassle I was during this trip.

I snapped this picture of her after I got up and got ready:

And then we left our tip for Mousekeeping:

Around 10:15 we left the room and made our way to the bus stop where we had to wait for a new bus, so we didn't end up making it to Animal Kingdom until around 10:45.

We got dropped at the POFQ/POR stop and it made me sad again because I missed it super much.

Once inside, we headed over to go ahead and get in line for the 11:30 showing of Festival of the Lion King.

We got to go in first because we were going to need to be in a handicapped section and ended up in the lion section! Score!

And now, enjoy some spam of FotLK since we all currently have to miss it.

This little girl was the cutest girl ever. She was soooo shy.

The dance costumes though.

Lion section! Hi, Simba!

Dancers be dancing. Can you imagine being in this show? It'd be awesome and very tiring.

True story: Marie tried to take a picture of random stuff and the guy jumped in and was like 'take the picture'. She was so surprised that it took her a moment. I was also surprised.

This now concludes this photo presentation of The Festival of the Lion King, now get out

Continued in Next Post​

 

[amberg93]

Day 7, Part 2: "Ladies, gentlemen and dinos of all ages.."

Now that we'd seen the best show in Animal Kingdom (debatable to Marie), we headed over to character greeting trails.

I don't even know what our goal was anymore but clearly we weren't thinking right. Besides, we did have someone we needed to meet for the first time.

Pocahontas! We didn't get to meet her in 2012 because of the fact that she wasn't there on our only AK day so this time we made sure to meet her.

I like that her winter wear includes Uggs

Also, because it was the first time meeting her, I took off my coat, but I was sooo chilly that I vowed not to do it again when we met other characters.

Sorry Donald, I'm wearing my coat.

He was nice and had us pose with our feet out.

We had to meet Chip and Dale since we were there and they were very excitable and fun.

I got tickled.

When we were gone meeting them, we decided we were done with characters.

Instead we had to go and get some food because we were both hungry.

Hence, we ended up here.

We both got the mac and cheese hot dog with chocolate mousse and bottled water.

Oh my goodness, it was so delicious. Eat this hotdog and your life will be better. Okay, maybe it won't be better, but you'll think it is. It will be that delicious.

View from the table:

I think it'd have been fun to have done this sort of decorating.

So while we were eating there was this a CM named Wanell chatted with us and he found out about my celebration obviously. Then, at the end of the meal he came back and said he wanted to take care of our tray while we walked out.

Instead, when we went into the next room, he called the attention of the entire restaurant with the following: "Ladies, gentlemen and dinos of all ages, we've got a very special guest here today; her name is Amber and she's just finished chemo! Everyone give her a round of applause!"

Which basically just made me blush a lot because everyone clapped for me and some people congratulated me on the way out. But it was really special actually and it's stuff like that makes Disney so wonderful.

Now that we were done eating we headed over to use our FP+ for Dinosaur!

I blatantly disregarded this warning since I was not in good health, was having back problems, had heart issues during the whole of my treatment and had lots of nausea issues on the trip.

AND I'M GLAD I DID. I love Dinosaur.

In case you were wondering what the elevator in Dinosaur looks like.

It looks like this:

Actually, it was a good elevator. Not janky at all. I approved.

As usual, I loved the ride and Marie kept her eyes closed the whole time and refused to look anywhere.

Rex is the only dinosaur that Marie will show love.

I tried to get her to go again since the wait wasn't too long but she flat out told me no and commented about how she wanted to see Finding Nemo The Musical.

Which is how we ended up here:

And then here subsequently.

As always, the show was excellent.

I've got a quote in my notes that's actually probably funnier with the context of the quote but I don't remember it. So, feel free to make up your own context and enjoy the quote anyway

"No, navigation man! Don't eat the map!"

I heard it somewhere and thought it was important, so I figured I'd share it. Maybe you guys can help jog my memory.

At that point though we were ready to head out of the park. Since it was so chilly and we just didn't feel like doing things in AK.

I took this picture just because. We weren't eating there, but you know.

It was late enough in the day though that they were running buses over to Downtown Disney so we went to go and get in line. They were doing this with charter buses, but the charter buses aren't handicap accessible so they had to call a special bus that would be able to have the wheelchair inside of it.

Actually, it was only a few minutes before the bus got there and we were able to get on and start out for our evening of Downtown Disney time.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[amberg93]

Day 7, Part 3: "That's a sidewalk!"

Our trip to Downtown Disney started out with an adventure. And by adventure, I mean, I think we could have died if our bus driver wasn't so awesome.

So as we all know there are bus only areas in Downtown Disney. Apparently there was a car there who didn't know that because they drove into a bus only area and then all over the sidewalk.

ALL OVER THE SIDEWALK.

We basically just stared on in horror and the bus driver was like, "... what are they doing?!"

Luckily, the person left and we ended up getting off while two ladies complained about the fact that they were being dropped at the West Side and how come the driver couldn't take them elsewhere and blah blah blah.

Basically, the driver told them that he was only stopping at the West Side because that was where the AK shuttle drops people and it was still Downtown Disney and if they wanted to go elsewhere they could walk or take the boat across the water. Which they didn't seem to appreciate.

Oh well, sour grapes will be sour.

We unloaded happily though and started walking.

I know how you feel Donald. Marie would buy up the whole pin store if I let her.

Someday I need to see a Cirque Du Soleil show.

Downtown Disney in all its glory, sorta.

Good memories from Planet Hollywood and our November trip. Too much fun.

We had the opposite problem from 2012, we wanted to be on the Marketplace but had gotten dropped on the West Side.

I don't like seafood but this restaurant looks cool.

Now that we'd reached our destination of shopping areas, we headed into the lego store to look around.

It was crazy busy in there though, so we soon headed out and went over to the World of Disney instead.

I read a book about Princess Wedding Tales while Marie looked at the Animators Dolls.

She was debating between if she should get Mulan or Cinderella since both were there in their non-madeover state. She asked which she should get and I said, "Whichever you want sweetie."

This was the result.

Well that and she ended up getting both.

After that we headed to the pin store to go and pin trade not realizing that the pin board is only open at random times because in our 2012 trip we'd gotten there and it had been open. So, sadly we exited and went for dinner.

The plan was for Marie to get food at Earl of Sandwich and for me to get something from Wolfgang Puck Express. Except, we went to go get Marie's sandwich and the wait was 45 minutes long.

What?! No way we're waiting in that line!

Marie didn't have anything she wanted at Wolfgang Puck Express, so we decided to go elsewhere.

But before eating we decided to stop at Guest Relations because we'd just realized that we hadn't done it at AK to talk about how great Wanell had been! Oops! Luckily, they assured us that if we left comment there, they'd get it to him, so we gave the approximate time we were there, Wanell's name and a glowing comment about how special it'd made me feel to be recognized so much for my celebration.

With that done, we did end up going for food after trying to figure out what we wanted and where we could both get something.

Ultimately we ended up here:

Yep. We ended up at Pollo Campero where we got food and dessert from Babycakes.

I got chicken strips with chips and a vanilla frosted brownie cupcake with water. Marie got.. some fried chicken(?) with fries and a chocolate frosted brownie cupcake.

It was yummy (the chicken and chips, neither of us ate our cupcakes right then) and I went away satsified. So we wandered out to go ahead

You can't not say hello to this guy.

Basically we had no plans, so we wandered around and looked at different things.

We went to Basin and tried out the different hand scrubs and considered buying things, although we ultimately decided not to.

I like this pumpkin Mickey.

We looked around Tren-D for a little while, but ended up going back to the pin store because Marie wanted a Limited Edition pin that would be exact for when we were there.

This is the one she ended up getting. I approved, obviously.

Such beautiful. Much love.

By that point we were ready to call it a day. True, a very uneventful day, all things considered, but a great one nonetheless.

We got onto a bus and had a super nice driver, picked up some people at Pleasure Island and the drivers changed.

During the ride back to the All Star Music, Marie kept trying to destroy my cupcake because she was rude.

And then we made an amazing discovery that we hope happens in our trip (TWO WEEKS from now! AHHH!). The bus music was for the All Star Sports. Know what it played?

It played Take Me Out to the Ball Game on a repeat loop for like the whole drive back. Marie and I couldn't stop laughing every time it started over and imagined the distress that would happen to people if that was the only bus music they heard all week. But it was really funny.

So, I mentioned the bus driver switch because we'd told the first one we were going to the Music. And the new one didn't ask where we were headed, so he stops at the Music and doesn't open the doors or anything, stays for like ten seconds and then starts pulling away.

Umm, wait, what? We spoke up and said that we (among two other couples who I guess had been waiting for the doors to open) had to get off there.

Then the driver got all sassy with us about how come we didn't get up if we were getting off? Well we didn't anymore because we're always the last to get off with the chair, so we didn't stand or we'd be in other people's way. Which we tried to explain to him as he told us that next time we should make sure we stood up, but he just stayed sassy with us.

Oh well. We headed back to our room and got there shortly after 8 where I wrote down the notes from the rest of the day and Marie uploaded all the pictures onto her computer to save some space on the memory cards and then we ended up calling it an early night.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I guess one benefit of having the wheelchair was your vantage point for FotLK. I love looking at your pictures as I don't see them from floor level all that often. PLUS BONUS... photo with a performer!!!!!! Jealous!!!

And the character boycott continues...

Restaurantosaurous. Best name ever.

Oh my, I teared up up a bit there reading about the announcement to the other diners. I love that stuff so much.

Oy to the complainers at the bus stop. Seriously, some people just need to find something to complain about.

Pollo Campero just makes me think of Breaking Bad. It does look tasty.

 

[amberg93]

I guess one benefit of having the wheelchair was your vantage point for FotLK. I love looking at your pictures as I don't see them from floor level all that often. PLUS BONUS... photo with a performer!!!!!! Jealous!!!

And the character boycott continues...

Restaurantosaurous. Best name ever.

Oh my, I teared up up a bit there reading about the announcement to the other diners. I love that stuff so much.

Oy to the complainers at the bus stop. Seriously, some people just need to find something to complain about.

Pollo Campero just makes me think of Breaking Bad. It does look tasty.

It was super awesome to just be there on the floor with no one in front of us. And I know! Cancer perk if I'd ever gotten one

At the time I was just really embarrassed and a bit uncomfortable because people were staring and during that time I was super, super self conscious about my looks because of my hair so I was sort of awkward but thinking back on it, now that I can distance myself from that stuff it was super special

I know. Actually, I think they ended up saying they were going to ride back to AK and take a bus back to their resort so they could get dropped at the Marketplace It was ridiculous.

I've never seen Breaking Bad, so I'll take your word for it But it was delicious food. I'd eat there again.