Jack Frost Nipped at Our Noses But Not Our Spirits! Day 6 - Tonga Toast & Epcot

[WINNIEGRACE]

I'm enjoying your report-sounds like so much fun-it inspite of the cold!!

 

[missmun52]

Great update. We are going in Jan, so its nice to see that your still having a blast even though its cold.

During our stay I think the MK will be open till 12 so we are going to see if we can make it that late, I personally dont think my fam has the stamina as DS is in bed by 8 and DH passes out around 9pm every night I may have to leave them behind one night.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I'm enjoying your report-sounds like so much fun-it inspite of the cold!!

Thanks. I complain about the cold but it was Disney and I'd rather be cold there than cold at home!

Great update. We are going in Jan, so its nice to see that your still having a blast even though its cold.

During our stay I think the MK will be open till 12 so we are going to see if we can make it that late, I personally dont think my fam has the stamina as DS is in bed by 8 and DH passes out around 9pm every night I may have to leave them behind one night.

Leave them behind!! LOL I wouldn't mind doing a night at MK or any other park for that matter if my family didn't mind staying behind.

How old is your DS? When we went in '08, DS was 7 and by 10 he was wiped. On the other hand, DD, who was 9 at the time, was up for whatever I threw at her. DH took DS back to the hotel one night and DD & I had Mommy/DD night until 2 AM! I'm so proud of my Bobbi. She's a rock star!!

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Don't know what I was thinking of with the title, but bear with me, LOL.

Today I woke to my husband sitting straight up in bed and yelling "what time is it??". I looked at my cell phone and told him it was a little after 8. Before going to bed the night before, I decided we needed to sleep in a little so I turned off the alarm. Apparently, seeing light come in through the blinds freaked my husband out, hence, giving me the early morning heart attack.

Today was our day to do Epcot Future World in the morning and then come back to the hotel, rest and go back to Epcot for the dinner and the Candlelight Processional. Since we woke up late, I crossed out the first part of our day. I decided that I was going to spend some time at the laundromat and wash our jeans. I didn't bring enough for a full week because I was trying to be optimistic about the weather. Scratch that. I tried to bring at least 5 pairs each and DH said I didn't need that many, so I brought about 2 pairs each. Fast forward to me walking to the laundromat, my arms loaded with bags filled with thermal shirts, jeans and hoodies. Laundry is expensive at Disney!! $2 washers and $2 dryers?? Geez. Thank God I brought those Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets so I wouldn't have to buy any detergent at the hotel.

Between washing and drying, I walked back and forth to make sure the kids were getting ready. Since we were just doing dinner, the World Showcase and the Candlelight Professional today, I originally planned to have everyone dressed up for dinner and the show, but it was freezing so that got thrown out the window. I had nice blazers for me and the kids and we paired those with jeans, scarves, hats, (newly cleaned) hoodies and gloves, LOL. DH was the last one to get ready and the kids were complaining they were hungry so I walked them over to Sassagoula Floatworks for breakfast. It was already pretty late by the time we got there and we were barely able to order breakfast. I ordered the kids french toast and Mickey waffle platters and when I went to get a breakfast croissant sandwich, the guy took my order and walked away. Five minutes later, he comes back and is putting the lunch food on display. When I asked where my breakfast sandwich was, one of the girls behind the counter ran after him and then came back, apologized to me and slapped together a breakfast sandwich for me. Not only was the kids food cold, but the hastily made breakfast sandwich was as well. DH joined us when I was on line and he had a nice, hot lunch sandwich. ...with dessert

So, we finished up and headed to Epcot. By the time we got there it was a little after 12. Since we were just doing World Showcase, we walked straight through FW with choruses of, "can we do that now" and "I wanna go on that". He headed into one of the twin gift shops to find the woven holiday blanket and instead walked out with a cool pair of drumsticks for Michael's band class.

Since we had to end in Canada, we walked towards Mexico and lo and behold, we see....Duffy!!

Ever since I was a little girl, I always had a love for the Mexico pavilion. I love how it could be the hottest, sunniest day and the minute you walk in, you are transported into a nighttime scene.

We looked at the little shops and goods while we made our way back to the 3 Amigos ride. I haven't been on this since it was El Rio del Tiempo and I thought it was cute.

When we walked out, we noticed that they didn't have the set-up for the Three Kings out. We really loved the look of it last time and was wondering where they did their "presentation". We started to walk towards Norway and found FIESTA DONALD!!

We walked into Norway and were going to do the boat ride, but it was 20 minutes and we wanted to keep going, so we grabbed FP's. These were never to be used, but we'll do it next trip.

We were hoping to find Mulan in China, but I think we missed her by a few minutes. We took some time looking around and DH snapped some pictures of the Tomb Warrior model.

We walked into Germany and the first thing DH sees is the beer stand. He loves him some beer so he grabbed a glass and then headed to Sommerfest for a frankfurter. Even though it was about 2:30 and our ADR was for 5:20, how could I deny him? He was so happy! LOL

Updated 1/8/11 - I totally forgot that while DH was getting franks, I walked into Karamelle-Kuche to see what it was all about. The smell inside the store is HEAVENLY!!! It's a mixture of butter, cream and sugar. If only you could bottle it. I would wear that perfume DAILY!! LOL I want to say I was on line for a good 20 minutes. That store was PACKED! While waiting I was trying to decide what I wanted and just stared at the goodies in the glass cases. The caramel apples looked so good, but I knew I'd be eating a big dinner soon (little did I know I was going to be eating more than just dinner before our ADR). Plus, the $9 price tag was just a bit much for me. I regret not having it though. I will definitely make it a point to get it next time. I settled on a caramel-drizzled crispy treat and a milk chocolate covered caramel. Both were available for snack points. The crispy treat was ok. I noticed that WDW has reduced the amount of butter and marshmallows in their crispy treats so they're not as ooey-gooey-chewy anymore. The mcc caramel was TO DIE FOR. The caramel was so soft and chewy and buttery. Soooooooo good. This is what made me regret not getting the apple.

When I walked out, I found DH at the fountain in Germany with franks for all of us.


We hurried through Italy and kept walking because we wanted to get to Canada on time. We stopped in the American Pavilion for a bit because Fife and Drum were doing their show. I've never seen it before and really liked how they got the children involved during the Pledge of Allegiance.

We walked into Japan and headed for the Anime showcase they had since DH and the kids are huge fans. They loved seeing Naruto there!

I wanted to see what we could find in the department store so we went in. Since Michael had gotten a pair of drumsticks, Bobbi wanted to see what she could get. She picked out a Pokedoll (she loves those things) and I found a pair of dragonfly chopsticks (I love dragonflies).

Oh! We also had the kids take a really nice picture together on the bridge in the Japanese garden.

Next up was Morocco and we quickly perused the stores and then headed into France. I looked at our times guide and saw that we got there just in time for Marie!! We jumped on line (we were the 2nd family) and waited to get our pictures taken.

DH loves this picture of me, so I'm including it. I think I look like the Mayor of some town here. LOL

We were still making pretty good time so when we walked into the UK, DH decided he wanted to snack on some chips. The fries at the fish & chips stand are so good and I think they tasted extra yummy because it was really cold outside that day.

Notice, we've already had a late breakfast/lunch, a hot dog & beer (Gluwein for me) in Germany and now chips in the UK. This was not fitting for an ADR we had both been looking forward to for months.

Well, we get into Canada with time to spare so we look around the store and have the kids take a picture in front of the waterfall and with lumberjack Santa.

Finally, it was time to check-in for DH's long-awaited dinner reservation. Each time we went to WDW, I tried to get a spot here but no luck. I spent an hour on hold trying to get this for our CP package so I was really happy to get spot there for him because I knew how badly he wanted to eat here.

We were still a little early but decided to check-in anyway.

Next up - Part 11 - Day 3, Part 2 - Our Long Awaited Dinner at Le Cellier & Steven Curtis Chapman at the Candlelight Processional

 

[Tinkermom76]

That's my country you are in!!!!!

We did the Norway ride and Emma cried the whole time so there was no way she was gonna go on the Mexico ride. She wants to know if the Mexico boat ride is dark, scary or has any drops?

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Almost sounds like you guys ran through the countries. We did them all in one day, so we didn't get to see many of the shows, but we did get some of the storytellers. But you won't get the details of that until I get through 2 days of MK, and a MVMCP event.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

That's my country you are in!!!!!

We did the Norway ride and Emma cried the whole time so there was no way she was gonna go on the Mexico ride. She wants to know if the Mexico boat ride is dark, scary or has any drops?

She cried? Awwww. How is she on PoTC? I like Norway because of the backwards drop.

Mexico is bright with fun mariachi music and Donald Duck. Not dark at all and no drops.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Almost sounds like you guys ran through the countries. We did them all in one day, so we didn't get to see many of the shows, but we did get some of the storytellers. But you won't get the details of that until I get through 2 days of MK, and a MVMCP event.

I think we actually took some time in the countries. We toured them in about 4 hours. Some countries we took more time than others. It just seemed like everytime we hit a new country, we had missed the beginning of, or totally missed the show, so why stick around? I think they should re-do the times guide so that you can leisurely walk through the countries and hit the shows/attractions consecutively. Why are Snow White, Jasmine/Aladdin and Marie out at the same time? It should be Snow White, 1/2 hour later Jasmine/Aladdin, 1/2 hour later Marie so that you get to see everyone and everything. But I guess it spaces everyone out evenly in the countries or else they'd all be jam packed into one.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I forgot something in my update so if you've already read it, just go back and read the red part.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I think we actually took some time in the countries. We toured them in about 4 hours. Some countries we took more time than others. It just seemed like everytime we hit a new country, we had missed the beginning of, or totally missed the show, so why stick around? I think they should re-do the times guide so that you can leisurely walk through the countries and hit the shows/attractions consecutively. Why are Snow White, Jasmine/Aladdin and Marie out at the same time? It should be Snow White, 1/2 hour later Jasmine/Aladdin, 1/2 hour later Marie so that you get to see everyone and everything. But I guess it spaces everyone out evenly in the countries or else they'd all be jam packed into one.

I guess it's a catch 22. if you set them so people can see them all as they walk through it could get kind of crowded. We watched the story tellers if they were there, but didn't go out of our way to watch them. Of course we left the park earlier than we needed, but again, that's a story for a later day. Of course I think you already know about that.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I guess it's a catch 22. if you set them so people can see them all as they walk through it could get kind of crowded. We watched the story tellers if they were there, but didn't go out of our way to watch them. Of course we left the park earlier than we needed, but again, that's a story for a later day. Of course I think you already know about that.

We saw you again on Friday!!! Stalkers, LOL.

 

[Tinkermom76]

Ya she cried the whole ride

She hates POTC and I make her go on it all the time, I am such a mean mommy

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi!.. subscribing

We went to the same parks as you on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings!!



Emma x

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

We walked into Le Cellier around 5:05 and I checked-in with the hostess. The waiting area was packed. In order to entertain everyone, one of the hosts was doing Canadian Trivia. Each question was multiple-choice and if you got it right, you received a Mickey sticker. FYI – All of my answers were wrong, though I was proud of Michael who got two right and DH who got one right. I did learn some interesting things such as how many provinces Canada has (13? I think) and we learned about the Mounted Cavalry that takes place in Alberta (I think) every July.

About 20 minutes later, we were called and seated straight ahead to the left side of the restaurant. I love the cozy look and feel of the place. Our waitress asked if we were doing the CPP and when we said yes, she showed us what we could get with that, which was an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert.

Since Bobbi is considered an adult, but is still pretty limited to what she’ll eat, we knew she wouldn’t be having her appetizer so I order the Appetizer Trio to Share (2 appetizer credits) and the Spicy Chicken & Chipotle Sausage. The Trio comes with Cheddar Cheese Soup, Tomato Stack and Lump Crab with Sweet Corn Custards. The Spicy C&C Sausage came with Roasted Corn Polenta and Sweet Onion Jam. With the appetizers, they also brought out the famed Pretzel Bread Sticks. The kids dug into those while DH & I had the appetizers but more on that in a minute.

For dinner DH & DD ordered the (taken from Allears.net):

New York Strip Steak - topped with bercy butter and served with Gruyere Yukon Gold Potato Gratin

(Medium for DH & Medium well for DD)

and I had the :

Coffee-rubbed Kansas City Strip Steak - with hazelnut butter and cream cheese mashed potatoes.

DS had the Kids Pizza. I tried to get him to at least have the kids steak or meaty macaroni but he wanted pizza.

Okay, here’s a mini dining review on Le Cellier:

Cheddar Cheese Soup – Tasted like the Chefs made rue and forgot to add anything to it. It literally tasted like flour, butter, pepper and milk. No cheese, no beer. Dipping the pretzel bread into it didn’t make it better and if felt like you were insulting the pretzel bread. Not good.

Tomato Stack – Just that, sliced tomatoes, onions and what tasted like mozzarella (it says feta but it didn’t taste like it) with a balsamic drizzle. It was good.

Lump Crap with Sweet Corn Custard - Best thing on the plate. The crab was firm and flaky and the custard was delicious. I really liked this.

Spicy Chicken & Chipotle Sausage with Roasted Corn Polenta and Sweet Onion Jam –
The sausage was what it claimed to be…spicy! I love spicy food but it had a certain heat that kept kicking the back of my throat. When you paired it with the polenta, it turned the heat down just enough for you to taste the different spices and to appreciate the flavor. If you added some of the onion jam in that bite, it made it a totally different thing. I could have eaten that for dinner by itself. It was DELICIOUS and I highly recommend it. That onion jam is so good you could eat it off someone’s toes and I don’t like toes!!! LOL

Pretzel bread – Yummy!!! I want to find a recipe for these. The pretzels were soft and buttery, but not greasy like Auntie Anne’s pretzels. I loved them.

Okay dinner.

I tasted some of DH’s Potato Gratin and it was good. Potatoes weren’t too soft and not overly cheesy. His steak was also good. He liked it but said he’s had better steaks.

The steaks were cooked to perfection. I also ordered my steak medium and it came with the perfect amount of dark pink in the middle. I loved the coffee-rub. You tasted just a little bit of coffee on the steak and it wasn’t an overwhelming flavor at all. The cream cheese mashed potatoes were very good. I was trying to eat everything but after the hot dog, the gluwein, the caramel, the fries and the appetizers, I was really starting to get full. I think I finished a little more than ½ my steak and DH took it from there. Bobbi got a ¼ done and she was finished.

Dessert’s up..I had the Maple Crème Brulee. It was so good and I am a HUGE Crème Brulee fan but I couldn’t finish it. DH had a Season Berry Crisp which he loved. The waitress said some people don’t like it b/c they think the berries are too sour but he enjoyed it. DD had the smores. She was thrilled and DS had the kid’s sundae.

Our waitress brought the bill, which if I remember correctly was about $240 with the tip. Gotta love that dining plan. She also brought our passes for the CP seating. I think it was around 7:15 by the time we were leaving.

I was really stuffed. Can you see my buttons straining? LOL

We left feeling majorly bloated. It was really a lot of food. While we did enjoy our dinner, DH feels Le Cellier is not worth the 2 TS credits you will have to use on it starting in March so I’m glad we at least did it once.

With our pants feeling very tight (I couldn’t breathe!!) we made our way back to the American Pavilion for the Candlelight Processional. When we were there in ’08, we had Steven Curtis Chapman and were happy to be getting him again this year. We got on the CPP line and it stretched into Japan. It was around 7:40 so we had about 20 minutes to wait before being seated. I have to say we lucked out where we were seated. We were on the left side of the theater, on the benches closest to the middle, not too far front, not too far back.

It was really cold and the musicians and singers seemed like they were dressed appropriately. I honestly don’t know why Disney can’t put heating lamps into the theater for the night shows. The wind was whipping off the water, straight into the theater and you felt every bit of it. I think I enjoyed the show a little more last time because I wasn’t shivering through the whole thing. Those metal benches really don’t help either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picasacid&feature=player_embedded

Steven started off the show with the same message as last time, encouraging us to really listen to the story, though we’ve heard it many times, but to try and listen as if it was our first time hearing. At the end of the show, he said he didn’t know if he could say that we rocked, but we did, especially for braving the weather.

With the package, we also received special viewing for the Illuminations but we were WAAAAAY too cold for that. We decided to call it a night and started heading out of the WS on the Mexico side.

Thus, our first encounter with a foreign (I believe they were Brazilian) tourist group.

If you see droves of people trying to use the walkway to get out of the park, why on Earth would you block it by forming a circle of people and dancing the Marcarena? Really? It’s like walking in New York City; if you’re slow, stopping to look up at the buildings or just plain stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, you’re going to get hurt. It’s called a walkway for a reason people. Keep it moving.

They looked offended that they were being pushed, but again, you can’t just take up the whole walkway when people are trying to get past.

I was still shivering when I got back to the hotel, but I knew I was expecting a package from bell services (a bunch of us Disers ordered some light-up toys online) and I knew Tinkermom76 had been trying to get them to me but there had been a mix-up in Bell Services. DH kept saying wait until tomorrow, but I wanted them now. I went to B/S, and they still didn’t have them so I walked into the store to check. We had ordered some ornaments from DTD so I wanted to pick those up there. When I get to the counter, the CM handed me a few bags. Remember back on Day 1 when I found DH buying me something at the counter but ran so he wouldn’t see me? I was picking it up now without realizing.

I get back to the room and DH has a pissed look on his face. I start going through the bags and ………

I love this man…..


He bought me the purple, crossbody Disney Sketch Dooney & Bourke bag that I wanted.

He was upset b/c he thinks I knew about it and wanted to surprise me with it for Christmas. Awwww, he loves me.

After, we settled in for a long winter’s nap so we would be ready for a long day at Hollywood Studios on Wednesday.

Next up – Part 12 – Day 4, Part 1 – Jedi Training, Toy Story Mania and Snacks I Forgot to Get.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Hi!.. subscribing

We went to the same parks as you on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings!!



Emma x

We have to meet this year in June. We changed our dates so we'll be there from 6/26-7/2!

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Ya she cried the whole ride

She hates POTC and I make her go on it all the time, I am such a mean mommy

DS is pretty lucky that DH is there to stop me from dragging him on the roller coasters. If it wasn't for him, I'd be a mean Mommy just like you. LOL

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I think you wrote more about dinner than you did about the World Showcase

I agree with you about people standing in the middle of walkways. It amazes me how clueless people can be sometimes.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

I think you wrote more about dinner than you did about the World Showcase

I agree with you about people standing in the middle of walkways. It amazes me how clueless people can be sometimes.

Dinner was something we were looking forward to for a really long time so I tried to remember everything about it.

People crowding the walkways = epic fail.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I did learn some interesting things such as how many provinces Canada has (13? I think) and we learned about the Mounted Cavalry that takes place in Alberta (I think) every July.

Did you really learn anything, you don't seem so sure of your answers.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Did you really learn anything, you don't seem so sure of your answers.

I should have said "discovered" some interesting facts. I have a bad memory. Blame my lack of fact retention on my college years.