Jaime on Vacation! (9/2/06 - 9/10/06) COMPLETED: Page 14, Post #210

[RHONDALEE]

I'm just going to sit here and eat my lunch and not say a word........

 

[andied]

Loving your trip report.

I'm just amazed that Meg is wearing what I would have worn to WDW when I was 16 (20 years ago ). I was such a rebel!

I'm guessing you shouldn't share that with her. It would probably kill her or any other 16 y.o to know that she's wearing what an old lady wore...

Thanks for posting the link on TMFL.

 

[DisneyObsession]

We sit in the back of the bus with Chris. The girls and he talk the whole ride home.

They put on their suits and went down to the pool. Within an hour they were back and I heard Chris say good night. They were both dry. Instead of swimming, Chris had shown them around the resort – Meg said, “Did you know there’s a LAKE?” Uh, duh!

The next morning on the way to the food court, I opened our door, and Chris had left his lei from the Luau on our doorknob.

They never even asked his name…

How do teens spend that much time with a guy and NOT ask his name?!?

Teens can be soooo dense sometimes...especially around a cute guy!

OK, that sounds like me when I was that age, but STILL, we need to teach them better than what we would have done!

Good that they got to "hang out" with someone other than you for a little while. bet they had a good time!

 

[tiggerbell]

Loving your trip report.

I'm just amazed that Meg is wearing what I would have worn to WDW when I was 16 (20 years ago ). I was such a rebel!

I'm guessing you shouldn't share that with her. It would probably kill her or any other 16 y.o to know that she's wearing what an old lady wore...

Thanks for posting the link on TMFL.

Thanks, and I think it's hysterical to take her shopping right now - I get to walk around the stores and say, "I had THAT shirt. I had THOSE earrings. I wore THOSE shoes."

The 80s are BACK, BABY!!!

 

[tiggerbell]

Before I get into the next day, I have to tell you what happened at work yesterday:

The phone rings and I answer it – it’s my sister, Judi. She says, “I’m on page 10, and I just read ‘Rhonda’s my favorite and all of my sisters know it.’ Good-bye.” and hangs up on me!

Any of you work at a roofing company? Any of you as busy as we are right now? I’ve worked here 7 years and we’re never had a busier season as we are right now – you can’t turn around without running into another new pile of work! It’s crazy – but bonuses are gonna rock this year!!! Anyway, I had to finish what I was doing before I could call her back.

So a couple of minutes later, I pick up the phone. Judi answers and I say, “What’s it gonna take? Flowers? Candy? A retraction in print?” She laughs, but wants to know why every person I’ve met in my life is mentioned in this report, except her! Is she at least mentioned at the end, seeing as she picked us up from the airport?

Of course she is, I tell her. Except, now that I think about it, I hate when a trip ends, so I normally just end the report, so I probably wouldn’t have told that part of the story… so I will now:

It was kinda funny to me that Mia had volunteered so quickly to take us to and pick us up from the airport, and technically did neither! Although why a person who drives a Ford Focus thought she could transport 3 people and luggage for 9 days in that Ford Focus is beyond me! We would barely have managed in my Saturn! And Saturns have what I call “Italian Mob” trunks – 3 bodies, no waiting!

So Rhonda took us there (but Mia did get up at 4:30 in the morning to accompany us) and Judi and Ron (remember them from the May, 2006, trip?) picked us up in their Ford Explorer (have you figured out I’m the only one NOT driving a Ford? But I got my used Saturn at the Ford dealership!)

It was a great ride home! There was music and song and dance and wine… oops, no, sorry – no dance! It was an epic ride home. It was a trip report in itself!

And Judi was given the award for Best Ride Home from an Airport EVER!!!

Sorry for the detour from the regular report, if this doesn’t appease her though, I’m going to have to write an Ode to Judi…

 

[tammyandtommy]

oh thankgoodness you wrote about JUDI, i was wondering... Hmmm what about her other sister.......

Think that will help her? knowing we were wondering about her! LOL
Hi JUDI!

 

[tiggerbell]

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2006

PLANS: Magic Kingdom

BREAKFAST: Cinderella’s Castle @ 9:15a ($$$)
LUNCH: Columbia Harbour House (CS19,20,21)
DINNER: Liberty Tree Tavern @ 5:40p (TS8)

REALITY: The trip’s almost over. You wake up a little sad those last few days, then swear you’re going to enjoy them fully – now GET UP! No more wallowing in the fact that in 2 days I have to go to work! OK, maybe another minute to wallow, but that’s it! We have a special breakfast this morning!

The original plan was to take this trip in December. But free dining changed everything. So, when we rebooked, 91 days out, I figured we’d just be crossing the castle off the list. I mean, seriously, whom (yeah, that’s right!) do you know that gets an ADR – for breakfast! – at the castle that close to their trip???

I gave up. I’m ashamed, but I admit it. I told our travel agent, Linda Norton at The Mouse for Less, to just forget about it, it was never going to happen. Don’t even bother. But she did bother. She got us into the castle for breakfast! And when the date she got didn’t really work, she got us another one!

Today’s outfits are “special”. We’re wearing the t-shirts we made. I don’t know at that point whether it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, we thought they were kinda cute. On the other hand, we thought they were kinda cheesy. Ashley was the only one to carry an extra shirt that day, I think. We might have all had tank tops in our bags in case it got too hot…

We get to the Magic Kingdom right after the opening ceremony (now that seemed more normal to me!). Breakfast is at 9:15, so we stroll through the Emporium. I lose the girls at one point, which is a good thing. Have I mentioned the pin trading?

Before the trip, I went online and found a place that sold official Disney pins for $2 each. I bought 50. 20 for Meg, 20 for Ash, and 10 for me. Had I known how much fun it was to trade, I’d have gotten more for me! And this will be a regular part of my trips for now on!

Meg carries around her pin collection in a backpack made for pins. She carried it the whole trip! And she ran out of the cheap pins to trade pretty early. Ashley and I still had a bunch to trade, so when I lost them in the Emporium, I bought a $25 set of 7 pins and hid it in my bag. When I found the girls and we were looking at a lanyard that had a pin Meg wanted, I handed her a pin to trade.

Of course, we get home and she goes through her pins, “Oh, I could have traded this one! I could have traded THAT one!” Where’d I put that damn Serenity Prayer???

Then we headed up Main Street to the castle. I wanted lots of pictures of us in our shirts. Which turned out to be a huge hit, not a huge embarrassment! Yea, us! We even got pictures of the backs and of us making the faces that belong to our characters!

 

[tiggerbell]

On the walk around the castle, Meg has to stop and get a picture of Cinderella’s Fountain.

I have to get a picture of Meg being a photographer!

We check in at the podium – which Meg has never noticed. Weird, SINCE SHE’S EATEN THERE BEFORE!!! To be fair (yeah, I’m known for THAT!), she was just a little kid last time.

Now, in May we ate here and I griped about the lack of organization in the downstairs picture taking area… my opinion is not going to change this trip. We checked in right on time (the picture of Meg holding our reservation card that tells the CM how many photo packages you get was taken at 9:20).

The picture taken with Cindy was at 9:38. 18 minutes of standing in line to get out picture taken! So we weren’t seated until 9:41! For a 9:15 ADR we were on time for!

Oh, well, nothing I can do about it. And…. We’re letting it go…………… aaaah….

We get upstairs and are greeted at the podium. We hand over our little slip of paper and the CM starts to lead us to a table… again, I wish I had the camera out! The looks on Meghan and Ashley’s faces when they realized they were NOT getting wands were priceless! So priceless in fact, that the CM noticed them! She stopped and asked if the girls wanted wands. Duh. So they each got a purple wand. So happy.

We sit. I took the outside because of the windows being behind me (didn’t want another O’Hana’s incident!) but that meant the girls had to keep getting up for pictures. I take some pictures of Captain Jack at a Princess breakfast!

And the poking begins. Yup, they are poking me with their wands. Stop it.

Stop it.

Great. Now one of them is poking me over the table and one of them is poking me under the table.

STOP IT!

Here comes the first character – oh, thank heavens – it’s Mary Poppins!

Didn’t she used to be a nanny? So I ask for her help:

“Thank goodness, Mary, you’ve arrived just in time – I’m in need of a nanny’s help. These two keep poking me with their wands.”

And that awful – I can’t say the word here – says to these awful children, “Sometimes adults NEED to be poked with wands, don’t they?”

Well, you’re useless! Thanks a lot, I’m calling Nanny-911! And the poking continues.

STOP IT.

 

[Tinkerbell Teen]

Didn’t she used to be a nanny? So I ask for her help:

“Thank goodness, Mary, you’ve arrived just in time – I’m in need of a nanny’s help. These two keep poking me with their wands.”

And that awful – I can’t say the word here – says to these awful children, “Sometimes adults NEED to be poked with wands, don’t they?”

Well, you’re useless! Thanks a lot, I’m calling Nanny-911! And the poking continues.

STOP IT.

They do need to be poked sometimes, don't they?

AWESOME JOB I LOVE IT.

 

[tiggerbell]

The Disney Nanny route of getting the poking to stop doesn’t work, so I go back to good old American parenting – I threaten to shove those wands where the sun don’t shine, and ta-da, poking over!

Within a couple minutes (4 to be exact), we are graced with the presence of Snow White – who I think got a really bum rap in Disney. Shouldn’t SHE be the head Princess instead of Cindy??? Wasn’t Snow White the first? Wow. I think Snow deserves some props. Word.

I’ll stop that now. And maybe she doesn’t, because she reads all our shirts – TWICE. And still can’t figure out who is Dopey, Sleepy, or Grumpy. You think she’d RECOGNIZE US!!! That’s the last time we take a fleeing princess into our cottage!

Next up (and practically tripping Snow White on her way to the next table) is Princess Aurora. She was less than 1 minute behind Snow. Could I at least take a sip of coffee???

And then the Fairy Godmother. She insisted I give the camera to one of the girls so I could be in a picture too.

I also ratted out Mary Poppins to all the other characters (just in case they needed a nanny at some point, I didn’t want HER to get the job!)

Breakfast was very good, I wasn’t sure if the girls would like the blueberry french toast thingie, but they did (Meg pushed the sauce off to the side and ate the rest). And this seems strange to me, but we did not feel rushed at all – BUT looking at the time-stamps and the receipt, it was a FAST breakfast! We were seated about 9:40 and I paid the bill at 10:06! We saw all 4 characters AND they brought out a dessert cupcake for Meg with a candle!

Also, I forgot to mention that at the beginning of the meal, they gave Meg a big Happiest Celebration Certificate for all the princesses to sign.

They brought our photo package, I paid the bill, and we were off!

 

[tiggerbell]

I want more PhotoPass pictures. So we head to ToonTown again. It’s just opened, it shouldn’t be too crowded. And we’re all too full to ride anything at the moment.

We get right in to see Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy.

Then we get back in line for the princesses and we stand there for 15 minutes. Meg learned a new trick with her wand while we waited!

Aurora, Cindy, and Snow (I know – we just left them!)

Then back in line for Minnie and Chip & Dale.

It’s now a little after 11 and guess what I gotta do? So we head over to the bathroom and on the way notice everyone staring off into the sky behind us. So we do what any proper “sheep” would do – we turn around and look. Well, would you look at that – IT’S THE BLUE FAIRY! I mean, IT’S THE SPACE SHUTTLE!!!

Very cool, but I still gotta pee.

I took the train more on this trip than the last 5 trips combined! We get on the train in ToonTown and off at Main Street. We stop to see Alice in Wonderland (one of Ashley’s favorites) and head over to the barbershop.

There are 3 people in front of us and we decide to wait. There was a man in his 20s who was obviously a regular, and a family with 2 little girls – the smaller of the 2 getting her first big-girl haircut. It was very sweet.

Meg went next and then I did it for the first time. My co-workers got such a kick out of the pictures – I NEVER wear my bangs up or to the side and this time they were up, so I look funny, but it was nice because they weren’t sticking to my forehead all day. So laugh if you will, but I was in Disney where anything goes!

 

[DisneyObsession]

You Look MAAAHVELOUS Darlink!

Love the Hair!!! Don't think I am brave enough to do it, but it looks GREAT on you & Meg!

Looking forward to more!!!

 

[tiggerbell]

Now that we’re all sparkly (Ashley didn’t want it done), I need more PhotoPass pictures!

And we head into Adventureland.

We stop at the Island Supply store again for the anklets my nieces wanted. Still no pink. What to do… so I ask. I tell the CM that it was pretty much a direct order from the 3-year-old to bring back pink. He goes in the back and finds the pink anklets! Then he rifles through them to find a good one for me! Yeah, mission accomplished! And Meg begs for a Princess Pirate hoodie. It can be her Christmas present! Yes, and the pirate T-shirt, too.

We ride Pirates again and browse the store afterwards. I didn’t get to see the Jack Sparrow show the first day ion the park, so I ask a cast member if she knows what time the next show is. She pulls out this little bright yellow time schedule they give the cast members and tells me 2:15.

It’s about 1:45, so we’re stuck in this area. Meg decides she is hungry. Wow. Even I’m still full from breakfast! She wants a taco salad from the Pirate and the Parrot (that’s the English translation) across from PotC. It’s closed. For the record, I’ve never seen that restaurant open.

I take her around to Pecos Bills. We use a counter service credit to get her a cheeseburger with fries, a coke, and the only dessert offered – a peanut butter chocolate mousse. Yuck! And she EATS IT!!! So gross!

I brought them back around to the Adventureland side of the seating, so I could be on the lookout for a certain Captain Jack Sparrow, but spotted Peter Pan and Wendy across the way instead! Meg’s eating, so I tell her to watch our stuff and grab Ashley. All I heard behind me was “Hey!” as we ran across the street.

I felt bad for Meg, so after I took Ashley’s picture, I told her to get back in line (I know – I never learn!) and I’d send Meg over. The handler with the characters liked our shirts and asked me before I ran off where Grumpy was… yeah, you read the shirts wrong – I’m Grumpy! OK, I didn’t tell her that, I just said “Eating. I’m getting her right now.”

I got back to the table and told Meg to get over there, they were asking for her. And she ran off.

Now it’s getting really close to 2:15. I rush Meg to finish and we head out into the plaza in front of Pirates. And we see… Stacey from the Top 7 Things show! Wasn’t expecting THAT! (That’s her name, right?) She was signing autographs and taking pictures. We didn’t get in line, she’s no Geir Ness.

Then Mac the pirate came out and I managed to get separated from the girls for the show. It was much better than I thought it would be, we all really enjoyed it. Meg was really happy when Jack came up to her and poked her in the cheek! We took so many pictures, you’d have thought it was really Johnny Depp in front of us!

MY VIEW:

Do you see the camera lens on the far right, just over the kid in the camoflauge hat? That's Meg!

MEG'S VIEW:

There were camera crews with Stacey (?) and they filmed this performance of the Pirate Show. That was pretty cool!

 

[byoung]

Great photoes.

 

[jordansmomma]

There were camera crews with Stacey (?) and they filmed this performance of the Pirate Show. That was pretty cool!

OH i love Stacey!! That was my favorite thing to watch in the morning at night before bed, in the middle of the night when i couldnt sleep, the top 7 things to do in Disney World!! My kids were like no not again, but after awhile Kaeleb loved watching it also.

You have some really great pictures. I missed the pirate show.
We were wienies still trying to get adjusted to the humidity, i live in the desert but it is dry heat, not sticky heat.

 

[tiggerbell]

Thanks for the great comments! I'm really sad I'm almost done!

I have the end of Day 8 typed up, but I don't have time before I leave for work to post with all the pictures, so I'll do it when I get home tonight, sorry!

 

[DisneyObsession]

GREAT PICS!

I would have taken just as many...gotta LOVE Cap't Jack Sparrow!

I'm sad you're almost to the end ...I have sooo enjoyed your trip. (Not as much as you, but almost!)

Looking forward to more!

 

[pamjb]

I love your reports. I saw the swirly crocs too last week. I looked on the website and I can't find them. Boo-Hoo.

As for the margaritas at Whispering Canyon. They are good aren't the. Our table of 4 adults polished off 7 off them. We were named "Margaritaville" by Hickory.

Wasting away again in Margaritaville........

No wonder we needed a nap before lunch

We rode Everest 3 times, front, back and middle. We definately liked the front the best. Back seemed jerky. Middle too. I don't know what we would have done if we got stuck for 10 mins.

 

[tiggerbell]

After the pirate show ended, and I found the kids and got Meg calmed down again, I realized it was almost time for the 3 o’clock parade… time to head back to Fantasyland!!! I think… blur, blur, blur!

Have I mentioned Meg’s fear of 3-D? Not DISLIKE, but actual FEAR! Freaks her out. She doesn’t even like Muppet Vision. SO I tell her she doesn’t have to go into Mickey’s PhilharMagic, but Ashley’s never seen it and it’s awesome, so I’m going in. She goes, and actually likes it a little bit!

The girls want to meet Ariel. The sign says 20 minutes, which I think is good, so we get in line. Well, Ariel must have been out shucking clams or something because it took forever! There was a cast member working the line that came over and was talking to us, telling jokes and doing magic tricks. He was really good! The kind of tricks you can’t figure out WHERE the coin went! This helped pass the time. He liked our shirts and gave us a pin from his lanyard that was Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.

Somehow we end up in Tomorrowland… the next thing I remember is riding the TTA and looking down at the line forming for Space Mountain – it was all the way across Tomorrowland!

Uh-oh. The Nights of Joy people have started to arrive! All of a sudden, we can’t get on any rides without a 40 – 60 minute wait!

We grab some ice cream in Tomorrowland and assess the situation. I’m really frustrated and somehow we head over to the castle and accidentally find ourselves at the Cinderellabration show. It’s about to start, there’s not a big crowd, and it’s closing in a couple of weeks. Plus, I’ve never seen it. So we stay and watch.

Our dinner ADR is at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:40. The Magic Kingdom closes at 6:00. It’s hot. We’re cranky. We decide to head over now and just wait. Yes, one of those moments!

Turned out to be a good idea, they had me check in early (I wasn’t going to, I was just going to wait) and they took us RIGHT AWAY! About 40 minutes early!

This is better – sitting, air conditioning, beverages, food… aaahh…….

And Minnie!

Goofy shows up and Ashley had been working on a math worksheet she had brought with (WHO brings homework INTO the Magic Kingdom???). The girls still can’t figure out what the characters are saying, so I translate when Goofy wants to know what the girls are working on (Meg has been helping Ashley with her math homework all week – who knew Meg could do algebra???). I got a great picture of Goofy helping with math.

Then we played with Chip

and Dale for awhile before Pluto showed up.

We had a lot of fun and Ashley loved that mac ‘n cheese was part of the meal here!

Dessert was brought out (apple cobbler) and it had candles in it for Meg. They gave her a card, too. When they all came over to present dessert, someone rang a bell and Pluto came FLYING across the restaurant to stick his nose in our dessert!

Without the dining plan, dinner would have been $104.54.

We head out of the park, shopping all the way, and right onto a bus – we have to stand, but we’re right up front near the driver, so she and I talked the whole ride. I believe the girls were singing. I do know it is now POURING!!!

We get back to Pop, don our ponchos, and head back to the room. I just start to relax before thinking about packing, when I realize – I have to go outside again! I have to get our boarding passes printed for tomorrow’s flight, I have to drop Rhonda’s birthday present off at the front desk, and I haven’t gotten our free Magical Express pins yet!

So I finish packing up Rhonda’s gift – it’s in a big red box about the size of a sheet cake. I pack my The Mouse for Less neck pouch (first time using that!) with the room key, my ID for the plane tickets (?), and the ME pin certificate. I pull the poncho over me and the box and head out into the downpour.

I decide the fastest route to the front desk is past the busses – you don’t know how many people told me they wanted a piece of the cake – it’s not a cake, it’s a beach towel!

OK, package dropped off (cross your fingers she gets it!), boarding passes printed (whoo-hoo, we got “A”), and into the gift shop to redeem my pin certificate – you get 2 pins in the shape of the ME busses. Wanna know what they look like? Check out any cast member’s lanyard – they ALL have been traded a ME pin!

Back to the room to pack up – tomorrow’s our last day…

HIGHS: Wearing our matching t-shirts, seeing the space shuttle launch, the Pirate Tutorial show

LOWS: Being invaded by the Nights of Joy people

MILES WALKED: 8 – maybe. Pedometer display still fading in and out.

 

[tiggerbell]

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2006

PLANS: Animal Kingdom JUST to ride Everest a few MORE times!, CS Roulette for lunch, fly (yipes!)

BREAKFAST: in the room
LUNCH: Random Resort (CS22,23,24)
DINNER: Orlando Airport

REALITY: Forget the plans again! AK did not happen!

Wow! It’s been a long week! But I still don’t want to leave (maybe ship some people home, but not me). We finish packing early and I call bell services. They tell me to stack the luggage to hold by the windows; we don’t have to be there when they pick it up. So we do just that, and I leave the tip on top of the bags. I put the last mousekeeping envelope on the shelf over the mirror and we head out.

Ugh. Back to MGM.

At least it’s just half a day, and I get to see the rope drop because we’re pretty freakin’ early! In fact we are treated to a “Pre-Show” at the front gate. I looked at the CM's nametag, but now can’t remember his name. He is standing on the other side of the turnstiles; I looked around and estimate about 200 people waiting for the turnstiles to open.

The pre-show begins with this particular CM scratching at a pimple on his chin. Then his finger disappears into his ear – gotta look and see what we pulled out! He then (I swear I’m not making this up!) treated us to the nose picking, wedgie unsticking, nose wiping marathon dance!

Surprisingly, no one wanted to go through the turnstile HE was opening!

Now, the rope drop.

The girls and I are right up front. Some cast members are talking to some of the people waiting. Meg is in full birthday regalia, so a CM comes over and starts talking to us. He is spending a lot of time with us – asking where we’re from, how was our stay, etc. I mention today’s our last day. He sort of perked up a little; it’s hard to describe.

I told him we were flying home today and could not spend all day in MGM. He asked what time we had to leave and I told him 2. He seemed disappointed. He said, “Aw, too bad.” Now, if I was reading him right, and I really think I was… well, I think he was going to pick us for the parade. What do you guys think?