Jaime's May, 2006, Trip Report!!!

[tiggerbell]

MEET THE CAST:

Me, Jaime, 38 (arg!) - 14th trip and about as Disney obsessed as YOU are (Oh, stop denying it! We all know you are – look down: are you wearing a Disney shirt? Drinking out of a Disney mug? No? Well, still, you’re reading this, right? Hello??????????)

Rhonda, older sister (56, but you never heard that from me) also about as Disney obsessed as a person can get. She's on her 35th trip.

Judi, older sister, just celebrated her 60th! (We held the Winter Old-Limp-Ic Games as a surprise party for her. It was hysterical and now I own a CD of Olympic music). Judi is NOT a Disney person. She likes resorts and drinks on the beach.

Ron, BIL, Judi's husband, 60-something... this man is family and I have no idea how old he is! And we just celebrated his birthday in March! Should make a note to find out. I don't know his middle name, either... Actually, not a bad idea to make a LIST of things to talk to Ron about - otherwise he tells me about fishing. Yup, Ron's a fisherman. He has done those trips up to Canada, where they drop you off in the wilderness and then come back for you a week later. That's a lot of trust, if you ask me - you're in the middle of NOWHERE (sorry, no offense, Canadians) and you trust someone to remember to come back for you??? Closest I come to that kind of trust is getting on It's a Small World - 'cause there's a point in the middle where I think, "What if it never ends???" Oh! And Ron HATES hot weather!

Now I know what you're thinking (no, not why am I reading this!) - Why are Judi and Ron going on this trip???? She's not a Disney person, he hates hot weather! I'll tell you why:

Our 5th person is 5 year old Lauren. She's mine and Rhonda's great-neice, but Judi & Ron's granddaughter! She's been to Disneyworld a whopping total of ONCE! Last January (2005), when she wasn't even 4 yet. The weird part is that she remembers the whole trip! You can mention a ride or a character, and Lauren's ready to discuss it! I was one of those people who thought 3 was too young to remember a trip, but maybe not. And Lauren's big news? She wants to ride Tower of Terror! When she was 3, she loved Big Thunder Mountain and Star Tours. It was too cold to try Splash. The kid's a thrill rider!

It will also be my first time eating in the Castle. I can't believe I've never done that! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As I sit here typing this, I have exactly 2 weeks before we leave. I’m going NUTS!!!!!! But not as NUTS as little Lauren! I got a phone call the other night –

LAUREN: Auntie Jaime?
JAIME: Yes?
LAUREN: I know the Ariel song! Do you want to hear it?
JAIME: Yes.
LAUREN: Ah, ah, ah... ah, ah, ah, ah... (Everyone, sing along!)
JAIME: That’s really good, Lauren!
LAUREN: I’m going to sing it for Ariel!
JAIME: Yes, we will make sure you get to sing it for Ariel.
LAUREN: And maybe..., maybe she will hug me for singing it to her!

She wasn’t just EXCITED about this – she was VIBRATING!!!!!!!!! I am so glad Judi and Lauren are flying and Rhonda, Ron and I are driving!

The drivers are leaving VVVEEEERRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYY EEEEEEEEAAAAAARRLLLLYYYYYYY (see Jan. 2005 trip report for explaination) Saturday, April 29th. The plan is to get as far as possible the first night (picture me in the backseat of the minivan with a whip, “A little further, Rhonda! Keep driving!”) We usually stop in Perry, GA, but I’d like to get to Valdosta, if possible (“Drive!”). I’d like to be at the hotel by noon, 1 o’clock at the latest.

Judi & Lauren have an early morning flight Sunday, April 30th and are going to use Magical Express to get to the hotel – which hotel, you ask? Port Orleans Riverside this trip. It was going to be Pop, but Judi really wanted a moderate... we’re splitting the costs 4 ways, so there’s no point in arguing, what’s another $100 each between family? (BTW, I highly recommend going on trips with people who pay their own way! After years of footing the bill for my kids, it’s so CHEAP when it’s just ME I’m paying for!)

Months ago, while starting to plan, we got together and started naming restaurants and figuring out the best days for each park (you all know the drill). Now, Judi and Ron are not Disney-people, so that conversation went something like this:

JAIME: Is there any place special you guys want to make sure we eat?
RHONDA: Yes! I want 9 Dragons and Columbia Harbour House and Beaches ‘n Cream and Tusker House!
JUDI: I don’t know what any of those are.
RON: I don’t eat eggs!
JUDI: Did I show you my new shoes?
JAIME: Hey, Rhonda, let’s pick the restaurants ourselves...
JUDI: They also came in tan.
RHONDA: OK.

So Rhonda and I picked restaurants. Well, 1 table service place led to another led to another, and I finally said, “Whoa. We’re up to 4 sit downs, uh-oh, make that 5. What do you guys think of adding the dining plan?” Yessss, sweet! I love every meal ending in an ice cream sundae!

I’m not going to list all our plans here, that would give it all away and you’d have no reason to come back! But I will continue the thread and put the whole report here when I get back.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Can't wait to read your TR. Have fun!

 

[fizz13]

Have a fantastic time and I would love to hear all about Lauren's adventures with Ariel and the Tower of Terror when you get back

Claire xx

 

[Minniespal]

Can't wait to read more

 

[tiggerbell]

Breakfast: On the Road
Lunch: On the Road
Dinner: On the Road

Plans: Get to bed early. Leave by 5:00am. Take new route to 57. Make sure you have printed the directions first! Get as far as possible today!

Reality: After loading the suitcase in Rhonda’s van last night, all I had to bring over this morning was my overnight bag, laptop, purse, backpack for in the car, and my foot bath. I really need to learn to pack lighter! Because of my plantar fasciitis in both feet, I brought my footbath (I never used it on this trip and only used it once last trip!). In addition, I could barely close my suitcase or overnight bags! In fact, after the first night’s stop, when I took out the capris and t-shirt I was going to wear on the 2nd day of the road and put in the jeans and t-shirt I had been wearing, I could no longer close the overnight bag! And the laptop never even got used! Oh, wait, Rhonda played a game of solitaire in the hotel on the way home! Yeah, that was worth lugging 1,150 miles each way!

The “new route to I-57” we were so excited about was to take Harlem Avenue straight south to 95th Street (about 8 miles), which puts you on I-294 right away (I know most of you have NO idea what I’m taking about – it’s just a more direct route to the highway!) Doesn’t really cut off much in time (Harlem has a lot of traffic lights) but mileage-wise, it was great! And, actually, because we left at such an un-Godly hour, it actually DID cut off a little time – that and Western Way!

The plan was for me to be at Rhonda’s (6 houses away) at 4:45 and we would go pick up Ron, stop at Dunkin’ Donuts, and be on our way! Rhonda calls me Friday night after I dropped off the suitcase and says we need to get ice in the morning also, be over at 4:30. OK.

Getting to bed early never happened either... I have 2 teenage daughters who, along with a friend, coerced me (there might have been a gun to my head, you don't know) to play cards until about midnight. I was ready on time though – what did I care, I wasn’t driving! Well, I could have, but they ended up doing just fine without me...

I call Rhonda’s at 4:25 to say, “Since we have to come this way to pick up Ron, why don’t you pick me up behind my house instead of me dragging my stuff over to you and then driving past my house anyway?!?” Except, she didn’t answer the phone. So that was the message I left on her machine. I hung up and stood there for a second. Then I started picking up the laptop, purse, backpack, overnight bag, footbath, and jacket. What if she’s asleep??? What if I take all this out and stand in the dark alley at 4:30 in the morning and she’s still asleep???? Crap. So I walk over to her house.

Yeah, she wasn’t asleep – she was loading the car. But I wasn’t taking that chance. We get in the car and she says she returned my call and woke up DD17 – who wasn’t happy: A) Rhonda woke her up, and B) I didn’t wake her up to say good-bye (I thought we had covered that the night before!) So, basically, she was mad because I didn’t wake her up and Rhonda did wake her up. Sounds like a no-win situation to me!

Ice, Ron, bagels and coffee... on the road! Ron drove the first 6 hours – noteworthy only because Judi told us he would be tired after an hour or 2.

Lunch was Wendy’s, eaten whilst driving... dinner was Subway, also eaten whilst driving... (that’s a fun word - say it)

We make it to Valdosta, GA, and it’s still light out! We stop for the night – we’ve driven 950 miles! Only 200 more to go! There was a reason for the long haul today – Judi and Lauren will be arriving via Magical Express Sunday between 11 and 12. I would like to beat th..., I mean, MEET them (yeah, right).

 

[skiingwife]

Great report so far - keep it coming!

 

[tiggerbell]

Breakfast: On the Road
Lunch: Pop Century (CS)
Dinner: Beaches ‘n Cream (TS)

Plans: swim at Riverside in the afternoon, ride surrey bike at Boardwalk in the evening

After months of thinking Pop Century was where we would stay, the lack of a Disney code worthy of me (seriously, what kind of code is FREE park hopper/water parks???) forced us to rebook – this time through AAA. We ended up with 2 rooms at Riverside. AAA saved us $177 dollars.

I want to be in Disney around 1pm. Check in. Drive over to Pop Century for lunch and to walk around. Drive back to hotel to swim for awhile. Change and drive over to Boardwalk to ride surrey bike. Take boat over to Yacht & Beach Club for dinner at Beaches 'n Cream. Head back to Riverside to unpack and have an early evening for tomorrow! After Lauren is asleep, put out “surprise”.

REALITY: We’re up and out of the hotel room before 8 Sunday morning. We decide to stop at a Waffle House for breakfast – something you NEVER get in Chicago! And, in my opinion, the south could really use some Dunkin’ Donuts locations! The coffee is really good – if any southerners come north, please make a point of trying it!

I looked in the phone book in the hotel room for a Waffle House – the address showed it was on the same street the Holiday Inn was on (yes, we also had to look up the address of where we were staying because we had no idea the name of the street!). We ask at the Holiday Inn about the direction to get to the Waffle House – and we were told by the front desk clerk that he didn’t know where a Waffle House was, but could tell us where the Huddle House was. [Southerners – are those the same thing?]

I say, never mind, if we don’t find this one, there’s always the next exit (and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that...)

We come out of the Holiday Inn – AND YOU CAN SEE THE SIGN FOR THE WAFFLE HOUSE FROM THE FRONT OF THE HOLIDAY INN!!!!!!! And the kid who comes to work there 5 days a week didn’t know where it was!

Yummmmm, pecan waffle!

Ron takes over the wheel again today. We are in Florida before we know it. Traffic is unbelievably light today!

We stopped at a rest stop – and we were the ONLY PEOPLE THERE!!! Kinda creepy.

That's Ron at the van, btw.

Rhonda and I can’t wait to try out the new road into Disney – Western Way! It was pretty easy, we just took the exit to Rt. 429 and followed the Disney World signs. Before we knew it, we could see the Contemporary, Spaceship Earth, and Tower of Terror off to our left.

Now, the more excited Rhonda and I became, the slower Ron drove! He was driving us nuts! We FINALLY pull up to Port Orleans Riverside

and get out of the car – there are Judi and Lauren getting off the Magical Express bus! It’s a tie! (It’s also about 11:15am!)

Judi insists they won, but had we not stopped for breakfast or Ron had not been playing mind games, we WOULD have won by a big margin – so I say we won! (and, just to be sure, Rhonda ran up to the door of the hotel and tagged it first!)

We go inside the hotel, Rhonda heads towards check in and I head for the gift shop, Judi went out the back door for a smoke, and Ron took Lauren to the bathroom and then she plopped down in front of the tv.

I have been doing Pinecone Research surveys for about a year now. Since January, I have done 13 surveys, at $5.00 each – that equals one Pal Mickey! I had been going back and forth about buying one for a while – I wanted it but couldn’t justify the expense. I decided it was a sign – doing the exact number of surveys needed to pay for him! So, that was the first thing I did in Disney. I even asked the cast member to “liberate” him for me. “We” went back into the lobby and found Rhonda standing at the head of the line. We quickly got checked in – our room was not ready yet, but the CM was able to tell us which building we were in – Oak Manor – that’s the building I would have requested! That’s 2 trips in a row I got the building I wanted without asking!

I have stayed at PORiverside once before, May 2004, and was in the Alligator Bayou section. Rhonda has stayed at POR twice before – and this was her 3rd time in Oak Manor!

With tickets in hand, we head back out to the car and over to Pop Century for lunch. This was supposed to be the hotel we stayed at originally, so we decided lunch there would be fun. And Rhonda and I, although we had stayed at Pop Century in September, 2005, have never eaten anything other than breakfast here. Take this as a warning – WHEN YOU ARE INTRODUCING SOMEONE TO THE DISNEY DINING PLAN – DON’T DO IT AT A FOOD COURT. We had Judi and Ron so confused! Judi was trying to figure out how thias all worked, keeping track of Lauren, and trying to balance her tray – I don’t know how people with strollers and more than 1 child do a food court!

She gets to the table to realize she wasn’t given a cup for a drink. She went back up and comes back with her drink and a comment about the CM saying he never saw the strawberry milk (Lauren's) and he didn’t charge them enough credits the first time? We decided to eat before the food got cold and figure out the receipts afterwards.

I had the Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Tie-dyed Cheesecake, and a bottle of water. Rhonda had the Meatball Sub, carrot cake, and a fountain drink. Our receipt was for $27.99.

Lauren picked Vegetable Lo Mein with cheddar crackers and carrots, strawberry milk, and Chocolate Marshmellow Cheesecake. I know Judi had chocolate cake, I don’t know what else they had, but their bill for the 3 of them was $38.00.

I asked Judi for the 2 receipts so I could get her credits straightened out – after much searching she produces the first receipt that shows they took 3 counter service credits, but she can’t find the other receipt. I’m trying to figure out how she lost it sitting at the table, when we ask her “Did they have you sign another receipt?” No. Well, then everything’s alright – they didn’t take any other credits. She’s still kind of flustered. I assure her it will be easier at a regular counter service place.

After lunch, we walked around the Pop Century grounds. We showed them all the buildings, Lauren loved the yo-yo staircases in the 60s buildings. And I ended up with a slight sunburn on the back of my neck!

This is Lauren in front of the Mickey phone:

This is Lauren's picture of the 4 adults in front of the Mickey phone:

I had her take a 2nd shot, just in case the 1st one didn't come out... good thing I did, huh?

Back to our hotel – I call the front desk from the car to see if our rooms are ready yet – nope. The original plan called for swimming and surrey biking at Boardwalk later on. So, do we swim now and risk being wet without rooms or do we surrey bike here at Riverside, then swim, and hope the rooms will be ready by then???

So, we get the stupid bike. Yes, I said stupid. This was my 3rd time riding one of these and apparently, I’ll never learn! Family fun, my patootie! Hard work is what it is! And Lauren – bell ringer, you say? – DEAD WEIGHT, I say! No, it really is kinda fun – once your thighs go numb and stop hurting.

You pick up the bike at the Riverside marina and travel clockwise around the river and over the HUGE bridge between the sister resorts back to the marina. In a half hour period, you can get around 2 to 3 times – depending on your athletic ability and exercise-induced asthma tolerance.

We head out and Lauren is told to ring the bell whenever someone is in front of us to warn them we’re coming through. There are people in front of us – Lauren is looking at the river. Rhonda rings the bell. Rhonda is also steering. Come to think of it, so is Judi – she’s turning her fake steering wheel on the right side of the car for all it’s worth! Kinda like I was doing in September! The concept of the bell is re-explained to Lauren. The next set of people appear before our bike – Lauren is doing her taxes.

We re-explained the bell ringing one more time. As we round the end of the river, a person is seen off in the distance – they might have been over in MGM – and Lauren begins to ring the bell with such enthusiam, her whole body is going back and forth and she's rocking the bike!

After about half a trip around the river, she finally gets it. Now, I’m the only one who’s riden the bikes at this resort before, so I know where the mountain, errr..., I mean, hill is. We gear up, we’re pedaling for all we’re worth..... but you have to lose your momentum, not because, let’s face it – just how much momentum did we REALLY have to begin with??? – but becuase the path jogs left then right immediately just at the top of the hill! Nice design, Disney!

Even better design – you get to the top and cross the bridge and the downhill path curves gently to the right as you pick up speed, there’s a sharp right, followed be a sharp left on the bottom! So you can’t even enjoy the gift of gravity for long, because if you hit those curves at gravity’s speed, you could tip over – it’s an SUV surrey bike, right?

Then there was the added thrill of starting that sharp right – right into an oncoming luggage tram! Oh, the look on the cast member's face as he almost flattened a surrey bike of resort guests! See, he was speeding up the hill we were speeding down! Rhonda grabs the brake (and possibly some of Lauren’s hair!) and we narrowly miss the collision. He backs up the luggage cart so we can get through and I tell him the least he could do is give us a push seeing as we almost died! He gets out and gets us going again! Now I’m asking for pushes from every man we pass! Hey, it worked once!

And now that Lauren has mastered the bell ringing, I’m also yelling out, “Annoying child coming through!”

We managed a 2nd trip around the path, during which I pulled out my cell phone and checked on the rooms again – nope, not yet. We went back to the car and got our suits out. We changed in the bathroom at the Oak Manor quiet pool (I kept thinking about other guests thinking we were pool hopping!)

After a while in the pool (I had brought a water frisbee, and we ended up playing with a couple of other kids in the pool), Judi turned to me and said, “Check on the rooms.” I did and got our room numbers. 9021 and 9022. I only remember them because ours was Beverly Hills, 9021(0). Way back near the bus stop, quiet location. But not connecting like we requested. Oh, well. We spent a lot of time knock on each other’s doors!

After showering and changing (during which I accidently locked Rhonda out of the room without her key while I showered), we got back in the car and headed for the Boardwalk. We played a couple of carnival games, Lauren beat Rhonda, then me, at the water squirting race for a couple of prizes, and then we boarded the boat over the the Yacht and Beach Clubs for dinner at Beaches and Cream. This is something we do a lot on trips - surrey bike and ice cream.

I don’t have Judi’s receipt, but mine and Rhonda’s was $37.26 – cherry coke, diet coke, single burger with fruit, single cheeseburger with fries, hot fudge sundae and a butter pecan ice cream.

I was sitting on one side of the table between Lauren and Judi, so I remember watching Judi eat her burger (which was a veggie burger, I think) without the top – and Ron was eating some kind of sandwich across from me – either roast beef or turkey. Judi also got the Lime Rickey, which I’ve always wanted to try, and now that I have, I’m done. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.

But it WAS pretty:

Rhonda reached for something, and suddenly Judi and I were watching the largest glass of water EVER SPILLED tip over towards us – it kept coming and coming, the water was swirling around us, it was everywhere, but mostly in our laps!

Several towels from the waitress later, and she asked Ron if he wants a new glass of water. I answered, “No!!!”

Now we’re ready to leave, and that’s when we discover our back ends got it as bad as our front sides! We walked back to the boardwalk, mostly so we would have time to dry, and drove back to Riverside.

Tonight was the night we were supposed to wait for Lauren to go to bed and then put a Cinderella doll next to her with a note from Cindy telling Lauren to wear her Cindy dress today – but Rhonda forgot the doll.

So we just unpacked and went to bed.


HIGH: being here!, getting to use Western Way
LOW: having to let Lauren beat me in the carnival game (I really am WAY too competitive!)
TSUNAMIS IN RESTAURANTS: 1
MILES WALKED TODAY: 5

 

[tiggerbell]

MONDAY, MAY 1ST, 2006:
Breakfast: Cindy’s @ 10:10am
Lunch: Split a CS? – Ray’s???
Dinner: Crystal Palace @ 6:35pm (TS)

Plans: Put Lauren in her Cindy dress, make sure we have a change of clothes, spend the day at MK.

Even though breakfast is at 10:10, maybe we can head over to the MK for opening and get some rides in before breakfast.

Reality: Last night I went into Judi, Ron, and Lauren’s room and set up the wake up call. I gave them instructions on the speaker phone button and had Lauren practice. At 7:00am, Rhonda and I listened to Stitch & Mickey on our speaker phone – in the other room, Lauren grabs the receiver and listens to it herself! So much for instructions!

I was already up, showered, dressed, and had been to the food court! It was our first day in the parks and I was a little excited! We were going to the castle, someplace I had never eaten!

Lauren has very straight, fine hair that desn’t stay put when you put it in a barrette or a pony holder. We did her hair in about 8 different styles during the week. Today’s was a pony on the back of her head, I had clips to hold the sides back, and she brought a tiara to wear with her light-up Cinderella dress (there were fiber optics in the skirt that she could light by pressing a button on her waist.)

We took the bus over to the Magic Kingdom and arrived about 9:00. We stood in line for pictures and autographs with Chip ‘n Dale, Wendy, and Goofy before it was time to head up to the castle.

Judi taught Lauren to curtsey in her fancy dress and she curtied to the characters all day (even after she took off the dress).

Rhonda and Lauren spot the castle for the first time:

Now, we had planning this trip forever and Judi wasn’t sure if she was going until a couple of months ago, so we had made the reservation for breakfast at Cinderella’s Castle for 4 people (at the 180 day mark – it had just changed and we caught it early, thanks to the Dis!). When Judi decided she was going, Rhonda called again but could not ADD a person, they would have to cancel the original reservation and make a new one. They said we wouldn’t be able to get a table for 5 that day, so we just left it for 4. Ron “volunteered” to stay at the hotel, have breakfast in the food court, and meet us about 11:15 behind the Walt Disney Partnes statue.

Now, in the last 2 years, Rhonda and I have – seperately and together – gone to Disney in May, 2004; September, 2004; January, 2005; and September, 2005. The May, 2004, trip was the 14th – 27th and was a little more crowded than I was used to, but it was SOOOOOOOOOO hot, that the heat is all I remembered! We aren’t used to going at crowded times, is what I’m saying. Plus, I know better than to go to the Magic Kingdom on a Monday – but when Rhonda called me and said she got a reservation at the Castle on a Monday, did I tell her to call back and change it? Noooooooooo..... stupid, stupid, stupid! I said, let’s see how it is, I guess we could always catch the monorail over to EPCOT. I’ll get back to breakfast now:

We head over to the podium inside the castle – and let me just say how annoying it is to not be able to get THROUGH the castle during the day! – passing the wishing well on the way. We check in and they give us a slip of paper. Now you enter the downstairs room of the castle, Cinderella is there for the picture that they give you with your package. The way I believe this is supposed to work is that you enter the room, get in line, have your picture taken, and wait for your name to be called. But there were 2 families I saw who were just sitting on the bench, I thought they were waiting for their names to be called, but their names were called and they all got up – cut through the line, climbing over the guide ropes – and went up front to get their pictures taken! Why weren’t they IN the line to begin with???

The organization in this room was zilch! The 2 people they had calling names to send you upstairs had no control at all, in fact the woman sounded like she was having an asthma attack! You couldn’t hear her and she kept gasping for breath in between words. It was not a pleasant experience. I swore I would never return – now, my next trip is in December and my DD16 wants to do this for her Sweet 16 Breakfast and I have agreed, so before you start thinking I’m complaining A LOT, let’s go upstairs after our name is called (right before our picture is taken...)

I love the look on Lauren's face - sometimes when she sees a camera, she turns into Chandler from Friends!

We climb the winding staircase and are seated fairly promptly. I love the room and the place settings and our waitress is wonderful and the food is good. They announce Cinderella’s friends – Aurora, Mary Poppins, Belle, and the Fairy Godmother.

 

[stinkerbell007]

Wow. Okay. I totally cracked up when you talked about the guy who worked at the Holiday Inn that didn't know where the Waffle House was (you could see the sign from the outside the front door!!! ha!!!). I've had sooooo many crazy (read "stupid") experiences with front desk personnel!

 

[tiggerbell]

I learned on the car ride to Florida Ron's middle name (I told you in the pre-trip portion of this report I didn't know it).

He told me and then immediately added, "I hate it." So, I won't be repeating it (but, really, it wasn't Soooooo bad!)

Also, I'm going to post some pictures as soon as I finish uploading them onto the web... should only be a few minutes... tick, tick, tick.....

Also, as long as I have your attention - DD17, oops! DD18 left for prom a little while ago:

 

[tiggerbell]

Here's another great face from Lauren:

 

[tiggerbell]

Now, if you remember from the pre-trip, Lauren had a song to sing for Ariel (I wonder just how many little girls sing those notes to Ariel every day....). As we leave the castle, we are hit with a barrage of, “I want to see Ariel. I want to see Ariel.” But first, we have to find Ron. Wow, that was easy – he was right where he was supposed to be! We had also gotten a locker this morning for our jackets and a change of clothes for Lauren, and Rhonda headed back there now to put the picture from Cinderella’s castle in there for safekeeping.

We went over to Fantasyland to see about Ariel – 40 minutes. Ariel’s busy right now, Lauren, we’ll come back. Now this is the point in the trip where we had problems becasue Rhonda and I just weren’t used to not being able to get on whatever ride we wanted, whenever we wanted. We grabbed fast passes for Winnie the Pooh, but Dumbo’s line was nuts, so were most of the lines (I know – duh!)

Rhonda took Lauren on the carousel and I suggested we get out of Fantasyland! We headed over to Tomorrowland and got in line for Buzz (20 minutes), the Carousel of Progress, and the TTA. With the 5 year old in tow, none of us even considered Space Mountain – she’s a thrill ride junkie and just not tall enough.

We then headed back through Fantasyland to use our FPs before heading to Frontierland. On the way, we grabbed FPs for Mickey’s PhilharMagic – which turned out to be a waste of the FPs because we saw it twice with a 5 minute wait each time – I still have the FPs.

Haunted Mansion, 5 minute wait. Lauren freaked out a tiny bit in line, she seems a little more aware of her surroundings this time than the trip when she was 3, and showed signs of anxiety at little things. For example, the automatic flush toilets that didn’t bother her at all last time, FREAKED HER OUT! If we had known, we’d have brought the post-it notes.

We pick up Fast Passes for Splash Mountain, and on our way over to Big Thunder Mountain, a nice person gave us their Fast Passes for Splash, telling us that “someone” in their party doesn’t want to get wet! Lol, we’ve all taken THAT trip, haven’t we?

Yes, Rhonda, I know that person is usually ME. Shut up.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Have I told you I’m afraid of Splash Mountain? I rode it once – in 1997. I have been able to avoid it for 8 years – too cold, knee hurts, etc. Not anymore. I’m with a 5 year old who will ride ANYTHING, even if she IS afraid of toilets!

So now we have a set of 5 FPs and a set of 4 FPs... I know who’s sitting that one out!

 

[tiggerbell]

We get in line for Big Thunder Mountain (about 20 minutes) and something REALLY WEIRD happens. I mean REALLY WEIRD! Weirder than the “cheese” incident of 2005 (see 09/2005 trip report).

As we wind through the queue, the family behind me is not paying a lot of attention to their children – a boy and a girl, to be exact. They’re climbing all over the handrails (I HATE that!) and the little girl keeps poking me in the behind. Well, the 2 kids start to fight – and I mean pushing fighting – in line! – and one of the adults tries to break them up by grabbing both of them by the arms. This is where it got weird – the little girl shakes off the woman and THROWS HERS ARMS AROUND MY WAIST! I say, “Excuse me!!!” and the woman and I pry this weird kid off of me. She screams and GRABS ME AGAIN! I pry her off again and kinda yelled, “Hey!!!” The woman says sorry (yup, that’s it – one word) but I don’t know what the kid’s problem was – why would a CHILD grab a total stranger TWICE?????

I’m afraid of how this is going to make me sound, but I didn’t know these people, so I made a display of checking all my pockets as I walked through the line.

I got away from the kid when the cast member at the top of the ramp leading down to the loading area of the ride, stopped that family to let the fast pass people in behind me. Whew!

Now it’s time to ride! We end up in the last 3 cars – Rhonda and Lauren in the back, me in front of them, and Ron and Judi in front of me. I’ve only been on 2 Disney rides in my entire life that have broken down – Judi was with me both times! (She also has the ability to make it rain on vacation, but she refrained this trip!) As we went up the first hill, Big Thunder Mountain just STOPPED!!!! I’ve already told you I’m afraid of Splash Mountain... well, I haven’t told you how TERRIFIED I am of Expedition Everest – especially the backwards part, which is the only thing I can think of whilst (great word!) stuck on BTM!

We eventually did go forwards, but I wasn’t enjoying the ride. What I WAS enjoying is that Lauren likes to scream on roller coasters! I mean SCREAM!!!!!!!! The cutest little blood-curdling screams! She had a blast! Wasn’t even holding on. Man, she makes me look bad!

We head over to Splash. Before I can say anything, Judi announces she’ll sit this one out. AND I LET HER!!!!! Idiot!!! We get in the FP line and it’s about a 15 minute wait. I see a chicken exit come and go, crud. I see another chicken exit come and go... what’s wrong with me? Get off!!!!!!!!! Nope, not me. I climb into the log next to Ron (Rhonda and Lauren are in front of us) and I’m still thinking, “Get off!!! Get off!!!” and the log starts to move. I turn to Ron and say, “Oh ****!!!”

I scream my stupid head off the entire 3 drops and it turns out, it was fun! Who knew (yes, I know – EVERYONE knew but me!)

We ended up riding it 3 times this trip! And I’m not afraid of it anymore! I am such a weenie... you have no idea yet!

 

[tiggerbell]

I love the huge gaps in my days at Disney where I can’t remember much except random rides or incidents. Here comes one now!

I know I insisted we head back into Fantasyland when the parade started – we hung out just long enough in Liberty Square for Lauren to see Mickey. We did Peter Pan and Snow White very quickly – our big mistake was going into Mickey’s PhilharMagic before the parade ended – by the time we were out, the lines were getting long again.

When there’s a line for It’s a Small World, you know it’s crowded!

I don’t now if we ate anything this day, but I don’t think we did, because Rhonda and I found out on either the 2nd or 3rd trip on Splash Mountain that Ron hadn’t gone to the food court for breakfast... so he basically ate nothing until dinner! (I told you the dining plan had them confused!)

We had booked through AAA, so I had gotten us reservations for AAA’s Story Time.

It takes place in the back of Exposition Hall. There were cardboard cutouts of different Disney movies to take pictures with

Ummm.... Wedgie, Lauren???

and then we sat in this little theater to hear a story. Our reader was the Fairy Godmother. We were afraid Lauren would say something about having seen her already today, but she really seemed to get into the story. After the story, there were autographs and pictures. It was a really nice, quiet time. I think there were about 10 or 15 kids.

Let’s see... that was at 5:10. Let’s cut to 6:35, because that’s dinner at the Crystal Palace! (and I don’t know where we were for about an hour!) I had never eaten dinner here, only breakfast. It was really good!

Waiting for our name to be called:

It took a while for our first character to get to us, but Wow! It was worth it! Tigger was first, and no sooner did he finish with Lauren, then the cast member came over with Tigger’s “HIP” sign (the front says “HIP” and the back says “HIP”) and Piglet carries a sign that says “HOORAY” and they get all the kids in the room to make a parade. So I sent Lauren out there right behind Tigger! They come around the restaurant and she’s now 4th in line – but at least I didn’t lose her! We learned on this trip that Lauren’s sense of direction isn’t the best and, if you send her off in a restaurant, she may or may not show up again unless you stand up and wave (more on that at another meal).

She finds her way back and I thought it was just great that a cast member came over and asked who we had seen so far. Piglet had only been 1 table behind Tigger, so we got Piglet right away.

Then it was a little while before Winnie the Pooh

and eventually Eeyore came by – long enough for me to tick off a couple of senior citizens...

I went up to the buffet (OK, jeez, yes, for the 3rd time) and decided on this trip I wanted prime rib. I approach the chef dude from the left side of the buffet. There’s an older man and, I assume, his wife standing to the left of the prime rib station in front of the gravy. There were a couple of other items in front of them, but the gravy I’m sure of. I step around them (they weren’t moving at the moment and I knew exactly what I wanted) and hand my plate to chef dude – now I want to be perfectly clear – I was not cutting – they were stationary, no one was to their left or right – and they were busy with something in front of them. At this precise moment, the elderly couple takes a step, in tandem, to their right – right where I’m standing.

The man says, “Well, would you look at that! Just cutting in line!” And the wife responds, as the chef dude puts the prime rib on my plate, “Well, she just took your prime rib!”

In my defense, not that I really think I need one, there was a whole freakin’ slab of meat there, it’s not like I took the last piece of beef in Disney! And, there was no line!!!! I did not cut. IT WAS JUST THE 2 OF YOU STANDING IN FRONT OF THE GRAVY!!!!! Which was my next stop! Back around the elderly to put gravy on HIS, I mean, MY prime rib!

 

[MagicMe]

Love your trip report. It's always so much fun taking a young child through MK. Course, I don't necessarily need the child to enjoy myself. Can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[tiggerbell]

After dinner, we decided to hit Adventureland for the first time today. We went in the Tiki Room, rode the Jungle Cruise, and hit the Magic Carpets while people were lining up for Spectromagic. I think. I don’t know where the day went, or what we were doing to make it speed by so quickly. I know Lauren was thrilled with the spitting camels on the Magic Carpets. At some point or another, we were back in Fantasyland and Ariel’s Grotto had just closed. I just steered the unhappy 5 year old to the tea cups and into Tomorrowland. Maybe. I know we did all these things, I just don’t know the exact order – heck, could be later in the week some of these things occured! Somehow or another we ended up on the bridge between Liberty Square and the Hub to watch the fireworks. Not the best spot (trees), but not the worst either. I really like being in front of the Castle about halfway between the Castle and Main Street.

We’re watching the fireworks, and I’m pacing up and down the bridge. My feet are KILLING me! And walking is far better than just standing! When the fireworks end, I announce to the group that they should just go on ahead, I have to sit for a while - the thought of standing in the bus line to Port Orleans hurts almost as much as my feet. Rhonda says she’ll stay with me, so we say goodbye and head over to the hub to sit behind Walt & Mickey. We watch the castle, the people, the cleaning crews. About 20 minutes later (maybe, I’m not sure, I don’t think it was VERY long), I decide I’m ok. We stroll to the bus stop, where, amazingly, there is a bus and NO line, AND we get seats!

Wow! That was a LONG day!

HIGHS: Breakfast in the Castle for the first time (once I was UP there), seeing Wishes (even through the trees), AAA’s Story Time, conquering Splash Mountain! (I know, I’m such a weenie!)
LOWS: my feet (always my stupid feet), MK being more crowded than we were used to, the anxiety of Splash
MILES WALKED TODAY: 6.5 (sure felt like more!)

And, RHONDA, be sure to chime in anytime, I know I'm forgetting stuff!

 

[tiggerbell]

Breakfast: French Quarter
Lunch: Tusker House (CS)
Dinner: Earl of Sandwich & Ghirardelli’s for dessert

Plans: Get to MK after dinner for Wishes? spend day at AK

The original plan was that in order for Lauren to see Wishes, we had to go over there tonight (9:00 instead of 10:00).

Start day with FPs for EE (gulp). I DO NOT WANT TO THE RIDE IN THE FRONT.

We can take the bus to AK and back to POR. Boat to DD.

Reality: Rhonda has 2 favorite Disney foods – Beignets and Tonga Toast. Staying at POR made the first one easy – we just walk over to POFQ. We didn’t today and I have no clue why – I just left a message on Rhonda’s answering machine, maybe she’ll know why.

We stayed for Wishes last night, so we don’t have to head back there tonight.

Also, I forgot a couple things about yesterday – I knew I liked writing the whole report first and THEN posting it! I brought Pal Mickey to the Magic Kingdom with me! It was so cool when we came out of the tunnel under the train station and he came to life. I used his lanyard the first day (after that, he hung off my fanny pack from his clip). Either way, he was directly in front of Lauren whenever we were in line and she could play with him and not bother anyone. It was cute! I’m sure he really appreciated the 2 gallon plastic bag I had brought for him for Splash Mountain!

Back to today – Animal Kingdom. Arg..... Judi had decided last night that because we kept Lauren out so late, that she should be allowed to sleep in this morning. OK, fine with us. Rhonda and I were goig to head to the AK early and pick up fast passes for Everest and then hopefully get in the stand-by line and ride it quickly before meeting Judi, Ron, and Lauren in the park. We took the bus, I don’t remember why... usually we drive there.

HUGE CONFESSION TIME: Remember that I’m a huge ride weenie? Well, here’s HOW HUGE : Before the trip, I went to the doctor and told him I was flying to Disney and needed some Valium for the plane. It was sort of true – I was going to Disney and I did need something to calm my nerves, but it wasn’t a plane, it was a rollercoaster . So about an hour before I thought I’d be getting on the ride, I took 2 2mg DIAZEPAM (generic Valium). About 20 minutes before, I took a 3rd (which is what it takes to get me on an actual plane). As we wind through the 20 minute (that’s it?!?!??!?!) stand-by line, I’m a little freaked still. Breathe. Breathe. We get closer and closer to the front, I can feel my heart in my chest. As we get to the front, Rhonda takes one look at my face and tells me I don’t have to ride it. I say I’m not sure yet what I’m doing, I’m just hoping the pounding heart gets the Valium moving through me a little faster. We get to the front, “Last chance” Rhonda says, and I get on the ride. We are in about the 6th row – perfect, I didn’t want to be up front because then the backwards part would be worse, and I didn’t want to be in the back, because then the forwards drop would be worse.

The ride starts to move – now, I’ve watched the online videos enough times to know exactly what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. I was afraid of the speed and going backwards. The beginning of the ride is beautiful – the scenery and the little winding trek you take... then comes the climb. OK, I was prepared for the jerk as the train hits the beginning of the climb, no problem. Now I’m worried about freaking out because you go so high, and I had read about how you can’t see the track under you – not that I was going to look down anyway!

Hey! The valium’s starting to kick in – I look around – Cool! I know there’s no drop at the top of the hill, so I’m fine here. Swoop around and come to the broken tracks. Little flutters in my heart because I know backwards is next. I also know that if I count to 20, it’ll be over. So we start going backwards, and I start counting OUT LOUD! I said the Valium was starting to kick in, it’s not fully there yet!

Rhonda grabs my hand in the dark and starts yelling, “It’s ok! It’s ok!” 17, 18, 19, 20...NOW it’s ok. We’ve stopped, we watch the ticked off Yeti (is a Yeti ever NOT ticked off?) and it’s time for the big drop. I really was feeling ok, I had been through the part I was most afraid of, but you’d never know it fro the ride photo! I have a death grip on the seat in front of me (there was a handle there, I made the most of it!)

But you drop and swoop back up to the left so fast, the drop really wasn’t bad at all! Couple more swoops, big Yeti makes a grab for you, back to the station. Rhonda LOVED IT!!!!!!! She’s whooping and hollering, but turns to me with concern on her face. I look at her, let go of the seat in front of me, and say, “Again!”

We go into the store and I want my ride photo! It is priceless! I buy us 2 and have them sent back tp the hotel. Rhonda looks at her watch and sees we might just have time to ride again, if the standby line isn’t too long. It says 30 minutes now, but it really didn’t take that long. We request the front car (I know right? What have we learned today? Valium can help you do ANYTHING!)

This time the ride photo shows us both holding our cameras and NOT holding on to the ride at all! Yeah, we bought this one too and Expediton Everest pins.

Here's the photos I took while on the ride:

Here's the big drop:

 

[wilma-bride]

Really enjoying your report so far - more please

 

[tiggerbell]

Now it’s time to meet up with Judi, Ron, and Lauren. We made plans last night to meet at the Tree of Life. Both Judi & I have our cell phones, shouldn’t be a problem. I should also note that the Valium has kicked in full force and I’m giggling my head off and walking crooked! I pull my phone out as we walk and see that I’ve missed a few calls. Oops! So we meet up and head into It’s a Bug’s Life. We didn’t take Lauren into this when she was 3, so we get to skip the whole “I did this when I was 3” saga!

It scared her a little, but she was mostly cool with it. Now, it was either safari then lunch, or lunch then safari.. you pick, doesn’t matter. The safari was only notable because near the end, after the flamingo pool and before the lion’s rock, there was a detour in the road – namely there was a rhino LAYING IN THE ROAD! So we turned right and went over a small hill instead of coming around by the warthogs. If you haven’t ridden this a few times, you didn’t even notice.

Lunch was at the Tusker House. Who are we kidding here? I got the salmon. I’ve never eaten anything else here! It’s so good! And the carrot cake. Yum. We ate out back, outside where you can hear the village sounds. So peaceful.

I just found that receipt - Rhonda and I both had the salmon and the carrot cake. I had a bottle of water, she had a diet coke. $28.58 was the total.

Festival of the Lion King, pictures with Mickey, Kali River Rapids – another first for Lauren – she loved it, Judi and Rhonda went down backwards and got soaked. Wow! Not ME, for a change.

We still have 2 fast passes for Expedition Everest, and – YEAH! – Rhonda tells me to go with Ron! We end up about 4 seats from the back (I got to ride in the middle, front, and back on the same day!) Here’s what I learned: the back is a much jerkier ride! And, whether it was from riding in the back or from not having any Valium left in me, I got nauseous and dizzy during and after the backwards part. I also lost my stomach during a drop for the first time today. But I’m not afraid of it anymore!

In Dinoland, Rhonda and Lauren ride the prehistoric Dumbos while Judi and I ride Primeval Whirl. Ron stood in between and yelled, “I don’t do spinny rides!” Ok, not really, but he doesn’t do spinny rides.

Judi hated Primeval Whirl, she said it was too jerky. And Rhonda still hasn’t forgiven it for breaking her sunglasses on the last trip. My favorite ride, Dinosaur, was ignored in the same fashion as Space Mountain. Sometimes the cute little kids are a pain! Sometimes the bigger kids are a pain too: DD15 has informed me she will not ride Dinosaur in December UNLESS I ride Tower of Terror! And we're actually flying down to Florida on that trip - just how many Valium do you think I can get the doctor to give me at once???

And we say goodbye to the Animal Kingdom today. Today was really just a “highlights” trip. We head back to the hotel, stop in the rooms, and catch a boat to Downtown Disney. We wait 3 boats to get on. By the time we get there, I’m starving and basically just crabby. I beeline for Earl of Sandwich, really not caring if the rest of the group is hungry or keeping up. There’s a small line, but very few seats – at first glance. I grabbed a table and told Rhonda to order, and as I was sitting there, I realized there were a lot more tables open than my crabby eyes saw.

Rhonda and I love this place! We had decided ahead of time to get 2 sandwiches and we’d split. We ended up with The Original 1762 - fresh roasted beef, cheddar and creamy horseradish sauce and Cannonballs - meatballs in a rich tomato sauce with provolone and mozzarella cheese, I think. Wait, maybe I have the receipt! Nope, never mind.

I think, besides being hungry (we haven’t eaten in 5 or 6 hours!), I was so cranky because my feet were really killing me. We went in Once Upon a Toy Story and the pin shop. We headed towards Ghirardelli’s, but Rhonda wanted to show Lauren the Lego shop, and I just announced I wasn’t going. I ended up sitting on a bench near Ghirardelli’s and watching the huge Stitch on top of The World of Disney Store spit on people. About 10 minutes later, they came strolling back, they were a good 30’ from Stitch, but Lauren will tell you Stitch spit on her!

We got in line at Ghirardelli’s and, seeing as Rhonda knows my order (Strike it Rich sundae, please!) I grab a table I spot opening up inside. Yup, that’s my job – official sitter!

They let Lauren order a 2 scoop ice cream – chocolate and strawberry. IT WAS THE SIZE OF HER HEAD!

I made sure to take a picture, because I thought her mother should know what these people were letting her have!

I’ve had ice cream, I feel much better. We went back to the pin shop for a while and then caught the boat back to the resort. Ron gets Lauren ready for bed, I walk with Judi and Rhonda to the food court to fill our mugs and get Lauren a bowl of fruit for breakfast. Those fridges in the rooms sure are nice.

HIGHS: Valium (literally HIGH! LOL!!!), Expeditio Everest – such a cool ride!, Ghirardelli’s
LOWS: my feet (always my stupid feet), getting cranky at DTD
MILES WALKED TODAY: 9.5

 

[tiggerbell]

Breakfast: Kona Cafe @ 7:30am
Lunch: Split a CS? – WS?
Dinner: Canada @ 4:00pm (TS)

Plans: EPCOT all day. Drive to Poly for breakfast. Drive to EPCOT. Get FPs for Soarin’. Check out the new Living Seas pavilion. Find candy in Norway. Check park times for candy girl in Japan. Illuminations.

Reality: WE FORGOT TO GO TO BREAKFAST!!!!!!!!!! Rhonda remembered 2 days later!!!!!!!! I have never forgotten an ADR in my life! We just got up and drove to EPCOT. And I made such nice little schedule books for everyone! I got tiny little photo albums at Target in the dollar section and printed up the schedule on 2” x 3” pieces of paper – one page for each day of the trip, complete with times and confirmation numbers. There was even a section of trivia questions! Judi, Rhonda, and I all had little books and we still FORGOT TO GO TO BREAKFAST!

In fact, all those plans you read 2 paragraphs above, we managed to “go to EPCOT” and see “Illuminations”. Oh, we did get the Soarin’ fast passes – first thing, in fact.

Let me backtrack a little. Lauren slept with Rhonda last night. She ate her fruit in bed like a little Princess. We drove to EPCOT and took great delight in using our AAA Parking Pass (which seemed much closer going in than leaving the park, but ain’t that always the case?). We go through security and through the ticket machines – I was in front, so I didn’t see that both Rhonda and Judi had trouble with the ticket machines.

We go all the way to the Land and start feeding tickets into the fast pass machine. Luckily, I’m paying attention, because Rhonda doesn’t notice her FP came out “THIS IS NOT A VALID FAST PASS”. We flag down a fast pass monitor (is that a job description?) and I run Judi’s ticket through the machine – it didn’t work either. This is when I find out they both had trouble at the front gate. The cast member prints out fake FPs for them and tells us we have to go to Guest Relations to get the tickets fixed. Arg. So far away....

We decide to eat and ride Soarin’ first. We breakfast in the food court in the Land. I spot creme brulee! Let me save you some time – DON’T BOTHER. Go to the bakery in France, go to any restaurant in the parks, make some Jello instant pudding, don’t waste your time here!

Soarin’ was wonderful. Lauren LOVED it! I think Judi was a little less enthusiastic. As we’re leaving the Land to head over to see about the line for Crush, I discover – in the bright Florida sunlight – that I have left my sunglasses under my seat in Soarin’. Crap. Oh, well, they’re just sunglasses. I try using Rhonda’s visor for a while, but it’s just not the same. The line for Crush is ridiculous, so we steer Lauren over to the fish for a few minutes and check out the manatees. Then we leave Living Seas to go to Guest Relations and get the ticket situation fixed.

I went in with Rhonda and Judi because, well... this is y park and I felt a responsibility to help them.. OK, I’m just nosey and have to be in the middle of everything Disney. Turns out Rhonda’s card was demagnetized. They gave her a temporary pass, she’d have to get the real ticket fixed at the hotel. Luckily my card was fine, because we still had a couple meals to charge on our dining plan today! Judi’s card was fine, except for the fact that it didn’t register at the front gate, so basically, Judi wasn’t IN EPCOT today. That was rapidly fixed also.

Now, Judi just had 1 more question for Guest Relations. It was a medical question – something about a prescription she was on and did they have an Internet site to look up the directions for taking the medicine? Turns out, they couldn’t look it up themselves, but just to the right inside of Guest Services, is a door marked “Cast Members Only”. Just inside this door is a tiny little lounge with a couch and a chair and a computer with the Internet. If a guest has a medical question like Judi’s, they can use this area! Who knew???

Judi sat in the chair and quickly got on Walgreens website and answered her question. I was not wasting this opportunity to be somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be and sat on the couch!

Universe of Energy was closed while we were there (and I love that ride!), so over to Test Track for fast passes (they ALL work!), and out to the World Showcase we go!

I’m racking my brain right now, but for the life of me cannot figure out where I buy the sunglasses.... somewhere in EPCOT I get new sunglasses... huh, maybe it’ll come to me.

I know we rode El Rio de Tiempo and the Maelstrom and split counter service meals at the Lotus Blossom, but I don’t know what the order was because dinner is really early (4:00pm) so I can’t see us eating lunch real late, even if we did split meals! We also rode Test Track, but again, don’t know the sequence of the events! We also saw the Chinese acrobats, or maybe that was Friday... nope, couldn’t have been Friday – had to be today! So was Journey into Your Imagination and walking through the Home Depot landscaping gardens

and the butterfly exhibit! (Which, between me and you, creeped me out! I know butterflies are beautiful, but they’re still BUGS!)

I know we stopped in the 2 little shops at the entrance to the World Showcase on our way over to dinner.

We also stopped at the bathroom by the McDonald’s. While we were sitting there, I redid Lauren’s hair for dinner

and we saw a little duck parade.

I think I might have been embarrassing the rest of my party with Lauren’s hairstyles throughout the week – but my youngest daughter, whose now 15, used to LOVE crazy ideas, hairstyles being one of them. Her all time favorite was the 3 ponytails – one on each side and one in the back. We also used to play the Glove Game – there was a box of gloves and mittens by the front door – you can wear ANY 2 you want, as long as your hands were covered. She took great delight picking a glove and a mitten whose colors totally clashed. I didn’t care, as long as her hands were covered! Of course, this was the child who, on Dress Up Day in 4th grade, didn’t wear a nice church dress like the other girls – Meggie wore a full length, pink lame, Megera costume from the movie Hercules!

Anyway, back to Disney – we checked in to LeCellier at 4pm. The hostess asked us if there were any food allergies in our party. We were asked by the person seating us if there were any food allergies in our party. And we were asked by our waitress if there were any food allergies in our party. Ya think there might have been a food allergy incident at LeCellier???

Mine and Rhonda’s bill = $100.62; Judi, Ron, and Lauren’s bill = $129.84

We were told Lauren gets an appetizer off the adult menu here. Well, she’s just a little bit of a thing and Ron had already told us he wanted soup AND salad, so we ordered soup for Lauren and salad for Ron and he ate them both. She doesn’t know, she’s coloring!

Lauren is sitting at the end of the table next to Rhonda, so it falls to Rhonda to: 1.) Catch Lauren’s attention (I told you – she’s coloring!), 2.) Read the children’s menu to her, and 3.) Get Lauren to pick a meal.

Rhonda reads “Chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, etc.” Lauren picks “grilled cheese”. When the waitress takes the order, she says, “We don’t have grilled cheese.” Rhonda picks up the children’s menu and actually READS it this time “chicken nuggets, grilled CHICKEN, etc.” Oops! The waitress says they can make grilled cheese if that’s what Lauren really wants. Yes. The waitress asks if she wants fries with that. Nope, not this kid – mashed potatoes. O-kaaaay... When her food came, we explained to Lauren how this was a special meal made just for her. All she wanted to know was why there was ice cream on her plate.

Judi went with the cheese appetizer and, since she doesn’t like bleu cheese, I got that third of her food!

It was bleu cheese with zucchini bread. I had the mixed green salad with bleu cheese and pecans. Ron ordered that salad without the bleu cheese (what’s WRONG with these people!?!) and Rhonda got her Asian shrimp salad - again.

For our main courses, I went with the Sauteed Jumbo Shrimp - oven dried tomatoes, with fresh spinach and Meyer lemon $25.99 – I wish I knew why.

I mean, it was good, but I should have stuck with the steak. I missed the steak. I went to a steak house and ordered shrimp. Stupid, stupid, stupid! LOL

Judi got prime rib and Rhonda and Ron both went with the steak.

Dessert, of course, my maple creme brulee. Lauren got the chocolate mousse – she got a big kick out of it! Have no idea what the other 3 desserts were.

We made it back to the Living Seas in time for the last show with Crush. Lauren still didn’t get to talk to him (a sore spot when she was 3!), and this time we had coached her in line with a question to ask, and I did her hair even weirder than it had been for dinner trying to get her noticed!).

It was a really funny show! Funnier than last year because this time, when he drags out the bikini top and asks what it was for, a child up front yelled out, “It’s to cover the ****ies!” The whole place just died! And the look on Crush’s face was hysterical! Then Dory comes out (she didn’t last time I saw the show) and Crush told her she missed a great time, except for the last part that he couldn’t repeat! (And apparently, neither can the DisBoard censors! )

Let’s fast forward (because I don’t know where these days are disappearing to!) to the evening for Illuminations. We ended up at the bridge between England and France – standing right over where the boats dock for the Illuminations Cruises. Lauren must have been tired because she asks if that water is deep - idiot that I am, I answer her honestly, and she demands we leave this spot! She will not stand here. Tough. (She’s not the only one who can pull the Princess attitude!)

I sit down by the railing. She is not happy, but this is a great spot and I’m not leaving. Judi and Rhonda kept telling me to put her by the railing (it’s starting to get crowded now and she’s going to lose her view). I keep telling them she WON’T GO BY THE RAILING! We end up sitting on the ground for about 20 minutes or so, and I start talking to the little girl sitting next to us (I really seemed to be picking up a lot of extra little kids along the way this trip!) Her name is Sam and she was probably 3 or 4. She was so cute, acting like she knew about everything we were talking about – a tiny little Disney expert! Until the fireworks started – then Sam freaked!

I taught them both about the torches that ring the lagoon and how we have to help blow them out to start the show. I gave them their cue – they blew those torches right out! Lauren said later that Sam was very nice. And she did eventually go up to the railing.

We moseyed out of the park, along with the rest of the cattle, and back to the car – which was so much further back than we had left it!

Getting back to the hotel, I walk with Rhonda and Judi over to the front desk to get Rhonda’s key reset. And I just remembered buying my sunglasses in the little shop at the entrance to the World Showcase, not that it really matters, I guess... but I do remember telling the shopgirl that I had left mine on a ride, and she told me all the unclaimed lost and found items get shipped overseas and given to the poor... so maybe a woman in a 3rd world country is wearing my polarized, 6 month old sunglasses right now! I hope she's happy!

This is what Lauren was greeted with when we got back to the room - these are the dogs she won at the Boardwalk our first night!

HIGHS: Soarin’, LeCellier
LOWS: my feet (always my stupid feet), losing the sunglasses
MILES WALKED TODAY: 8.5