Last Trip? It was until we met Food & Wine -- Recap 2/12

[KatMark]

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU MARK AND YOUR FAMILY




.

Thank you, Dee; I hope you and the family had a great Christmas.

Stopping by to wish you a...

Merry Christmas!

D~

Thanks, D. I hope you, hubby and the girls had a good one too.

Kathy, from my household to yours, may you have a blessed and Merry Christmas!

Thanks, Bob. I hope you and Carolyn had a great Christmas with your daughter and family.

Thanks, Mary Ellen.

Absolutely loop over the Mikey lights!! Definitely a unique idea. I may have to steal the idea

Aren't they great? She said the minute she saw them at the fair, she thought of Mark and I.

Hope you've had a very merry Christmas ! !!!

We did...thank you; hope you did too.

Wanted to stop in and say Merry Christmas!!

Thanks for stopping by with the wishes; hope you and your family had a good one too.

Aw, love all the Dumbo pictures.

Thanks, Sarah.

And seeing your train pictures reminds me that we haven't been on that in the past several trips. We will definitely have to go on that next time we are there!

Yes you do; it's always a good ride and a good rest for the feet.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and wish you the best in 2015!

Thank you, and the same to you too.

Great update, and two of my favorites with the Train and Dumbo! I always love the classic, traditional Disney rides, and have to try and do them all every trip or two.

The classics are still the best.

That Mark does love him some Dumbo, and apparently just plain elephants! Glad that giraffe didn't spit on you, but it looks like the one to your left would be drooling on you if you moved a few steps over!

Yes, he loves elephants a lot and why we go to Milwaukee every year.

Hope you and Mark had a wonderful Christmas, and you have safe travels and a great time this weekend!!!

Thanks; and hope you and Pat did as well.

Hi Kathy! Hope you had a Merry Christmas! I wasn't on the DIS much in the past couple of weeks, but I'm caught up here! Your snacks at F&W are interesting - I'm glad you enjoyed most of them. I think it would be nice if you could purchase a bracelet for "all you care to eat." so you could try everything. (Although maybe that would be dangerous too )

Thanks, Tammie. We did, and hope you did too. I'm so far behind again; the holidays do that to you. The food was wonderful. I want to get the little "card" next year so that we don't have to keep digging for cash.

MK EMH is the way to go! You can get so much done when you're there early! I love the pics of Mark on Dumbo! Your PP pics are really cute in front of the Castle, too! I love the pic of the train coming with the steam - great job catching that one!

I love EMH's at the MK. It's amazing what you can get done. Thanks; I like that train picture too.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas as well, Kathy!

Thanks, Andy, we did. I hope your kids are feeling better.

I'm glad that Mark got some quality time with his favorite flying elephant. Always love making a loop around the MK on the train. Somehow that didn't happen on our trip.

You need to make up for the lack of the train ride on your next trip.

 

[KatMark]

Kathy, I'm pretty sure it's you being paged on my thread. STAT!

Sorry I didn't get there STAT...but I took care of it.

Well, I think it's you... I didn't cheat or anything and highlight any names or anything....

Oh it was me. Tim probably loves me more for that.

Sorry Kathy I have been MIA on the Dis lately. I have been super busy work many hours, going back to school, kids in sports and Christmas. I took a me day today and have caught up on your TR.

Jen; good to see you. I'm glad you took part of your free time to catch up here...I am honored.

Sorry about your daughter in law. That is an awful disease. Hopefully she can find some ways to relief her pain.

She started her new diet yesterday, we will see how it goes.

Congratulations on quitting smoking!

Thanks.

Funny pic of me and my daughter Cynthia. (My screen name is WDWAddictt ) My hair is such a mess. I would have loved to stuck around to talk with you after your ride, but my kids were wanting to rush over to the next ride (Barnstormer). After we got off that ride, I didn't see you guys around. Sorry... maybe next time.

Whose hair wasn't a mess on that trip? That humidity was awful. I hope we run into each other again on a future trip.

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing!

Jen

Thanks for reading.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to You and Your Family!!

Best Wishes for an amazing 2015!!

Thanks, Jen; hope you and your family had a great one.

Love the Christmas gifts you posted! The Mickey ears lights are just perfect! And who wouldn't want a great picture of her two handsome boys?

Thanks, Dee. I really love our Mickey ears.

You know, I don't think I have ever been on Dumbo. Hanging my head in shame! I didn't visit WDW for the first time until I was 18, and then as Mark and I visited as adults we never did it and the only time we took the boys as young kids, we had a very short trip and it didn't make the list. I really do need to ride it someday!

Seriously, I cannot even tell Mark this. He would be devastated.

The pictures you got of the train approaching through the steam are awesome! I also love the shots of random people on the rides (TTA, autos) as you are riding by.

Thanks; I thought it was kind of cool too.

Is that a lady holding her hands up on the blue line? gotta love it!

I had to go back and look. It sort of looks like that or like she and her companion are waving at someone?

Mark's t shirt is really neat!

Thanks; the minute we saw it, I knew he had to have it.

Love the Dumbo pictures. Mark looks like a little kid!

He is a little kid.

Well...I do....but they involve whips for some odd reason?

I can understand that.

Just catching up Kathy, but had to stop and comment before I forgot.

I love the Jimmeny Cricket photopass. I have never seen that one either and it's so adorable!

Thanks, Jen; it was the first time I had seen that one too.

Glad you got to try so many different food and wine options. I have only been there once during that time period and it was so crazy busy that I didn't stop at any of the booths.

We hit it right at the beginning and got lucky and didn't have many long lines.

All caught up now!
I love the gift Des got you. I think she should go back and get me a set too!

I'll tell her when they get back from Disney.

Hey Kathy! SUPER fell behind, DD's first Christmas proved very busy! All caught up again! Firstly I hope you, Mark and the family had a magical Christmas, full of laughter and love. The gifts look great. Especially those one-of-a-kind Mickey Lights! Super cool.

Welcome to my club in falling behind. Baby's first Christmas is much more important than the DIS. We had a great Christmas...thank you. Great lights...I agree.

You two are such a cute couple! I love your PP pics by the castle. And the ones on Dumbo are so sweet, but the ones on the train are my favorite

Awww...thanks.

As always Mark and his hats are too cute; I think that Pooh Ear hat should have been a souvenir, but that's just my opinion.

I liked that one too. Maybe the first grandchild????

I was several updates behind but am all caught up again. Your snacking around World Showcase looks like fun. Everything that you ordered looked extremely good. Well, except for the beer but that's because I'm not a beer drinker.

I'm not a beer drinker either, Lisa (well, except once a year at the annual bags tournament we go too...then I drink a LOT of beer), but Mark really liked it. I loved the food.

What neat Christmas gifts you received! I love the Mickey heads and the picture of your boys. Yes, they are your boys despite the fact that they are grown men now. Our "kids" will always be our kids.

Yes, they will ALWAYS be our "kids."

It looks like your morning at the Magic Kingdom was shaping up very nicely. Coffee, sweets, impromptu Dis meets, Pooh, and Dumbo. Not too shabby!

It was a great start to our day.

Ah Kathy, you prolific poster you!

Oh, I've slowed down quite a bit. And don't you worry...you've been traveling a lot.

I try to get caught up and really need to just reply wherever I am at as invariably I'm several updates behind and then don't reply as I want to get fully caught up and then...the cycle continues!

I totally understand.

So I am going to go with more recent/top of mind....

Okay.

In no particular order...

I LOVE that lion king tank top on you and those PP pictures, super duper cute!

Thanks; got that when shopping with Danielle (IHeartDDuck) at our DIS meet.

That ham gratin was absolutely one of my favorite F&W items. I am drooling a little just thinking about it.

It was soooooooooooooooooo good.

Adore Des's gift to you, how incredibly sweet and very very you!

She's a great girl.

I hope your Christmas has been magical and full of love and laughter.

It truly was. I hope yours was great.

 

[KatMark]

I can't possibly imagine why...??

Too funny.

(And now for some shameless pimping of my PTR, that above dialogue will make a lot more sense by following the link below...)

Pimp away friend.

Kathy, I am all caught up again.

And just in time to






WISH YOU A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!​

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Karin.

Happy Birthday Kathy!!!!!

I hope it is a great day for you... Knowing Mark, I'm willing to bet he is going to make this "39th" the best one yet for you.

Thanks, Bob. Oh yes...my 39th....again.

Came here bright and early to be the first to send wishes, but looks like Karin already beat me to it. Darn those European time zone differences!!!

Thanks for the text message as well (and yes I was still sleeping ).

So now I feel bad I don't have a pretty Disney picture to send but regardless.........

Happy Birthday Kathy!!!



And just so Mr. Mark can join the celebration.......

Hope you have a wonderful day filled with

(oops.....now it looks like I was out-Goofied too! lol)
39th?..........

Thanks, I think, Marv.

Good morning, Kathy and happy birthday!

Thanks, Andy.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks Chris.

What fun Christmas gifts!! Hope you had a Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday!!

Thanks, Julie.

 

[KatMark]

Love the updates! the Dumbo area is just adorable. I need more time there..

It's one of our favorite spots.

I am sorry i missed Christmas posting! It was crazy as usual!

Want to stop in to say:

IT's YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Thanks, Mo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thanks, Lisa.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!​

Thank you friend.

And now for some birthday fun:

YHPAP DBYIRHAT!!!!

Love it!

It's alike a NYTimes fun puzzle just for you on this special day!

Awww...thank you;

Is that like..... Crapistan Latin?

Trouble is here again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHY!!

Thank you, Casey.

Yeah. Just like that. I could make up some really awesome fake translation just to act like an idiot. But that would be too much in character.

You guys are killing me.

Hi Kathy! Playing catch-up as usual….

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. And Happy Birthday!!!!!

I did; thank you.

What a nice MK time - Dumbo, the train - great pics!

We had a great start to our morning.

Miss Kathy!!! Happy birthday! I hope you had a fabulous day. You share a birthday with my brother. He's 22. Hope you enjoyed your day and spent some time for yourself!

Oh I wish I was 22 again. Well, maybe not. I had a great day.

 

[KatMark]

Your own bus service is always nice.

We felt like celebrities.

Great pics on an empty main street.

Thanks, Scott.

Looked like a good breakfast at CP.

Love that place for breakfast.

LOL your face on Space MOuntain.

I really hate that ride.

Looks like a fun time you were having with all.

We really were.

I love Marks Olaf shirt.

Thanks; I picked that out for him so he'd have one when we met Anna and Elsa.

Sorry for your loss.

Thanks, Scott.

Looked like a fun time with Tim’s family that day.

They are great people.

The backstage tour sounded like fun. I am goignt o try the Wild Africa Trek next year.

I want to do the Wild Africa Trek this year or next for sure.

Nice pics of FOTLK.

Thanks again.

Nice pics of Nemo musical.

Glad you liked them.

I LOVE the Jiminy Cricket ppp.

Me too.

The food looked good at F&W. Looking forward to hitting it up again this year. The cronut looked good. I had the Dunkin Donuts version and it was good too. Now I want one. LOL.

I heard the DD one wasn't good; but then I won't eat anything there anyway.

Fun times at MK.

How can you not have fun at the MK?

Don’t you love when people come up and say hello to you from your reports. Happened numerous times to me and I love meeting everyone.

It's always a little startling at first, but I always enjoy the meets.

I am all caught up. Wooo-Hoo!!!!

YAY!!!!

Hi Kathy! Willow and I wanted to stop by and wish you a ....

​

And, of course, Happy Birthday too!

Thank you, Roni; I hope you and Willow have a Happy New Year.

Caught up again. Wishing you and your family the best for 2015!

Thanks, Sandy; and the same to you and yours.

 

[Steppesister]

You guys are killing me.

We try, Kathy. We try.

 

[KatMark]

that is personal; and I promise to get a TR update done over the weekend for sure and will also try and catch up wherever I am behind.

We had a great Christmas here and then spent that weekend in Dubuque with the kids. We had a lot of fun with them and were sad to have to leave because we won't see them until February (if the weather permits us to drive the 3-1/2 hours).

Thank you again for all the birthday wishes. I had a great birthday. I had an appointment to get my nails done and did that. After that, I stopped at the convenient store as I had a winning $20 lotto ticket. I exchanged it for two $10 tickets and Mark and I each scratched one. Mine was a loser, but Mark's was a winner for $500. Nice way to start the birthday. We then went shopping and I got a new winter jacket to wear with jeans, then we stopped at the bank with my mom's insurance check. We were then just going to drive to dinner at my favorite seafood restaurant, Bob Chinn's, when Mark's phone rang. It was work and they needed to come in. There went my Bob Chinn's (it's about 45-50 minutes from our house); but we did have enough time to stop and have an early dinner at Red Lobster.

Then Mark worked New Year's Eve and they told him they wouldn't be keeping him on after "season" ended (January 17). They told him to reapply though and hopefully something would open up. Well, today when he went to work, they called him into a meeting and said they all felt bad they weren't keeping him, so they all worked together, and Mark will still have his part-time job at Target, including having most weekends off for baseball in the spring and summer.

Now, it's after 11:00 and Mark should be walking in any minute and I need to go to bed. Update this weekend...I promise.

Oh, and if the weather permits, we are FINALLY going to see the Disney Archives thing at the Museum of Science and Industry on Sunday (it's the last day).

 

[Sydney2977]

Glad you had a great birthday even if you didn't get to go to your favorite place. I remember a few years ago I was all excited to go to a seafood place that we hardly ever got to for my birthday, and found it was closed down when we got there. I feel your pain!

Awesome news about Marks's job too! I've found over the years in retail that when you have someone who does such an amazing job there are ways of working around their schedules and making shifts for them to work. He probably makes someone's day every time he's at work!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Thank you again for all the birthday wishes. I had a great birthday. I had an appointment to get my nails done and did that. After that, I stopped at the convenient store as I had a winning $20 lotto ticket. I exchanged it for two $10 tickets and Mark and I each scratched one. Mine was a loser, but Mark's was a winner for $500. Nice way to start the birthday.

Oh, and if the weather permits, we are FINALLY going to see the Disney Archives thing at the Museum of Science and Industry on Sunday (it's the last day).

What a great birthday surprise! The most I've ever won on a scratch off ticket is $4.

We saw the Disney exhibit at the museum last weekend. They have an animation class that is just like the one at DHS. It was a lot of fun. I hope you get a chance to go over there. The weather is terrible today.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Kathy, I'm so glad that you had a lovely Christmas. You definitely deserved it.

WOOHOO!!!!! I remember seeing on FB about the big $500 win. How wonderful.

Oh wow, see that. How awesome that Target is keeping Mark on. Clearly they see value there.

 

[dizneeat]

Sorry I am late, but I really wanted to wish you a

​

 

[KatMark]

Glad you had a great birthday even if you didn't get to go to your favorite place. I remember a few years ago I was all excited to go to a seafood place that we hardly ever got to for my birthday, and found it was closed down when we got there. I feel your pain!

We may try and go tomorrow after we go to the Museum IF we don't get a lot of snow. Ouch...that would hurt if we got there and it was closed down.

Awesome news about Marks's job too! I've found over the years in retail that when you have someone who does such an amazing job there are ways of working around their schedules and making shifts for them to work. He probably makes someone's day every time he's at work!

I am so happy that they figured something out for him. He really likes it there and it's just up his alley.

What a great birthday surprise! The most I've ever won on a scratch off ticket is $4.

We've won big a couple of times. What I've never won on is Little Lotto or Lotto or any of those others where you have to pick the numbers.

We saw the Disney exhibit at the museum last weekend. They have an animation class that is just like the one at DHS. It was a lot of fun. I hope you get a chance to go over there. The weather is terrible today.

I want to try that class...I heard about that. We plan to go if we don't get a lot of snow.

Kathy, I'm so glad that you had a lovely Christmas. You definitely deserved it.

Thanks, Rob.

WOOHOO!!!!! I remember seeing on FB about the big $500 win. How wonderful.

It was and I bought my airline ticket to Phoenix with part of it and then got Mark's ticket and put towards it.

Oh wow, see that. How awesome that Target is keeping Mark on. Clearly they
see value there.

He was so happy when he called me when I was at work yesterday to tell me.

Sorry I am late, but I really wanted to wish you a

​

Thanks, Karin. Wishing you and Tom a Happy New Year as well.

 

[jenseib]

So glad they are keeping Mark on!

I hope you get your special b-day dinner soon!

 

[SarahDisney]

Sorry to hear you didn't get your planned birthday dinner.

But I'm so glad they were able to find a way for Mark to keep his job. That's great news!

 

[KatMark]

So glad they are keeping Mark on!

Thanks; us too Jen.

I hope you get your special b-day dinner soon!

Hopefully tomorrow night.

Sorry to hear you didn't get your planned birthday dinner.

It's okay...the job is more important.

But I'm so glad they were able to find a way for Mark to keep his job. That's great news!

It really is; now we don't have to start taking his social security.

 

[ememtingle]

I'm here! I'm so excited to read all about it.
I love AKL so that's so cool y'all got such a great deal on DVC points!

 

[KatMark]

I forgot to include the PP pictures we got while over by the Dumbo ride:










When I last left you, we had ridden the Walt Disney World Railroad and had gotten off in Frontierland because we were going to ride a mountain. And here is the mountain we were riding









It's almost time























And it was time for the big drop





Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

After we finished Splash Mountain, I went for a cigarette break and Mark decided to play...by himself





Some pics while we headed to our next destination







We did a little window shopping



Then wen to see these loveable bears

















We popped in the Christmas store in Liberty Square



We decided we were ready to head to Epcot for more Food & Wine, and we saw the Shake It Parade on the way out (I think that's what it is called)











We continued out of the park











Continued in next post

 

[KatMark]

Before we could leave, we saw someone out that we had NEVER been able to get a photo with and she had been "sick" at our breakfast earlier in the week. Therefore, we had to stop







There is never a photopass photographer with Mary Poppins. Do any of you know why? I do.

We walked to the Ferry after our special meet with Mary Poppins and had it basically to ourselves





One of the CM's offered to take our picture for us which I thought was very nice of him







We hopped in the car and before long we were here





We stopped for a PP picture





Love Spaceship Earth...brings back loving memories of my dad



We saw these two fellas who had only one other family in line



We then headed to World Showcase and we were hungry. A few pictures along the way

Disney ducks









This time we started on the Canada side. We got the Cheddar Cheese Soup, the seared rainbow trout and the LeCellier mushroom beef filet mignon



From the picture, I see Mark also got a beer but I don't remember what kind it was.

The soup was out of this world as always. The rainbow trout was excellent. The filet...absolutely awful. It was overly salty and very fatty and what meat wasn't covered in fat, was dry. We went back for seconds of the trout...it was that good.



Mark always likes going into the shop in Canada. And, of course, to please you, the readers



Moving on to the next country





And what did we have here:



Warm chocolate pudding with Kerrygold Irish Cream Liqueur Custard (gluten free) and a glass of Bunratty Meade Honey Wine.

Mark didn't care for the wine, but we loved the warm chocolate pudding. It was a little rich, but oh so good.

Our view from our table (okay...we were actually at a garbage can)



Up next, France and one of my favorites of the trip

 

[KatMark]

I'm here! I'm so excited to read all about it.
I love AKL so that's so cool y'all got such a great deal on DVC points!

Welcome Emily; thanks for joining. I see you have a TR going. I'll hop over after I add my newest chapters to my index.