Let's see what this family does flying solo - the POST trip report!

[nilla]

Showered and ready for Epcot, we board the bus with visions of beers from around the world dancing in our heads. Well, at least my head - Kristin's probably dreaming about some sort of girly drink, and the kids...well, who cares what they're thinking about? Whose Walt Disney World vacation do you think this is, anyway? The daydreams soon come to an unpleasant end, because while those are dancing in our heads, something was appearing in Emily's shorts...oh my god, she just crapped in her pants. On the bus. And we have no change of clothing for her.

Our unpreparedness isn't totally surprising, since Emily, has very rarely had an accident since learning to control herself. Especially not one like this. This was a complete surprise. We blame it on pool water ingestion, but whatever the cause, we have a new touring plan for Epcot today:

3:00 - Clean Emily's soiled panties
3:15 - Buy Emily new panties

We type up the revised touring plan card, print it, fly back home, run to Staples to get it laminated, then quickly return back to Epcot. Kristin gets her her somewhat cleaned up in the bathroom just outside the gate, but discovers that her shorts are a casualty as well. So now, we add another item:

3:20 - Buy Emily a new outfit

Fortunately, there's Mouse Gear, the largest and greatest merchandise store in a Walt Disney World park that is not completely staffed by Japanese exchange students. We head inside and go right back to the girls' clothing wall. Wow, not a huge selection of panties for 4 year olds. Actually, NO selection of panties for 4 year olds. Kristin finds a pack of Tink panties sized 5, so we'll just have to make due with that. Now, for the outfit. Ok, apparently, 4 year old girls don't usually shop in this store. Babies? Yes. 2 and 3 year olds? Sure. 5 and up? Of course! But 4 year olds? Evidently not, because it's slim pickings in that department. I finally find an orange, t-shirt like Tink dress that Emily seems to like, but Kristin's not in agreement so we keep looking. Here's a Minnie dress...too small. Here's Princess dress...too big. What about the Tink dress? It's like the Goldilocks and the Three Bears of emergency clothing shopping, and Kristin can't just accept that Baby Bear has the best options. She ultimately concedes, however, and it's into the lone dressing room to try it on.

I wait outside with Dylan, who is entertaining himself by looking at the display for his new souvenir du jour, the Disney Racers Hot Wheels-style cars. I have to say, they ARE really cool. Dylan ended up getting a bunch on this trip, and here is his collection:

Meanwhile, Kristin and Emily are taking for-ever. Kristin calls me in...the Tink dress is too big. She goes out looking for another one, while I wait inside with Emily. Kristin finally returns with another one. There's some confusion about the size again, but I seem to have blocked out the details because I can't recall exactly what it was. Probably a good thing. After about twenty agonizing minutes of this production, Emily FINALLY has a new dress, and we can actually see a part of Epcot other than that darn dressing room!

Emily's dress can (Sort of) be seen in this picture here, courtesy of Disney PhotoPass! Pre-order your CD today!

I managed to convince Kristin to ride Mission Space - Orange Team with Dylan, so they headed there next while I took the the back-in-bidness Emily with me to get FPs for Soarin'. Kristin thought Orange Team was nuts, and isn't in a rush to do it again. We decide to head back to World Showcase afterwards, stopping just across the bridge so Kristin can get some frozen, fruity drink that I can't remember the name of. Yes, the best part about this trip report is my attention to detail! Maybe you can help me identify it by this photo:

I could always ask Kristin what it was, but she's asleep right now, and I need to get this update out or I will be in violation of my marketing agreement with MEK.

We move on over to England next (as you aleady know from the previous picture), where I grab another Harp Lager, and the kids run around in the hedge maze. This never seems to get old to them. I scold them for "cheating" by walking through the hedges...where's the sport in that?

Dinner time is fast approaching, so we head on back to the International Gateway. Our ressies (or, as Kristin's Dad would call them, our "appointment") are at the Cape May Clambake at the Beach Club. While the seafood buffet is enticing, the real reason for this meal is for Kristin to get a look at the Beach Club. Touring other resorts that we haven't seen before is becoming more and more of a goal for her, and I can't say I'm not interested, too. We walk through the shop at the Gateway, where Dylan buys another set of Disney Racers, and it's off to the Friendship Boat we go...

 

[MEK]

Marketing agreement. Pfft! Only if I get royalties!

Another great update x 2. CSR is the most photogenic of all the Disney resorts. Glad you enjoyed your relaxing morning there and were still able to get to Epcot in the afternoon.

Poor Emily - but at least she managed to get a whole new outfit! When you're a girl that's never a bad thing!

I have no idea what the green thing is that Kristin got - unless its a Welsh Dragon from England.

 

[Nettaboo]

coming out of lurkdome to tell you that I am really enjoying your report!!!

 

[manntra]

Came over from MEK's TR....I do as I am told
Marking my spot and going back to read

Tracy

 

[SoonerGirl]

Beautiful pictures of CSR! I stayed there in May and agree that it is a very pretty resort.

Ahhhh, the joys of having young children! So sorry about Emily's accident, poor little thing.

You took the Friendship boat to BC??? It's soooooo much faster to walk........

 

[Fairy Godnana]

I'm so enjoying your TR!! As you can see by my number of posts I normally lurk. I always wonder how the CM''s at the Biergarten can always seat the fun
folks with the "why am I here folks"? and the "don't look me in the eye folks"?
I think we should be allowed to play musical tables until we find our match!

 

[nilla]

I always wonder how the CM''s at the Biergarten can always seat the fun
folks with the "why am I here folks"? and the "don't look me in the eye folks"?
I think we should be allowed to play musical tables until we find our match!

I agree 100%! They should have some sort of computer dating-like system, where you fill out a survey and they match you up accordingly:

1. Do you like to drink?
2. How much have you already drank this afternoon?
3. Do you prefer to dance with your kids, or let them fend for themselves while you talk to the others at your table?

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Nilla, you have not disappointed me, great report. Oh the joys of kids' bathroom problems, it sure does make for unwanted surprises.

We stayed at CSR last Sept., was our 2cd time there. I must say the room redo has made for a much nicer resort. CB was nice also, but so far I do prefer CSR.

I too, love that store in Japan, especially all of the Hello Kitty stuff. I know, I know it's for teen age girls & I have not seen my teen years in quite some time!

Drinking our way around World Showcase sounds wonderful!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

All caught up! What a fun family you have and a great TR! I cannot believe that you saw a woman reject two drinks from Mexico! Clearly she should have been removed from the park on the spot!

 

[manntra]

Still reading...but just wanted to comment that you mentioned you had friends in Lake Ariel....we have a cottage near there...at Elk Lake near Waymart, Honesdale etc. Lake Ariel is about 15 minutes from us. Or maybe 20
Loved what I have read so far....your kids crack me up.....Emily impersonating a CM and Dylan never eating....glad you enjoyed Jiko, one of my favorite restaurants.
You are so right about Crocs being deadly in the rain...I remember a few years back with a downpour at the P&P party....we were spring walking up the hill inside SM and I almost lost it!! They are off my list for rain and hot days!
Thank you for the reference to Jon's Spot in Adventureland....I will have to think of that now when I walk by

Tracy

 

[nilla]

Still reading...but just wanted to comment that you mentioned you had friends in Lake Ariel....we have a cottage near there...at Elk Lake near Waymart, Honesdale etc. Lake Ariel is about 15 minutes from us. Or maybe 20

Kristin's parents have a cabin at Lake Wallenpaupack, in Greentown, and we love it up there. It's one of the things that gets us through the 50 miserable, non-Disney weeks of the year

I wanted Kristin to take a picture of me leaning over the railing at my "pukeful spot" in MK this year, but she wouldn't. We will next year, and it WILL be in my trip report. Now there's something to look forward to, eh?

 

[nilla]

Next stop is the Cape May Clambake at the Beach Club for dinner. After passing through the Epcot exit, we jump aboard the Friendship Boat...

Hold up, pause. Ok, I know at least one of you is wondering why we bothered to take the boat to the Beach Club when we could've walked there much more quickly. The answer is, "we don't know". Actually, we didn't realize how short the walk was until after the boat ride, but at least we got a chance to see the Boardwalk up close, if for only a few minutes. The kids always enjoy a good boat ride, too, and we're not in that big of a hurry, so it was nice.

We arrived at the Beach Club, noticing the pool right away. Wow, it's HUGE, and themed pretty cool...but it's sort of chaotic, and we can see losing our kids in it many times over. We enter the BC and ask where the Clam Bake is, and then finally make our way down to the end of the resort where it's located. We're seated soon after, and the kids love the "white paper table cloth" they can color on. At least that will keep them entertained, since they probably won't eat the food anyway.

For some reason, this was a "very few picture day", and I really don't know why we didn't take a single picture of BC or the restaurant. We dropped the ball on that one, and for that, I apologize. I'll make it up by showing you 3500 more PhotoPass pictures of Emily in a future post; I promise.

The meal was really good, a buffet featuring New England Clam Chowder (my all-time favorite soup), clams, mussels, shrimp, fish, ribs, and carved beef. Oh, and let's not forget the snow crab legs, one of Kristin's and my favorite seafoods.

A little back story: Kristin was absolutely NOT a seafood eater when we first met. She apparently loved McDonald's Filet-o-Fish sandwiches when she was a kid, but as she got older, she grew to detest anything that came out of the water. Then, when she was pregnant with Dylan, she started craving crab and lobster. From what I have heard, most women get cravings for sweets and snacks, but not my wife. No, she has to crave the most expensive item on the menu. Even with that, it took her a while to accept my testimony that snow crab legs are well worth the effort it takes to eat them, but now she's such a believer that she gives me all of her ribs and veggies so she can fill up on nothing but the legs. I can't blame her; they were really good.

After stuffing our faces, I had no room for dessert, but Kristin insisted I try some of their cookies. We went up to the dessert buffet - oh, man, they have Oreo bon bons, and I'm going to eat anything with an Oreo in it no matter what it is and how unhungry I am. The cookies were really good, too, as were all the desserts I tried. In all, it was a great meal, but I must admit we were less than impressed with the Beach Club. I'm sure the rooms are beautiful, but the hotel itself seemed a bit too stuffy to us in a Grand Floridian-type way, and the outside area looked too cluttered. That's just our opinion, though - we didn't actually stay here, so please check the Resorts threads before saying, "well, nilla said the Beach Club sucks, so we want to cancel our reservations." I'm sure there are tons of people (including the Buckinghams) who love it.

We WALKED back to Epcot after dinner, and I saw a group of teens who were there for graduation or band trip or whatever. One girl had a shirt that listed the day-by-day plans of the group, and one was "Disney Mountain Day", which means they were hitting Space, Splash, Big Thunder, and Expedition: Everest on that day. My thought: "what a waste of time!", especially when they were only there like 3 or 4 days total. We are NOT Park Hoppers, and never have been. I can't imagine we ever will be, unless we decide that we want to eat in a certain park's restaurants more than we want to actually visit that park. We just don't see the transfer time being worth it, and would rather stay at one park and beat it to death on that day, then visit another park on the next day. Or, in the case of this trip, beat Epcot to death on four days, then visit IT again the next day

 

[nilla]

Rewinding back to the Clambake, Kristin noted that the caramel flan and warm chocolate lava cake were exceptionally good. I want to thank Kristin for her nightly notetaking, without which there would be no trip report! Or not a very detailed or accurate one, at least. Thanks, Wifey! She also clarified that her unidentified drink in the photo earlier was a frozen mojito, purchased at the building next to the restrooms just before you reach Canada.

Back in Epcot, we headed back over to Japan so Dylan could get YET ANOTHER Pokemon stuffed animal, and Emily could get the Hello Kitty press-on nails we bribed her with to get her to go on the boat ride in Mexico. Dylan also got a really cool Pokemon shirt that you will see in tomorrow's pictures. I told him I would've gotten it for myself had he not bought it.

After that, we walked over to check the standy time for Test Track - 50 minutes, so no go. Fortunately, we're sitting on FPs for Soarin', so it's over to the Land for another run there. We make sure we get row B1 again, and end up sitting next to possibly the most miserable college-aged girls I've ever seen. They just did not look like they were having fun. And why should they? It's not like they're in the "Happiest Place on Earth" or anything!

Dylan ends up seated next to one of them on the ride, and proceeds to talk her ear off with the Hidden Mickey info we learned from the Disney nuts we rode with last night. He can get very annoying if you don't want to hear what he's trying to tell you, so I imagine she wasn't enjoying it too much. We told him he's got to knock that off, but secretly, I was thinking, "good for you. Next time, smile when you're in Walt Disney World!"

We walked back to Japan to try to catch Illuminations from a view we haven't experienced before. Previous years, it was always Germany, and I'll attest that firework ash goes perfectly in a draft Franziskaner Hefeweisen. I suggest you try it sometime!

The show begins, and Kristin is convinced for whatever reason that the globe isn't out there. We saw it docked over by Italy earlier, so maybe there were technical difficulties - oh, wait, there it is! The show goes as usual, until we are startled by screaming girls just behind us. We turn around...



Holy crap, SNAKE!!!



This family has a bit of a history with snakes, you see. We bought our house from Kristin's grandmother when she wanted to downsize to a condo, and while we knew she had seen the occasional garter snake, we had no idea what we were in for. Our first summer there, Kristin saw a snake by the driveway and freaked. I, being the wonderful husband I am, came home from work, grabbed it, and took it in a garbage bag to a wooded area by the creek about two miles from our house. Then, more came. And more. The most we ever had was 8 in one day, and it must've been mating season, because there were two that I wasn't about to try to part. I've never killed on, though Kristin's dad and his friend did "chop one in half" once. They did a great job, too, since I was confronted by a very angry half a snake the next day.

Kristin knows they're harmless and has tried to learn to accept them as the years have gone by, so not to show fear in front of the kids and get them scared, too. She is, however, still not about to pick one up and cuddle it, so she's out of the way quick when we saw this particular snake slithering across the pavement in Epcot. I quickly moved the empty stroller, too, since he's headed right for it. The snake became a quite an attraction, and several teen boys gathered around it. One put his foot down on it's tail, and we were fully expecting him to stomp on it...fortunately, that was not his intention, and an adult in his party came over, picked it up, and escorted it over to the rocks just over the railing. Sighs of relief all around, for both our and the snake's sake, and it's back to watching the show.

Here's my theory of what happened. Mr. Snake (since I have no imagination when it comes to names), resident of the nice, warm rocks near the lake at Epcot, decided to go exploring on this fine day. It was still early, and World Showcase was not open, so he took the opportunity to slither up the path to the beautiful area near the top of the Japan pavilion. He's having a wonderful day relaxing up there, but notices that there are a lot of people around all of the sudden. Oh well, maybe they'll go home soon.


...


Um, they're not going home. And it's getting dark, so he HAS to get home. How is he supposed to do that? He gathers his courage, and under the cover of darkness, he makes his move. He's getting closer...closer...darn it, he's spotted! He moves to evade the masses in different directions until finally being grabbed and escorted to the the rocks, which is where he was trying to get to begin with. "Maybe I'll just stay here on the rocks tomorrow," he thinks. Good idea.

It was evidently a corn snake and perfectly harmless, but you never know, and it's not what you expect to see in that situation, especially coming up behind you.

After all the excitement, we head back to CSR, grabbing a few Ball pics on the way back:

The bus ride home seems long, but I get talking to another dad standing in the "dads with enormous strollers" section of the bus, just by the back door. His story is apparently very close to mine - they LOVE Disney, his wife plans for months...he actually is a manager for a movie theater chain that has a location a few miles from our house, which we frequent often. While talking to him, I notice four women standing in the middle of the bus, and ID them as conventioners right away. They're sort of obnoxious (one more than the rest), and just don't seem like your usual Disney fare. They've obviously been drinking, too (the nerve!). As we exit the bus, Kristin tells another mom that she loves the dress she made for her daughter, then notices a lime-green Mickey paint sample on her bag. Since me and my gigantic stroller need to exit the bus every time someone gets off, I get the opportunity to tell her to be on the lookout for our trip report as she exits

I grab a Dos Equis at El Centro and Kristin gets a margarita at the outside bar, where she is sort of hit on by a drunk conventioner. The bar is PACKED with them tonight, and I find amusement in thinking they're all complete idiots, though I'm sure if my employer sent me here for a convention, I'd be doing the same thing.

We got to bed quickly and called for a 7:00 AM wake-up call. With only two park days left (), we want to get to Epcot (yes, Epcot again) by rope drop. My cousin, Jill, lives in Florida and is hoping to meet up with us tomorrow. I haven't seen here in almost twenty years, so that will be fun.

Up next, ANOTHER day at my new favorite Disney Park, plus an exclusive rant about a common Epcot misconception. Stay tuned!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I wait outside with Dylan, who is entertaining himself by looking at the display for his new souvenir du jour, the Disney Racers Hot Wheels-style cars.

WANT!

DW says they were around last time, but I don't remember them.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Oh boy. Now I'm going to worry about a snake sneaking up on me during Illuminations.

Sorry to hear you weren't wowed by the Beach Club. It's funny b/c I feel the exact same way you do about the Grand Floridian but I find BC to be very relaxed and low-key. As they say, the great thing about Disney is there is something for everyone; and one less person trying to stay at BC is fine with me!

 

[nilla]

WANT!

DW says they were around last time, but I don't remember them.

I've seen them for several years, but the selection is huge now. They have at least a dozen Star Wars themed ones, too. I wanted them all!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh boy. Now I'm going to worry about a snake sneaking up on me during Illuminations.

Me too!

I'm always on the lookout for them when walking around the resorts, but never ever thought about one slithering up behind me during a show!

 

[Fairy Godnana]

Snakes at the resort? We were told to watch for gators at CSR in 2001 when we stayed there!!!

 

[nilla]

Snakes at the resort? We were told to watch for gators at CSR in 2001 when we stayed there!!!

We saw a snake at WL last year; two birds were harassing it. None at CSR this year, though they're probably there somewhere. No gators, either, though we did see a turtle hanging out in the middle of the lake.

 

[KatMark]

KatMark - YOU were extremely helpful in us choosing Coronado Springs, since you answered a ton of questions Kristin had while we were still debating between that and Caribbean Beach. It's our favorite resort now, too, so a big thank you to you.

I'm so glad the thread was helpful. And I'm thrilled that you, Kristin fell in love with the CSR. Your pictures of the CSR are wonderful. Would you mind if I used some the next time I have to update the CSR thread? We can't wait to be back home in September...we just love it there (our 9th stay); we're actually requesting the Ranchos (the only section we've not stayed in). If you get bored, I have a link to my PTR in my signature.

Great update on your day of "relaxing" at CSR (did you see the alligator?). Sorry about Emily's little accident; but great that she got a new outfit (it's a women thing). Love the photos of Spaceship Earth.

Anxious for the next update.