Looking For Control Freaks & Worry Warts too........

[Debbie6221]

Hopefully you can put up with us. We actually crazy here (well, maybe I should just speak for myself)!

 

[Debbie6221]

Did you see our check list?

 

[disneyohana]

Tinklvr - Your kids are so cute. Thanks for putting the pics up.
Debbie - Thanks. Your DD looks like you. And your kids are adorable too. By the way, those pictures you took last October are awesome. Do you take the pictures or your DH?
DisneyMom - I am having trouble planning because I have always just gone w/the flow. I guess I am not always a control freak.

 

[pbharris4]

Hi everyone. Hope everyone is having a great new year so far. Now that the holidays are over I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Already made my ADRs for summer while I was at WDW and also reserved hotels rooms down & back. So it should be smooth sailing until it's time to pack (or at least I hope so).

What nice pictures of everyone.

Debbie..your dad looks like an actor..Peter something. I can't remember his name, so I'll get back with you on that. It's a really nice photo of all of you.

Disneyohana..cute picture as well. Your DD's a cutie. And it's her first trip to WDW! There's nothing like seeing your kid's expressions for the first time at WDW!

Tinklvr: Your kids are adorable! Glad to hear your feeling better.

disneymom225: welcome!!!

I'm still trying to load pictures from my trip. Don't have many of them though. Will post when DD takes a nap.

Pam

 

[pbharris4]

Debbie..your dad looks kind of like Peter Strauss from Rich Man, Poor Man. I always thought he was handsome! There's another actor that looks even more like your dad, but I'll have to research that a little more. Funny, people would always come up to me and ask me if my dad was Jack Lemmon and I always said "I wish he was!"

Trip was nice. Not too hot, not too chilly. DD's got to swim a few times and they loved that. The Osbourne Dancing Lights were spectacular. Since it rained Xmas day we went to MGM on Tuesday instead so my ADRs had to change. Mostly I had to cancel one or two and try to get new ones. HA. I did manage to get into Kona for lunch w/o ADRs no one else would accept walk ins. Some very lucky person got Le Cellier at Lunch courtesy of me! Ah well..Merry Christmas..tis the season of giving anyway. We ate Mama Melrose. Awful. How can anyone screw up Italian food? The penne a la vodka was really good but everything else was nasty..very nasty. Rainforest doesn't have their wait/seating act together. I think they've gone downhill for the past few years, but thought I'd give a try again. Chef Mickey's was a hit as usual.

We ate mostly counter service. We hardly ever eat counter service and now I know why. Don't mean to complain, but how many burgers, hot dogs, and chicken strips can one eat in a week? My poor DH was belching all week (has stomach acid issues as well as I, but his are pretty bad). But it was his idea to eat CS all week. I couldn't carry on a conversation with him with out him going every few seconds...it started to get embarrassing. I felt bad for him. Made my ADRs for my summer trip at the 180 day mark (12/26/06). Went to Dooney & Bourke and the Coach outlet and got a good deal on a Coach purse. It was packed in there. Skipped the Mall at Millenia this time. I had enough of shopping.

McKenna, my youngest missed a few naps (we tried) so she was just a bear at times. The last 3 years were pretty easy travel wise with her, but this year was harder. She doesn't sleep in the car, ever so that's 2 days down AND back with no naps..plus she skipped 2 during the week. I matay reconsider flying down this summer.

Spent the night at Disney's DVC Hilton Head, SC resort. Different, but really nice and family oriented. We drove to the beach house and walked on the beach for a little. Meghan has been to the beach a few times, but McKenna has and never saw the ocean before. We really want to go back there. They have so many family activies at the resort, etc. And I am not a beach person really. They are booked for the summer so maybe we'll try sometime in the next 2 years.

Oh....when we checked in at SSR I asked for a DTD view. I laughed and said "well, I know, but it doesn't hurt to ask." None available. I had a choice of a smoking room in Congress Park, The Paddock or the new section, The Carousel..which is waaaaay out there with nothing..no pool, bus stop. I took the Congress Park smoking one. The smell wasn't too bad. I brought Oust Air Freshener and Lysol (flu season). And I am a recovered smoker (4.5 yrs smoke free). I also have asthma, so it really wasn't that bad. The lady said it was garden view which it was, but this is what we really could see:

Ok..I have been working for over an hour on how to upload, and post some photos in my posts. I have done it before, but I'm not really up to date on all that stuff. Can someone help?! I've had no problems getting pics in siggies just posts.

 

[disneyohana]

I loved hearing your trip report. Sorry your dd didn't take naps on your long car ride. I remember as a child fighting w/my sisters because we were sitting so close and bored. Some of the time we had fun though. And as for eating at counter service, that is what we mostly do on our Disney trips, not because we like it better, it is just so expensive eating at restaurants all the time and we are usually on the go so much. Since I don't think we can be on the go as much w/our DD we are going to try some restaurants. Probably buffets.
I always wondered about the Hilton Head Resort. I'm glad you guys had fun. I love resorts that have a lot of activities, even if you don't utilize them all.
How did you like the SSR? The pools looked pretty fun for the kids.

 

[pbharris4]

Hi, CS isn't too bad..I love B & C and WPE..love, love, love WPE..DD's aren't as fond of it. We just can't eat a lot of fried foods and just get bored with it. We get bored with TS sometimes too so we try to mix it. Even at TS if we want to cut costs, we'll just get a salad, soup and water or stuff like that. But the last 3 years we did a lot of TS because of my DD. We'd be nice and cool, and at buffets we didn't have to wait for food. But that's just us. We are sort of "foodies." We enjoy trying new foods, etc.

SSR was nice. Congress Park area was nice. We were the first bus top and we actually used the buses most of the time which is a first for us. The kids mostly had the pool to themselves. My favorite resorts are BCV for the pool and localtion, VWL-theme, OKW for the huge rooms. I'd like to stay at both GF and the Poly as well. Hilton Head seems like a nice place to spend more time together as a family.

 

[pbharris4]

Ok i got a picture to show up...now all I have to do is resize it? I'll get it right sometime!

Pam

 

[disneyohana]

We also love B&C. Besides the food we have good memories there and at the Yacht Club. Actually, all my memories at Disney are good. What is WPE?
I love to try new places to eat. I just get stressed thinking of all the places we haven't tried yet at Disney. I don't know what restaurants to pick. We've been to San Angel Inn, California Grill, and Kona Cafe. We keep going back to San Angel and want to go back to Kona. What are your favorite TS? Do you always try new restaurants or go w/your favorites?
I have the same problem w/resorts. We love Port Orleans mansions, Caribbean Beach, Yacht Club, & Polynesian. The way I chose which resort was for my DD. I think she will love the beach, feeding the birds, the colors, music, and pools and playground. And it is not as expensive so we can try some TS.

 

[disneyohana]

My DH is showing me how to re-size and put up pics but my notes are not that great. If you have a specific ques., maybe I could help. I think he said to make the pics less than 300k, the width around 8 in., res. 70-100. That was what I had for what I was doing.

 

[Debbie6221]

Hello,
My family is like the crazy ADR people. This last trip I think we had an ADR for every day. It was nuts! We were on the dining plan though so it all worked out.
Lisa...you have to do a meal with the Princesses for your DD. There is the castle breakfast & dinner; Norway Princess for all the meals and GF have Cinderella & Prince Charming at their dinner buffet.

Hopefully you can still get the Luau too. Your DD would be entertained but there are NO characters there. Ohana is yummy too. I LOVE Chef Mickey. We also love the Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you at the table. My DD likes that! Oh everyone also raves about Crystal Palace. We enjoyed it but we like others more like Liberty Tree Tavern. I think we have eaten everywhere! We tried the buffet at the Beach club this past time and it was very good. Oh and we tried Donald's Breakfastauraus in Animal Kingdom and that was fun too.
Here's a Character Meal link....

http://www.wdwinfo.com/Just_for_kids/character_dining.cfm

Back to reality....
I feel OK but I think I am going to get that cold!
I can’t stay motivated to get any work done today and keep checking back at the computer!
My DH has the bad cold now so it’s only a matter of time I figure.
I wonder where FromScratch is.
Side note… I feel bad but I keep returning a bunch of the stuff my DH bought at Christmas time. I truly do feel bad but we didn’t need it or he just paid too much. Oh well.
See ya guys later!
Debbie

 

[Debbie6221]

Here are the ADR Character meals/places we have ate over the last 4 years.....

1900 Park Fare- Grand Floridian
Cape May Cafe -Beach Club
(We ate dinner here though..not breakfast. There are no characters here at dinner)
Chef Mickey's Buffet -Contemporary
Cinderella's Royal Table -Magic Kingdom (breakfast and dinner)
Crystal Palace -Magic Kingdom (dinner)
Donald's Breakfastosaurus -Animal Kingdom
Liberty Tree Tavern -Magic Kingdom
Ohana's Best Friends Breakfast featuring Lilo and Stitch Polynesian (We have had the dinner here too)
Princess Storybook Dining - Restaurant Akershus Royal Banquet Hall EPCOT


Still to be investigated...
Garden Grill Restaurant - Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast -EPCOT Future World
Garden Grove Café -Swan
Hollywood and Vine -MGM Studios
Mickey's Backyard BBQ -Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
Wonderland Tea Party- Grand Floridian (VERY expensive)


Here are the NON character places I have eaten...

Citricos Grand Floridian
Coral Reef Restaurant
Narcoossee's GF


This list doesn't include all the CS places we have eaten.


Boy..... that's a lot of money there! Yikes!
Ask me anything!

 

[Debbie6221]

I am actually having trouble posting pix myself. I wonder if it's phoyobucket or the new server or ME! Sometimes I paste my image and the pic is there and other times it shows up as a link. Weird!
Well, since we are talking about ADRs and such I thought I would post pix from meals we have been at. These first ones are from Donald's Breakfastauraus...

 

[Debbie6221]

 

[Debbie6221]

 

[Debbie6221]

 

[pbharris4]

Debbie...in that picture whereyour little one is looking up at Mickey... it cracks me up! Almost like they are thinking.."Who the heck are you?" How cute! I love the little ones expressions when the characters come around. Hey..that would be a great idea for a contest or new thread! Post you funniest kids/character pics.

Sorry you are getting a cold. My youngest and I have one as well and are at the tail end of it. In Florida..people had antibacterial wipes verywhere..near keyboards at checkout lines, Purell at the gas pumps, etc. Question: Do you like Citricos or Narcossess better? I made an ADR at Narcossees, but wondering which is better. Also Ohana's..what does it have for kids, the dinner? Been there for breakfast a few times. TIA

Disneyohana: Do you mind if I ask your name? WPE stands for Wolfganag Puck Express. If you haven't eaten there..it's at Downtown Disney..near the Xmas Shop. To us, it's the best counter service in all of WDW. Excellent pizzas, quesadillas, lasagnas, meatloaf..they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

When it comes to restaurants we eat at 2-3 places that we really like and then try a few new ones. And cook a meal or two in our villa (more like pop something frozen in.) I list all the days we'll be there, figure out what parks we'll go to (we don't do all the parks every year..just 2 MAYBE 3) and their EMH schedule and go from there. Sometimes after a week or so I change my mind and rearrange, but I don't do it too often or too close because ADRs become unavailable. If you want to see my summer schedule example let me know and I'll post it. I keep my ADRs, but it's pretty open ended because I am on vacation.

I agree with Debbie. If you haven't already..you should take your DD to the Princess Castle breakfast at MK. We all loved it including my DH. Just to go inside the castle was neat. I liked that better than the Princess one at Epcot, but that was nice too.

-Cape May Cafe is really good for both breakfast (great character meal) and dinner (non character)
-Boma Dinner (even my 2 girls love Boma)
-Mama Melrose stay away
-Luau..neat..been there 2x and to 2 in Hawaii..pretty similar..food is ok, you're really paying for the show.
-Le Cellier: Yum!!!
-Whispering Canyon Cafe: VERY FUN atmosphere..food..average
-1900 Park Fare: really good
-Crystal Palace is really good for all 3 meals..a tip..lunch and dinner are almost the same..except lunch is $5 cheaper.
-Olivia's at OKW: Do not even bother
-Fulton's at DTD: Excellent, but really expensive.
-Marrakesh was yummy

I have heard that Liberty Tree Tavern is good (going there this summer)
Also heard: Blue Zoo at Swan or Dolphin is excellent and also, Cali grill, Artist Point, Jiko.

I know, so many choices.

I want to try Raglan Road or Cookes of Dublin at DTD this year.

Did you ever go to the menus on this site? That helps.

 

[Debbie6221]

Question: Do you like Citricos or Narcossess better? I made an ADR at Narcossees, but wondering which is better. Also Ohana's..what does it have for kids, the dinner? Been there for breakfast a few times

.

We went to Narcoossees for my Dad's 60th birthday (In 2003)and it was really nice. The view is the best! You have to get a window seat on the water. We actaully booked Citricos for my parents 40th Anniversary on accident thinking it was Narcossess. It was good too. It's in the main GF bulding. They are both very fancy and very pricey! We didn't care because we were on the dining plan at that point so we had already paid. You made a GOOD choice.

Ohana has some organized games at dinner time. Like hula hooping and limbo. No characters but the food is on skewers and the meat just keeps coming! I love it but a couple others in my fam think the meet is dry and my Mom thinks the meat is seasoned too spicey. I'm a piggy so I like that the food just keeps coming out (upon request).

DisneyOhana's name is LISA.
Be back later...all this talk about food is making me hungry.
How about this....

My DSs birthday dessert at the castle on his FIRST birthday. Note the chocolate cake in the background.

I know....
I am crazy!

 

[pbharris4]

You're not crazy..your a "foodie." Thanks for the 411 on Narcossees and O'Hanas!

 

[Debbie6221]

Have you seen the thread where people post all their WDW food pix???
It's craziness at it's finest!