Lost Moms, SPF 80, and RideMax Plans, Oh My! A May 2010 Trip Report-FINAL Update 8/23

I apologize because this will be a short, pictureless update.

When we arrived back at Kidani, we both napped for awhile. I woke up first and felt much better. I went down to the Johari Treasures shop while Mom was still asleep to refill my mug and buy a snack. My snack of choice? Minnie's Bake Shop cookies in White Chocolate Raspberry and Chocolate Peanut Butter. I had half of each and saved the other halves for mom. These cookies were huge and delicious. I would never have guessed they were prepackaged! Once Mom woke up we ate some frozen dinners I had ordered from Garden Grocer.

We decided to go over to Jambo House and try out the Uzima Springs Pool. We took the brief walk over, and found some lounge chairs. I really preferred the Kidani Pool (Samawati Springs). The Jambo House pool was much louder, the slide looked slower though I didn't go down it, and from the pool, you could see the whole slide: it was short and boring. We were also confused by the pool hours. It said the pool closed at 8, but it was definitely after 8 when we were there. We just bobbed around for awhile and had a conversation about "interactive dads." Being someone who rarely sees her father, this was a strange thing. So many dads seemed to be interacting with their kids and having fun. In fact, I think we only saw 2 dads the whole trip who were ignoring their kids in favor of their iPhone or other distraction. Mom said if my father had been there when I was younger, he would have been playing/swimming with me, but always looking around to see who was watching him be a "good dad."

Anyway, it was at the Jambo House pool that I heard the title quote: "Lauren, can we swim under people?" a little girl said to her slightly older sister. :rotfl: We stayed at the pool for about 45 minutes, and then headed back to Kidani. I stopped in the gift shop again and bought a bag of chip & dale's mickey head shaped cheese crackers. Yummy! We probably watched some TV and talked about what we did that day/wanted to do tomorrow.

A hint: tomorrow brings lots of shopping! That's right, we'd be going to Downtown Disney, another first. How much would we buy? What would we think of DisneyQuest? Where else would we go?

"I Don't Understand This!"
 
Awesome updates! That is so cool that you were the first person on TSM that day!! Majorly jealous of that! I love your pics with Woody and Buzz too, they really are big flirts. When I met Woody on my last trip he was a total flirt as well, he kissed me then proceeded to try and walk away with me:rotfl:

Can't wait to read more!
 

I love hearing about your trip!
The mickey cheese crackers sound so good. :)
 
Awesome updates! That is so cool that you were the first person on TSM that day!! Majorly jealous of that! I love your pics with Woody and Buzz too, they really are big flirts. When I met Woody on my last trip he was a total flirt as well, he kissed me then proceeded to try and walk away with me:rotfl:

Can't wait to read more!
Yes, I was amazed that I was that lucky first person. The hour wait at the turnstiles was so worth it! Woody & Buzz were definitely amongst the flirtiest characters I met!

¡WDW!girlrox(:;37592959 said:
I love hearing about your trip!
The mickey cheese crackers sound so good. :)

Thanks! The cheese crackers were very good, and there were a ton of them. I think it was $3.95 for the bag.
 
FOOLISHNESS?! The AIE filming is definitely not foolishness. LOL! You know you participated in it. ;)

How awesome you were the first one on TSM! Very cool.

I have to admit I kind of like Hannah Montana too. Miley Cyrus not so much (ok, except for maybe a couple of her songs...:rolleyes1) but the show is entertaining.

Can't wait for more!
 
Friday was our designated day to shop til we dropped! We headed over to Jambo House to eat breakfast at Mara. We got the Breakfast Bounty Platter (scrambled eggs, Mickey waffle, potatoes, bacon, sausage, biscuit), a fruit cup, a bottle of apple juice, and a bottle of water. The platter was more than enough to feed us both. Everything was great! I had a bite of the eggs because I'm normally not an egg person, but mom said they were out of this world, so I had to try them. She was right, they were really good. The fruit was really fresh, the sausage was huge, the biscuit was soft and delicious. :cloud9: The apple juice was also very large. Unfortunately, in our hunger, I forgot to take a picture. :headache:

After our meal, we walked out the front doors of Jambo and over to their bus stop. The bus didn't take too long to arrive, but since that is the only bus that stops at Jambo first, we also had to stop at Kidani and Typhoon Lagoon. The driver was awful. She was unfriendly, a really hard braker, wouldn't turn off the speaker that got stuck and kept repeating the same sentence (we thought maybe she couldn't override it, but the same thing happened at another point in the trip and the driver shut it off. :confused3). There was a couple on the bus with a kid and we were all making "is this for real?" faces at each other. The man said "After this we won't need to go on any rides!" The driver may have heard him.:rolleyes1 When we arrived at Downtown Disney, we didn't really want to get off at Marketplace because we were going to DisneyQuest, but we were too afraid to ask if she'd be going to Pleasure Island, so we got off.

As we made our way across the Marketplace, Mom saw all these shops she wanted to go in and I assured her we'd get to them later. We did come across a "pick a pearl" stand, so we stopped there. Before our trip I had seen on the DIS that you could get a Cinderella Carriage pearl holder for $3.50 on ebay, so I did. My pearl is kind of small, but white. After that, we crossed PI and finally made our way to DQ. I wasn't sure why there was such a long line to get in, but it was in the hot sun, so mom went into the shop to look around. Turns out there were TWO groups of school kids there. :scared1: :mad: Well, we got in, waited for the "Cybrolator" and arrived on the third floor "ventureport". I really wanted to try Buzz Lightyears Astroblasters so we set off in search of that. Even with the map, we got lost and had to find a CM to send us in the right direction. When we arrived, we found that one of the school groups was there as well. It wasn't too long of a wait, but when the CM was giving the instructions over the mic we couldn't understand him, so when the ride began (According to allears: These are the bumper cars of the future. Two people team up in each car -- one to steer and one to shoot balls at the targets on the other cars. If you're hit, your car will spin out of control!) we didn't know how to pick up the ammo. It was just a bad experience. After that, we decided that although there were other things we wanted to try, we didn't like DQ enough to fight the groups, plus it was very loud and dark. We stopped at the bathroom on the way out. Once we got outside, I realized that once again my sunglasses were missing. :headache: There was no way I was going back to try and find them, so we decided to just by new ones. (I had them hooked on my shirt, and the hinges were loose, so they kept falling off whenever I bent over).

We stopped at Sunglass Icon, which was so expensive. Who goes to Disney to buy $200+ sunglasses?! Not me. The manager's name was Gretchen as well, so we had a conversation about that. She said she was Puerto Rican and Dutch. Her parents had given her the middle name of Ina, short for Inskay, the name of a relative. Her Puerto Rican cousins always called her Gretchenina, because is Spanish, "ina" added onto a word is a term of endearment. They never realized it was actually her middle name!

After not purchasing sunglasses, we stopped at Candy Cauldron. As we had walked by the first time, Mom saw them making chocolate covered strawberries through the window, so we had to stop and get some.
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Next we stopped at Magnetron, which was a really cool store. We each got a magnet. Mom's says "You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely!" and mine says something like "friends are the people who know all about you and like you anyway." While we were shopping, mom wasn't feeling well (her blood sugar was dropping) so she went outside to sit and eat a strawberry. Here's some pictures I took of the West Side.

RideMakerz is Build a Bear with toy cars:
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Inside Candy Cauldron, it's themed to the evil queen's lair from Snow White:
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And of course, we all know what this is:
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We decided that Mom needed to eat some real food, so we headed over to Marketplace. Not a fun walk in the heat. Thankfully, mom did not pass out on me. :thumbsup2 We went into the air conditioning at Wolfgang Puck Express. They had changed their menu from the one on allears, but we decided to split the Margherita Pizza:
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This pizza was gigantic. It was literally more than a foot in diameter and soooo yummy. Here's a picture. (Sorry that 1/2 of it is gone, my camera wasn't cooperating when it was first dropped off).

After we ate, Mom was feeling better. We went outside and there was a little stand there selling sunglasses! I bought a pair that had teal blue frames, and a little mickey head on one lens. I think they were $17.95. (These lasted the rest of the trip...unfortunately, they broke right around the time I started my summer job).

"I can tell you from experience, it don't taste like neither!"
 
We decided that we wanted to take the boat to Port Orleans and look around. That is another resort we want to stay at, for a shorter trip (we looked into it for next October, and renting DVC is still cheaper!). I've always wanted to stay at French Quarter and Mom wanted to stay at Riverside. We walked over to the boat dock and had to wait about 15 minutes for a boat to come. The trip was relaxing and breezy. We also got some nice photos, including some of the Treehouse Villas (though those aren't the nicest pictures):
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We disembarked at French Quarter and walked around, and explored the gift shop.
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We walked over to Riverside, and after looking around, Mom decided she'd also rather stay at French Quarter. We took more pictures at Riverside, and sat on a bench in front of Oak Manor for awhile.
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It's a tiny palm tree!
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We stopped at Riverside Mill to use the bathroom and get a drink. The toilets had old fashioned pull chains! Not the automatic sensor ones like everywhere else! When we first entered Riverside Mill, it seemed to be pretty dead; almost every single table was empty. As we headed towards the refrigerated section, we could see why. Everyone was in line! They had ONE register open and the line was curving around to the food stations. No thanks, we'll wait until we get back to Downtown Disney to get a drink! As we left, we could see the boat at the dock, and we just caught it. As we were making our way back along the river, the captain said "Sassagoula means Mississippi. Now, see how brown the water is? Well, Disney dies it that color. Some say it looks like Coca Cola; others, iced tea. Well, I can tell you from experience it don't taste like neither!" :rotfl:
I took a picture of the brown water, and mom wanted a picture of the Spanish moss.
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We arrived back at Downtown Disney relaxed but thirsty, and our first stop was to get a couple bottles of water before we continued our shopping.

Yes, we are those people with the matching shirts!
 
FOOLISHNESS?! The AIE filming is definitely not foolishness. LOL! You know you participated in it.

How awesome you were the first one on TSM! Very cool.

I have to admit I kind of like Hannah Montana too. Miley Cyrus not so much (ok, except for maybe a couple of her songs...:rolleyes1) but the show is entertaining.

Can't wait for more!

Ugh, it was just too early for me to be excited about anything. Especially a show that I don't even watch. ;) I haven't seen any of the new Hannah Montana episodes. Somehow I keep missing them. Lilly and Jackson are the whole reason I watch that show. They're just too funny!

Loving the report!!

Thanks!
 
Another awesome update!

I sometimes think the shopping at WDW is more fun than the attractions themselves.

Great pics of Port Orleans, it seems like such a nice resort:goodvibes
 
Another awesome update!

I sometimes think the shopping at WDW is more fun than the attractions themselves.

Great pics of Port Orleans, it seems like such a nice resort:goodvibes

Yeah, we did have a good time shopping and we bought a bunch of cool stuff on this trip. Port Orleans was very nice; peaceful and quaint. I'd really like to stay there, but if renting DVC points keeps proving to be the cheaper option, we'll stick with that.
 
thats very interesting about the water, was he joking or actually being serious!? haha
 
So I am at the part of your TR where you feel that you don't belong at the GF. My family and I felt the same way. We're not posh enough. Haha! That's okay, when it comes to deluxe resorts, I'd rather stay at Contemporary or Animal Kingdom. Also, the shirt you are wearing at Hollywood Studios is sooo cuuuute! Where did you buy it!?
 
thats very interesting about the water, was he joking or actually being serious!? haha

I think he was serious about it being dyed, and I'm sure it probably doesn't taste good, but whether or not he's actually had experience, I have no idea if he was joking or not.

So I am at the part of your TR where you feel that you don't belong at the GF. My family and I felt the same way. We're not posh enough. Haha! That's okay, when it comes to deluxe resorts, I'd rather stay at Contemporary or Animal Kingdom. Also, the shirt you are wearing at Hollywood Studios is sooo cuuuute! Where did you buy it!?

Yeah, we much preferred the feel of AKL and the Poly. Actually, GF is really the only deluxe that I've never wanted to stay at. Thanks! I used to work at KMart, several years ago, and I bought it there. I doubt they make it anymore unfortunately and I've worn mine so many times that it's on the verge of needing to be thrown out. :sad1:
 
After we got our water :drinking: we went to Design-a-Tee. We wanted to make matching shirts. They weren't as expensive as I was expecting. I think mine was about $27, and it included a picture and up to four lines of writing. I thought it would be x amount for the shirt, then x for the picture and x for each line. One thing that also surprised me was that for whatever reason, the larger sizes had more color options?! :confused3 Well, we settled on pink, and I have pictures from later in the evening. We gave our order to the CM, who told us to come back after 5 to pick them up. We looked around in the scrapbook store that adjoins Design-a-Tee but didn't really find anything. We also browsed in the Christmas shop.

I saw Mickey's Mart, that little breezeway between Goofy's and Pooh Corner where everything is $10 or less. I thought it might no longer be there because it wasn't on the map, but it was! We bought 4 things for my brother that totaled $10: High School Musical pens, a poster, and the junior novel, and a Camp Rock journal.

Here's a picture of mom outside Pooh Corner:
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Next we headed to World of Disney, where we took more cool pictures, I bought a shirt I thought was cool, and Mom bought some earrings she really liked (they were Mickey head studs that had things dangling off them).
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And of course, the obligatory Lego dragon & family photos:
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Next we headed over to Ghirardelli for some ice cream. We decided to share the Very Berry Sundae. This is the description from allears: Very Berry Sundae - strawberry cheesecake ice cream smothered with sliced strawberries under a layer of vanilla ice cream with blueberry topping, whipped cream, our chocolate-covered blueberries and a chocolate dipped waffle roll $7.95 This was huge and delicious. We polished it off in no time.
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Next on our list was:
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These Mickey & Minnie rice crispie treat heads could be yours for only $50 each!
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I selected the pretzel rods and mom chose the rice crispie treat.
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Our last stop was Earl of Sandwich to get dinner to take back to the room with us. We got the Original 1762 (roast beef, melted cheddar, and horseradish sauce) with a side of coleslaw. Everything was delicious. The roast beef was obviously fresh, and even an hour later, the sandwich was still warm!
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Finally, we picked up our shirts from Design-a-Tee and headed back to the bus stop. We waited about 25 minutes for one, which then stopped at the Pleasure Island stop as well.

When we got back to the hotel, I ate my half of the sandwich, and then went swimming. Tinker Bell was playing, which I had just watched the previous week! I didn't stay out long. Mom was doing laundry (one of the perks of Kidani is the free laundry room if you're in a studio) which I finished up. Very nice room, it even had a large flat screen TV.

Here are the photos of our shirts, and the one I bought from World of Disney.
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That shirt has significantly less glitter on it now then it did then. Actually, I wore it to Friendly's the other night, and the waitress said "I have that shirt! Did you get it in Disney World?" :rotfl: She said she was there in March. Small world!

Tomorrow would be Epcot: World Showcase. I did not have a RideMax plan, but made one myself using the Times Guide. How would we do? How many characters would we meet? Which one would I have a connection to? And what mishap would occur?

"Da? What am I, a little Jewish boy?"
 
Loving your report so far! That sundae you got looks good... although a bit melted. It's as if it was so hot out they couldn't keep the ice cream frozen! Great t-shirts. It sounds like you had a great shopping day :thumbsup2
 












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