So what did I get for my birthday? Besides this wonderful trip? DH got me a labeler!
Ok, you may think its silly but I am an organized freak and I wanted one forever! I was thrilled! He actually snuck buying it for me while we were shopping with our friends in the beginning of the week! Im hard to surprise so props to him!
We were up at 6:45 am so we could get everything packed and into the lockers and make it my b-day breakfast at 9:10am at Goofys Kitchen!! I was very excited about getting there! I donned my birthday button that we picked up earlier that week and we were off. The lockers at the hotel only cost us 2 bucks to store all our stuff all day! Actually it ended up being a buck a locker but someone left 50 cents in one- yay for us! We walked thru DTD to the very lovely DL Hotel and relaxed by the Coffee Shop for a bit before checking in for our ressie. DH thought it funny that they tell you that you have only 90 minutes to eat. The food was yummy, every bit as good as I hoped! I really liked the selection of different things. We fiended over the eggs benedict! And OH the French Toast Creme Brule! We took a few plate pics
The place where Pluto usually is was empty but we had a CM take our pic anyway!
It was fun but there was no organization with the characters so we only saw a few of them. We were also very far from everything as well. Im glad we went because the food was great but if I was really into seeing characters then Id have been disappointed. We walked around the hotel a little checking out the Never Land pool area and some neat topiaries.
Anyone else think a gardener made a cruel joke here?
This was on the space by the pool entrance!
On the way back we saw this guy and DH had to get a pic!
We headed into the MK next. We were going to take the railroad to New Orleans Square and decided to stay on and relax. We rode it all the way from Main Street around and then to New Orleans Square. As we were getting of the train we saw a place called the Mint Juliep Bar
it drew us in! We found a seat in the French Market and had a much needed drink!
We went to the shooting game next, for DH, who loves his shooter games! He did pretty well but one quarter gets you like 30 seconds! We decided to take a ride on the Pirate Ship! I thought it was very neat! We went down below and checked it out and had a nice time riding around the waters. We took some shots of NOS and you can see how crazy the crowds were!
We said our silent good-byes to the MK and headed to our last stint at CA. We stopped at Bakersfield bakery and got me an iced coffee to wake me up some since all I had that day was Nescacrap with my breakfast. I had an iced Costa Rican blend and it was decent. We headed to air conditioned Animation Studio and went to see Turtle Talk with Crush. It was pretty neat. Worth a peek for sure. We had several more hours to kill so we decided to see about getting any old seats at the Aladdin show, since we saw it already. DH figured out how to tape it without it making other people crazy! Im so glad we taped it, it was great, again! The downfall was that there was no flying carpet part! Something must have been broken. The best part? It was 45 minutes! LOL. It was a long week and I love me some Disney but I was tired and missing my kitty and not looking fwd to the cross country flight home later. We took a few great shots of TOT (nope we never rode it cause DH isnt into the sinking feeling and I can live without it) from the top of the stairs at the Hyperion theater on the way out.
Heres DHs fav pic of the week that he took.
We figured getting something to eat so we dont waste too much money in the airport would be good. So on our way from the Hollywood Back Lot to the Pacific Warf café we saw the Block Party Bash! DH took these pics
and we have about 10 pics of the green army guy LOL. Heres the best of the lot.
And off for our last meal we were. I had wanted a bread bowl ever since I read about them on this here lovely DIS. So we each had bread bowls! I had the chicken salad and DH had the tuna. They were really yummy! Maybe nor deep enough but good. DH made a huge spectacle about eating his from the outside in and ended up with this strange looking thing but he ate it all in the end! We also got the Disney Visa Discount here too and they werent even on the list!!! Then alas it was time to head back to the hotel. On the way out a strange occurrence happened
a churro cart called our names and we were mysteriously drawn to it and mentally forced to buy one for each of us! Must have been the churro fairies! We reluctantly walked back to the hotel and got our luggage from the lockers. We went to the lobby to relax while we waited for our cab to get there. We had the hotel call for the cab earlier in the day. The car was actually early and was a town car not a yellow cab. It was a fast trip to the Long Beach airport, maybe 20 minutes! Unfortunately it cost us 60 bucks but we knew it going in and at that point I just wanted to get there and didnt care.
It was an odd airport, small to say the least after being in LaGuardia and LAX and even Denver the past week. We went to check our bag and it was over weight by about 8 pounds so we opened up the suitcase right there and used the extra bag I brought just for this reason, and filled it up. We made the weight limit with no extra charge. We did bring our dirty laundry on the plane but it was easy to grab! LOL. We made it thru security and after almost stopping at several spots we found our gate and relaxed. Our flight left at 930pm. We had to walk out on the tarmac to get to it. Weird. The seats were decent and the fact that we had TV this time saved my life. I settled in to some home decorating shows with my stitch plush and we were off for our 6 hour flight.
The only other story I have for you is about our cab ride home. We left a little late from LBA so we landed at about 6am our time. We had called the cab company at home(the same one we used to get to the airport a week ago) and arranged for them to pick us up at 6am. We also had a coupon we mentioned on the phone and they told us no problem. It was a coupon for $35 for the ride. When we landed KC calls them to say it will be a few until we get our luggage. Turns out the guy sent them to our house not the airport but he said no problem hed send someone now. So by the time we get our luggage the guy should be there, its a 20 minute drive. We got out about ½ hour later and they had called the guy was looking for us. We finally find him and he seems fine, asks us what happened and says he had to drive around because they wouldnt let him stop. At the time I had $40 bucks in my wallet (this should have been enough for ride and tip). We had used the credit card for everything because I hate to bring cash when we travel. So we get to our house and they guy says $65 bucks! HUH??!!! He proceeds to say something about waiting time and parking and some other load of total whooey. We go so far as to call the company (which is 2 blocks from our apt) and they say they didnt realize we had the coupon and that a pick up is more so the fare is $45. Thats fine no problem. I hang up. We dont have enough so KC goes around the corner to the ATM. When he gets back he asks the guy if he has change of a $20, he says NO and still insists that we owe him $65. I am screaming, DH is telling me to chill repeatedly. KC tells him I will give you 50, NO MORE. But with no change we just literally threw $60 bucks at him and cursed our way home. I called the company shaking with anger and told them the story and he said hed talk to the guy. Whatever!. So he got a 20 dollar tip when I wouldnt have tipped him at all.
Once we got home and cleaned up the cat puke and the litter box and gave the cat some much needed water and love we passed out for many, many hours!!!! The End!
Thanks all for reading this! I am in the process of planning our next trip which went from being our 3rd anniversary trip to a 2 part trip of anniv and bringing as many friends as we can convert to Disney lovers with us! Look for it on the WDW TR boards!
) It Tough to be a Bug (my bum!) and got some Tortillas! I wanted to go again but DW said we should go back to DL we are gonna eat soon. I forgot it was in Blue Bayou. It was sooooooo nice. The scenery, the boats, the mint julep, the holy cow that is alot of food we just shared. We were a little rusty on the food porn so alot of the pictures are food mostly enjoyed. The gumbo is great! The prime rib was great! The mint julep was great! And we got to keep the menu! Blue Bayou FTW!
But hey, a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do.
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for your DH on the job interviews.
So we went on the carousel because it was empty in the whole area. Cali Screamin doesnt start to run until 1pm so we had a nice peaceful morning over there. We searched out some pressed pennies in the shops over there. We also had the Great Sun Wheel Debate, as we have dubbed it. DH really wanted to go on this! I, however, am not a ride person generally. I will go on anything Disney tho, I trust Walt. *giggles*. He swears itll be fun and that we should try it in the stationary cars. I am also not fond of heights; he tells me itll be fine. I tell him he should go on it if he wants and its fine with me, Id be fine sitting it out. I try to remind him that when we have gone on the ferris wheel in the Toys-R-Us store in Times Square in NYC (its inside the store) I freak out! He proceeds to give me a guilt trip about how he wants to go on with me, not alone. To this I give him blah blah blah and we walk on. LOL! Sorry KC, I aint goin on no sun wheel! 
Not recommending this ride. We decided to go get our 5 X &s so we didnt forget, apparently you get 24 hours to pick them up. The only place you can pick them up was Greetings from California. So we go to one counter and they send us to another. That CM adds the little graphics for us and we got 2 different versions of the same shot. It was free so whatever, its of no consequence to me. So they send us to another counter to pick them up. When we get there that CM sends us to another place
the mission for some free photos was nits! We just started thinking of it as a mission and once we reached the cashier with the pics KC said to her The hot dogs are ready, thats the password. She didnt get it but I thought it was hilarious! 
These would not be our last churros of the trip either. 
