Mommy & Me Girly Fun Bday 10/31 Last Day & AT home

[Marshay]

Welcome Home!!

Can't wait for details on this trip and your plan for January

Thank you!! I know you are getting super excited for your own countdown, too!

I'll start my Jan PTR as soon as I finish this one

 

[pld5]

Yes, we had an absolutely, amazing time!! I'm working on my pictures and uploading them to photobucket...should be starting this TR next week.

Also, I made my ressies for January 2013!! Trying a new resort for us.

Yay! You are back and had a great time! Anxiously awaiting your report.

 

[Marshay]

Yay! You are back and had a great time! Anxiously awaiting your report.

Thanks! I can't wait to share with you all!

 

[Marshay]

Well I finally got all my photos uploaded to PHotobucket. Will start the report tomorrow, I hope. PB was acting up so it took forever to get my photos.

Meantime, I'll post some teaser photos.

Can you guess where these were taken?

The first winner to correctly answer all the questions gets one free Mickey Ice Cream Bar from me, the next time we are both in WDW!!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

 

[kaoden39]

Okay I am total no nothing here but I will venture a guess. Are you at the Art of Animation? Well, now if you were at Disneyland I would answer as such,

1) Would be in the Animation Building, or Ariel's ride.
2) This would be Pirates Island formally known as Tom Sawyers Island.
3) The Dumbo ride, hands down!
4) DCA in Cars Land, but at WDW I am sure this is at the Art of Animation.
5) It would be in Ursala's Grotto.

 

[Marshay]

Okay I am total no nothing here but I will venture a guess. Are you at the Art of Animation? Well, now if you were at Disneyland I would answer as such,

1) Would be in the Animation Building, or Ariel's ride.
2) This would be Pirates Island formally known as Tom Sawyers Island.
3) The Dumbo ride, hands down!
4) DCA in Cars Land, but at WDW I am sure this is at the Art of Animation.
5) It would be in Ursala's Grotto.

Good guesses...a few are right,some are close and others are not. But ESP for not having been to WDW, great job.

I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to guess before giving the answers.

 

[Trentmom]

Well I finally got all my photos uploaded to PHotobucket. Will start the report tomorrow, I hope. PB was acting up so it took forever to get my photos.

Meantime, I'll post some teaser photos.

Can you guess where these were taken?

The first winner to correctly answer all the questions gets one free Mickey Ice Cream Bar from me, the next time we are both in WDW!!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

yay...Love games


1. Fantasmic
2. Tom Sawyer's Island
3. Dumbo
4. Art of Animations (Cars Section)
5. Maelstrom

 

[Marshay]

yay...Love games


1. Fantasmic
2. Tom Sawyer's Island
3. Dumbo
4. Art of Animations (Cars Section)
5. Maelstrom

Oooh, so close!

 

[Tallent]

1. Fantasmic
2. Tom Sawyer's Island
3. Casey Jr splash/play area
4. Art of Animations (Cars Section)
5. Maelstrom

 

[Marshay]

1. Fantasmic
2. Tom Sawyer's Island
3. Casey Jr splash/play area
4. Art of Animations (Cars Section)
5. Maelstrom

Oooooh, you are the closest!! Just one is wrong...#5.

 

[Tallent]

1. Fantasmic
2. Tom Sawyer's Island
3. Casey Jr splash/play area
4. Art of Animations (Cars Section)
5. Haunted Mansion

 

[Marshay]

1. Fantasmic
2. Tom Sawyer's Island
3. Casey Jr splash/play area
4. Art of Animations (Cars Section)
5. Haunted Mansion

Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!!!!

I just looked you up on my January thread and I didn't see your dates. Maybe I missed it. Will we be there at the same time? I'm going in the middle of January.

 

[Tallent]

Hmm, I'm part of one of the Jan threads and put my dates in but maybe it was a different one? We're going the 16-22. Don't worry about the Mickey Bar--that was fun!

 

[kaoden39]

Good guesses...a few are right,some are close and others are not. But ESP for not having been to WDW, great job.

I'll wait to see if anyone else wants to guess before giving the answers.

I should have known the Haunted Mansion.

 

[Marshay]

I should have known the Haunted Mansion.

I'm not sure if they have this in DL. That photo is actually from the new line queue..it's part of the tombstone of the captain.

 

[Marshay]

So this is our 5th trip on the Autotrain and we left on Monday, July 23rd.

Jerry left for work in the morning and my parents stayed until Elizabeth had a chance to run around. I had read her a book or two and she liked that. It really hit me that I wouldn't be seeing her for a week!

Elizabeth was COMPLETELY excited about going to spend time with Nana and Papa. She was ready to go, so off they went. That left about 45 minutes for Rachel and I to finish loading up the truck and pack a lunch. We left at 12:30pm and arrived at the Amtrak Autotrain station at 1:20pm. Hardly any traffic and what there was kept moving!!

Luckily we got the early 5pm dinner seating and just had to wait until 2:30pm to board. Here we are at the station. There were lots of people already at the station, I'd say about 2/3rd full.

Rachel and I ate our lunches and then we went outside to play.

This time we only had a 2 person roomette on the upper level. Once we dropped off our luggage and settled in for a bit, we went straight to the Lounge car for snacks ... and some wine.

I introduced Rachel to the game of Yahtzee and she liked that. We also played Disney Yahtzee, too while munching on crackers, veggies and fruit.

Oh, I forgot to mention: I realized I forgot money to tip the lady serving wine (wine is free), so I went back to our room. When I returned, I got back in line right away. As I passed in front of Rachel's table, I took a bite of my snack that I had left there. Well, so did the older lady behind me!!!

Yes, she just helped herself to my snack at the table. She had no clue that the food was there for Rachel but I guess she thought it was a community table. So I told her, 'excuse me, that is my food and my daughter is sitting at this table'.

And she didn't even apologize. Then she points to the large supply of food for everyone and asked me, "Is that yours, too?"

I just wrote it off to a clueless grandmother. But would you ever take food from someone's table, particularly if someone is still sitting there (even if it is a child?)

After she left everyone around us was chuckling at that. None of us could believe what she did.

We stayed about 1.5 hours enjoying the view and playing games and then went back to our room.

The train left the station at 3:38pm -- 22 minutes early, so hopefully this is a good sign. In January the train was late.

 

[Marshay]

I wanted to get a bunch of pictures b/c I knew this very special trip to Disney would never happen again. Jerry was so generous in letting us go and my parents were equally generous in taking care of Elizabeth.

I was more than thrilled to be taking this trip. What a special time for just Rachel and me. It was a perfect age (7yo) for her b/c she still believes in pixie dust and princesses and her mom!!

I know Rachel and I are bound to butt heads in the future ... a lot ... after all I did so with my mom (and who of us didn't). So this trip meant so much more than words can express. In fact, I'm crying all over again just remembering how much fun we had...

Ok, back to the story! Walking back to our room

Opening the doors between cars

So I got a picture of the bathroom...it's very similar to an airplane bathroom, but for those who are curious...here it is!

The roomette is just two seats facing each other with a big window. Rachel declared it the "best room ever". It is cozy but there is more room to spread out if you each put your legs to one side.

Rachel was getting a bit restless and said, "Let's make everyone close their doors". Uh, no!

Dinner was at 5pm and we were seated with another Mother/Daughter couple ... however the mother was in her 60/70s and the daughter was in her 40s.

Dinner for me was salad, rolls, wine, steak, baked potato, beans and Lemon Berry Torte.

 

[Marshay]

After dinner, we went back to our rooms to relax until it was time for the movie (and also time for our porter to change our seats into bunk beds).

So we discussed our plans for Disney and Rachel wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon during the afternoon so we could sleep in a bit that day ... because she wanted to do a 3-park-in-a-few-hours session the night before. I wasn't sure she would be up for it and figured by tomorrow she would change her mind or be too tired.

We then went to the see the movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth", with my guy Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, ate some cookies and hot chocolate and then back to our room for bed. We didn't stay for the whole movie since Rachel was getting tired.

 

[Marshay]

At 2:15am, Rachel tells me, "Stop it! I'm trying to listen to the train."

I say, "What?" but get no answer as Rachel was just talking in her sleep. When I tell her what she said in the morning, she thinks it is VERY funny!

At 7:15am, we eat breakfast with a couple from Florida who used to make sweaters for the Disney security and groundspeople. It's a Small World.

We arrive on-time at 9:30am and by 10:30am we are on the road to go to Walmart for food and souvies.

Then we see this lovely sign

and soon this one

I am looking forward to staying here as it is a new place for me. We are originally assigned to the 50s section but I asked to be in the 70s or 80s since these were the years that I remember as a kid. They have a room on the 3rd floor in the 70s, partially overlooking the water.

Of course I have to get a photo in front of my birth year

We get happy birthday buttons from CM Barb and she plays with Rachel's Sorceror Mickey that she had bought with her birthday money at our local store (25% off!!)

Then we take our luggage to the room,

Bathroom

We then eat some snacks and Rachel loves the towel animals. She hadn't had them previously b/c the DVC rooms don't get towel animals. (Little did I know that you are allowed to take the towel animals home with you ... or at least according to Unofficial Guide folks, you are). Had I known, I would have let her keep it. Oh well!

We get into our swimsuits and decide to check out the pools. Only when we opened the door, did we realize it is pouring!! Yep, that 3pm afternoon shower. Then it started to thunder so I knew the pools would closed.

Instead, Rachel reminds me that we should go to AK, then pick up SOTMK cards in MK and top off our night with Epcot EMH. Now remember it is already 3:30pm and that's a lot of parks to do in just a few hours.

But I figured by the time we get redressed and get everything ready for the parks, the rain will have stopped and maybe it also would have cleared out AK.

We arrived AK around 4pm. I don't have my Photopass pics yet, so will just skip those for now.

I love the signage at AK

You can see another birthday present Rachel bought with her money from Walmart -- a princess lanyard and pins! I bought her the Happy Birthday princess pin and she bought one with the princesses.

We pick up FP for Dinosaur and ride Triceratop Spin

Then Primeval Whirl 2x and Dinosaur. The park is not crowded.

Rachel and I share a kids meal at Restaurantasaurus (sp) and we go through the shops before leaving to go to MK.

Now it TRULY and REALLY hits me that we are in Walt Disney World -- on the ferry to Magic Kingdom.

 

[Trentmom]

I am really enjoying your report so far.

that is a riot about the lady eating snack off your table

Glad Elizabeth was so excited to take her own trip and not sad you guys were going

Can't wait to hear more about your 3 parks in one day mission