More Fun Than Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock-Adventures of the Sweet 16!New8-15

[dismagiclover]

What a lovely Epcot evening! I love the World Showcase at night. It seems so relaxing. Excellent move to browse around and miss the crowd. We've done that in the MK after the fireworks and it definitely works.

 

[belle8306]

Jen,
I am glad you guys enjoyed HSM. It was nice of them to give Haley a bear. That will be a special memory for her.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

Love to read about guys who like SHOPPING!!

Yes, he does! My dad thinks there's something wrong with him sometimes...

What a lovely Epcot evening! I love the World Showcase at night. It seems so relaxing. Excellent move to browse around and miss the crowd. We've done that in the MK after the fireworks and it definitely works.

It's so much more enjoyable than rushing out and standing in line for the buses!

Jen,
I am glad you guys enjoyed HSM. It was nice of them to give Haley a bear. That will be a special memory for her.

We're now watching HSM 2...we've already watched HSM 1 earlier. I think she's hooked! It was a way to bribe her into doing a deep clean of her room!

 

[belle8306]

Wednesday

*I am sorry some of the pictures in this update are so large. Photobucket was being difficult and I didn't want to wait to finish this.

When I last left off we were going to sleep after a busy day at MK and DTD. This morning we got to sleep in a little. Our plans for the day included some resort touring, exploring World Showcase with lunch at LeCellier. We started off the day meeting up with Sue, Stoney and UT. I heard about the drama in the laundry room. Yikes! I am glad I avoided all of that.

Our plan was to tour the Boardwalk area resorts. I have never been there and I was looking forward to getting to see everything. We got on the bus to DHS pretty quickly. I like how CBR is so centrally located to all of the parks.

We headed over to catch the Friendship boats to the Epcot resorts. The ride was peaceful. Soon, we were seeing the resorts coming into view.
The boat captain told us that the quickest way to get the Boardwalk was to get off at the Swan and Dolphin and walk across the bridge.

The grounds around the Swan and Dolphin are very pretty. We headed over to the Boardwalk area.

Here is Kat Cora's restaurant for any Iron Chef fans.

The candy store didn't open until 1:00. Which was kind of strange.

We cooled off at the Screendoor General Store. It was cute inside. Plus, Tim was able to trade some pins.

We got a snack and some ice water at the Boardwalk Bakery. Tim and I shared a cheesecake brownie. It was very good. They have a small seating area that had some shaded seating. We were able to enjoy our snack and take in the view.

We decided that we wanted to head on over to Epcot next. I didn't realize what a short walk it is. In no time at all we were going through security.
This is where we saw something strange. There was a man walking around without a shirt on. Yes, it was VERY hot that day, but I am pretty sure Disney has a shirt policy. There isn't a really nice way to say that this man was very hairy. We spotted some restrooms and we decide to take a break before moving on into Epcot. The guys go into the restroom and our shirtless friend was in there. Except, this time he was also pantless too. Yep, apparently he dropped trou right in the middle of the restroom and was wiping himself down with paper towels. I am not sure why he didn't use a stall to do this. I am just thankful that I didn't have to witness it myself.

So, after that weird experience we were ready to move on to more scenic views. We headed into World Showcase and went into France first.

We wandered through shops and stopped to look at things and take pictures. We took our time in each of the countries. Eventually, we made it into Japan. We decided to check out the pearl area where Sue was going to get her pearl later. There was no one waiting and the girl that was working was very helpful and friendly. We told her we would be back and we continued on. We wandered through the store checking out some of the unique items. My FIL loves shrimp and I found shrimp flavored potato chips. They were only a dollar so he gave them a try. Let me say that they didn't smell very good. Tim and I did try them and the shrimp flavor was there but it wasn't very powerful. My FIL enjoyed them so that is what matters.

We made it almost to Germany and we decided that we should start heading toward Canada so we weren't late for our ADR. We explored the UK area and met some nice CM's in the tea store. Sue bought some shortbread. We tried some of it later and it was very good. It was getting close to our ADR time so we went to Canada. I never noticed how pretty the gardens outside of LeCellier are.

I would like to stay in that little cottage.

We checked in at LeCellier and we sat in the wonderful AC until the rest of our group arrived. It seemed like as soon as we were in the restaurant it started raining. Luckily, the rain had passed by the time we left. We were seated with Sue and Stoney in a corner both. Tim and I ordered the Taste of LeCellier. We had the cheese soup, prime rib sandwich, and the chocolate mouse. For drinks, I had a smoothie and he had a milkshake. Everything was really good. The pretzel bread was wonderful. At one point Will came back to visit us.

After our lunch we headed back over to Japan to do the pearl picking.
We listened to Off Kilter and watched Will boogie down. Then we stopped for a photo pass picture. We made our way into Japan and it was packed. This was me. Around this time Tim wasn't feeling very good. I don't know if it was the heat or being surrounded by people in a warm store, but he needed a break. So, we told Sue what was going on and she let us know it was fine if we left. We headed towards Futureworld and we found a place with AC where we could sit and rest. After about 20 minutes he was feeling much better. The sky however, was looking pretty dark. We decided to head back to the room.

As we got up to the bus stop, who do we see, but our group! I guess we timed our break just right. We hopped on the bus and made it back to our room to rest. I didn't take any pictures of the rest of the evening.

That night Bryan, Jen, Elaine and Dee went back to see Illuminations. After our long park day and with the sky looking kind or ominous we decided to stay back and help watch the kids.

We wanted to get dinner at the foodcourt. First, I started a couple of loads of laundry with Sue. Then we took the kids over to eat. Tim sat with Will, and I took Haley to get her dinner. I think Sue took Jack to get his. We met back up at our table and then took turns getting our dinners. While we were eating, UT joined us. Sue and I went back to check on our laundry and to get the kids changed into their swimsuits.

The sky was still cloudy, but since it wasn't raining we decided to go ahead and go to the pool. The kids had a blast swimming. They played by the waterfall in the pool. Sue went in the pool with them. I was content to watch from a lounge chair. We headed back to the room and picked our laundry up on our way. We hung out in Sue and Stoney's room for a while and then left so the kids could go to sleep. It was nice to have a relaxing evening at the resort.

Up next:
Adventures at Downtown Disney
1900 Park Fare
Summer Nightastic

 

[Queenofallthings]

What a great update! Sounds like a fantastic day....lunch at Le Cellier, yummy!!

Sorry about your meltdown, but we've all had them, as much as we hate to admit it, it's a fact! I have had a few not so proud moments myself there, but hey, we get over them pretty fast, how can't we when we're at the happiest place on earth

 

[Lady Lallie]

Sorry about the annoying kids at the dinner theater. Things like that annoy me, you have to teach your kids how to act in situations like that. I agree with you. How very nice of the lady at the other table to buy Haley a stuffed animal. Very sweet, a nice moment.

I'm so glad you were able to go back to Epcot and enjoy it.

I love the shirts from this day, they are very simple yet really cute!

I think sometimes the heat and crowds can overwhelm you. You just need to get into some AC and have some space!

 

[dismagiclover]

Shelley I loved this update! One of my favorite areas at Disney is the Epcot resort area so I loved seeing all those pictures! I was a bit suprised when you mentioned the Pick a Pearl place was empty. You must have been there early. Everytime I've noticed it is craziness there. (Which it sounds like it was when you went back.) I love how you explored the World Showcase. I love doing that too!

 

[belle8306]

What a great update! Sounds like a fantastic day....lunch at Le Cellier, yummy!!

Sorry about your meltdown, but we've all had them, as much as we hate to admit it, it's a fact! I have had a few not so proud moments myself there, but hey, we get over them pretty fast, how can't we when we're at the happiest place on earth

LeCellier was great! We really enjoyed our meal there.

Sorry about the annoying kids at the dinner theater. Things like that annoy me, you have to teach your kids how to act in situations like that. I agree with you. How very nice of the lady at the other table to buy Haley a stuffed animal. Very sweet, a nice moment.

I'm so glad you were able to go back to Epcot and enjoy it.

I love the shirts from this day, they are very simple yet really cute!

I think sometimes the heat and crowds can overwhelm you. You just need to get into some AC and have some space!

I think the shirts turned out great. We got a lot of compliments on them. I think AC makes everything seem better.

Shelley I loved this update! One of my favorite areas at Disney is the Epcot resort area so I loved seeing all those pictures! I was a bit suprised when you mentioned the Pick a Pearl place was empty. You must have been there early. Everytime I've noticed it is craziness there. (Which it sounds like it was when you went back.) I love how you explored the World Showcase. I love doing that too!

Exploring World Showcase is one of my favorite things to do. I couldn't believe that there was no one at the pearl place in the morning. It was pretty crazy when we went back. I liked getting a chance to see the Epcot resorts. We didn't make it over to the Yacht and Beach club so maybe we will do that next time.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

What a great update! Sounds like a fantastic day....lunch at Le Cellier, yummy!!

Sorry about your meltdown, but we've all had them, as much as we hate to admit it, it's a fact! I have had a few not so proud moments myself there, but hey, we get over them pretty fast, how can't we when we're at the happiest place on earth

Le Cellier was definitely yummy! I'm glad we got a chance to try it!

Sorry about the annoying kids at the dinner theater. Things like that annoy me, you have to teach your kids how to act in situations like that. I agree with you. How very nice of the lady at the other table to buy Haley a stuffed animal. Very sweet, a nice moment.

I'm so glad you were able to go back to Epcot and enjoy it.

I love the shirts from this day, they are very simple yet really cute!

I think sometimes the heat and crowds can overwhelm you. You just need to get into some AC and have some space!

We all really enjoyed those shirts - we got a lot of compliments on them, too! Tim did a great job with them!

Shelley I loved this update! One of my favorite areas at Disney is the Epcot resort area so I loved seeing all those pictures! I was a bit suprised when you mentioned the Pick a Pearl place was empty. You must have been there early. Everytime I've noticed it is craziness there. (Which it sounds like it was when you went back.) I love how you explored the World Showcase. I love doing that too!

It was definitely more crowded when we went back!




Shelley, those were great pictures! It's funny how we were there at the same time and yet did so many different things! I think that's why it worked so well, though. I'm glad you got to see the Boardwalk resorts - that's on my list for next trip! DH has decided he wants to resort hop too...but the resort he mentioned was ASMo. He wants to go back and show Will the big Toy Story figures. I'd like to actually tour the ones I haven't stayed at yet! I think I'll be able to convince him, though. I wasn't sure I wanted to head to the Boardwalk in the evening, since that's when it'd be busiest, but I guess if I want to see everything, I shouldn't go in the morning! That surprised me, too!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

to many updates for me to comment on individually so i will say great updates, and score on the twin pearls.

that was one thing we wanted to do, but did not get to, actually we forgot to do it, did not remember till we were already on the next day.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Congrats on finding sale items while at Disney! I can sniff out a sale rack with the best of 'em but it makes me all the prouder when I find them at Disney.

The pictures of Boardwalk are really pretty. We've never made it over there but always say we want to. I'm a fan of Iron Chef so it was cool to see the picture of Kat Cora's restaurant.

Ummmm, what was up with the man dropping all of his clothes and wiping himself down? Yuck and double yuck!

I've had a bag of those shrimp chips before and didn't care for them too terribly much.

 

[belle8306]

Congrats on finding sale items while at Disney! I can sniff out a sale rack with the best of 'em but it makes me all the prouder when I find them at Disney.

The pictures of Boardwalk are really pretty. We've never made it over there but always say we want to. I'm a fan of Iron Chef so it was cool to see the picture of Kat Cora's restaurant.

Ummmm, what was up with the man dropping all of his clothes and wiping himself down? Yuck and double yuck!

I've had a bag of those shrimp chips before and didn't care for them too terribly much.

My MIL is the best at finding great deals. She found the 50% off sweatshirts and later .49 postcards.

I would like to see the Boardwalk at night, when more things are open.

As for the man in the bathroom, that was a very weird experience! I am glad I didn't have to witness it!!

The shrimp chips weren't the best thing I have ever tasted. They have some very interesting flavors of chips. We also tried the Hello Panda cookies and those were very good.

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

It was no problem to wake Haley today – it was Bippity Boppity Boutique day! She was so excited! We gave her a quick shower, and then got her into the dress that Norah had bought for both her and Ruby (there's a picture in a few minutes). We hopped on a bus for Downtown Disney - the bus service was really improving at this point- with two very excited girls in tow. This morning, it was just our little group, Norah, and Ruby.

We headed straight for the World of Disney. Call me a little dense…I’d never really paid attention to the decoration at each door of this store. I always get pretty lost inside! But Bryan is much more observant that I am, and he’d put two and two together. It turns out that the wing of the store with BBB has this on top of it…

Who’d a thunk?

Anyway, the girls’ eyes were huge. It was pretty busy that morning.

As we were waiting in line to check in, we got to see a little princess – I’m guessing she was the first appointment of the day – “open” Downtown Disney. I didn’t get to see the entire ceremony, since I was in line, but what a cute idea!

When it was our turn at the podium, they asked what package Haley was getting and what her sizes were and how we would be paying. I knew that there was another CM talking to Haley, but I didn’t think about it. It turned out that she was asking Haley which princess she wanted to be. I was under the impression that we’d get to look at the dresses, but I guess not. Haley had talked about dressing up as Tiana when we'd been planning. However, she all of a sudden told the CM (without us realizing it) that she wanted to be Jasmine, which coincidentally is what Ruby was getting. Don’t get me wrong – I think the Jasmine costume is cute. But I didn’t like the idea of her running around Disney all day long in a middrift (and her Daddy REALLY wasn’t sold on the idea). It took me a little while, but I finally convinced her to get what she wanted, and not to try to be just like Ruby (she didn’t like the idea of her stomach showing all day, either, when we pointed it out to her). The CM wasn’t thrilled when I told her Haley had changed her mind, but for the price I was paying, darn it, we were going to like her outfit! This was the only blip in the entire experience – we just felt a little rushed at the beginning, and so had to ask them to make the last- minute change.

Both girls loved opening the door to their “dressing room” and finding their costumes…

And then they were both in their “beauty chairs!”

What were Will and Jack doing during all of this, you might ask? Well….Will was tattooing himself with a pen we’d given him (apparently the paper just wasn’t as interesting)

And Jack decided to play paparazzi. He was super excited to be able to use the camera, which we don’t usually do. He took some very…interesting…pictures. I deleted the 15 or so he took of various toys (they weren’t nearly as creative as Shelley’s pictures of the displays in the stores, trust me!), but these are some of them.

As you can see, Mom and Aunt Dee caught up with us about halfway through. Mom became one of Jack’s favorite subjects.

At this point, Haley’s Fairy Godmother in Training (who was awesome, by the way), was doing her hair. I admit, I was pleased she’d picked this hairstyle instead of something with pink fake hair cascading around her face!

Ruby’s hair was being done, too…

And here she is, all done up and in her dress and sash…

There’s a picture on the Photopass CD of her during her “big reveal” when they finally turned her toward the mirror. I’ll have to post it once I get them. Hers was a bit more understated than Ruby’s (her mouth dropped open – it was just terrific), but you could see how excited she was. I know this is expensive, and I really balked at the idea of doing it at first – my mom had to convince me. But I am SOOOO glad that we did it. She got the outfit (dress, shoes, wand, crown), haircomb-crown, a jeweled Mickey pin that was in the back of her hair,

two things of nail polish, all the makeup they’d used on her, and a few of those glittery jewel-stickers for her face. Plus, we got a photo shoot where we took home five prints, and the rest of the pictures are on our Photopass card. I think you do get a lot for the money. And there’s no way to put a price tag on how she felt that day. Everyone called her princess, and she got lots of extra attention. We got her a birthday button as well, since this was her birthday present. I don’t think she could have had a more special day! We stopped outside by Cinderella to take some pictures, but as you can tell it was pretty bright that day!

Continued nest post...

 

[FairyGodmotherJen]

After Haley was done, DH took Jack to the Lego store,

and then to his big event: build-your-own-lightsaber!

He was so into this. He’d been saying all along that he wanted a double-bladed one. DH wanted him to build a regular one, and I guess he hemmed and hawed, but ended up with the double-bladed on in the end (although the one he finally bought had green blades...). All this time, Will had sat patiently in his stroller, then wandered a few stores with Aunt Dee in his little monkey backpack/child leash thing (yes, I broke down and got one).

(Can you tell that he was a bit high energy here?? )

So we also bought him his first Mr. Potato Head, which he just loved. I made the mistake, however, of having everything we’d bought that day at Once Upon a Toy sent back to the resort. Of all our packages to take longer than usual to get back, it was this one with the lightsaber in it. I didn’t hear the end of that one for a while!

At this point it was lunch time. We headed to something I’d been looking forward to the whole trip - Wolfgang Puck Express! While we were walking over, DH checked in with his parents (most of the guys were headed to DisneyQuest and he wanted to know where everyone was). It turned out that they were next door in the Earl of Sandwich with Tim, Shelley, and UT, so he brought Haley over to see them.

I’d heard how good this place was from Shelley, and couldn’t wait to try it. I was pleased to see chicken fingers AND pasta on the kids menu – I knew the kids would actually eat. I got the margharita pizza and a crème brulee, and DH got the sausage and peppers pizza and a piece of cheesecake. WOW!!! Everyone who was there (Mom and Aunt Dee joined Norah, Ruby, and our family for lunch) loved what they got, and agreed that we would gladly eat there for several meals if our schedule had permitted it. This is one of the very few pictures of food that I took, but it was that good.

We split up after lunch. DH took Jack (and his frozen yogurt…big mistake, as it apparently melted much too fast for him to eat it and ended up all over his shirt) to meet the other guys, who had already gone to DisneyQuest. He took a few pictures on the way...

Now, I wasn't there, but the guys appeared to have a ton of fun. You can tell that from the pictures...

Mom and Dee had decided to go back to Epcot – I’d told them about the bier steins that they could get in Germany and decided that would be a perfect souvenir to take home to my dad, uncle, and grandpa, plus they wanted to see a bit more of World Showcase). Norah, Ruby, Haley, Will and I decided to hit two more stores before we left. First on my list: Tren-D.

There’s a ton of fun stuff to photograph in here! A lot of it was really cute, but not really made for my body type. Haley and Ruby found quite a bit here that they liked (imagine that!) but stopped window shopping long enough to pose for a picture.

When we left Tren-D, I could see some clouds blowing in. We figured we were in pretty good shape, though, and we had promised the kids a trip to Goofy’s, so off we went. I got a slab of toffee for me and a sucker for Will (kept him quiet, but he was an absolute mess!), then snapped some pictures while Norah and the girls found what they wanted.

I love this place – it just has such a great feel about it!

We did make one more stop at the pin store (and one more picture)

before we headed back to the buses. The clouds were closing in, but we had no trouble at all getting a bus! It looked like our travel woes were behind us….or were they??? Stay tuned!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm not sure I like how you ended that update....

Haley looks adorable!! So does Ruby. Too cute. I hope I have a little girl or a neice to bring to BBB Boutique someday!!

I adore Wolfgang Puck Express. It is such great food and for a good price too.

 

[glennbo123]

I never noticed that Cinderella carriage above the World of Disney entrance that's nearest BBB!

That's great that Haley enjoyed BBB so much that you are happy you did it, considering the cost. They're only young once, right?

and then to his big event: build-your-own-lightsaber!

Oh my gosh, my son kept bugging me to do that. He'd go, "I just want to check something"...and it would be to find out the cost to do that. I resisted -- he has enough light sabers already!

Now, I wasn't there, but the guys appeared to have a ton of fun. You can tell that from the pictures...

Yep, that's what a guy looks like when he's having fun, all right!

 

[IluvXU]

BBB is a fun experience, I am glad Hayley enjoyed and you felt it was worth the money. I have two princesses that want to do it next year, Emily has never and Hannah did when she turned 4. I can't wait to see the photopass pics of the girls too. The Tiana dress is well just perfect, she looks so sweet! I agree Wolfgang Pucks is yummo, we did not get to eat there this trip, hopefully next time! Loving your report!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I just love the BBB pictures. The girls look absolutely adorable. I don't blame you for being a bit put out by the castmember asking the girls what they wanted to be. The parents are the ones paying so they should consult both the parents and the kids.

Building a lightsaber has been on the top of the list for Hunter for several years now. He made a double bladed one a year or so ago too.

I've never eaten at Wolfgang Pucks or Earl of Sandwich but have read nothing but good things about both places.

The pictures of the boys/men at Disney Quest were good. They look like they were having a great time!

 

[Happy Elf]

Great update! We loved BBB as well, and worth every penny spent!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

i really enjoyed disney quest as well when i was there, just wish we had more time in it.

candi will love if we have a girl taking her there.