My Magical Quest for the Cupcake! 13 days of Craziness! Update 10/30 page 10

[ilovemickeymost]

found you

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Woo Hoo! The TR has begun. I'm so excited to read it! More More More!!!! So far very good! (I never knew there was a view of Epcot's ball from Pop...I hope you took a picture for me!)

 

[AZMickeyfans]

found you

Hey! Glad you found me! Settle in, pull up a chair!

Woo Hoo! The TR has begun. I'm so excited to read it! More More More!!!! So far very good! (I never knew there was a view of Epcot's ball from Pop...I hope you took a picture for me!)

I've got a picture of the EPCOT ball from POP somewhere.

I think I'm heading to bed tonight but Jeff thinks we have some cute video of Chef Mickeys I still need to download tomorrow so I'll do that update tomorrow after I see the video. It was such a great meal.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Shawna,

Yay! You started your TR! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!!! Great start.

Sophia

 

[Philadisney]

Yay! I'm here! I'm about to start another 12-hr workday but will catch up as soon as I can!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Great start to your TR! We stayed at Pop on our last visit and loved it there too! I love reading TR about longer trips!! Can't wait to read about Chef Mickey's too!!

 

[tinkermell]

Yay!!

The fun has finally begun!!!!

Love it so far!!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Subscribing! Can't wait for more!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I was freezing at Jake's football practice, we get in the car and Jeff points out it was only 78 degrees. I thought it was like 50! Weather is all relative. 78 and breezy I was freezing!

Shawna, I thought of you last night before going to bed. I had to check the day's high, because when school let out and I let the boys play at the playground a bit before heading home, it was gloriously sunny and beautiful... and hot!

I was dressed unattractively underneath my red Mickey sweatjacket, so tried to keep it on as long as possible, but as the sun beat down on me, I unzipped the jacket. I finally wound up taking it off, it was just too warm. I was SURE we'd hit the upper 60s, maybe even the 70s!

Turns out it was still in the 50s. Just that pesky sun we Seattleites aren't used to...

 

[erinericmom]

Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[tmkinney]

Great start, looking forward to more!

 

[kaysmommie]

You started! I love what you have so far. Poor jake having to fly with "D" not fun I'm sure. Sorry about the arrival picture. We arrived at night so I made DH stop so I could get out and take it. Luckily no one was around . But it still came out bad because of it being so dark out. I took a better one in March just out the window. How did you like Pop? You stayed 13 days so I bet you can give a definate opinion of it. Looking forward to hearing about Chef Mickey's dinner. BTW is Morgan's skirt from Justice? Kaylee has a green print that is very similiar from there.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

(Got to pay back some of those smilies )
Enjoying it all so far - poor Jake, at least the skitters (as we call it over here) didn't impede his ability to turn 'monster'......what trip to WDW would be complete without a hissy fit or two
When I saw your photo of the entrance sign I just thought the cute margharita guy had met you at the airport.....
Glad to have you back
Di x

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Shawna,

Yay! You started your TR! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!!! Great start.

Sophia

Hey Sophia! Thanks! I need to run over and catch up on yours too! I'm slowly catching up on everything!

Yay! I'm here! I'm about to start another 12-hr workday but will catch up as soon as I can!

Hey lady! Glad you made it!

Great start to your TR! We stayed at Pop on our last visit and loved it there too! I love reading TR about longer trips!! Can't wait to read about Chef Mickey's too!!

Pop was great. We absolutely loved it. The kids thought it was really cool. I've got some neat pictures but they havent made their way to photobucket yet!

Yay!!

The fun has finally begun!!!!

Love it so far!!

Hey Melody!

Subscribing! Can't wait for more!

Thank you! Chef Mickey's is ready to be posted!

Shawna, I thought of you last night before going to bed. I had to check the day's high, because when school let out and I let the boys play at the playground a bit before heading home, it was gloriously sunny and beautiful... and hot!

I was dressed unattractively underneath my red Mickey sweatjacket, so tried to keep it on as long as possible, but as the sun beat down on me, I unzipped the jacket. I finally wound up taking it off, it was just too warm. I was SURE we'd hit the upper 60s, maybe even the 70s!

Turns out it was still in the 50s. Just that pesky sun we Seattleites aren't used to...

50's! Oh my! I would be bundled up like I lived in Alaska in Winter! Freezing! You must come visit me some July!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Can't wait to read more!!!

Hey! Thanks for reading!

Great start, looking forward to more!

thank you!

You started! I love what you have so far. Poor jake having to fly with "D" not fun I'm sure. Sorry about the arrival picture. We arrived at night so I made DH stop so I could get out and take it. Luckily no one was around . But it still came out bad because of it being so dark out. I took a better one in March just out the window. How did you like Pop? You stayed 13 days so I bet you can give a definate opinion of it. Looking forward to hearing about Chef Mickey's dinner. BTW is Morgan's skirt from Justice? Kaylee has a green print that is very similiar from there.

Pop was fun. We felt is was great for the kids at this age. Next time we will try a moderate with them but we were not at the hotel much this trip for it to matter. They loved the bright colors and decorations. Climbing up the bowling pin was their favorite part. I think we only used the elevator a handful of times.

Yep the outfit is from Justice. Most of her clothes are from there or limited Too which I hear will soon all be Justice stores. They have the cutest clothes dont they! Morgan and Kaylee sound like they would be great friends if they lived closer. Oh and I forgot to answer you earlier. Yes she can dance again thankfully! I think she just pulled her tendon and has had a brace on all week but she went back and it hasnt hurt again. I'm so happy. I was very worried!

(Got to pay back some of those smilies
Enjoying it all so far - poor Jake, at least the skitters (as we call it over here) didn't impede his ability to turn 'monster'......what trip to WDW would be complete without a hissy fit or two
When I saw your photo of the entrance sign I just thought the cute margharita guy had met you at the airport
Glad to have you back
Di x

I think I have to take your smiles out! Its a smile war! Not much longer til you go!

Oh the monster came out fabulously. It was all about eating. Remember my debate about the dining plan and not wanting so many table service meals. Yeah. Well. Lets just say I had good reason to not origionally book them. I'm happy they were free for the most part. little booger. Good thing he is cute.

That would be funny to have a margarita induced picture but no it was just me sober and lame.

Its good to be here thanks!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

50's! Oh my! I would be bundled up like I lived in Alaska in Winter! Freezing! You must come visit me some July!

I'm pretty confident in saying that will NEVER HAPPEN. I think I would die. Or at least pass out.

I would love to visit AZ and you someday, though, that would be fun. Let me know if you have a cold snap and it hits the 70s! I could survive 70s!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

The Perfect Meal!

When I last left you we had changed for dinner in our new home. Room 3416 at POP Century.

Earlier this year I learned to sew. Not very well but enough to cover a body and last for a night. So I made the kids outfits for this dinner. For Morgan I made a dress and for Jake I made a shirt. If you can’t tell by the pictures I put the pocket on the wrong side of the shirt. I then tried to put another pocket on to even them out but “even” being the key word there they never came out even so I left the original one, figured it was only for one night and we could laugh about it. I hope you do as well!

Back to POP. We head out of our room, down the bowling pins to Everything POP gift store to purchase autograph books. We asked Jake if he was going to get autographs this time. He never has in the past. He said yes. We still would have bought him one if he wasn’t but we were getting him ready for dinner. He was positive he was going to get autographs. We were excited. Shortly after the purchase we were headed out to the bus stops and on our way to the Contemporary for our 8pm ADR at Chef Mickeys. I got this picture of our first bus wait. Well, we didnt have to wait, it was waiting on us.

Anybody catch that? EPCOT? Why would we be going to EPCOT to get to Chef Mickeys? Well, we had a ton of time before dinner. Not a TON as will be shown later by the story of the cupcake, but we had enough time so we decided to go to dinner via EPCOT so the kids could ride the monorail ALL the way.

Here is the thinking on that.

We go to Disneyland often but its not often we go on the monorail there. They always want to but we are too busy doing other stuff and we don’t really go to that end of Downtown Disney to warrant a ride so it had been about 2 years since they had been on the monorail. Jeff and I always avoid the monorail ride. I don’t know why just seems like a huge waste of time. Maybe we wont from now on since we really know how much they love it. I knew the monorail was so awesome at WDW though since it was LONG and you switched. My kids could not imagine needing more than 1 monorail. So we were headed to EPCOT. They had no clue where they were going.

Funny thing was the whole time on the bus Morgan kept telling me we had not made it to WDW yet. I told her we had and explained it was huge and spread out. She thought I was insane. Finally the bus driver chimed in and explained everything she would see on the busses was part of WDW. It took her a few days to get the concept. She thought it would be like DL where everything was within walking distance of each other. She also thought her mom was nuts. I think these guys are nuts so they are inserted here.

So we get to EPCOT and they all get excited about the BALL!

I snapped this picture from outside the gates. They want to go in, so do I but its not meant to be. Reservations are waiting for us.

Oh, I forgot to mention I got us some buttons at the front desk. Happy Anniversary for Jeff and I and 1st visit for Morgan and Jake. The monorail was not on the platform when we walked up the ramp so they really had no clue what we were doing. It was such a surprise. I know it seems silly but it was a big deal. Once they saw the track they figured it out when we got up there. Somehow they didn’t notice it from the ground!

Here they are waiting for it to come.

The monorail ride to the TTC was just cool for them. Jeff and I were filled with nostalgia, the kids were excited by the unexpected surprise. They had no idea we would be passing the MK to head to dinner at a hotel. Seeing their eyes light up as their heads searched out the windows of the monorail was thrilling for us. They were confused and excited to switch monorails. We boarded the resort monorail for the Contemporary.

Continued in next couple posts because I posted way too many smiles.....

 

[AZMickeyfans]

The Perfect Meal cont

I’ll explain my title here as best as I can. See, when I worked at EPCOT I would literally head to the MK and find the cupcake cart back in Toon Town and grab an enormous, delicious, decadent, mouth watering, dream provoking cupcake almost every day. It was huge. A two hander with a mountain of butter cream frosting that just melted in your mouth. No cheap whip cream frosting on this baby. Sometimes the frosting was pink, sometimes it was white. Didn’t matter. I love chocolate but I preferred the yellow cupcakes as they were the most moist, melt in your mouth cupcakes a girl could ever dream of having.

Jeff and I didn’t get married at WDW but if we had I wanted several platters full of these cupcakes as my wedding cake. They were THAT GOOD! I’ve dreamt about them day and night ever since. Jeff would put extra frosting on them if he knew I was coming in to Captain Cooks at the Poly to get one that day. It was a match made in heaven. He won me over with cupcakes. Several friends have come and gone to WDW and I always ask about the cupcakes before and after their trips. Some have sent me pictures but I knew enough that the carts were long gone and that Captain Cooks was the only place to have these beauties left. OR SO I THOUGHT. I hope you understand the depth of my love for the cupcake now.

I've never used that many before.

We had 20 minutes til the ADR. In the earlier days I would have hopped off the monorail at the Poly and grabbed me one of these cupcakes. I ran the idea past Jeff. He was itching to go there too for a walk down memory lane but knew we would never make it to Chef Mickeys on time. We dismissed the idea and said if we get out of dinner early we should stop by and grab one on the way back to the POP. He knew how excited I was for it. I thought that was a great compromise. Plus I knew the kids could never keep up with the pace needed to bolt through the Poly, down the stairs, grab a cupcake in a flash, pay and run back up the stairs to catch the next monorail.

When those doors opened to the Poly though I almost bolted.

Have you ever seen Bridges of Madison County when Meryl Streep is in the truck in the rain and Clint Eastwood is in the truck in front of in back of her. I think in front, it doesn’t matter. The part I want you to remember is how she had her hand on the door of the car ready to jump out and leave her husband and run to Clint Eastwood. All of the emotions were running through her all of the pros and cons. Would it be worth leaving her family? How would they feel? The excitement of Clint Eastwood. All of that weighing on her mind in just a stop lights time. I havent seen that movie in years but that is exactly how I felt when the Poly doors opened.

I shifted my leg. I even stood up and turned toward the door. Jeff put his hand on my arm somehow knowing. I couldn’t face him. I wanted that cupcake. I could bolt before the doors to the monorail closed and the kids would have no chance of chasing me. I could be down and back before the next monorail arrived. Just one behind them. Jeff would be left to explain to their little broken hearts why mommy ditched the family on the first night. Would it be worth being late for Chef Mickeys? Oh yes. I had cupcakes dancing around my head. The warning went off “please stand clear of the doors” If I could spell it in Spanish I would too. Then the ding. You know I just had a split second. Every muscle tensed as the doors closed. I missed my chance. Hopes and dreams dashed in a second. I slowly sank into my seat looking into the unknowing eyes of my kids. It was worth it right? I did the right thing, I think. Sometimes doing the right thing sucks. Clint Eastwood would have to wait. Oh, I mean the cupcake.

Still sulking we made our way around to the Contemporary. The kids thought it was Awesome that we went through the hotel. We stumble off the monorail down the escalator and Jeff has to use the restroom. Sigh. The man is a pain to travel cross country with. Didn’t you just go in the room? He’s like traveling with a toddler. I have waiting for husband in the bathroom frustration at times. Sometimes when we only have 1 day at Disneyland I just want to say please don’t drink 10 cups of coffee on Main Street before the rope drops so we don’t have to wait for you to go to the bathroom after EVERY ride. I’ve got the party bladder in the family. I know TMI. You’ll see my frustration later I’m sure.

So the kids and I are waiting and we spot the first pressed penny machine of the journey. SCORE Except I had forgotten our penny stash back at the hotel. I didn’t have a single penny on me. We headed in the gift shop to get some change and get distracted by Pal Mickey. We had been on the fence about him for awhile. Were we going to purchase him. Was it going to be a pain or totally worth it. We decided to hold off. Forgetting about the penny the kids found toys to look at and Daddy came. Pee Man.

We headed to check into Chef Mickeys and waited about 10 minutes before being seated. Our table was just off of the buffet. Which was nice because Morgan wanted to get food by herself and we could keep an eye on her. Jake never really ate although I think in the video you see him taking a bite or at least attempting to. I’m not sure he ever took another one.

I don’t remember much of the food here except Jeff loaded up on Prime Rib. Constantly he was getting more Prime Rib. That’s all he wanted. We should have had the meat carver come sit with us.

I didn’t take any pictures of the food here. Some places I did, some places I didn’t. It was all random.

Here is a video of when we first got to the restaurant. Morgan looks a little unsure of when the characters are going to come I think. She could also just have been so excited to be there. Anwway I love her expression in the beginning. Its cute



Don't you love it when your husband turns the camera on you unexpectedly?

 

[AZMickeyfans]

The Perfect Meal conclusion

Up first was Goofy. Don’t you just love Goofy! He’s awesome!

Jake wanted nothing to do with Goofy. Morgan had his book signed. We started thinking that he wasn’t going to be into the characters again. He was scared. Goofy is big. Tough to come against that one first up I guess. I tried to take a picture as Goofy walked past Jake just to get them together. Look at his expression.

Next up was Minnie who started wildly gesturing at Morgan’s dress. It was so cute. Morgan loved it. Then Morgan showed Minnie her backpack and Minnie danced with delight. She even showed Mickey later in the night. Morgan loved having a matching dress. I honestly was afraid she was going to feel too childish but I made it sort of an older style so hopefully that wouldn’t happen. Luckily it paid off and she felt special!

Jake ran over to sit by me as he wanted to be far away from Minnie. Minnie blew him a kiss. Now I was really worried he was not going to do any characters. Well, not worried like “This stinks” but worried because he was so excited and I just wanted him to be brave because I knew he would like it if he gave himself the chance to try it out. He never has. We decided not to press the issue. Goofy is huge and Minnie is well, a girl. We still had hope although past trips to DL had proven this was probably not a good sign for future character signings.

We ate for awhile as Pluto and Donald skirted us but didn’t stop.

Then before Jeff or I noticed Mickey snuck up and Jake turned around and hugged him. It wasn’t just any hug either, Mickey engulfed my little man with his plush arms swallowing him up and tears immediately spilled down my cheeks. He needed the Big Cheese. I managed to grab my camera as the hug was ending. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t caught it on video or on camera fully I saw it with my own eyes and THAT is when my Magical Disney vacation started. That is when the magic hit me. The sign was a precursor to this moment. The monorail was a teaser. Seeing the Ball and the Castle were nothing compared to Mickey hugging my little man.

He has said for years at DL that he would take a picture of Mickey and he never has. Always been too scared. This was it. This was the first. His face lit up like a billion spotlights when he came out of the hug. I was a blubbering idiot. All I could say was Awww Mickey. That’s all. I was crying. Full on Crying. This was a huge moment for Jake. HUGE. Morgan even got a little emotional. I'm tearing up now thinking about it.

Ok here is the hug ending and Jake turning to get his autograph book.

Jake’s 1st real autograph that he got on his own!!! yeah Jake!!!!

And we got another hug with him before he left. This time I got it.

Here is the video just after the first hug. Remember I'm bawling hysterically and cannot come up with a coherent thing to say so all I keep repeating is Yeah Jake and Yeah Mickey. I'm surprised I could even get that out.
Its cute anyway





Up next was Donald. Jake was in full character mode now. He was not afraid. Donald is so cute in his Chef outfit. He’s one of my favorite characters to see at the parks.

We all got deserts after Donald and waited awhile for Pluto. We hadn’t seen him yet. Look who Jake spotted after a few minutes.

The kids thought it was really funny the way he signs autographs.

Look at the full on hugs Jake gives now. He’s a character pro!

After seeing all the characters it was time for us to leave. The kids were getting tired. We had a blast at Chef Mickeys. This was the best way to start our trip. The kids both hugged us and said thank you for taking them there. The had huge smiles on their faces as we boarded the monorail. I had a brief thought about the cupcake but we were all tired from our day of travel and we had a big day up next. We headed over to MK to ride the bus back to POP and Jake fell asleep. This was a nightly thing. It was so cute to see the bus hum him to sleep each night. Morgan was getting tired too. We had planned to watch the water electrical parade but everyone was just zonked.

Back at the hotel Jeff and I decided our first day not to make a wakeup call. I’m an early riser and we didn’t want to be too tired on our first day. It was almost 11pm and everyone needed sleep for a happy day at AK. I said I wouldn’t let them sleep too late but gave up the commando approach to our first attempt at rope drop.

We settled in for our first night at POP. What a great start to our trip.

Up next: Will we ever get into AK?

 

[AZMickeyfans]

I'm pretty confident in saying that will NEVER HAPPEN. I think I would die. Or at least pass out.

I would love to visit AZ and you someday, though, that would be fun. Let me know if you have a cold snap and it hits the 70s! I could survive 70s!

I'll call you at Christmas!