NMAmy
Can speak food in German
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2000
- Messages
- 15,229
Day 3 2/29
Cast:
AlexDH and stepfather to:
Caitlin, 13
and me, Amy, official trip planner
Because of the bed, I was up till about 2:30 a.m. 6:30 came way early this morning. I dragged myself out of bed for EE, took a shower, and went downstairs to talk to the front desk about switching rooms. Oh, and to make my daily trek for my Diet Coke fix. They were very nice at the front desk, but said the hotel was at 100% occupancy and they couldnt switch our room right then. If they did switch us, they couldnt guarantee Id have my beloved balcony. They offered to have housekeeping bring up some pads to place under the sheets. I made sure to explain to them that it was really just me and my back problemCait and Alex were both sleeping like logs. They called housekeeping from the front desk to have them send up the mattress pads and I scurried on over to Tubbis to fill up my mug. When I got back to the room, I told Alex what had happened and he said, Oh. I asked what was wrong and he told me that someone had brought by some bedding, but he had no idea what it was and so he sent them on their merry way. Wow, that housekeeping was fast! I called them back and apologized for the misunderstanding and they promised to send them back up again. We left before they arrived, but when we returned to the room, they were on the bed. Unfortunately, they were extremely thinwhat I ended up doing was taking the bedspread off my bed and off Caits bed and I slept like the princess and the pea! It worked like a charm and I slept fine after that although Im sure the maids wondered what the heck I was doing when they came in to make up the room each day.
Today is Leap Year Day. Waited for the bus for the MK. The nice thing about the transportation at the Dolphin whether it be bus or boat is that it really doesnt take that long. Plus we dont have to drive anywhere which is a huge plus in my book.
Got to MK for the opening. We were kept at the gate while they let several kids who were having a Leap Year birthday open the park. It was really cute. We rushed to Space Mountain and got right on. The older I get, the jerkier this ride seems to be. Of course, Caitlin wanted to get right back on again, but the line was longer and I talked her into getting a Fast Pass so Id have a little chance to recover.
Next, Buzz Lightyear! I love this ride. I scored 18,700Caitlin was very annoyed with me. Every time we rode, I got a higher score than her. She got so she was swinging me around so I couldnt get near any targets, but it didnt help!
By then, I was chomping at the bit to get to Philharmagic. Ive been dying to get into this attraction. Donald is my favorite. It was every bit as good as I had hoped! Even Alex was impressed. Caitlin and I sang along (quietly) with all the songs. This is my new favorite ride! I even suggested stopping by the gift shop so I could get a Donald t-shirt.
Thank goodness Cait still loves Fantasyland. I dont know what Im going to do when she gets to old for this. Ill be the little old lady riding Peter Pan by myself. Peter Pan is another fave so we took a spin around Neverland.
I talked Cait into riding the Haunted Mansion. Shes always loved this ride, but for some reason shes taken an aversion to it this year. We went through the pre-show with a very creepy CM who kept staring malevolently at everyonethis creeped the kid out even more. Alex was behind us as we were heading for the Doom Buggy. Cait was telling him to ride with us so she could sit in the middle. Unfortunately, Alex has some hearing problems in noisy places with lots of people and he had become accustomed to catching the vehicle behind us in Buzz and Peter Pan. Cait and I hopped in and waited. And waited. And no Alex. I popped my head up over the top of the buggy and there he was, patiently looking around at everything, not a care in the world while in MY buggy, the 13 year old was FREAKING. WHY did he do that? Well, heck, I dont know. She was terrified the CM was going to peek his head into the car so she was practically sitting on my lap by this time. We took off through the mansion and hadnt gotten too far when of course, the buggy stopped. She was sure that someone was going to get us. I patiently explained that sometimes they stop to let people in wheelchairs onto the ride and it would be ok. She spent the whole ride plastered to my left side. This is so weird because when she came with school last year they took them through HM and explained how all the special effects were done. So, I got her telling me how they do everything which kind of ruined it for me but calmed her down. When she was 5, she loved everything about this ride except the hitchhiking ghost. Who knows with kids. Too many creepy movies, I guess.
After all that trauma, we decided to do the Yo Ho ride. You know, Pirates of the Caribbean. Caits called it the Yo Ho ride since she was tiny so thats how its known to us. I do think the DL version of this particular ride is betterI love drifting through the bayou and seeing the restaurant and the banjo player from Deliverance. We all enjoyed it.
Cait was hungry now so we stopped by a bakery for some snacks. Alex and I got some yummy apple turnovers and Cait got a bagel. We had trouble on this trip because Cait was still on Mountain time and was NEVER hungry when we were but always about an hour later. So shed pick at lunch, then wed have to stop and get something else. Usually, Im the one who causes the problems because I have low blood sugar but with all this stopping to eat this time around, I was fine and dandy.
Time for our Fast Pass at Space Mountain so we headed back to Tomorrowland. Rode that again then it was time for Caits all time favorite ride. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Dont askI have absolutely no idea why. Its just always been that way and probably always will be. Ive learned to accept it and kind of doze through it. Cait and I did this twiceAlex went once and then went off to find a smoking spot. We heard the cutest thing on this ride. A little boy was further behind us and when we went past the town of the future we heard this little voice say, Hey, look, theres my church! Every time we went past, we had to holler this out. We also wave to the folks coming toward us, wave at the people on Space Mountain, and generally have a swell time.
Alex, bless his heart, is not a huge Disney fanbut he takes us here because Cait and I just have so much fun. So, he has no opinion on what we should do, or where we should eat as long as we hit the Rose & Crown Pub once a visit so he can have bangers and mash. (Hes British, you know.) He just follows us blindly and enjoys everything we decide to do. In short, hes the perfect WDW companion.
Lunch today is at the castle. With this Cinderella show they seem to have every 15 minutes nowadays, you cannot ever enter Fantasyland through the castle anymore. Ive never taken all these little byways to get over to Fantasyland and I must say, I really enjoyed it. Theres so much there that Id never stopped to look at. We really liked Cinderellas wishing well and stopped to make a wish every time we went past.
We finally made it to the castle and there was a huge line up to the podium. Im thinking, Hey, this is lunch, not breakfast! but there you have it. The line really cleared out (actually I was next) after the hostess made the announcement that if you did not have a PS, there were no tables available and you should get out of line. Cait and Alex were quite impressed that I had planned ahead even though they thought I was crazy at the time. Who plans lunch 3 months in advance? Well, Mom does, ok?
We had a little wait and admired the inside of the castle. I was impressedwed been to the Tower of London last summer and it kind of looked like that with the big fireplace and arches. I took Caits picture on the throne, of course. People were letting their kids run all over the place, climbing the stairs, screaming and hollering, jumping down the steps. Noise really echoes in that place. We were the first family called and headed on up (stepping over 4 or 5 kids sprawled out on the stairs). The dining room was beautiful and we were seated with a view of Fantasyland. We watched the Sword in the Stone ceremony while we ate. Caitlin had a vanilla Bibbidy Bobbedy Brew which was pretty tasty and she got to keep the souvenir glass. She had the Chicken Caesar Salad, Alex had the Major Domos pie and I had the salmon sandwich. The sandwich was huge so I ended up pulling the salmon out and just eating that. Cait liked being called Princess. The atmosphere alone was well worth the money.
After that, we were tired and headed home for a rest. Alex was soon snoring away, but Cait was antsy More gift shops, more gift shops. so she and I headed out to Downtown Disney. We got my great nephew a Mr. Potato Head for his birthday, complete with Mickey ears, coonskin cap, and his very own teacup to ride around in. I really think that is just the coolest idea everletting you pick out your own accessories and being encouraged by the CMs to stuff the box to overflowing. Cait dithered back and forth about getting one, but decided she was too mature for a Mr. Potato Head. Got lots of other souvenirs for the friends & family back home. Cait finally found a churroanother one of her favorites and the dipping sauce was something shed never tried before.
She was tired when we got back to the room so she rested and watched the Disney Channel while Alex & I went to the Dolphin Fountain for dinner. We each had a burger which was fine and I had a couple of beers in the hopes that it would help me sleep tonight. We got Cait a grilled cheese to go (complete with pucumber and a vanilla shake) and she ate it in the room.
All in all a great day!
Cast:
AlexDH and stepfather to:
Caitlin, 13
and me, Amy, official trip planner
Because of the bed, I was up till about 2:30 a.m. 6:30 came way early this morning. I dragged myself out of bed for EE, took a shower, and went downstairs to talk to the front desk about switching rooms. Oh, and to make my daily trek for my Diet Coke fix. They were very nice at the front desk, but said the hotel was at 100% occupancy and they couldnt switch our room right then. If they did switch us, they couldnt guarantee Id have my beloved balcony. They offered to have housekeeping bring up some pads to place under the sheets. I made sure to explain to them that it was really just me and my back problemCait and Alex were both sleeping like logs. They called housekeeping from the front desk to have them send up the mattress pads and I scurried on over to Tubbis to fill up my mug. When I got back to the room, I told Alex what had happened and he said, Oh. I asked what was wrong and he told me that someone had brought by some bedding, but he had no idea what it was and so he sent them on their merry way. Wow, that housekeeping was fast! I called them back and apologized for the misunderstanding and they promised to send them back up again. We left before they arrived, but when we returned to the room, they were on the bed. Unfortunately, they were extremely thinwhat I ended up doing was taking the bedspread off my bed and off Caits bed and I slept like the princess and the pea! It worked like a charm and I slept fine after that although Im sure the maids wondered what the heck I was doing when they came in to make up the room each day.
Today is Leap Year Day. Waited for the bus for the MK. The nice thing about the transportation at the Dolphin whether it be bus or boat is that it really doesnt take that long. Plus we dont have to drive anywhere which is a huge plus in my book.
Got to MK for the opening. We were kept at the gate while they let several kids who were having a Leap Year birthday open the park. It was really cute. We rushed to Space Mountain and got right on. The older I get, the jerkier this ride seems to be. Of course, Caitlin wanted to get right back on again, but the line was longer and I talked her into getting a Fast Pass so Id have a little chance to recover.
Next, Buzz Lightyear! I love this ride. I scored 18,700Caitlin was very annoyed with me. Every time we rode, I got a higher score than her. She got so she was swinging me around so I couldnt get near any targets, but it didnt help!
By then, I was chomping at the bit to get to Philharmagic. Ive been dying to get into this attraction. Donald is my favorite. It was every bit as good as I had hoped! Even Alex was impressed. Caitlin and I sang along (quietly) with all the songs. This is my new favorite ride! I even suggested stopping by the gift shop so I could get a Donald t-shirt.
Thank goodness Cait still loves Fantasyland. I dont know what Im going to do when she gets to old for this. Ill be the little old lady riding Peter Pan by myself. Peter Pan is another fave so we took a spin around Neverland.
I talked Cait into riding the Haunted Mansion. Shes always loved this ride, but for some reason shes taken an aversion to it this year. We went through the pre-show with a very creepy CM who kept staring malevolently at everyonethis creeped the kid out even more. Alex was behind us as we were heading for the Doom Buggy. Cait was telling him to ride with us so she could sit in the middle. Unfortunately, Alex has some hearing problems in noisy places with lots of people and he had become accustomed to catching the vehicle behind us in Buzz and Peter Pan. Cait and I hopped in and waited. And waited. And no Alex. I popped my head up over the top of the buggy and there he was, patiently looking around at everything, not a care in the world while in MY buggy, the 13 year old was FREAKING. WHY did he do that? Well, heck, I dont know. She was terrified the CM was going to peek his head into the car so she was practically sitting on my lap by this time. We took off through the mansion and hadnt gotten too far when of course, the buggy stopped. She was sure that someone was going to get us. I patiently explained that sometimes they stop to let people in wheelchairs onto the ride and it would be ok. She spent the whole ride plastered to my left side. This is so weird because when she came with school last year they took them through HM and explained how all the special effects were done. So, I got her telling me how they do everything which kind of ruined it for me but calmed her down. When she was 5, she loved everything about this ride except the hitchhiking ghost. Who knows with kids. Too many creepy movies, I guess.
After all that trauma, we decided to do the Yo Ho ride. You know, Pirates of the Caribbean. Caits called it the Yo Ho ride since she was tiny so thats how its known to us. I do think the DL version of this particular ride is betterI love drifting through the bayou and seeing the restaurant and the banjo player from Deliverance. We all enjoyed it.
Cait was hungry now so we stopped by a bakery for some snacks. Alex and I got some yummy apple turnovers and Cait got a bagel. We had trouble on this trip because Cait was still on Mountain time and was NEVER hungry when we were but always about an hour later. So shed pick at lunch, then wed have to stop and get something else. Usually, Im the one who causes the problems because I have low blood sugar but with all this stopping to eat this time around, I was fine and dandy.
Time for our Fast Pass at Space Mountain so we headed back to Tomorrowland. Rode that again then it was time for Caits all time favorite ride. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Dont askI have absolutely no idea why. Its just always been that way and probably always will be. Ive learned to accept it and kind of doze through it. Cait and I did this twiceAlex went once and then went off to find a smoking spot. We heard the cutest thing on this ride. A little boy was further behind us and when we went past the town of the future we heard this little voice say, Hey, look, theres my church! Every time we went past, we had to holler this out. We also wave to the folks coming toward us, wave at the people on Space Mountain, and generally have a swell time.
Alex, bless his heart, is not a huge Disney fanbut he takes us here because Cait and I just have so much fun. So, he has no opinion on what we should do, or where we should eat as long as we hit the Rose & Crown Pub once a visit so he can have bangers and mash. (Hes British, you know.) He just follows us blindly and enjoys everything we decide to do. In short, hes the perfect WDW companion.
Lunch today is at the castle. With this Cinderella show they seem to have every 15 minutes nowadays, you cannot ever enter Fantasyland through the castle anymore. Ive never taken all these little byways to get over to Fantasyland and I must say, I really enjoyed it. Theres so much there that Id never stopped to look at. We really liked Cinderellas wishing well and stopped to make a wish every time we went past.
We finally made it to the castle and there was a huge line up to the podium. Im thinking, Hey, this is lunch, not breakfast! but there you have it. The line really cleared out (actually I was next) after the hostess made the announcement that if you did not have a PS, there were no tables available and you should get out of line. Cait and Alex were quite impressed that I had planned ahead even though they thought I was crazy at the time. Who plans lunch 3 months in advance? Well, Mom does, ok?
We had a little wait and admired the inside of the castle. I was impressedwed been to the Tower of London last summer and it kind of looked like that with the big fireplace and arches. I took Caits picture on the throne, of course. People were letting their kids run all over the place, climbing the stairs, screaming and hollering, jumping down the steps. Noise really echoes in that place. We were the first family called and headed on up (stepping over 4 or 5 kids sprawled out on the stairs). The dining room was beautiful and we were seated with a view of Fantasyland. We watched the Sword in the Stone ceremony while we ate. Caitlin had a vanilla Bibbidy Bobbedy Brew which was pretty tasty and she got to keep the souvenir glass. She had the Chicken Caesar Salad, Alex had the Major Domos pie and I had the salmon sandwich. The sandwich was huge so I ended up pulling the salmon out and just eating that. Cait liked being called Princess. The atmosphere alone was well worth the money.
After that, we were tired and headed home for a rest. Alex was soon snoring away, but Cait was antsy More gift shops, more gift shops. so she and I headed out to Downtown Disney. We got my great nephew a Mr. Potato Head for his birthday, complete with Mickey ears, coonskin cap, and his very own teacup to ride around in. I really think that is just the coolest idea everletting you pick out your own accessories and being encouraged by the CMs to stuff the box to overflowing. Cait dithered back and forth about getting one, but decided she was too mature for a Mr. Potato Head. Got lots of other souvenirs for the friends & family back home. Cait finally found a churroanother one of her favorites and the dipping sauce was something shed never tried before.
She was tired when we got back to the room so she rested and watched the Disney Channel while Alex & I went to the Dolphin Fountain for dinner. We each had a burger which was fine and I had a couple of beers in the hopes that it would help me sleep tonight. We got Cait a grilled cheese to go (complete with pucumber and a vanilla shake) and she ate it in the room.
All in all a great day!
