NMAmy's Spring Break 2010 Trip Report--Girls Gone Mild! Update 5/18

[WDWisOurHappyPlace]

Glad your mom is back home and okay.

At first glance, I thought the Ariel in your photo was a live monkey.

That's EXACTLY what I thought!

Dang Amy, artichokes, illusion pics, what other skills do you possess?

 

[MickeysMommy]

pal. Hope Mom is doing better.

 

[PrincessV]

Hey, guys, I haven't forgotten you but my mom's been in the hospital. She's doing okay now and is home but it's pretty hectic.

I'm sorry Amy. Glad to hear she's doing well; sending you many good thoughts!

 

[tigerdragon]

I'm sorry to hear your mom was in the hospital. I'm glad she's doing okay!

 

[NMAmy]

And you will continue to have issues until you sit down together and really talk it out. Have you considered counseling? I hate to see you two fighting like this.

Until Space Mountain stops being so jerky to me, we will continue to have issues that no counseling will be able to solve. It's sad but true.

Good for you. Cheater It doesn’t matter how you got there yes it does just as long as you got there. Totally bogus.

Hey, it's not cheating if the stupid evil Emperor Zurg has caused trouble that stopped the ride. At least that's what Buzz Lightyear kept telling all of us space rangers.

NMAmy’s ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille

Absolutely. And I was not wearing that goofy Norma Desmond turban either. Thank heavens.

At first glance, I thought the Ariel in your photo was a live monkey.

Oh, sure, live monkeys were just running amok at the Magic Kingdom that morning. Or kids. I sometimes get those mixed up.

Ouch....but I'm going to give you extra points for originality.

So how many points do I have so far? Besides my 999,999 Buzz Lightyear points.

big, fat rain liars

Exactly!

After being out till the wee house of the morning?!

Ah.

I knew they were being overly optimistic.

Oh how I looove an empty Boardwalk!

Me, too!

Um, wow. Has the WDW budget been cut so deep they gave up on topiaries in favor of cardboard cutouts?!

They did look a little cheesy but it's hard to make the totally dreamy Prince Naveen look bad, you know.

Indeed, I am!

I knew it!

Good point - stiff upper lip and all.

Alex pretends he was raised to suffer in silence but he must have been in the States too long because he's not usually silent in his suffering in my presence.

Glad your mom is back home and okay.

Thank you so much! She's still keeping me pretty busy running her errands and doing chores but she's fine.

That's EXACTLY what I thought!

Dang Amy, artichokes, illusion pics, what other skills do you possess?

Oh, I have mad skills, my friend.

pal. Hope Mom is doing better.

Thanks so much, pal!

I'm sorry Amy. Glad to hear she's doing well; sending you many good thoughts!

I'm sorry to hear your mom was in the hospital. I'm glad she's doing okay!

Thanks, PrincessV and tigerdragon! I really appreciate all the good thoughts!

 

[NMAmy]

And here's the commentary from Lou.

Quoting Wendy Thomas: Enough already!!!!!

As if.

Relentless, we are.

Quoting Wendy Potter: Ahhhh...that was nice and refreshing. A little Loubon without all the work. I like it.

I feel so cheap. And used. Keep it coming.

Quoting you: About halfway through, she decided to sort of stand in the car (I’m still not sure how she did it) so she could take better photos while her husband propped her up. My notes say, “Very annoying.” I'm just the master of understatement in my notes.

I’m sure if you scan all the trip reports you’ll find someone bragging that they stood and took pictures and annoyed everyone else but they didn’t care because this was their vacation and that was all that counted. As a matter of fact it may have even been a solo tripper.

Possibly but she wasn't wearing multiple ponchos so I don't think it was hucifer.

Quoting you: It’s really blue. REALLY blue.

Yep, we’ve got one of those too. I call it electric blue because it practically glows.

Ahh...someone who understands! This is what happens when you let a tween pick their own room color. They're so cranky at that age that I tended to give in on something that I could avoid by closing a door.

Quoting you: Why? So in the middle of the night when you’re awake, you can look around and think, “Hey, this must be what daytime looks like.”?

We have one of those too (electric blue’s younger sister). I think they are vampires which would explain the infatuation with the Twilight Saga.

I think you're onto something there, Lou! Why else would they adore such a maudlin story?

Quoting you: That’s it. By 9:30 a.m., we had done everything we wanted to do at the Animal Kingdom.

No Festival of the Lion King???? No Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the tigers???? No It’s Tough To Be A Bug????? (Remember, that last one, I’ll be getting back to that in a bit……)

No, no, and no. I'm easily bored at AK.

Quoting you: The girls finally were up and ready to go around 4:00.

Kind of defeats the purpose of going there to sleep through it but I suspect I’m preaching to the choir.

To tell you the truth, Lou, I'm just so tickled Cait still asks to come on vacation with me that I don't really care if they sleep away a big chunk of the day.

Quoting you: Alex and I went to Epcot for lamb schwarma, hummus, and tabbouleh in Morocco.

I thought you said you were going to Morocco to eat. Suddenly this sounds like a vegetarian trip report and God knows we really needed another one of those. Did you go to truck class on this trip too?

I hate to break this to you, but there was LAMB in the lamb schwarma. At least they said it was lamb and I'm taking their word for it. Nope, no truck class, thank heavens, and no trip to the post office for me! I did not eat one corn filled veggie burger, either.

Quoting CaitlinsMom: There were way too many annoying teenagers at MGM

You planned on meeting them there. Oh wait, did you mean other annoying teenagers?

What's worse is that I PAID to meet them there!

Quoting kid-at-<3: Amy and I work in the same office

When she’s not not working so she can post on the DIS.

Hey! No trying to get me in trouble, buster!

Quoting Hucifer: You're relentless.

Sort of why the word means what it means.

Very true.

Quoting you: Actually, they were up earlier--but primping takes a long time.

Actually given you were following them around with a camera so you could post their pictures for the whole internet to see I kind of agree with them on this point. Nothing like a bad picture landing on Facebook to destroy your social life. At least so I’ve heard. And I have no idea how that goat got in that picture with me.

Those goats show up at the most inconvenient times, don't they?

Quoting you: She was just so charming and fun and really wanted to do stuff with us. It was wonderful.

Now I feel like I’m on the Great Movie Ride in the Alien section…..

Now that I think about it, maybe she's been replaced with a Stepford child.

And now back to this….
Quoting TheTripReporterFormerlyKnownAsHucifer: No Nemo? Bug's Life?

And…..
Quoting you: We briefly discussed A Bug's Life

After the Sci-Fi Diner dustup on Wendy’s report (started by you Amy I might add) and several other questionable Disney faux pas (such as not knowing there are boats) we now come to the pigeon sisters here who don’t know that the name of this attraction is IT’S TOUGH TO BE A BUG!!!!!!!!

I know, I know. I stand corrected. My only defense is--Wendy started it!!

Quoting you: Next up--How many parks will we hit on Tuesday?

Next up—What relentless really look likes…… Bug’s life….geez….

The good news is that we did not go back to the AK so no more faux pas. Fingers crossed, anyway!

Thanks for the good wishes about my mom, Lou and Wendy! I appreciate it.

 

[NMAmy]

Tuesday, 3/23/10

Early to bed, early to rise, makes for a couple that can cover a whole park in 1.5 hours. Alex and I were off for EMH’s at Epcot this morning.

More empty Boardwalk photos. These make more sense since it was around 7:45 am.

Strolling past some of the topiaries. I had to get some photos without a bunch of other people in them!

Peter Pan and Captain Hook in the UK.

And the Twinings tea garden:

The play area (and a random gardener who darted from behind that pole suddenly) between WS and Journey Into Imagination pavilion. Oh, and Lou, that may be the wrong name for that pavilion--I freely admit it because I actually refer to it in person as "Figment's House."

Our only goal—Ride Soarin’. It was good that that was our only goal because there was some kind of technical issue making the wait much longer than stated (lying liars again!) and that was all we did by 9:00. The park was getting busy and so we decided to take the monorail over to the MK because it just felt as though I had not gotten enough Magic Kingdom time.

Giraffe topiaries near Spaceship Earth:

Topiary in front of Epcot:

On the way over, we decided we were ready for second breakfast. I’m a hobbit, by the way. I like to have first breakfast, second breakfast, and elevenses. I was pretty sure that the only thing open at the MK was the Main Street Bakery and I wanted something more substantial. Since we were on the monorail, I had the bright idea of hopping off at the TTC and walking over to the Poly. We found the walkway and enjoyed our stroll over there. It’s a beautiful resort but so spread out.

The Poly:

I think it would kind of freak me out to see these random angry Tiki guys hiding in the shrubbery in the dark:

I’m not sure why I thought that we could just get a table no problem at the Kona Café. I thought Ohana was the big draw. Well, they were both the big draw that morning. Don’t these people know they’re supposed to be in a park by now? We decided to hit Captain Cook’s instead.

It’s an interesting set up they have going on at Captain Cook’s. For those who haven’t been, they have a video screen which may or may not realize that you’re pushing on the touch screen to place your order. After a bit of difficulty (and deleting the three extra meals I accidentally ordered), we placed our order for two breakfast platters and then checked out—receiving our coffee cup, pop cup, and a buzzer to pick up our meal. (And, yes, hucifer, it buzzed AND lit up.)

It seemed like a really long wait for mass produced scrambled eggs and bacon but we at least had more caffeine before finally getting our meal. It was fine—nothing great but filled us up and at that point, that was all we cared about. I get cranky when second breakfast is not available.

The Poly from the monorail station:

We hopped the monorail to the MK. It seemed pretty crowded here, as well, but we walked onto Pirates of the Carribbean and Alex got soaked on Splash Mountain. I used my coat as a shield and I was the only person who got off the ride fairly dry. The poor ladies in front of us got soaked. They’d balked when getting on the ride but the CM told them, “You will get wet no matter where you sit, ladies!” So when they saw me all dry, they were a little miffed. We then went to Philharmagic. I don’t know why I love this one so much but it just always makes me feel like I’ve finally arrived at WDW.

Detail of Cinderella & Prince Charming from the carousel. Remember them--we'll be running into them later today!

Pirates of the Carribbean:

So, for those playing the home game--that's two parks and one of the MK hotels thus far!

Next up--dinner with royalty!

 

[tigerdragon]

Another day and we were in two, well three, completely different parks again.

I’m a hobbit, by the way. I like to have first breakfast, second breakfast, and elevenses.

I think my DS is a hobbit too. Somehow he is always hungry.

 

[MickeysMommy]

I’m a hobbit, by the way.

Ok, this had me You crack me up girl!

Seriously, Amy, I am really enjoying your photos. But, now I am

 

[hucifer]

And you will continue to have issues until you sit down together and really talk it out. Have you considered counseling? I hate to see you two fighting like this.

Things haven't been the same since their breakup.

Good for you. Cheater It doesn’t matter how you got there yes it does just as long as you got there. Totally bogus.

Is that your Mr. Subliminal impression? Impressive!

Um, wow. Has the WDW budget been cut so deep they gave up on topiaries in favor of cardboard cutouts?!

Hey, guys, I haven't forgotten you but my mom's been in the hospital. She's doing okay now and is home but it's pretty hectic. I'll reply to everyone this weekend -- including Lou, who wrote some hilarious replies that I was reading when I got the call. I'm hoping this does not cause some Pavlovian response that makes me run out of the house and hop in my car whenever I read an email from Lou.

I'm glad she's doing better, Amy.

Until Space Mountain stops being so jerky to me, we will continue to have issues that no counseling will be able to solve. It's sad but true.

And then there are those of us who like it a little rough.

Oh, sure, live monkeys were just running amok at the Magic Kingdom that morning. Or kids. I sometimes get those mixed up.

Is that a PPA TR reference? Awesome.

So how many points do I have so far? Besides my 999,999 Buzz Lightyear points.

I guess that would be 1,000,000.

 

[hucifer]

Possibly but she wasn't wearing multiple ponchos so I don't think it was hucifer.

So THERE, Lou.

I hate to break this to you, but there was LAMB in the lamb schwarma. At least they said it was lamb and I'm taking their word for it. Nope, no truck class, thank heavens, and no trip to the post office for me! I did not eat one corn filled veggie burger, either.

I must admit. Your sarcasm skills are getting really good.

I know, I know. I stand corrected. My only defense is--Wendy started it!!

Just remember, Amy. When you point your finger at another, there are three fingers pointing right back at you. Unless you point differently from me.

we placed our order for two breakfast platters and then checked out—receiving our coffee cup, pop cup, and a buzzer to pick up our meal. (And, yes, hucifer, it buzzed AND lit up.)

Did you know what to do?

Next up--dinner with royalty!

I don't remember having dinner with you.

 

[NMAmy]

Another day and we were in two, well three, completely different parks again.

It's really weird, isn't it? It seems that with some kind of statisticy law of averages thing, we'd have ended up at the same place. That involves math, though, and that's not my strong suit despite that technical language I just threw around there.

I think my DS is a hobbit too. Somehow he is always hungry.

We hobbits are very commonplace.

Ok, this had me You crack me up girl!

Seriously, Amy, I am really enjoying your photos. But, now I am

Thanks, pal! Another update tomorrow, hopefully! Loading the pics takes forever.

Things haven't been the same since their breakup.

It's very sad.

Is that your Mr. Subliminal impression? Impressive!

Quite subtle, wasn't it?

I'm glad she's doing better, Amy.

Thanks, Wendy.

And then there are those of us who like it a little rough.

TMI, missy.

Is that a PPA TR reference? Awesome.

Absolutely! I'm so glad someone caught my homage.

I guess that would be 1,000,000.

Well, that's quite impressive, isn't it?

So THERE, Lou.

That's tellin' him.

I must admit. Your sarcasm skills are getting really good.

Thank you. I've been practicing.

Just remember, Amy. When you point your finger at another, there are three fingers pointing right back at you. Unless you point differently from me.

Oh, I do point differently than you. I just nodded in your general direction.

Did you know what to do?

I did indeed. Unlike some who frequent the Rose & Crown, I've actually eaten in a restaurant type establishment at a crowded time before.

I don't remember having dinner with you.

I think it was one of your cousins.

 

[NMAmy]

Tuesday - Part 2

Because the girls were still snoozing and we had an early dinner reservation, we went back to the room for a little nap. Caitlin, bless her heart, was only five minutes late for my departure time. We were going to the Grand Floridian. We caught the bus to the MK and then transferred to the monorail and arrived in plenty of time. Now one reason the girls took so long to get ready was because they were both reading that Nicholas Sparks maudlin fest--Dear John. They each had a copy and were racing each other and the date the movie came out in theaters. They decided the length of the bus ride to the MK justified bringing the book along.

I'm a big reader myself so even if I don't care for the book, I'm happy to see them so involved with reading that they'd carry a book in their purse at WDW. Makes me shed a little tear of pride. Although I can't take credit for Brit.

We were going to the Happily Ever After dinner at 1900 Park Faire. I was quite proud of myself because I’d managed to talk Caitlin into a character meal. Turns out, her biggest objection to attending one was because I always book a breakfast. When I let her know that there were actually character DINNERS available, she was all for it!

As we were waiting in line to get our picture taken, the girls were a bit embarrassed amid all the little princesses. We were taken in right away and we had a great server who made sure all our drink glasses were full and told us that the characters would be there soon so we should go fill our plates right away.

The food was pretty good—I liked the coq au vin, the salads, and the salmon. I REALLY liked these little miniature chocolate mousse (mousses?) but Caitlin stole mine from my plate and I got involved with the characters and forgot to go back and get more. That's just how good these characters were. They made me forget chocolate.

First we met Prince Charming who was quite pleasant and asked where we were from and how we were enjoying our trip. Pleasant but not exactly charming.

Then came Cinderella who was pleasant, as well, but a snooze. I did feel sorry for her--the grandmother of the little girls near us chased her down and made her come back to sign something else. She was very gracious about it.

Lady Tremaine arrived just as Caitlin and I were coming back from getting desserts. She told me, “I see someone didn’t eat their vegetables” referring to Caitlin’s salad. I told her, “I think she went to get dessert.” I’m such a troublemaker.

As Caitlin arrived, she looked down her nose at her and said, “Well brought up young ladies do not get dessert if they don’t eat their vegetables. I’d never let MY girls do something like that.”

I saw Lady Tremaine posing with a little girl before she got to our table and it was hilarious—she was sort of holding the girl at arm’s length with that same expression of great distaste on her face.

Drizella came into the room as Cinderella and Prince Charming were waltzing. She made a little boy get up and waltz with her and said, “Mother! I’ve found a prince who can keep me in the manner to which I plan to become accustomed!” She then had a little girl get up with her and had her twirl while she held her hand saying in a very bored voice, “Spin. Spin. Knock yourself out. Keep going Don’t throw up.”

Drizella then got a whole group of little girls to stand in the middle and had them dance while she said, “Jump. Keep jumping. Now wave your arms. I’m not doing it but you go right ahead.”

Caitlin decided then and there that she wants to be a CM and she wants to be Drizella. It’s really the perfect part for her. See Caitlin practicing her pose? Although she looks like she's going to pop a vein in her neck.

Anastasia then came through. She was very sweet and told us, “If you know of any eligible princes, please send them my way. Prince Charming turned me down, you know.” I told her I thought she’d dodged a bullet with Charming because he was pretty dull. She said, “I KNOW! Now why couldn’t I have met Prince Phillip? He slew a dragon. Or Prince Eric is handsome.” Caitlin and Brittany said together, “Ooh, Prince Naveen!” Then the girls leapt to their feet and all three of them started squealing and jumping up and down saying, “Prince Naveen is so dreamy! He’s so cute!” It was hilarious—like watching three pre-teen girls swooning over David Cassidy. (Yes, I just showed my age but he was playing at Epcot in the Flower Power concerts that week.) I wish I’d thought to switch to video but I really wasn’t expecting any character interaction to be that freakin’ funny with grown up girls.

See that thing in her hair? "Mother told me this is a HAIR-loom." said Anastasia to a lady who wanted to trade her hat for it. "Drizella says a bow is better but I think she's wrong, don't you?"

It was really a great time and I was just so glad we'd done it. After dinner, we went over to the MK to get some Photo Pass pictures taken as a group. The photographer had a blast and took a ton of pictures.

He told Alex that after this picture, we may have helped him win the “Picture of the Week.” Apparently, the Photo Pass photographers put out their funniest picture every week. I have no idea what Alex was doing.

They were supposed to be looking "thoughtful" but I made Caitie laugh because they looked so weird.

We went to Monsters Laugh Floor because Brittany had never been and had a fun time. As we were leaving, a little girl seated next to us said very seriously, “I didn’t like that.” And we all started laughing at her. Bless her heart, she then came to Caitlin and gave her a huge hug. Cait was shocked and said, “Thank you, honey.” She’s turning into Mommy although she kind of hugged her awkwardly at a distance—reminiscent of Lady Tremaine. Cait was pretty shocked.

The girls were tired of us and wanted to do some big rides so Alex and I took the monorail to Epcot for a margarita for me and Illuminations for both of us.

On the way into Epcot:

Mexico is very crowded with the renovations but I fought my way over to the margarita booth. There was a guy in front of me who almost smacked me in the face by suddenly putting on a sweatshirt. Then when it was his turn, all three of his children decided to come get in line with him—cutting me off from the woman who was trying to take my order. Yeah, it was crowded and I needed some tequila, dang it. I was prepared to run the WDW gauntlet to get it.

Epcot at sunset photos:

The butterfly house:

Alex and I were sitting on a bench in China and Harry and Bill and some chick came up and were pulling on the strings of my sneakers. I called Caitlin to tell her they were looking for her. The girls met up with us and their ducks and then took off to ride some rides.

The view from our bench in China:

Alex and I walked over to France and found our usual last minute viewing spot just off the bridge in France. The girls called and found us to watch with us.

We headed back to the Boardwalk and I gave the girls some money to go have their second dinner at Picabu’s. Caitlin called me from the Dolphin. She'd apparently seen the kid's club there.

Cait: Mom, thanks for never putting me in daycare at Disney World.
Me: I think you're too old. They wouldn't take you.
Cait: No, I mean when I was little.
Me: Well, I wouldn't do that. You were so much fun when you were little.
Alex (overhearing the conversation): Uh oh.
Cait: What, I'm not fun NOW?
Me: Of course you're fun now but you were fun when you were little and you wanted to hang out with me all the time.
Cait: Oh, okay.
Me to Alex: I saved myself.

From what I was told, Caitlin was hungry enough to eat an entire order of nachos by herself and she regretted it in the morning. They ended up getting back to the room around 11:00.

So for those playing the home game--that's Epcot twice, MK twice, the Poly and the Grand Floridian. And a nap. Woo hoo!

 

[hucifer]

Brit is winning.

Makes me shed a little tear of pride.

Don't laugh...I totally give you credit for it too. Remember: readers are leaders.

Caitlin stole mine from my plate and I got involved with the characters and forgot to go back and get more. That's just how good these characters were. They made me forget chocolate.

That is impressive.

Charming needs a little Rogain, methinks.

Lady Tremaine arrived just as Caitlin and I were coming back from getting desserts. She told me, “I see someone didn’t eat their vegetables” referring to Caitlin’s salad. I told her, “I think she went to get dessert.” I’m such a troublemaker.

And you are now my best friend. I love it!!! You get extra EXTRA points for that one. (So now you're up to 1,000,011 points.)

I love the look on her face! Villians are the BEST.

Drizella came into the room as Cinderella and Prince Charming were waltzing. She made a little boy get up and waltz with her and said, “Mother! I’ve found a prince who can keep me in the manner to which I plan to become accustomed!” She then had a little girl get up with her and had her twirl while she held her hand saying in a very bored voice, “Spin. Spin. Knock yourself out. Keep going Don’t throw up.”

See what I mean?

I told her I thought she’d dodged a bullet with Charming because he was pretty dull.

That's something I would say. Are you my twin sister? Or were you just taking really good notes?

I wish I’d thought to switch to video but I really wasn’t expecting any character interaction to be that freakin’ funny with grown up girls.

Now you know you have to plan another one of these.

There was a guy in front of me who almost smacked me in the face by suddenly putting on a sweatshirt. Then when it was his turn, all three of his children decided to come get in line with him—cutting me off from the woman who was trying to take my order.

Did your notes say, "Annoying man at margarita bar" ?

Cait: Mom, thanks for never putting me in daycare at Disney World.
Me: I think you're too old. They wouldn't take you.
Cait: No, I mean when I was little.
Me: Well, I wouldn't do that. You were so much fun when you were little.
Alex (overhearing the conversation): Uh oh.
Cait: What, I'm not fun NOW?
Me: Of course you're fun now but you were fun when you were little and you wanted to hang out with me all the time.
Cait: Oh, okay.
Me to Alex: I saved myself.

Nice exchange.

 

[Hedy]

Great cast interactions with the girls.
I love Cate taking a book with her to the parks

 

[Honeymooner04]

I've really been enjoying your trip report so far! I'm pretending that it's my own trip report 15 years from now when my Kaitlyn is 19! It's giving me hope she might still want to hang out with us when she's all grown up!

Can't wait for more!

 

[kid-at-heart]

So here I am in my office, reading your report and eating fries when a book rep knocks on my door. Don't they know I am busy goofing.. uh working. Now who else do I know who carries a book with her wherever she goes, oh yes, that would be Miss Amy. Like mother, like daughter.

 

[tigerdragon]

We've eaten dinner at 1900 Park Faire twice and it never disappoints. I've always found Prince Charming and Cinderella a little boring too, but Lady Tremaine and the step-sisters make up for it. You should have seen Lady Tremaine last year with Alexander. She was giving him such a hard time because he didn't want his picture made with her. It was hilarious but he was so embarrassed. Ah, good memories.

And believe it or not, we actually were in the same park at the same time. Amazing! Alexander and I were at Epcot the same evening as you! I wonder if that will turn out to be our only time, LOL.

 

[NMAmy]

Brit is winning.

My fault. I bought it for Caitlin and brought it with me. Brit had hers for the flight out so she got a head start. Cait did end up catching up with her, though.

Don't laugh...I totally give you credit for it too. Remember: readers are leaders.

I should be President by now.

That is impressive.

It takes a whole lotta fun to tear me away from chocolate mousse.

Charming needs a little Rogain, methinks.

You're right!

And you are now my best friend. I love it!!! You get extra EXTRA points for that one. (So now you're up to 1,000,011 points.)

Woo hoo! That was because we're BFF's although I'm impressed with my points, too.

I love the look on her face! Villians are the BEST.

They really are the most fun, aren't they?

See what I mean?

Oh, yeah.

That's something I would say. Are you my twin sister? Or were you just taking really good notes?

I WAS reading your trip report before I left. All that sarcasm must have rubbed off on me.

Now you know you have to plan another one of these.

I am totally meeting up with the stepsisters on every trip from now on. The face characters are so much fun.

Did your notes say, "Annoying man at margarita bar" ?

My notes say "really annoying FAMILY at the margarita bar. Who lets their three kids spread themselves along the counter when there is absolutely NOTHING there that they can order and their mom is standing sedately on the other side of the rope, presumably enjoying a bit of peace and quiet?" I've calmed down about it since then.

Nice exchange.

Just another day at our house.

Great cast interactions with the girls.
I love Cate taking a book with her to the parks

It was so much fun, Hedy! I highly recommend it.

I've really been enjoying your trip report so far! I'm pretending that it's my own trip report 15 years from now when my Kaitlyn is 19! It's giving me hope she might still want to hang out with us when she's all grown up!

Can't wait for more!

I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Is that your Kaitlyn in your avatar? She's adorable. I'm sure she'll enjoy hanging out with you when she's grown up!

So here I am in my office, reading your report and eating fries when a book rep knocks on my door. Don't they know I am busy goofing.. uh working. Now who else do I know who carries a book with her wherever she goes, oh yes, that would be Miss Amy. Like mother, like daughter.

Uh, oh. Busted. Okay, I took six books to WDW. But I don't carry them to the parks! Well, there was the one time that Alex was sick and I took one with me for the boat ride but that's the only time.

I hope you shooed the book reps away before they tried to talk you into moving to a new edition.

We've eaten dinner at 1900 Park Faire twice and it never disappoints. I've always found Prince Charming and Cinderella a little boring too, but Lady Tremaine and the step-sisters make up for it. You should have seen Lady Tremaine last year with Alexander. She was giving him such a hard time because he didn't want his picture made with her. It was hilarious but he was so embarrassed. Ah, good memories.

They were such a hoot! I heart them. Did you get a picture to torture Alexander later?

And believe it or not, we actually were in the same park at the same time. Amazing! Alexander and I were at Epcot the same evening as you! I wonder if that will turn out to be our only time, LOL.

We finally made it to the same place at the same time! It's a Disney miracle.

 

[NMAmy]

Wednesday, March 24

This was the day we hit the wall. I woke up early but told Alex that I didn’t want to go anywhere early this morning. I’d done something to my foot the day before and I was just REALLY tired. Yes, I was hobbling. I have no idea what I’d done—I’d brought two pairs of well broken in sneakers and had alternated days.

We spent the morning lazing around the room, reading and watching tv. The girls slept in, as well, although Brittany was surprised because she’d planned on getting up early with us. Caitlin wasn’t feeling well—the nachos the night before had done a number on her stomach. I know this was true because she skipped lunch at Le Cellier, one of her all-time favorite WDW restaurants.

I must admit here that I am not a fan of Le Cellier. Last year, I’d had a particularly bad server and I just was not feeling the Le Cellier love. I make a reservation for lunch every year because Caitie really likes it and always requests it. And here’s my deep dark secret—I don’t like steak. I know, crazy, isn’t it? So all that and we ended up going to lunch at a place that none of were thrilled with. Well, except Brittany since she’d never been.

Brittany came to lunch with us. We had a nice stroll over through the International Gateway.

Empty Boardwalk again!

We were seated right away and miracle of miracles—there were walk-ins being seated right away, too! Last year, I smugly overheard those Canadian CM’s telling people they didn’t have an opening for three months and after all the angst on the board and hucifer just waltzing in and thinking she’d get a seat, I just assumed a reservation at Le Cellier couldn’t be had for love nor money. And here were these jokers just making a mockery of all that. I liked them immediately.

We had a very nice lunch. Brittany really is a lovely girl. She and Alex each had a burger and fries and I had the chicken crepe. Mine was just so so and both Alex and Brittany left about half of their burgers although we did fill up on pretzel bread. I really think I’m taking Le Cellier off the rotation for next year. I called Caitlin and got her a chocolate moose to go.

Caitlin got up and around while we were hanging out in Canada so we put her chocolate moose in the fridge and I took the girls to Downtown Disney for some shopping. Alex decided to continue with the lazy portion of the day and enjoyed some quiet time reading on the balcony.

Oddly, we had the shortest bus ride EVER to DTD. We were the last resort on the bus and made it there in only 10 minutes. I believe that was some kind of record for me which will never again be repeated.

The girls each got a t-shirt in the design your own shop. They agonized forever over their choice with me bopping back and forth between the two of them, helping them decide.

I got a little bored while we were shopping. I'm not a huge fan of shopping but the girls were in seventh heaven. If I have to shop, then DTD is one of my favorite places to do that.

We did a lot of shopping for souvenirs in the World of Disney. I got some scrapbook stuff and the girls debated over souvenirs for their friends. Caitlin never did make a decision and that came back to haunt us later in the trip.

My favorite picture:

Caitie did con me into buying matching leather bracelets for her and I.

Cait: Mom, look at these bracelets.
Me: Uh huh.
Cait: We could each get one with our name on it. It could be our thing for this trip. Mother/daughter bracelets.

She's good. Of course I bought them after that. No mother can resist it when her teenage daughter suggests that they have matching mother/daughter bracelets.

We hit the Trend-D shop which had some really cool Alice in Wonderland stuff. Brittany called her mom and got permission to buy some fairly expensive shorts.

Caitlin was feeling hungry by then so we stopped at the Earl of Sandwich and got her a meatball sub. I’ve heard about lines out the door at this place but we must have hit it just right because we were the only ones there. She said it was very tasty.

Their shirts were ready for pick up so we stopped by and got those and then headed for the bus. By the time we’d hit all the hotels and Typhoon Lagoon, it was a 50 minute ride. Aargh.

The girls unloaded their booty and headed out to the EMH’s at the Animal Kingdom. I discovered when we got home that they'd had some Photopass photos taken.

I made grilled cheese sandwiches with chips and salsa for dinner for Alex and I and we had an early night.

So—that makes NO parks today. Pretty weird, huh? Don’t worry, we do better tomorrow!