NO COMMANDO?? . . . .ARGHH! Can I do this?

[PittypatBR]

Uh-oh, my DD just called me laughing and asked what the food porn site was. She was visualizing turkeys dressed provocatively! So I had better explain that the Disney Dining Reviews forum has lots of restaurant reviews and many people take gorgeous, mouth-watering pictures of their meals. Foodies and those of us who just like to eat often find ourselves going over there to lust after the FOOD!! So that's why some people call it the food porn site. Okay, moderators, don't hit me now.

 

[lynn2art]

My mother has wanted me to put in my perspective from time to time. I don't have tons of time but will begin to respond on ocasion. I will just say for now that we had overall a great trip. My Mom's hard work reading and researching really paid off! Also, a quick correction. My daughter ate the soup at Mama Melroses pretty well b/c it had tomatoes in it which she loves. My son wouldn't touch it though. I think they filled up on calamari though.

 

[Disneyolic]

My mother has wanted me to put in my perspective from time to time.

Thanks for adding in. You will probably get hooked on the DIS once you meet all these wonderful people here!!!!

 

[PittypatBR]

My mother has wanted me to put in my perspective from time to time. I don't have tons of time but will begin to respond on ocasion. I will just say for now that we had overall a great trip. My Mom's hard work reading and researching really paid off! Also, a quick correction.

Thanks, Sweet Thing, and Welcome!! You will notice she just had to add a correction. She tries very hard to keep me straight. I may have to throw in a few errors to entice her back in!

I have to go sub (teach) in the morning, but will try to get Epcot in right after.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

My mother has wanted me to put in my perspective from time to time.

Moms can be a pain in the rump. My mom used to make me eat carrots, look both ways before crossing the street, and quit juggling knives.

However, now that I'm older, I notice that I'm the one telling her what to do. What the heck happened??!!??

Love ya ma!

 

[jcc0621]

All caught and am really enjoying your tr. It sounds like I need to take a page from your book and just relax and see where things go.
I am just like you - Diet Coke for breakfast

 

[ArielSRL]

I have to go sub (teach) in the morning, but will try to get Epcot in right after.

Hey, that's what I am doing now, also. I left my previous district and the district I wanted to get into is very difficult to get into. It's HUGE but it is considered one of the best in the state. Anyway, I started subbing in the district to get my foot in the door and, apparently, it worked! This is where I will be next school year. But I have been subbing for quite some time now. It is interesting, especially here at the end of the year. The schools in GA are out fairly early, before the end of May and this district's last day is Wednesday, March 23. However, we go back in August. I have to report (as a new teacher) Wednesday, August 1st!

 

[dddisrunner]

So sorry to hear about your toe! I hear you on the splitting up thing! We did this on our last day and it really worked out great! Last August when we were at MGM we got caught in some horrible rain and T-storms when we were exiting Indiana Jones so we donned our pochos as well and we "swam" across the park! Those ponchos feel so disgusting when they are wet! I am loving your report and it's nice to hear from your daughter too! Can't wait for more!

 

[PittypatBR]

Moms can be a pain in the rump. My mom used to make me eat carrots, look both ways before crossing the street, and quit juggling knives.

However, now that I'm older, I notice that I'm the one telling her what to do. What the heck happened??!!??

Love ya ma!

Poor Mom!

All caught and am really enjoying your tr. It sounds like I need to take a page from your book and just relax and see where things go.
I am just like you - Diet Coke for breakfast

Welcome jcc0621! Yeah, I think the key is flexibility. The plans are incredibly helpful, but if we can't shift gears when needed we may have a wreck!

I started subbing in the district to get my foot in the door and, apparently, it worked! This is where I will be next school year. The schools in GA are out fairly early, before the end of May and this district's last day is Wednesday, March 23. However, we go back in August. I have to report (as a new teacher) Wednesday, August 1st!

That was a smart move! We are on a similar schedule here, and probably in most places in the south. But I agree that Aug. 1 is WAY too early. One of the problems is that we get a lot of time off during the year, which keeps pushing the beginning earlier and earlier. I am retired from full time teaching and just work part time as a mentor to beginning teachers, but I like to go back and sub at my old school occasionally. It gives me a little extra play money and it lets me catch up with all my old friends!

So sorry to hear about your toe! I hear you on the splitting up thing! We did this on our last day and it really worked out great! Last August when we were at MGM we got caught in some horrible rain and T-storms when we were exiting Indiana Jones so we donned our pochos as well and we "swam" across the park! Those ponchos feel so disgusting when they are wet! I am loving your report and it's nice to hear from your daughter too! Can't wait for more!

That's why I love the disposable ponchos! Last trip we had a lot of rain and ended up with ponchos spread out to dry all over the room every day, and wearing damp ones most of the time. Yuck! Sounds like your day at MGM was much like ours! Thanks for the kind words!

 

[lynn2art]

PrincessV, We found a solution later in the trip to the getting soaked on splash mountain problem. We took extra ponchos and used them on the ride. Once we got off, we threw them away. Best dollar ever spent. My mom kept herself covered completely, I uncovered my head as I wanted the refreshing wet hair (we were hot!)

 

[daisy hughes]

Pittypat...

Thank you so much for taking the time to let us in on your wonderful trip. I am a planner and DH is NOT...in December 2005 I almost planned myself out of future Disney trips. But DH has decided to accompany me in September, so this time we will take it at a more relaxed rate. Glad to see from your TR that it can be done!

Looking forward to reading more...

 

[PittypatBR]

Pittypat...

Thank you so much for taking the time to let us in on your wonderful trip. I am a planner and DH is NOT...in December 2005 I almost planned myself out of future Disney trips. But DH has decided to accompany me in September, so this time we will take it at a more relaxed rate. Glad to see from your TR that it can be done!

Looking forward to reading more...

Hi, Daisy. I'm so glad to have you with us. We are the same, but yes you can be more relaxed and STILL do what you want!!

 

[princessjv]

My mother has wanted me to put in my perspective from time to time. I don't have tons of time but will begin to respond on ocasion. I will just say for now that we had overall a great trip. My Mom's hard work reading and researching really paid off! Also, a quick correction. My daughter ate the soup at Mama Melroses pretty well b/c it had tomatoes in it which she loves. My son wouldn't touch it though. I think they filled up on calamari though.

I love that you are posting! That makes this TR even better! Very sweet...

 

[PittypatBR]

Have a great weekend, everyone! ixiedust:

 

[PittypatBR]

We had 12:20 ADR’s at Coral Reef, so wanted to get going a little earlier today so we could do a good bit first and then leave after. Well, that was without figuring in Wild Child’s predilection for sleeping late. Since the Fearless Femmes had done Fantasmic last night, WC was a little bit wired when we got in and took a little while to go to sleep. We try to make sure she gets plenty of sleep because not getting enough might make her more prone to a migraine. She seems to be particularly susceptible in the spring, whether because of pollen, fronts coming through and changing pressures, or ??? Her doctor had just gone up on her meds to try to suppress them more, so we were particularly concerned this trip about avoiding triggers. After I spent the extra time icing my toe last night, I was a little later getting to sleep also. So DD took the trek up front to fill the mugs to protect my sleep AND my toe. I think we snacked around in the room on doughnuts, CC cookies, grapes, etc. for breakfast this morning. I tried on all my shoes to see if I could walk comfortably, and chose my Birks as the most comfortable and least likely to touch my toe. Eventually we were all up, dressed, and rolling, so off we went to catch the bus to Epcot. It was our first look at the gorgeous flowers and they were truly amazing. I will put in a couple of pics of those later.

Dreamboy had requested Test Track and Mission Space as his big two for Epcot, and of course we all wanted to do Soarin’. So after entry I speed walked over to get our FP’s (yes I can speed walk and GAK with a sore toe) , and the rest of the crew moseyed on over to Soarin. I joined them at the entrance. The sign indicated a 20 minute wait for standby, but even as we watched it dropped to 10, so off we went. This was one of the few lines we had to stand in, and probably the most boring, so I pulled out the character hunt book I had made for the kids. (I just took a small notebook and put different Disney character stickers on the pages.) Wild Child and I went through it and she put checks by all the ones she had seen so far. This kept her entertained all the way through the line, which really wasn’t bad. Soarin is still amazing. I can barely resist lifting my feet to keep them out of the water.

Afterwards we still had a while until the FP’s, so we headed over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. As we got to the entrance we noticed that the next show was about to start. We asked the CM at the entrance if we could get in that show and he said sure, go right on in. Well, just as we walked up to the final entrance another CM locked the chain! We asked if we couldn’t go on in and she said no, come back for the next one. Well, if we waited for the next one we would be too late for our FP’s. Now let me add here that I know that they usually don’t care if you are late for FP’s, but DSIL was NOT in favor of doing that. He said he would not go in if it was after our time, so I did a quick revision in strategy and just kept my mouth shut. (If you knew me better, you would realize that was not an easy thing for me to do. My DH might even say impossible , but I did it. I will admit to a few conversations in my head, but they didn’t make it out of my mouth ALL WEEK.) So we scooted around and did Figment instead. That’s okay, I love Figment, and so do the kids! When we came out they could have spent an hour in the play room with all the cool activities, but we drug them out with the promise of a return and headed to TT. We got in quickly and both kids really enjoyed it. Dreamboy takes in all the set-up for the rides and pretty much memorizes it. Afterwards he can tell you all about which “tests” were carried out and when! We were a little surprised he liked it so much, since he is the “anti-thrill-ride”.

DH has visions of Wild Child as a teenager driving a red convertible, so here is a preview.

Dreamboy liked the car too. It was “cool”, which is the ultimate to an 8 year old boy.

Here they are with the Hummer. (The other picture I got of this showed Wild Child trying to reach across and pinch Dreamboy, and him twisting away and preparing to retaliate. Not the Disney image I want to immortalize.)

We exited, got FP’s for Mission Space and headed right back across the park to the Seas for lunch. (Yes, I know we were criss-crossing and backtracking, which I TRY not to do, but it worked for this day.) When we arrived there was a LONG line for Nemo. I thought oh great, what will it be like when we get through with lunch?

Going in we enjoyed the seagulls and then “lined up and signed up”. We were taken to our table almost immediately and HOORAY!! we were on the bottom level across from the aquarium in a booth with a wonderful view. We had a great server who used to live in Louisiana, so we swapped a few stories. I know a lot of people don’t like Coral Reef, but DD really wanted to eat here. She had good memories from our “girl trip” when this was the only table service restaurant we had visited. And we really did enjoy the meal. It was slow, but no worse than any other Disney restaurant, and it was starting to get hot outside and we could use the break. I decided to splurge on a Blue Glowtini and persuaded DD to join me. DSIL and DH declined, but we also got the kids the special raspberry lemonade with the light-up Tink and Hook clip-ons. That proved to be an excellent move, because they were a big hit with the kids and they played with the lights while we waited. The drinks were more fun than alcohol, but made us feel we were really on vacation. The restaurant is kind of dark so they really showed up!
Here we are waiting for the meal. DH really isn't mad, he just doesn't like to pose for pictures!

DH, DSIL and I had the filet, DD had the lobster salad, and the kids had lobster soup and pasta with cheese sauce. For appetizers I had lobster soup, DH had a salad, and DD and DSIL had the cod cakes. The lobster soup was out of this world! I could eat that every day! The cod cakes were very good also, and the salad was good, but what can you say about a side salad? The filets were good, but not outstanding. DD really liked her lobster salad, which came with a small cup of the soup. (She ate her soup and part of Dreamboy’s also.) The kids were happy with their meals too. For dessert, I had the chocolate wave, DH and DD had the citrus cream brulee, and DSIL just had coffee. I loved the chocolate wave but it was very rich after all that food. The citrus cream brulee was very good and much lighter! The kids had a sundae, which was their recurrent theme all week. This was really a nice meal, relaxing and quite good. The atmosphere was fantastic, and watching the fish (and a diver who was cleaning) was great fun. We were in the restaurant for a full two hours. I have to explain that you won't get pictures of my food because my family would have thrown away my camera if I had started taking pictures of the food. Maybe next time I can advance to that level, but DH and DSIL were not on board with that.

Our only concern about this meal and the other table-service meals of the week was that they were very time-consuming. On one hand it was nice not to be rushed through, but it really took a lot of time away from touring the parks. If we had been there for less than a week it would have been stressful to lose that much time eating! That is about the only “down” related to the dining plan. (Other than the weight you might gain!) Actually, we think you can eat healthier at the table service meals than at most of the counter service ones, but you have to have some restraint! DD and I decided that next time if we get the meal plan we will do some double credit meals so we aren’t eating a BIG meal every day, and we can try some new places also.

Next: Did we make the mission?

 

[Keyana]

Really enjoying your report! Our family really enjoyed Coral Reef on our 3 generqtion trip in October! Great memories for all!
K

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

Pittypat!! Your toe!! Ouch! Aren't you lucky it wasn't broken! Must have been the pixie dust! ixiedust:

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed your Coral Reef lunch, as that's one of our scheduled ADR's! Ooh, and that Glow-tini? Mmmmmm!! Next to my Lapu, I'm looking forward to one of those!!!

I'm glad you tried out your GAK moves!! I'm looking forward to using my mad skillz, MDF taught in his TR!

 

[PittypatBR]

Really enjoying your report! Our family really enjoyed Coral Reef on our 3 generqtion trip in October! Great memories for all!
K

Welcome Keyana! There is just something special about eating fish in an aquarium, isn't there?!!

I love that you are posting! That makes this TR even better! Very sweet...

Yeah, it took a little arm-twisting but I pulled her in. She is a Sweetie Pie!

Pittypat!! Your toe!! Ouch! Aren't you lucky it wasn't broken! Must have been the pixie dust! ixiedust:

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed your Coral Reef lunch, as that's one of our scheduled ADR's! Ooh, and that Glow-tini? Mmmmmm!! Next to my Lapu, I'm looking forward to one of those!!!

I'm glad you tried out your GAK moves!! I'm looking forward to using my mad skillz, MDF taught in his TR!

Yes, I've been taking notes on SOME of MDF's maneuvers. Others will be better left unused, I think. I had my first Lapu this trip!! You will read about it later! Definitely a highlight!

 

[PittypatBR]

All the glowing lights at our little table had us thinking about nighttime, so it was a little shock to emerge into bright sunshine! This was an absolutely gorgeous bluebird day with just a nice breeze blowing.

When we came out, the line for Nemo had disappeared so we hopped right in and before you knew it we were loading in the clamshells. We had not seen this since the renovation, and it was a lot of fun. All in all, this attraction is a little more kid-attractive, but I miss the scientific orientation of the old version. What WERE those elevators called? Afterward we looked at the exhibits and played the computer quiz until time for Turtle talk with Crush. This is a really neat part, and of course it is different every time you see it. We all enjoyed it a lot.

When we came out DH decided he was ready for a rest so he headed back to PC. The rest of us decided to go try Honey I Shrunk the Audience again and this time we walked right in.

Here is the crew all decked out and ready for the show.

After this it was time for our MS fast passes. This was the last ride we were going to do today. Back across the park we trekked and I made a somewhat serious mistake here. DD had the kids' cups with their gow figures clipped on the straws hanging out of her backpack, and I was afraid they would fall off and get lost. So I told her to the figures to me and I would put them safely in MY park pack. As we got in the FP line. We asked Dreamboy which version he wanted to do, the milder one or the more realistic one and he chose the mild one. Well, we walked in to discover we really didn’t need the FP’s to ride that side, because there wasn’t even a line! The orange side, the motion-sickness inducing one, had a line for stand-by, but we didn’t. So we got in quickly and carried out our mission. Dreamboy was the mission commander and he really got into it. He spent the rest of the day talking about it to whoever was nearby! We didn’t stop in the playroom afterwards, as DSIL’s parents were meeting us back at Pop to visit that afternoon. It was very cool and nice after the passage of the front, so we weren’t tired at all. If we had known how nice the weather was going to be we would probably have gotten them to meet us at Epcot.

On the way out, we did snap a quick shot by the dinosaur, though.

When we got back to Pop, the kids jumped into their swimsuits and they all headed for the hippie dippie pool to meet DSIL’s parents for a little visit.

Dreamboy and Wild Child can’t get enough of that pool. None of the adults would join them because of the cool breeze blowing that day!

DH and I joined them after a while and we all sampled the wares at the pool bar. We discovered quickly that the “featured” drinks are long on atmosphere and fun and short on alcohol! When the kids’ teeth started chattering we took them back for a warm bath and got them ready to eat. We ate supper in the food court that night with the in-laws joining us. I had the havarti and ham flatbread (with spinach on top), which was very nice. Other members of the group had cheeseburgers, chicken Mediterranean, turkey wraps, chicken nuggets, fruit, and cookies.

The IL’s headed back to their condo and we headed to our rooms for some down time. Mickey Mouse (alias Mimi) had brought the kids each a gift bag right after they got there so they had some new trinkets to play with. (In a princess bag and a Star Wars bag they had Disney coloring books and markers, keychain flashlights, minifans on a neck string, stickers, foam pop guns, compressed Nemo washcloths, dissolving dino and bug capsules, trick cars for Dreamboy and light up rings and a Cindy keychain for Wild Child, and a few other things.) “Mickey” had as much fun putting them together as the kids had getting them! (Hooray for Dollar Tree and Big Lots!)

Dreamboy was eager to watch his favorite TV program, “The Seven Best Secrets of Disney World” (or something like that). This show came on whenever you turned on the TV, and Dreamboy watched it over and over. He NEVER got tired of it. Anytime we were in the parks and saw one of the things she had featured, he pointed it out to us and told us exactly what she said! So it was a good thing we had connecting rooms so everyone could be happy with the TV as that was always on in one of the rooms! It really did make Mr. Cautious ready to try some things he might not otherwise have wanted to do though! I reached in my pack to pull out the kids' glow figures and Captain Hook is MIA. I scooped everything out and looked again and it just wasn't there. Tink was safe, but no Hook. Oh no, I can't tell Dreamboy! What is a good Mimi to do? Well I will just have to find another one somewhere before he realizes it is gone! We wanted to get to bed earlier tonight so we could get an earlier start in the morning for MK, so we settled in. But DD and I had a plan . . .

 

[soldiersmom]

"When we came out, the line for Nemo had disappeared so we hopped right in and before you knew it we were loading in the clamshells. We had not seen this since the renovation, and it was a lot of fun. All in all, this attraction is a little more kid-attractive, but I miss the scientific orientation of the old version. What WERE those elevators called? "

I think they were hydrolators? Is that right?

Pittypat, I just found your trip report yesterday, and I think we may have been related in another life! You think so much like I do! And I'm the one always starting early and going late, as opposed to the younger members of my family.

I'm enjoying your trip just like I was there. Keep it coming!