No Good Deed Goes Unpunished- 6 days w/o motorcycles...but at least there's a pool!

[rottiemom]

I am finding your trip report very entertaining. Thanks for sharing!!

Hi Kismet, glad you're enjoying it! Is that a Bassett in your avatar?!Lok at those ears!

 

[rottiemom]

Yes, the pool...the highlight of my son's trip & what he still talks about .

My husband carried William from the bus, back to the hotel room and as soon as we lay the little guy down on the bed he pops up, wide awake & asks if we can go to the pool now. It's 9PM, we're all exhausted but WTH, we're on vacation. On with the suits & get ready, fellow vacationers at POP because we are descending on the pool in all of our pale, tattooed glory. Welcome to Florida .

William loves the pool. We live across the street from our town pool but that always closed at a set time & was now closed for the season. It certainly wasn't open after dark. Not only was it 9PM and we were heading to the pool, but the pool was heated! Our son was in heaven. I still have visions of sleepy time skipping through my head but we still splashed around for about an hour before dragging our son back to the room.

1st DIS endorsed product to be thankful for- blister bandaids. I had spent weeks going for long, long walks on all manner of terrain in preparation for this trip. Set out at 5AM that morning in a pair of wicking socks and my oh so broken in cross trainers...and after a day of Epcot ended up with what looked like a 6th toe. WTH? Thanks to the trusty blister band aids and DIS endorsed product #2 I didn't see socks, cross trainers or any more blisters for the rest of the trip. If there's a next time I'll just save space in the luggage & leave the socks & sneaks home.

2nd DIS endorsed product- Keen Newport H2s . Best things ever. They may make it look like I have sporty clown feet but these were a lifesaver. I made sure to keep my blister covered & tape up my one trouble spot and I lived in these for the rest of the trip. Kali River Rapids? No problem. Rain? I'm fully washable and (sadly) won't shrink. Puddles? Well, ew, I'm not going to step in those because who knows what's in them? Comfy feet for the whole trip. I'm only sad that it's too cold in NY to still be wearing them. Thank you DISboards, if it wasn't for you I would have packed my just cross trainers and flip flops & have been hobbled for the entire trip.

3rd DIS endorsed product- Body Glide. I wore jeans that first day. Jeans. Thick, heavy Levis. The very tops of my thighs were sore from rubbing (even at my stick thinnest the top of my thighs always "kissed" &*%$# Italian mountain folk genetics) so I broke out the body glide for the next morning & every morning after. A Godsend, pure & simple.

Anyway, by 10PM the swimsuits are hung by the bathtub with care & we're all snug in our beds with visions of MK rope drop dancing through our heads.

Coming up next- "We slept HOW late?!" or why changing plans on the fly can be very, very bad.

 

[lurkyloo]

Boohoohoo!

I'm sad that you can wear Keen H2 Newports and I can't! Like you, I *love* the idea of a comfy walking/water shoe. I just haven't found one yet that fits my weird feet. What color are yours? Do you have pix? I wanted the turquoise ones!

I must also add my thanks to the DIS for the blister blocker and Body Glide tricks.

Can't wait to find out how late you slept in!

 

[rottiemom]

I'm sad that you can wear Keen H2 Newports and I can't! Like you, I *love* the idea of a comfy walking/water shoe. I just haven't found one yet that fits my weird feet. What color are yours? Do you have pix? I wanted the turquoise ones!

Not to start shoe envy but I do, in fact, have the turquoise ones...they were the only color that was on sale. I'm actually amazed that they fit me since my feet are shaped kinda like chicken feet with very narrow heels and much wider across the toes. Maybe it was all of those years spent dancing in stillettos that did it?

Honestly as far as shoes go I never, ever would have thought that Keens would fit me just by looking at them. OK, actually I would have just said "eew, I'm not wearing those" and walked away. So maybe you need to try on the ugliest water shoe that you can find & it will be magic?

Photobucket is still mocking me. I'll have to try posting pics from home this weekend...which is a 3 day weekend in honor of my birthday! Oh yeah, and also Columbus day but really it's *** of my b'day.

I've picked up all of the ingredients for glowtinis and since I "happen" to have a few of those glowing ice cubes (I may have had a 'tini or two while at WDW) we will toast the day with glowtinis. I plan on test driving the recipe tonight, just to make sure that they taste ok, though .

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Nina,
Loving the updates...but got to cut to the chase.....how did you organise the diver??????and how do I not know about this???????
Put down the Glowtini and tell me!!!!!!
Di x

 

[rottiemom]

....how did you organise the diver??????and how do I not know about this???????
Put down the Glowtini and tell me!!!!!!

Am I that obvious?

OK, let me not spill my cocktail...

Actually I had read about it on the most excellent DISboards early on. Any search under "diver" on the restaurant board should give you a ton of info. But I'll happily break it down.

For starters you need an ADR at the Coral Reef, then once you have that you contact Debbie at the Coral Reef & see if she can set up the diver & personalized banner for you. I got the phone# from our travel agent & phoned directly. Fortunately Debbie was able to move up our ADR a bit to a time when the diver was available. I'll dig up the phone # & PM you. I am SURE that after the fiasco with your trip they'll be happy to help you out if they can. Debbie is a real sweetheart.

I believe that you can ask that the banner say anything (within reason, "hey red, nice hooters!" probably won't fly) & you can also have personalized menus made up. A real bit of "magic" to dazzle the kids with .

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Am I that obvious?

It's what I would be doing! Great minds think alike and all that

 

[kismet1003]

Hi Kismet, glad you're enjoying it! Is that a Bassett in your avatar?!Lok at those ears!

Hi. Yes, he is 3 now so I should update my pic!!! His ears still touch the ground when he walks and is sniffing, so he steps on them!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Loved the updates. Sounds like the trip was going great so far!

 

[rottiemom]

Since I'm being devil-ed at every turn with the pictures I figure that I should post some more trip report while people are still interested & add the photos in later. This way I hopefully won't bore EVERYONE into leaving before the pics are up .

It's what I would be doing! Great minds think alike and all that

Di, it was an all Glowtini weekend at my house. It was a very, very necessary all Glowtini weekend at my house . Thankfully they're really easy to make & taste every bit as good as they do at WDW, especially if you just happen to have brought the glow cubes home with you. .
EVERYTHING is better with a glow cube.

Hi. Yes, he is 3 now so I should update my pic!!! His ears still touch the ground when he walks and is sniffing, so he steps on them!!!

Oh I just love Bassetts with those wrinkly legs and impossibly long ears. What a cutie!

Loved the updates. Sounds like the trip was going great so far!

Oh I'm glad you're still here . I tell you, we owe it all to the disboards!

Soooo....on to day 2 but the first full day...

 

[rottiemom]

Actually, the alarm goes of at 5AM every morning for work. We always get up early. We're used to it. But since we're on vacation I decide to skip the alarm & let us wake up on our own. My son is usually up early anyway.

The plan for our 1st full say at WDW is the Magic Kingdom. Get there for rope drop, break in the afternoon then dinner at Cape May.

I peel my eyes open at 7:30AM. 7:30! Everyone is still asleep! Augh! We'll never make rope rop...my plans are shot to heck...this stinks!

So I make coffee while my better half showers. Little guy stretches and yawns & by the time I'm caffeinated, dressed & awake it's 8:30 & we're walking out the door to the bus. No biggie. So we missed rope drop? We're on vacation.

We get to the bus stop & the Magic Kingdom line has extended out past the ropes. I balk at the "long" line, spot the AK bus pulling up & say "forget the Magic Kingdom, let's just go to Animal kingdom!" So we do.

This will come back to bite me in the butt repeatedly over the next 2 days.

We got to AK shortly after opening & promptly set off towards the Safari, meandering down the nature trails.

First problem with me changing plans on the fly- I don't have my Passporter map for AK with me. I'm sorry but the maps that WDW hands out at the parks are pretty much useless for first time visitors. I wasted so much time staring at that stupid map, trying to figure out where we were & where we were going that I eventually just gave up & asked CMs whenever we needed to find our way. Paired that with walking along, no particular touring plan in mind & everything was fine...but frustrating.

We're about 20 minutes from the Bronx Zoo, which is an incredible zoo, and the set up & layout is very similar. So we took our time & tried to see what we could see. On the way we passed the Lilo & Stitch character greet & William made a beeline for it. When our turn came for pictures he wanted both me AND daddy in the photos with him. Daddy was just thriiiiiilled...I can't wait to get the photopass CD. Anyway I told Bill that he could stand next to the monster and Stitch puts his hands on his hips, taps his foot then shakes his finger at me. I tell him that I meant "monster" in the best possible way. The pictures are delightful.

I keep on hearing about how hot Animal Kingdom was but honestly, it was no worse than any of the other parks. Plus AK has those mister fans blowing everywhere. Even though it goes against every fiber of my being I wore light colors & was fine. Then again, I can wear full racing leathers in the height of the summer heat when I go riding so maybe I've already got a tolerance.

William wanted a water ride so it was off to Kali River Rapids...where we got positively DRENCHED! Since it was about 900 degrees we really didn't care. Hint- wear cotton. Hint 2- light colored dainties under your light colored clothing.

Coming up next- Why I'm a shoe in for "Mother of the Year".

 

[lurkyloo]

Yeah, I haven't found that "hotter at AKL" thing to be true either. I think it just happens to be relatively hotter than the day before on the days that those people go there... or maybe it was a relatively cooler day both times we went there... aw crap, now I'm all confused...

 

[rottiemom]

Yeah, I haven't found that "hotter at AKL" thing to be true either. I think it just happens to be relatively hotter than the day before on the days that those people go there... or maybe it was a relatively cooler day both times we went there... aw crap, now I'm all confused...

I reside in the state of confusion! But seriously, between all of the shady wildlife trails & the mister fans it was no hotter than anywhere else. Yes, humid is humid even in the shade but it was humid everywhere in WDW! Maybe because everything is so spread out in AK that you have to go a lot farther before you come to any air conditioned respite? And not every ride or queue is air conditioned? Whatever, after living with Satan for 14 years I can take the heat .

 

[rottiemom]

OK, seriously...Dinosaur has a height restriction & that's it. Warnings about darkness. La, la, la...skip through the park...past the Triceratop Spin and look at the cool dino- skeleton. Hey, kids LOVE dinosaurs! Mommy, can we go on the dinosaur ride? Sure sweetie...'cause it's about DINOSAURS!

Sweet mother of pearl, can they not warn you? Can there not be a "think long & hard before taking your child on this one, Bozo?". When the ride finally lurched to a halt Bill & I both looked down at William (who we were both holding onto). No tears, just a very crumpled face and "I did NOT like that ride!" Thankfully the ride deposits you into a giftshop and after a few minutes playing with everything that he could reach in there, he was fine again.

The kicker- nearly a month later & he's talking about how he wants to go on that ride again .

My husband isn't phased by rides and he wasn't phased by this one. His reasoning, soundly enough, is that a ride, no matter how scary, is a controlled experience and no matter what you may think to the contrary during the ride, nothing bad is going to happen to you. Locking up the rear wheel of your bike at 60MPH holds no such reassurances. Once he broke it down like that it made perfect sense (having experienced the locked rear wheel at 60 MPH myself but then again, usually that's nothing that you do by choice). But even he was irked by Dinosaur, calling it whiplash inducing.

The dinosaur playground is fan-freaking-tastic, though. William loved it & easily spent a half hour tearing through it with us on his tail. It took me a little while before I caught on to the theme of the songs being played by the "radio station" in the background. Can you get it?

Bad to the Bone
Alley Oop
Walk the Dinosaur

..everything was tenuously dinosaur related! This is what really made me appreciate some of the minds behind this stuff. I wish that I had caught onto this sooner because I just love stuff like that. And, of course this meant that I was singing "Walk the Dinosaur" for the rest of the day .

So everybody's happy...we grab some of those divine Mickey ice cream bars and figure that we'll leave on a high note. But maybe just one more ride?

Do yourself a favor. If you don't like 3-D or loud, interactive experiences DO NOT go into It's Tough to be a Bug. Sure it's inside the tree and the bug movie posters are very cute & it's got that adorable ant narrating it but...just don't. Even taking the 3-D glasses off isn't enough. Numerous adults left in tears before the film was over & William and I were hot on their heels. Lesson learned- avoid all 3-D movies.

By the time we escaped from the Tree of Dante's Inferno we were trapped by the parade. There was no escape from the Animal Kingdom...like the venus flytrap of parks you just could NOT leave until the parade had been digested and the park disgorged you (along with everyone else).

All told, while anything involving real animals was very, very cool AK was really the worst day of the trip with the most bad experiences. It was probably best that we did it early on as opposed to saving the horrifying stuff for last.

But all is not lost! Because there's still plenty of time to head back to the hotel & hit the pool before dinner. Cape May & bivalves. Yay!

up next- Do You Know the Way to Ca-ape May? Or yet another reason why I love the DIS...

 

[lurkyloo]

OK, I have to comment on this too!

We HATED Dinosaur the first time we rode it - I for the same reasons as you. We rode it again in Sept. and now it just irritates me. Why can't we just take a ride through some scenes of cool, slightly menacing dinosaurs instead of a whiplash-inducing careen through the darkness occasionally punctuated by shapes that may be dinosaurs on a STOOPID contrived mission to bring back a full-size dinosaur! (Hello, why not just bring back an egg? )

Also - that *$^#@! parade!! OMG - same thing happened to us. We were trying to make a Boma reservation and got stuck on one side of the thing. At Disneyland our parade has stops where the parade pauses so characters can dance around, and CMs will let you cross the path. No such luck at any WDW parade, apparently. ARGH!

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

I just found this tr link in your ptr as I have been out sick for about 2 weeks but I wanted to say hi and now I am going to go back and read the first 4 pages.

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Yay! I am all caught up and can not wait for your next installment!

 

[rottiemom]

OK, I have to comment on this too!

We HATED Dinosaur the first time we rode it - I for the same reasons as you. We rode it again in Sept. and now it just irritates me.

Wow, I thought that it was just me...ol' sourpuss, must be immune to the magic & allergic to pixie dust or something. I'm just surprised that the UG didn't give you much info on the ride as far as their "scare factors" went. I know that every person is different but seriously, they got more in depth with It's Tough to be a Bug.

Why can't we just take a ride through some scenes of cool, slightly menacing dinosaurs instead of a whiplash-inducing careen through the darkness occasionally punctuated by shapes that may be dinosaurs on a STOOPID contrived mission to bring back a full-size dinosaur! (Hello, why not just bring back an egg? )

!!!!!!

Also - that *$^#@! parade!! OMG - same thing happened to us. We were trying to make a Boma reservation and got stuck on one side of the thing. At Disneyland our parade has stops where the parade pauses so characters can dance around, and CMs will let you cross the path. No such luck at any WDW parade, apparently. ARGH!

I was speaking to our neighbor over the weekend about WDW & she was telling me about one trip where they decided 2 hours before the parade was due to start at MK that they should just go back to the hotel & nap. Basically when they tried to get past the parade route they were told that they might as well just go back & go on some rides because they wouldn't be able to get out until the parade was over. She said that eventually they were able to be escorted out via the service exits but seriously, you would think that a place like WDW that is so accomodating for so many things would at least have ample provisions for exiting a park during a parade (like in the event of an emergency...or a reservation at Boma) without your having to get a guide and be led through the super secret labyrinth in order to do it.

I just found this tr link in your ptr as I have been out sick for about 2 weeks but I wanted to say hi and now I am going to go back and read the first 4 pages.

Hi Michelle! Wow, I need to go & check out your pre-trippie! When did Disneyland hallpen?! You must be delighted .

 

[rottiemom]

Never, never, never buy a new digital camera before a big trip? I had bought a Canon, which takes great pictures, about a month before we left for WDW and in that time I got semi acquainted with it's numerous functions & how to load pictures from it onto our computer.

So last night, in an attempt to load the WDW pics it decides to have fits. I don't know if it's the camera or the software, if I successfully loaded the pics onto the computer or not but after 2 hours & a parade of error messages I gave up. The pictures are still on the SD card...but half of them appear to have been reformatted . I hope I didn't mess them up...or lose them.

So onward & upward:

After our nap we set forth to Cape May. And here's another reason that the DIS rocks- clear, concise and time saving directions. We took the bus to DHS & from there the boat to the YC dock. Easy as pie. The nice CM at the DHS bus kiosk gave me turn by turn directions from the dock to Cape May and the trip was effortless.

I should probably confess something here. About 10 years ago I had to work a conference in Orlando. I stayed at the Dolphin. I did not set foot onto any part of WDW. I may have gone on the boat once, just for laughs, but I had no desire to do anything Disney. I've gotta say, though, that I loved the Dolphin. It was delightfully kitschy and just shy of over the top. I found out that the room had a balcony the first night when they had to come exterminate a colony of fire ants in my room (seriously...right down to "what's that on my...OUCH!!!! Holy Crap, there's a million of them!") and I would watch the fireworks from it every night. So I was delighted to see the Dolphin again. Out of all of the hotels that I had to stay at for work it was the one that really stood out & the one that I always think fondly of (in spite of the fire ants). But OMG, that location & I didn't even attempt to go to the parks...or even the boardwalk .

Anyway, Cape May Clambake buffet. I was sadly disappointed by the bivalves. Mussels and clams were served in little metal buckets and while it was all adorable, they were both depressing and dry. Bivalves don't sit well, they pretty much need to be served immediately or kept in some sort of liquid...where they will then overcook & be mushy. So no matter how much clam broth or melted butter they put out for you the results were always the same. If you're going to Cape May for the clams..don't.

The fried tilapia, however, was outstanding, as were the asparagus and the sauteed haricots. And the oreo bon bons . I honestly don't remember much else about the meal. Cape May is the one place we wouldn't bother to go back to. Still I asked for the light up Tinkerbell for my son's drink (he had gotten Cpt Hook the night before) and he was delighted with it. By the time we left it was dark so he clipped Tinkerbell to his shirt and we let the glow lead us. He was happily skipping along, then stopped. I asked what was wrong & he said that some girls had laughed because he had tinkerbell on his shirt. I hunkered down next to him & said "Don't you let ANYBODY steal your happiness, sweetie! You're enjoying it, who cares what anybody else thinks?" Meanwhile I just wanted to run after those girls and rub their faces in the sand for making my little boy feel bad...happiest place on earth my beady eye!

Sooo anyway, by the time we get to the YC dock William announces that he has to go to the bathroom so we trudge to the YC and find the restroom. One of the CMs compliments William on Tinkerbell and he's all smiles again. I quietly thank her & explain what just happened. She replies "Tinkerbell's cute! It just show's that he's got good taste" .

Anyway, our unexpected delay served not only as an opportunity to perk my son back up but to enable us to catch Illuminations from the YC dock! OK, you couldn't see a huge amount but it was unexpected and fun. William then fell asleep on the boat ride back to DHS but woke up, again , in time to go to the pool. Once again, back into our swimsuits & off to the pool in all of our tattooed glory. We survived our first full day and I totally rocked the Disney Transportation system. And I owe it all to the DIS.

Coming up, DHS and MNSSHP. And WHY is there no sign of Oogie Boogie?!

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Nice update! We are planning to go to Cape May dinner in April but as I do not eat seafod I am not really concerned. Aaron will be dissappointed by the dry clams I'm sure but he will get over it. My plans are made after months of agonizing over them and they are going to stay that way! And if you really believe that I will not touch my plans agail then I have some really nice property to sell.
But is all seriousness we will probably stick with it just to try it for ourlseves. I have not read many reviews on Cape May dinner so it was great to finally read one.
It is good to know the hint about getting to Yacht Club from Pop though because we are going to Yachtman's Steakhouse and Cape May and I am still writing out the transportation plans.
Oh and by the way last night on a whim and your reccomendation I ordred those shoes you raved about. So if I do not like them I will hold you personally responsible
Either that or else I will just send them back.