Olivia's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza! DDxP,BBB and PP!Oh my! Our 12/10 TR! **Finished**

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

wow 3 updates in 1 day!!!

I love the character pics!! The kiss ones were really really cute!!!!!

Can't wait to hear what you thought about Ohana!!!!

 

[Tinkermom76]

Great Update!!!! I have to agree with you about the cheese soup. Being from Canada I had never had it and I was extremely disappointed, in fact I would never eat it again

I would go back to LeCellier in a couple trips maybe but I would get something else

What are the passports? My girls have never done them

 

[PrincessBrideJo]

Subbing! Loving your TR! We leave in less than a week so I have been trying to look at TRs with little kids - we are taking a 6 and 3 year old boys. I just read through using your table of contents, so wondering if you made it in March and if your daughter was tall enough to ride the rides??

 

[jc040404]

I'm am so with you on Le Cellier. Not that it was bad, but I doubt we make a point to go back again. It does look like a fun day at Epcot! I'm loving all the character spot pics. It's so sweet how she smooched all their noses! Riding around the monorail so many times sounds like a kids' dream that most would just skip doing. I know my guys would be all for it!

Can't wait to hear about Ohana! We've never tried that one, but I sure do cancel ADRs there all the time! Someday we'll keep one..

And what? We get a passholder discount at Mousegears? I never remember where these places are. Oops.. I'm sure Mickey enjoys the extra money!

 

[eecteacher82]

What an awesome day at Epcot!

I love the matching shirts, they look so cute in all the pictures with the characters.

Ohana is one of our faves and I can't wait to hear about your meal there

We had a great time that day! We have never really spent any time in WS before that, but I am glad I made the effort to spend lots of time there! It was great!

I really loved the matching shirts! Toby had no problem wearing it, and after a few ladies said they wished their husbands were willing to wear matching shirts it made him even more ok with it!

We actually ate two meals at Ohana, so I will have 2 reviews for you guys!

wow 3 updates in 1 day!!!

I love the character pics!! The kiss ones were really really cute!!!!!

Can't wait to hear what you thought about Ohana!!!!

I was excited about 3 updates as well! I am trying REALLY hard to finish this TR up so I can start our year long TR!

Olivia always kisses the characters, so I made a point to have the PP get pics since I had preordered the PP CD!

Great Update!!!! I have to agree with you about the cheese soup. Being from Canada I had never had it and I was extremely disappointed, in fact I would never eat it again

I would go back to LeCellier in a couple trips maybe but I would get something else

What are the passports? My girls have never done them

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't like the soup!! It looks like we share pretty much the same opinion of LeCellier....

They sell the passports in pretty much any shop in WS, and each country will stamp them and write something in their native language. I will try and get a pic of Livy's later today!

Subbing! Loving your TR! We leave in less than a week so I have been trying to look at TRs with little kids - we are taking a 6 and 3 year old boys. I just read through using your table of contents, so wondering if you made it in March and if your daughter was tall enough to ride the rides??

Welcome!!!! Glad to have another reader (since I may have lost some with the amount of time it is taking me to finish this TR)!

I will give a spoiler....nope she wasn't quite tall enough to ride! I think with a different pair of shoes she would have made it....it was that close!

Have a great time on your trip!!!!

I'm am so with you on Le Cellier. Not that it was bad, but I doubt we make a point to go back again. It does look like a fun day at Epcot! I'm loving all the character spot pics. It's so sweet how she smooched all their noses! Riding around the monorail so many times sounds like a kids' dream that most would just skip doing. I know my guys would be all for it!

Can't wait to hear about Ohana! We've never tried that one, but I sure do cancel ADRs there all the time! Someday we'll keep one..

And what? We get a passholder discount at Mousegears? I never remember where these places are. Oops.. I'm sure Mickey enjoys the extra money!

Yeah, another person who is not obsessed with Le Cellier! I really thought I was the only one! I love how much Olivia loves the characters (but I secretly want to sanitize her lips after all those kisses)! I made a huge point to get lots of PP character pics since we had preordered the CD.

Livy really loves the monorail! I just figure since we get to go so often, we should stop and enjoy the little things.

I will have both a dinner and breakfast Ohana review! I had heard such great things about both meals that I couldn't decide so I booked both!

There are passholder discounts pretty much everywhere now! I thought it was only at World of Disney and the Emporium at MK, but everywhere I have asked (except of course food places) has given me the discount!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Another person who didn't like the soup at Le Cellier!!!! I don't like it either. I think it's a matter of taste and my taste buds did not enjoy it. I DID NOT know that you could request all pretzel bread. Will definitely be doing that in August.

What is it about the characters noses that little kids are just drawn to kiss them???

OH and you reminded me! I have to order a cage for Aisling before our trip. She wants to pick a pearl again. Thanks

 

[jc040404]

There are passholder discounts pretty much everywhere now! I thought it was only at World of Disney and the Emporium at MK, but everywhere I have asked (except of course food places) has given me the discount!

That was painful to read. I really had no clue there was a discount at the Emporium! The little booklet that I keep our passes in didn't have much mentioned beyond World of Disney, so I never thought about it again. Not fun to learn! I am happy to know now though! I should've asked more, but I really don't think about being a passholder when we're shopping. We've only used an AP discount in the parks once actually, at Yak & Yeti. Do you have the Tables in Wonderland card? I regret not buying one of those at the start of this, even though we don't do a ton of TS. All the savings I'm missing!!

 

[eecteacher82]

Another person who didn't like the soup at Le Cellier!!!! I don't like it either. I think it's a matter of taste and my taste buds did not enjoy it. I DID NOT know that you could request all pretzel bread. Will definitely be doing that in August.

What is it about the characters noses that little kids are just drawn to kiss them???

OH and you reminded me! I have to order a cage for Aisling before our trip. She wants to pick a pearl again. Thanks

WooHoo! Another non-lover of the soup! We should start our own non-fan club!

I don't know what it is about the noses! Olivia has always kissed them though!

I loved the cages! I need to order another one for myself, after wearing it so often the silver has started to rub off. For less that $4 I was kind of expecting that though! Livy loves hers and wears it whenever I will let her!

Don't tell anyone, but I'm in the process of planning a couple day trip for August when you guys are here! I'm basing my dates off of when the MMC party usually is, so they better not change dates this year!

 

[eecteacher82]

That was painful to read. I really had no clue there was a discount at the Emporium! The little booklet that I keep our passes in didn't have much mentioned beyond World of Disney, so I never thought about it again. Not fun to learn! I am happy to know now though! I should've asked more, but I really don't think about being a passholder when we're shopping. We've only used an AP discount in the parks once actually, at Yak & Yeti. Do you have the Tables in Wonderland card? I regret not buying one of those at the start of this, even though we don't do a ton of TS. All the savings I'm missing!!

I didn't know there was so many discounts either! We were at the shop that was in ToonTown (the one in the big tent), and when we were checking out, the CM asked if we were passholders! I was shocked! She told us to ask everywhere, since most places gave discounts (except for food).

We don't have the TIW card. I just don't think it would be worth it for us. When we do short trips we just eat as we go (never at a TS), and when we do longer trips we do a dining plan. I like the dining plans since we usually plan our longer trips out in advance, it gives me time to pay everything off, and I don't have to worry about budgeting for food while we are there.

 

[exwdwcm]

Olivia loved the passport! She was super excited to get it stamped in each country! She even started asking them to write Happy Birthday after she heard me ask a couple of times! I really like that we have the Happy Birthday in all of those languages! She also really liked helping me put the stickers on each page. Well worth the $10 in my opinion!

so good to hear. I am definitely doing that this time.

That was painful to read. I really had no clue there was a discount at the Emporium! The little booklet that I keep our passes in didn't have much mentioned beyond World of Disney, so I never thought about it again. Not fun to learn! I am happy to know now though! I should've asked more, but I really don't think about being a passholder when we're shopping. We've only used an AP discount in the parks once actually, at Yak & Yeti. Do you have the Tables in Wonderland card? I regret not buying one of those at the start of this, even though we don't do a ton of TS. All the savings I'm missing!!

Since we are DVC and AP holders (and Disney VISA)- i just ask almost everywhere we go if they take any of those 3 discounts. I mean, it can't hurt to ask right? I just pull out all 3 cards and say, do i get a discount???

I believe the AP discount is only supposed to be 10% at World of Disney, but they have run specials for certain time frames where they open it up to other stores (or the main anchor stores in each park etc.). Here is a great site for all the discounts for AP, VISA, DVC for dining and non-dining.
http://allears.net/pl/disc_other.pdf
http://allears.net/pl/disc_dining.pdf

 

[eecteacher82]

When I last left off, we were getting ready to eat at Ohana! This is another meal I had really been looking forward to!

While we were waiting to be seated for our 8:05 ADR, we were sitting in the lobby area, just relaxing and listening to the iPod. One of the songs I have on it is "Disney Freak" (it's on iTunes), and Olivia is in love with it!!! We must have listened to it 20 times in a row while we waited! By the 15th time or so, Toby started singing along with it which we found HYSTERICAL!! Sometimes Toby can be pretty anti-Disney (shocking I know), but while we are there, he has the most amazing time, so this made it even more funny. Olivia and I (but mostly me) we almost in tears laughing at him by the time they called us back around 8:15, so this was the start to our silliest dinner ever!

On the way to the table (in the back corner with no real window view) we were given our bread (which everyone ate before I could get a picture)

After we were seated we ordered drinks-the usual. When our waiter came back with our drinks he also had brought Olivia a kids plate of chicken nuggets and fries without us even asking!

Soon, the food started coming out! First up, chicken wings and potstickers:

We LOVED these! All three of us cleared the plate in no time!

Up next: noodles and veggies

Once again, yummy!

Then, there was a lull in the food arriving and Olivia had pretty much had it for the day. She was tired, and CRANKY! All she wanted to do was sit on my lap. It was at this point where Toby and I got REALLY silly! He decided to take pictures of me, and kept getting shots of me with my eyes closed, or in the middle of talking or eating, so they were horrible! He of course found this to be hysterical. After seeing some of the shots I was laughing pretty hard as well, then I decided to make sure the pics were funny and proceeded to make the goofiest faces I could. Now, since we are friends here, I will post them (much to my dismay....)

This one was supposed to be nice, but my eyes were closed so I looked oriental

...making sure my eyes were OPEN

Not even going to try and explain this one....

...or this one

During this silly time, they were bringing out the main course, chicken, beef and shrimp. Of all those, we only liked the shrimp. The chicken was terribly dry and Toby said the beef was dry and pretty flavorless.

After our sillyness, it was time for dessert. Olivia magically perked up when the D word was mentioned and climbed right back into her own seat.

Of course there had to be birthday singing!

Toby usually isn't a huge dessert eater, he really isn't a fan of sweets, but when he took a bite of this, his eyes got huge and he pretty much started inhaling it! He said it was the best thing he has ever had (besides his grandmas banana pudding and my moms pumpkin cake), and ate most of it!

Our total came to $70.27 and we left a $14.00 tip.

Overall thoughts:
Despite not liking most of the main course we would eat at Ohana for dinner again. The chicken and beef were the only things we didn't enjoy, but everything else made up for it. The atmosphere was nice, although the singing lady was a bit annoying after a while. All the other kids in the restaurant seemed to enjoy the coconut races and were having a great time.

After the bill was paid and we made potty stops, it was about 9:15 and we headed to the monorail to head back to MK and grab a bus back to POP. Ahh, if only it were that easy. Our monorail woes came back to visit. After waiting out in the cold for about 20 minutes we were informed that the monorail was down for a medical emergency and they were unsure of when it would be back up and running. Ughh. It was cold, late and I had a very tired child. We headed downstairs to the lobby so I could see what our options were. The nice young man working at the desk took one look at us and said he would get us a cab back to the hotel, at no charge to us! Wow! I was thinking we were going to have to walk over to the TTC and hope to get on the ferry boat since the boat at the Poly wasn't running any longer. He wrote us a cab voucher and sent someone out to get us a cab while we waited inside. After about 10 minutes we were on our way in a nice warm cab. I have to say, it was REALLY weird being in a car and just holding Olivia and her not being in a car seat! She fell asleep within about 2 minutes and slept the rest of the way back to POP. When we arrived, we gave the driver our voucher (the ride was about $20) and tipped him $5. When we got back to the room it was about 10:05 and I put Olivia put Livy in her jammies and tucked into bed and went down to fill up our mugs. By the time I got myself ready for bed and got the bag and stroller packed up for the morning it was 11:30 and I hit the sack.

Up next: Ohana...again.

 

[eecteacher82]

Meals
Breakfast at Cape May Cafe:
Bill $48.93 + 9.00 tip = $57.93

Lunch at Le Cellier:
Bill $85.21 + 17.00 tip = $102.21

Dinner at Ohana:
Bill $70.27 + $14.00 tip = $84.27

Snacks:
NONE

Total for the day (including tips):
$244.41

Total for the day (not including tips):
$204.41

Dining Plan cost for the day:
$164.00

$164.00 + $40.00 (for tips) = $194.00

So, we spent about $194.00 out of pocket and it would have cost $244.41, so a savings of $50.41...not too bad!

Souvenirs:
Epcot passport: $10.60

Pick a Pearl: $34.00

Mickey and Goofy plush dolls: $22.90

Total: $67.50

Plans:
We wanted to do (what we actually did is in green):
The Seas with Nemo
Living with the Land
Figment
Captain E.O.
Character Spot
Spaceship Earth
Canada
France
Japan
UK
Morocco
America

Yep! We did everything on the list!!!! That has to be a first!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

great update!!!! I could go for ALLL of that Ohana food right now!!!!!! It's nice that they wrote you a voucher for the cab! I had no idea they did that, what great Pixie Dust!!!!

 

[arubio0801]

Im new to the thread and I read the your whole TR while at work today!! Good thing my BIL is my boss. lol your daughter is soo cute!! Do you guys like the dining plan? We're going aug31st-sep7 and I was able to upgrade us to free dining but we've never done the dining plan before so it'll be nice not to have to pay for some of our meals. Waiting for the next post

 

[eecteacher82]

great update!!!! I could go for ALLL of that Ohana food right now!!!!!! It's nice that they wrote you a voucher for the cab! I had no idea they did that, what great Pixie Dust!!!!

I was thinking the same thing while I was updating...potstickers and wings sound SO yummy right now!!!!

I didn't know they gave vouchers either! I was only going up there to make sure I could catch a ferry before we walked all the way over there in the cold! That definitely made up for our monorail woes of the week!

Im new to the thread and I read the your whole TR while at work today!! Good thing my BIL is my boss. lol your daughter is soo cute!! Do you guys like the dining plan? We're going aug31st-sep7 and I was able to upgrade us to free dining but we've never done the dining plan before so it'll be nice not to have to pay for some of our meals. Waiting for the next post

Welcome!!!! Wow! My whole TR in one day! I don't even think I would do that! Glad you are enjoying it though! Thank you, we think our little princess is pretty cute too, but we may be a bit biased...

I have to say, I really like the dining plan! We have done all 3 of them and like them all! We tend to do the quick service plan on shorter trips and then we splurged and did deluxe on this trip and really like it as well. I really like knowing that everything is pretty much paid for before we leave and we don't have to worry about budgeting for food. It was especially a life saver for this trip since about a week before we left, my hubby got in a car accident and we had to put lots of money towards out deductible, and if we hadn't already paid for the dining plan, we might have had to cancel the trip since we spent all of our money on the car! Just my two cents

I'm working on another update now! Trying to get this darn TR finished!

 

[eecteacher82]

Thursday December 9, 2010

*Picture HEAVY update!*

This was sadly, our last full day at WDW for 2010. It began with a 7:30 wake up for all 3 of us. We got ourselves ready to go and bundled up (although it was still cold, the temps were no longer below freezing in the morning)! We were ready to go and left the room by 8:15 to head towards the bus. We were lucky and a MK bus pulled up just as we arrived! After an uneventful ride, we hopped off and made our way to the monorail platform and boarded the resort line, bound for the Poly! Thankfully, there were no issues this morning and we arrived at 9:15 for our 9:30 ADR at Ohana. After checking in (and being informed that they were running behind), we grabbed a seat in the lobby area to begin our wait. Once again, the iPod came out to keep Olivia entertained. Toby was getting bored, so I went to the little shop on the second floor and bought a newspaper for him to read, and one of the cute Mickey Christmas reusable bags for myself ($3.15 for both of them), and used a couple of snack credits on holiday rice crispie treats.

Finally at 10:05 we were seated! This time we had an amazing view of the castle! We were one table away from the window, but Olivia was in heaven!

Before we even had the chance to sit down, Lilo was at our table!

After Lilo left, we sat down to start our yummy meal! First up was bread, and delicious fruit. We had seconds on both!

While we were waiting for more characters to come, we were eating up and being silly!

Finally, Olivia spotted someone!

Who was it?...

Stitch!!

Right behind Stitch were...

Of course, the meal wouldn't be complete without... MORE cupcakes!! (You can see more food pics in these)

After that, we paid the bill, which was $44.71 and left a $9.00 tip.

Overall thoughts of Ohana breakfast:
We really enjoyed everything! The bread, fruit, eggs, sausage, potatoes, and waffles were amazing! I can honestly say I loved everything! The only thing that none of us like was the juice! I know there are people who rave about the juice, but we just really didn't like it! The atmosphere was great, and the characters spent lots of time with us and we never felt rushed. I'm pretty sure will be returning!

Once we finished and took a potty break, we hopped on the monorail and headed to MK with no real plan!

Up next: How would we spend our morning at the Magic Kingdom?

 

[arubio0801]

[COLOR="Magenta

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Welcome!!!! Wow! My whole TR in one day! I don't even think I would do that! Glad you are enjoying it though! Thank you, we think our little princess is pretty cute too, but we may be a bit biased...

I have to say, I really like the dining plan! We have done all 3 of them and like them all! We tend to do the quick service plan on shorter trips and then we splurged and did deluxe on this trip and really like it as well. I really like knowing that everything is pretty much paid for before we leave and we don't have to worry about budgeting for food. It was especially a life saver for this trip since about a week before we left, my hubby got in a car accident and we had to put lots of money towards out deductible, and if we hadn't already paid for the dining plan, we might have had to cancel the trip since we spent all of our money on the car! Just my two cents

I'm working on another update now! Trying to get this darn TR finished!

Lol ya I didnt get much done at work thats forsure!! Lol I think all parents feel that way about there kids!! Oh wow ya we may go next yr for DS 2nd birthday and book it when we get back when we go in september and do the deluxe if we like the dining plan now. I think itll save us a ton of money we always spend soo much on food! Oh wow I hope hes okay! Ya its def better when you pay everything before the trip its nice bc you dont have to spend any money unless you want to buy something! Thanks! Looking foward to your next post!!

 

[Tinker_Tam]

We loves our Ohana breakfast!!! It is a do again for us. I am with you though, I was crazy for the juice. I ended up asking for a soda.

 

[eecteacher82]

After our quick monorail ride from the Poly to MK it was about 11:00 and we had no real plan! Shocking I know...me without a plan! I asked Olivia what she wanted to do and she immediately said "Great big beautiful tomorrow!"! Yep, she is my daughter for sure! How could we say no to that? We couldn't! Off to CoP it was! This has always been my favorite ride and I am SO glad that Livy loves it just as much as I do! After a quick ride through time, we again put Olivia in the drivers seat....literally! It was off to the Speedway! I hopped the the car in front and let Olivia and Toby ride together! The set of pictures says it all:

Toby said he survived...but barely, and Olivia had the biggest smile on her face and was so proud of her "awesome" driving! Now, every time we go to MK, Toby and Livy ride the cars together!

After the ride, we made our way into Toon Town since we figured it would be the last time we would see it before it closed. As soon as we walked in, Olivia had her eye on something...face painting! She has always loved getting her face painted, and had been begging all week to get it done. We finally caved and let her do it. She picked out her design and Toby went to pay ($10). She climbed up in the chair and sat perfectly still while she was painted.

The final product!

Up next was Olivia's favorite ride: Goofy's Barnstormer!!

Olivia rode a total of 3 times in a row, twice with me and once with Toby!

Up next was a visit with our two favorite mice!

 

[eecteacher82]

*WARNING: ANOTHER PICTURE HEAVY UPDATE!!*

Our next stop was of course Mickey and Minnie!!!! The lines to go through their houses were totally nuts, so we ended up skipping the houses and heading straight to the Judge's Tent. This was another time that the CM saw our GAC and insisted that we bypass the line and go right in. Once again, I tried to say no, but it was no use. So after about a 2 minute wait it was our turn!

These have to be some of my favorite pictures of the trip, the last one my favorite of any Disney picture we have!

I really can't say enough how much I LOVE that last picture!!! I'm not sure why, but it is my favorite!

After our time with the mice was up, we took a ride with Pooh and then Olivia "had" to get more Pixie Dust, so we headed to the Castle Couture shop and she was sufficiently dusted.

Up next, Livy decided it was time for some POTC! We all love this ride and her favorite part is going down the "hill" with her hands up shouting WEEEE!

After Pirates we started heading towards the front of the park and the exit. I had one more thing I wanted to do before we left. I was determined to get another "magic shot" from the PP photographers. Any guesses as to which one I was after?

The balloon shot! I had been trying to get this one all week! Since the magic shots can't be taken when the camera is already on a tripod, I was having a heck of a hard time finding a PP photographer at MK who wasn't on a tripod! I'm so glad I found one though! I love how the shots came out!

We finally made our way out and headed up the monorail ramp and hopped on for our ride to Epcot-my favorite monorail ride of all! I love going through the park and seeing Epcot from above!

Up next: A much sought after meet and greet for us, and more WS!