Our 2006 Disney Adventures ~ NEW, 1/20 pg 13!
- Thread starter lillygator
- Start date
MommyPoppins
<font color=green>Tangled with the TF in a moment
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2004
- Messages
- 4,821
Well, it's about time! I thought I was bad at getting new installments! 
schmoopypoo
Countin down the days
- Joined
- May 22, 2006
- Messages
- 483
YEA!!! So glad you're back writing 
Can't wait to hear how Kona was. We'll be going there for the first time in November. Anywho, try to keep writing!!!
Can't wait to hear how Kona was. We'll be going there for the first time in November. Anywho, try to keep writing!!!
ShellyBelly
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 17, 2006
- Messages
- 536
Great installment! Can't wait to read more!!
lillygator
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2003
- Messages
- 32,740
thanks guys....soon!!!
DebbieinWA
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2006
- Messages
- 207
Eager to hear more!!
lillygator
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2003
- Messages
- 32,740
~ still dragging out Thursday ~
Before going further I wanted to note some observations from the Flower and Garden show. Weve been sniffing the flowers for a few years now so are pretty familiar with the different features of the festival. This year however I was a tad disenchanted. One of my all time favorites is the Home Depot area where children ~ as well as adults ~ are welcome to plant a plant and receive a special Epcot Home Depot orange apron. Not because I think Charming looks ravishingly sexy in one of those orange aprons but because I love me some free wares that serve no purpose other than to collect dust, clutter an otherwise uncluttered area or simply bring back magical family memories you know, memories of grand adventures with no tantrums, no lost passes, awesome hair days, skipping through the festival hand in hand singing Partridge Family songs!
2006 seems to be the year of cutbacks and cheapskates upon arrival to Epcot I tried to locate where the HD display area would be which is usually toward the back of the world showcase. During our day we made our way over there saw some Mac Daddy grills that would do just about everything but open your beer and drink it for you but Sacre bleu, what is zis? as Charming was drooling over the manly grills I was informed that there were no aprons and no plants ..WHAT? You axed two things in the course of one year? Couldnt go a bit easy on me and maybe have cut the plant out this year and saved the apron for later? We all know what a cash cow Home Depot is .I may start shopping at Lowes over this. Or maybe return my free tomato plant to Home Depot since it is dead as a doornail.
The second observation was the distinct addition of multiple playgrounds. What were you; yes YOU who create these yards, thinking? Do you know anything about strong arming a kid back into a stroller after frolicking through Tinkerbells play yard? And not just one kid. Make that two kids. No tantrums to see here folks. These girls were stung by bees. Get a medic!
The flowers were gorgeous, I know central Florida gets cold in the winter and also freezes (which makes me wonder how their frangipanis survive) but I wish they could have this color and fragrance all year long on up on that would be flower, food and wine fest all together! I could get drunk twice over, yet only pay for it once ----from the wine and the intoxicating smells of the flowers.
and now, back to our regularly scheduled trip report .
We headed back to AKL for naps and other merriment .fun stuff. Naps Samantha will tell you thats a potty word .basically it is equivalent to telling a kid they are going to be getting a shot at the doctors only worse, the shot is over in a second, the nap goes on. I think I plan naps more for Charming than anyone else we dont want a not-so-Charming later in the day. We all tried to nap, but it was so not happening so we went down to the pool for a bit .and there he was.
McMiracle.
at the pool.
Hot, sweaty, and drinking wine from a plastic cup.
Definitely
My kind of man.
We saddled up to the beach entry; snagged some loungers and I sent Charming off to the Uzima Springs pool bar for some toxic beverages. Beneath my shades I was scanning the horizon looking for Buzz, Woody and friends wait Im at AKL, wrong resort, scanning for giraffe, zebra and lions - when it happened. Our eyes locked.
He looked longingly at me as though time had ripped us from one anothers arms and then Charming interrupts by motioning and mouthing some form of what the heck kind of drink do you want?
Way to ruin a good fantasy there babe.
Ill take whatever has double alcohol and no mixer darling!
So the girls are content to play just at the shallow end, not dreaming of fighting over the sand pails or shovels while I lounge with drink in hand gazing at a movie star on vacation as the cabana boy feeds me grapes dripping in champagne.
NOT.
Of course Haley is at that age where she wants to dive headfirst in the pool and has no idea the outcome meanwhile Samantha wants to go down the slide again. and again. and again. Just one more time mom Mom you can go too, its really fun Damn these hotels with slides when do they expect the parents to relax?
Note to self: seriously think about hotel choice prior to next Bad Girl adventure. or selling the kids.
So between drinks, sliding, swimming, running mascara and being splashed by other peoples kids Charming makes contact with McMiracle. They are both in the pool looking manly and protective over their cubs when some sort of verbal exchange took place. Charming looks at me with a thumbs up, meaning I was right in who McMiracle was.
So I sit and anxiously wait until he can come over and give the scoop. What is it with men this was an issue, get over here bud! Finally Charming makes his way over and apparently he asked the celebrity do you believe in Miracles? Celeb smiles and says yes but obviously wants to keep it on the down low.
So there you have it - our AKL celebrity swim was with none other than Michael Mantenuto who played the character Jack OCallahan in the movie Miracle. Very nice eye candy and really nice guy. Over the course of our stay we ran into him a few times at the pool and Uzima Springs. He even searched us out to ask what time certain games started and to use a pen, etc. His little girl was very sweet and splashed around with Samantha in the pool. She also chose the Buzz Lightyear light up spinner over the Princess one in the gift shop. He simply shook his head and laughed. Me, the nosey person I am was so curious to know if they had the presidential suite but really couldnt come up with a great way to work that in the conversation without being glaringly obvious.
After our good times at the pool we headed back to our room, the non presidential suite. Our Wishes cruise was tonight and since we were sharing with two DIS couples, whom wed never met I wanted the girls and Charming on their best, had a nice refreshing nap, behavior.
Our ADR at Kona was for 7:30 pm. Originally, I had booked our stay at the Polynesian remember? Well, at that time I planned the Wishes cruise to leave from there and figured to make life easier we may as well eat there too! Weve never dined at Kona and I had actually tried to change to Ohana quite a few times with no luck.
We arrived at the Poly, valet parked and went upstairs. My first observation was that Ohana had finally MOVED their check in podium! It was great, prior it was out in the middle and people would be lined up like there were free goods being handed out and just in general making for a miserable check in experience. My second observation (you knew this was coming) was that they were DEAD. But hey, weve never been to Kona, lets give it a whirl.
We parked our mammoth SUV double stroller outside and checked in. They said 15 minute wait and handed us a pager. We walked around and found a couple empty chairs by the monorail enterance. Charming gave Haley a bottle.
Ok, so he was providing a head rest and Haley was giving herself a bottle.
The pager went off and we were seated almost immediately at one of those bables .the half booth half table contraptions. First things first drinks all around. Charming had Sand in Your Pants, (he would die at this pic!)
I had Kona Cool Sundown (far right)
and the girls had milk complete with festive umbrellas. Were mean parents we get the cool drinks, nannie nannie boo boo!
The area we were seated in was right next to the dessert display. Wow .t-e-m-p-t-a-t-i-o-n! Nice to look at and fun to watch the pastry chef at work. Even had a chocolate Lilo and Stitch!
Now to this point in my life I have never really been a fan of Thomas. The child at the table next to us was and Thomas tanked about 16 and ½ times before mom got smart and didnt let him have it anymore. At one point I feared he was actually aiming at us!
On to the food! I had Shrimp and Scallops,
Charming feasted on the Filet Mignon
and Samantha had the exquisite delicacy of Grilled Cheese.
Haley got some of everything, lucky girl!
We finished the meal with a glass of Rosemont Chardonnay for me and chocolate ice cream for Samantha.
Apparently John and Haley were stuffed.
Our bill, pre DDE was $80.16, after DDE (tip not included) $64.13 swwwwweet!
Observations of the restaurant concluded the tables are pretty close together, which could be good or bad depending on who is sitting next to you, the higher ceilings and openness make it very loud and they have onions growing on the ceiling. Seriously.
I never knew this is where pearl onions came from.
The food was good but smaller sized portions than many of the other table service restaurants and service was really lacking. I would give it another whirl just for that luscious drink and to hear Charming order a Sand in Your Pants.
Now in my mind throughout the meal I am aware that we have to be at the marina at XX time to meet with the Captain and find our two families. What would they be like? Hopefully we all get along as I dont want to see anyone going overboard .there are alligators in Bay Lake.
Were all fed and now off to the cruise. Yippee! I had many reservations about this. First money wasnt really the issue but isnt it usually the more the merrier? I posted on the May cruise thread and had a few takers. Now BOTH our families had almost no post count and I hadnt seen them post before. Which, means nothing except the fact I wasnt really counting on anyone actually showing up. I had pmd them both several times and even given out my cell number. OMG I gave my number to people Ive never met and dont know! I was a bit anxious but not fearful for my life or anything, I mean we are at Disney World. Nothing bad happens at Disney World.
So we make our way down to the marina, I check in with my credit card and our Captain Jay, informs us we have a bit of time before we take off. I see a couple kind of hanging around and they ask if I am Vanessa I had a split second thought of saying no, but they looked friendly and fun so what the heck sure its me! This couple was from overseas and they were so kind to bring us LOTS of candy! THANKS SO MUCH!!
Now the other couple had tried to call me, left messages and I tried to call back but was not getting reception so I hope he was not thinking we were bailing on him. We found him and his girlfriend down at the end of the dock so we all finally met and I breathed a sigh of relief no Bundys here, Ted, Al or otherwise.
Since there was some time to kill I found stroller parking and Justin and Charming went to the Polynesian gift shop to get some goods .(liquor) for our journey on the Seven Seas Lagoon. Now who in the world came up with some crazy rule about only being able to buy one alcoholic drink per person? Nuts, I tell ya. Well Charming brought me back a bottle of wine a small one, with a twist off cap (quality goods here) and himself a large beer (I think). Justins girlfriend had to vouch for the wine or they would not have sold it to him. After I heard the situation, I had a very simple solution. You walk in, buy your beer. Walk out. Walk back in and buy my wine. Walk out. Done.
No matter we are on our way.
Jay was our Captain and he was so AWESOME! (cute too!) We motored out and had a prime viewing spot for the Electric Water Parade ~
the GATOR!! (for Marky Mark!)
and then motored around a bit more before he positioned us in our fireworks spot.
Now I booked the cheap $200 cruise sans music. We were not pulled up next to a boat with music so what we could hear from the MK was it. It also had chips, crackers, cookies and sodas. I felt like a dork (read: CHEAPO) without the music. There was also blankets for those who were cold. It did get a bit nippy out there.
The firework view was awesome! Definitely worth doing and definitely worth doing again. The girls were in awe and amazingly they were on their best behavior. Haley got a bit ancy on the way back in other than that they were such princesses and I was so proud of them.
As we motored back in, I sat back, let the wind whip over my face and glanced over at my girls who were just having such a blast it brought tears to my eyes! This is my happy place. I can imagine finding joy with my family anywhere in the world but I cant imagine the connectedness I feel to my entire family anywhere else but here. Thank you Walt Disney your dreams and imagination have brought countless joys to my family as well as millions of others!!
Here's our group with Jay sans Charming as he is playing photographer!
Coming up ---- Family Magic Tour, or not the episode with the lost AP!
Before going further I wanted to note some observations from the Flower and Garden show. Weve been sniffing the flowers for a few years now so are pretty familiar with the different features of the festival. This year however I was a tad disenchanted. One of my all time favorites is the Home Depot area where children ~ as well as adults ~ are welcome to plant a plant and receive a special Epcot Home Depot orange apron. Not because I think Charming looks ravishingly sexy in one of those orange aprons but because I love me some free wares that serve no purpose other than to collect dust, clutter an otherwise uncluttered area or simply bring back magical family memories you know, memories of grand adventures with no tantrums, no lost passes, awesome hair days, skipping through the festival hand in hand singing Partridge Family songs!
2006 seems to be the year of cutbacks and cheapskates upon arrival to Epcot I tried to locate where the HD display area would be which is usually toward the back of the world showcase. During our day we made our way over there saw some Mac Daddy grills that would do just about everything but open your beer and drink it for you but Sacre bleu, what is zis? as Charming was drooling over the manly grills I was informed that there were no aprons and no plants ..WHAT? You axed two things in the course of one year? Couldnt go a bit easy on me and maybe have cut the plant out this year and saved the apron for later? We all know what a cash cow Home Depot is .I may start shopping at Lowes over this. Or maybe return my free tomato plant to Home Depot since it is dead as a doornail.
The second observation was the distinct addition of multiple playgrounds. What were you; yes YOU who create these yards, thinking? Do you know anything about strong arming a kid back into a stroller after frolicking through Tinkerbells play yard? And not just one kid. Make that two kids. No tantrums to see here folks. These girls were stung by bees. Get a medic!
The flowers were gorgeous, I know central Florida gets cold in the winter and also freezes (which makes me wonder how their frangipanis survive) but I wish they could have this color and fragrance all year long on up on that would be flower, food and wine fest all together! I could get drunk twice over, yet only pay for it once ----from the wine and the intoxicating smells of the flowers.
and now, back to our regularly scheduled trip report .
We headed back to AKL for naps and other merriment .fun stuff. Naps Samantha will tell you thats a potty word .basically it is equivalent to telling a kid they are going to be getting a shot at the doctors only worse, the shot is over in a second, the nap goes on. I think I plan naps more for Charming than anyone else we dont want a not-so-Charming later in the day. We all tried to nap, but it was so not happening so we went down to the pool for a bit .and there he was.
McMiracle.
at the pool.
Hot, sweaty, and drinking wine from a plastic cup.
Definitely
My kind of man.
We saddled up to the beach entry; snagged some loungers and I sent Charming off to the Uzima Springs pool bar for some toxic beverages. Beneath my shades I was scanning the horizon looking for Buzz, Woody and friends wait Im at AKL, wrong resort, scanning for giraffe, zebra and lions - when it happened. Our eyes locked.
He looked longingly at me as though time had ripped us from one anothers arms and then Charming interrupts by motioning and mouthing some form of what the heck kind of drink do you want? Way to ruin a good fantasy there babe.
Ill take whatever has double alcohol and no mixer darling!
So the girls are content to play just at the shallow end, not dreaming of fighting over the sand pails or shovels while I lounge with drink in hand gazing at a movie star on vacation as the cabana boy feeds me grapes dripping in champagne.
NOT.
Of course Haley is at that age where she wants to dive headfirst in the pool and has no idea the outcome meanwhile Samantha wants to go down the slide again. and again. and again. Just one more time mom Mom you can go too, its really fun Damn these hotels with slides when do they expect the parents to relax?
Note to self: seriously think about hotel choice prior to next Bad Girl adventure. or selling the kids.
So between drinks, sliding, swimming, running mascara and being splashed by other peoples kids Charming makes contact with McMiracle. They are both in the pool looking manly and protective over their cubs when some sort of verbal exchange took place. Charming looks at me with a thumbs up, meaning I was right in who McMiracle was.
So I sit and anxiously wait until he can come over and give the scoop. What is it with men this was an issue, get over here bud! Finally Charming makes his way over and apparently he asked the celebrity do you believe in Miracles? Celeb smiles and says yes but obviously wants to keep it on the down low.
So there you have it - our AKL celebrity swim was with none other than Michael Mantenuto who played the character Jack OCallahan in the movie Miracle. Very nice eye candy and really nice guy. Over the course of our stay we ran into him a few times at the pool and Uzima Springs. He even searched us out to ask what time certain games started and to use a pen, etc. His little girl was very sweet and splashed around with Samantha in the pool. She also chose the Buzz Lightyear light up spinner over the Princess one in the gift shop. He simply shook his head and laughed. Me, the nosey person I am was so curious to know if they had the presidential suite but really couldnt come up with a great way to work that in the conversation without being glaringly obvious.
After our good times at the pool we headed back to our room, the non presidential suite. Our Wishes cruise was tonight and since we were sharing with two DIS couples, whom wed never met I wanted the girls and Charming on their best, had a nice refreshing nap, behavior.
Our ADR at Kona was for 7:30 pm. Originally, I had booked our stay at the Polynesian remember? Well, at that time I planned the Wishes cruise to leave from there and figured to make life easier we may as well eat there too! Weve never dined at Kona and I had actually tried to change to Ohana quite a few times with no luck.
We arrived at the Poly, valet parked and went upstairs. My first observation was that Ohana had finally MOVED their check in podium! It was great, prior it was out in the middle and people would be lined up like there were free goods being handed out and just in general making for a miserable check in experience. My second observation (you knew this was coming) was that they were DEAD. But hey, weve never been to Kona, lets give it a whirl.
We parked our mammoth SUV double stroller outside and checked in. They said 15 minute wait and handed us a pager. We walked around and found a couple empty chairs by the monorail enterance. Charming gave Haley a bottle.
Ok, so he was providing a head rest and Haley was giving herself a bottle.
The pager went off and we were seated almost immediately at one of those bables .the half booth half table contraptions. First things first drinks all around. Charming had Sand in Your Pants, (he would die at this pic!)
I had Kona Cool Sundown (far right)
and the girls had milk complete with festive umbrellas. Were mean parents we get the cool drinks, nannie nannie boo boo!
The area we were seated in was right next to the dessert display. Wow .t-e-m-p-t-a-t-i-o-n! Nice to look at and fun to watch the pastry chef at work. Even had a chocolate Lilo and Stitch!
Now to this point in my life I have never really been a fan of Thomas. The child at the table next to us was and Thomas tanked about 16 and ½ times before mom got smart and didnt let him have it anymore. At one point I feared he was actually aiming at us!
On to the food! I had Shrimp and Scallops,
Charming feasted on the Filet Mignon
and Samantha had the exquisite delicacy of Grilled Cheese.
Haley got some of everything, lucky girl!
We finished the meal with a glass of Rosemont Chardonnay for me and chocolate ice cream for Samantha.
Apparently John and Haley were stuffed.
Our bill, pre DDE was $80.16, after DDE (tip not included) $64.13 swwwwweet!
Observations of the restaurant concluded the tables are pretty close together, which could be good or bad depending on who is sitting next to you, the higher ceilings and openness make it very loud and they have onions growing on the ceiling. Seriously.
I never knew this is where pearl onions came from.
The food was good but smaller sized portions than many of the other table service restaurants and service was really lacking. I would give it another whirl just for that luscious drink and to hear Charming order a Sand in Your Pants.
Now in my mind throughout the meal I am aware that we have to be at the marina at XX time to meet with the Captain and find our two families. What would they be like? Hopefully we all get along as I dont want to see anyone going overboard .there are alligators in Bay Lake.
Were all fed and now off to the cruise. Yippee! I had many reservations about this. First money wasnt really the issue but isnt it usually the more the merrier? I posted on the May cruise thread and had a few takers. Now BOTH our families had almost no post count and I hadnt seen them post before. Which, means nothing except the fact I wasnt really counting on anyone actually showing up. I had pmd them both several times and even given out my cell number. OMG I gave my number to people Ive never met and dont know! I was a bit anxious but not fearful for my life or anything, I mean we are at Disney World. Nothing bad happens at Disney World.
So we make our way down to the marina, I check in with my credit card and our Captain Jay, informs us we have a bit of time before we take off. I see a couple kind of hanging around and they ask if I am Vanessa I had a split second thought of saying no, but they looked friendly and fun so what the heck sure its me! This couple was from overseas and they were so kind to bring us LOTS of candy! THANKS SO MUCH!!
Now the other couple had tried to call me, left messages and I tried to call back but was not getting reception so I hope he was not thinking we were bailing on him. We found him and his girlfriend down at the end of the dock so we all finally met and I breathed a sigh of relief no Bundys here, Ted, Al or otherwise.
Since there was some time to kill I found stroller parking and Justin and Charming went to the Polynesian gift shop to get some goods .(liquor) for our journey on the Seven Seas Lagoon. Now who in the world came up with some crazy rule about only being able to buy one alcoholic drink per person? Nuts, I tell ya. Well Charming brought me back a bottle of wine a small one, with a twist off cap (quality goods here) and himself a large beer (I think). Justins girlfriend had to vouch for the wine or they would not have sold it to him. After I heard the situation, I had a very simple solution. You walk in, buy your beer. Walk out. Walk back in and buy my wine. Walk out. Done.
No matter we are on our way.
Jay was our Captain and he was so AWESOME! (cute too!) We motored out and had a prime viewing spot for the Electric Water Parade ~
the GATOR!! (for Marky Mark!)
and then motored around a bit more before he positioned us in our fireworks spot.
Now I booked the cheap $200 cruise sans music. We were not pulled up next to a boat with music so what we could hear from the MK was it. It also had chips, crackers, cookies and sodas. I felt like a dork (read: CHEAPO) without the music. There was also blankets for those who were cold. It did get a bit nippy out there.
The firework view was awesome! Definitely worth doing and definitely worth doing again. The girls were in awe and amazingly they were on their best behavior. Haley got a bit ancy on the way back in other than that they were such princesses and I was so proud of them.
As we motored back in, I sat back, let the wind whip over my face and glanced over at my girls who were just having such a blast it brought tears to my eyes! This is my happy place. I can imagine finding joy with my family anywhere in the world but I cant imagine the connectedness I feel to my entire family anywhere else but here. Thank you Walt Disney your dreams and imagination have brought countless joys to my family as well as millions of others!!
Here's our group with Jay sans Charming as he is playing photographer!
Coming up ---- Family Magic Tour, or not the episode with the lost AP!
lillygator
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2003
- Messages
- 32,740
Cass said:
It was a pontoon boat that held 8 I believe. You could walk around on it, it had seats....no bathroom though. That's my idea of a boat!
I've enjoyed reading your reports.As you can see I don't post often but, I read the boards daily. Your girls are beautiful. Your family reminds me of ours. We have 2 girls. They have grown up now, one is married with 2 children of her own and the other is graduating from college in May. Can't help but notice ya'll are big gator fans. We are big LSU TIGERS fans and will be at the game at UF on the 7th, then heading down to WDW for a week. Good luck on the game and thank you for your great reports.
Peanut
Peanut
SmithFamily2003
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Messages
- 228
Great new installment! So glad you didn't forget about us!
Where do you get Haley's hair bows? They are so pretty!
Where do you get Haley's hair bows? They are so pretty!
lillygator
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2003
- Messages
- 32,740
Hi there!! We'll be at the game too!! Should be a great one! In college I traveled to LSU many times for games and I have to say the Tiger fans are some of the friendliest in the SEC....!!triton20 said:
Have a safe trip and have a blast at WDW!
redheaded mama
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2006
- Messages
- 111
Maybe its a redheaded thing, but I'm glad your back. Thanks for the update on mcMiracle. I'm impressed that you could recognize him from the movie. We will be doing the illuminations cruise when we are there in November, the description of your cruise is making me second guess my decision.
Hopefully we won't have to wait so long for the next update.
Hopefully we won't have to wait so long for the next update.
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