Our 2009 GRAND trip to WDW

[mickeystoontown]

I love the story of your scared son on RNRC. My 12 year old does the same thing even after riding the coaster three times. He wants to loop his arm through mine AND still hold onto the harness handles. It's just too funny. I know mom's aren't supposed to laugh at those things but we do.

By the way, I hope you'll post your food pictures over on the Disney Food Picture thread. Looking at pictures always helps me decide where and what to eat.

 

[melissatarv]

Excited about reading the rest of your report!! Ahhhh the Grand Floridian.. always wanted to stay there, but for budget reasons we always end up at the All Stars, but a girl can dream!! LOL! By the way you look great....CONGRATS!!!!

 

[MEK]

I can't believe you had a 15 minute standby wait for TSM. You are the first, and I mean the first, person who has ever posted such a short wait after riding another ride. How lucky for you!

glad you son liked RnR! It's always so scary the first time!

 

[loralie]

Loralie:
Great Trip Report!!!!!

I'm signing on!!!!!!

Thanks so much for joining me.

Great report so far, I love the before & after pics. I followed you over from the weight loss thread & you are truly inspiringto have lost all that weight & kept it off. I lost 55 lbs six years ago & it crept slowly back until I now weigh almost as much as I did then It's alot harder to lose the second time around, but I'm trying my best.

The turndown service sounds heavenly, I need to try that on our next, next trip.

Thanks for the lovely compliments. It is a daily struggle to keep the weight off. I did lose 38 pounds once and gained it all back plus more. This time around I realized that I have to work on it everyday or it can all come back. It stinks that it comes back so much faster than it comes off. Just take it one day at a time and eventually you will make it to your goal. You have done it before and you can do it again.

I love the story of your scared son on RNRC. My 12 year old does the same thing even after riding the coaster three times. He wants to loop his arm through mine AND still hold onto the harness handles. It's just too funny. I know mom's aren't supposed to laugh at those things but we do.

By the way, I hope you'll post your food pictures over on the Disney Food Picture thread. Looking at pictures always helps me decide where and what to eat.

Going on a ride with someone who is scared makes it more fun. even if it is your own child. I am thinking of doing a dining report. I did take some food pics but forgot on some meals so I wont have pics of everything we ate. I love reading the dining reports too.

Excited about reading the rest of your report!! Ahhhh the Grand Floridian.. always wanted to stay there, but for budget reasons we always end up at the All Stars, but a girl can dream!! LOL! By the way you look great....CONGRATS!!!!

We never thought we would be able to stay at the GF. The buy 4 get 3 deal made it possible. Now I am spoiled and wont want to stay anywhere else. Thanks for the compliments.

I can't believe you had a 15 minute standby wait for TSM. You are the first, and I mean the first, person who has ever posted such a short wait after riding another ride. How lucky for you!

glad you son liked RnR! It's always so scary the first time!

I was surprised it was 15 min. after we rode R&R. It was still EMH morning so I guess that's why. We were very lucky they did not take the fast passes and we were able to use them again. TSM is awesome!

Thanks for reading along and posting. I will have the rest of day 2 up later today.

Loralie

 

[loralie]

So when I was here last, I was telling you that the plan was to go to the Grand Floridian to rest during the day, like all the good guide books tell you to do, and then go to Epcot to have dinner at Le Cellier and to see the countries in World Showcase. Well...we kind of reversed that. Instead, we decided to go straight to Epcot, see the countries, then do dinner and then call it an early night since we were up early and we have a busy day planned for day 3.

On our other trips to WDW we never got around to seeing the countries at World Showcase so we made sure to get to it this time. As I said in the beginning, my DS11 was most excited about going to Japan to buy Bakugan toys so we had to make sure we did that.

It was HOT that day and we did not take too many pics. Here is one pic of me and the boys.

and here is one of the boys in the red phone booth

We did do the Kim Possible mission and we had fun with that. We did the one in Germany and when we were done it gave us a list of a few other countries we can do another mission in so we picked Japan since we were going there anyway. If you have the chance to do the Kim Possible mission, do it. It was really hot that day so we used some snack credits to get some icee slushie drinks from the food place in America. We needed those cool drinks on such a hot day. Little did we know that we would be missing that hot weather later in the week, but more on that later.

We walked around the whole WS but felt like we really did not see much. I don't think we get WS too much. Maybe if we liked different kinds of food or if we were into different types of drinks we would have enjoyed it better but for us WS was just alright. After getting DS11 his toys at Japan and doing the Kim Possible mission we went to Canada. We had dinner ADRs at Le Cellier and we were a little early so we watched the Canada movie. DH has friends who live in Canada so he was looking forward to seeing this. It was a cute movie with Martin Short. By this time we were really tired and I was wishing I had listened to the guide books and stuck to my original plan. We were about 45 min. early for our ADR so I asked if we could get in early and they told us they would try but they could not promise anything. Luckily for us we were sitting at a table 15 min. later. We had dinner at Le Cellier on our last trip in 2005 and we loved it then. Before this trip I had read so many bad reviews that I was getting nervous but decided to stick with it and I was so glad we did. This was the best meal of the trip . The food was great, service was great. My DH gave Le Cellier a 10 out of 10.

We decided to head back to the GF after that and take it easy for the night. So the moral of this story is TAKE THE AFTERNOON BREAK! I think we would have been able to do more and enjoy more of WS if we were more rested. Lesson Learned.

Day 3 will be up soon.

Thanks for reading,

Loralie

 

[disneydreamertoo]

Loralie I went to the World 2 years ago and I don't remember the Kim Possible missions. What are they? I remember doing the passport and that was fun! We love Disneyland but am sad that they have nothing compared to Epcot! It is my favortie park! It was so much fun talking to the cast members! Did you ever make it back to watch Illuminations?

 

[loralie]

Loralie I went to the World 2 years ago and I don't remember the Kim Possible missions. What are they? I remember doing the passport and that was fun! We love Disneyland but am sad that they have nothing compared to Epcot! It is my favortie park! It was so much fun talking to the cast members! Did you ever make it back to watch Illuminations?

The kim possible missions are new. They give you a cell phone called a KIMunicator and you go to the country that your mission is in and you have to answer questions and special things happen when you put in the right answers into the cell phone. It's really a fun interactive thing for kids. We did 2 missions and I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids.

No, we did not make it back to watch Illuminations. Please don't flame me but we were not planning on seeing Illuminations this trip. We saw it last time and it was good but not something we wanted to see again. We LOVE wishes and Fantasmic but Illuminations did not do it for us. That's what is so great about WDW...there is something for everyone.

Thanks again for reading along,

Loralie

 

[carrie6466]

I can't wait to hear more about Kim Possible. How do you get involved in a mission? Apparently my dd saw commercials for this or something on the Disney Channel and all she's talking about is doing a mission

 

[loralie]

I can't wait to hear more about Kim Possible. How do you get involved in a mission? Apparently my dd saw commercials for this or something on the Disney Channel and all she's talking about is doing a mission

There are a few places in Future World where you go to sort of sign up for the mission. When you sign up they give you a piece of paper that says which country to go to and a time to go. When you go there they give you the cell phone (KIMunicator) and tell you which country you are doing the mission in. We just took what country they gave us, you may have a choice but I am not sure about that. Then you go to the country and hit start and follow the directions. It takes about 20 to 30 mn. to complete. Then at the end, the last question is if you want to do another mission or end it. If you say you want to do another mission then it gives you about 5 countries to choose from. If you are finished and don't want to do it again it will tell you where to put the cell phone. It is a cleverly hidden type of box. If you did not do the mission you would not know that is what it is for. They did a really good job with this and I think it will make World Showcase more exciting for kids.

Have fun doing the Kim Possible missions.

Loralie

 

[loralie]

We got up nice and early today and we were all excited because we were having breakfast at the Crystal Palace before MK opens. We had an 8:05 am ADR and this was something I was really looking forward to doing on this trip. Walking down a basically empty Main Street.

The first shot in my TR of the 4 of us in front of the castle was taken this day by the photo pass people with our camera. Here is another shot of the 4 of us in front of the castle.

And since there are so many pics of me with the boys I thought I would post a pic of DH and the boys.

It was time to eat at Crystal Palace and we loved it. The food was good and the waitress was very nice and friendly. We were celebrating our anniversary so when we got to our table we saw this.

They made a heart out of mickey pixie dust. That was so nice of them. I had read on the boards here that they will make mickey pancakes so I went off to get the mickey pancakes and it took forever and I missed the characters. My DH took a few pics of the boys with them but I was a little sad I missed them.

I was most upset about missing Eeyore because I wanted to do a before and after pic with him. I did get a pic of me and Tigger on the way out so here it is.

Here I am at the CP in 2005

Here I am at the CP in May 2009

That before pic of me was the one that started me on my weight loss journey. I made a few copies of that pic and put it on the fridge and inside the pantry. I still can't believe I looked like that. Anyway,
when breakfast was ending the lovely waitress brought us over another little surprise for our anniversary.

A cupcake and a card signed by all the characters. It's the little extra touches that makes Disney so special.

That's it for now. I will post more about Day 3 a little later on today.

Thanks again to everyone reading. I really love coming home from work and seeing the posts you guys have made.

Loralie

 

[MEK]

Wow - two new updates for me to read. bummer, though.....I am at work and can't see the pics. Still, it sounds like you guys had a great day and dinner at Epcot and an early start to your MK morning. I think that its really hard to tour the world showcase in the afternoon heat. It is so much easier when the weather is cooler. I do like all the movies and the shows. Can't wait to eat at Le cellier again

 

[loralie]

Wow - two new updates for me to read. bummer, though.....I am at work and can't see the pics. Still, it sounds like you guys had a great day and dinner at Epcot and an early start to your MK morning. I think that its really hard to tour the world showcase in the afternoon heat. It is so much easier when the weather is cooler. I do like all the movies and the shows. Can't wait to eat at Le cellier again

Yes touring WS in the heat was tough. If the weather was cooler and if we rested like we should have I think we would have enjoyed it more.

More on MK in a bit,

Loralie

 

[MEK]

Love your pics. LOVE eeyore - he is my ABSOLUTE fav!

 

[loralie]

After our delicious meal at CP we were ready to ride some rides in MK. We went right over to BTMRR and my DS13 and I rode it. After RNRC my DS13 felt like this ride was so much easier. It would have been nice if Space Mountain was open because he has never been on that ride and I know he would have loved it. Oh well...we will just have to plan another trip.

When we came off the ride my DS11 said he wanted to try it. This would be the first time for him to ride BTMRR so we all went on. I love getting to the parks early because there was hardly any wait. My DS11 liked BTMR but he did not LOVE it. I am proud of both my boys for trying new rides this trip. My little boys are growing up (snif snif)

We went on a few more rides in MK and then we left to go to DisneyQuest in DTD. My boys love video games and we knew we were going to be back in MK later in the week so we left. DH decided to go back to the room while I took the boys to DTD so we took the bus from the Contemporary. Time for another Before and after pic.

Here I am in 2005 on a bus taking a pic. (I did not know this pic was being taken of me at the time)

And here I am in 2009.

This before pic was another one I made copies of to put on my fridge. I still feel like I need to lose a little more weight but I am happy with my progress and wanted to share.

We had a lot of fun in DisneyQuest. My kids loved Cyberspace Mountain and now that they felt like they are roller coaster experts they made some crazy coasters with so many loops and turns. I went on 2 of them and after I felt so sick. Usually rides do not bother me at all so I was very surprised. I had the kids play on the level that had all the old arcade games and I just sat there sipping my water trying to stop my stomach from churning. After a while I felt better so we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and it was so cool. We were at Disneyquest for a few hours and we were getting hungry so we left and went to Wolfgang Puck Express. I had read so many good things about this place and I really wanted to try it. All the hype on the boards about this place is not overrated. This was my favorite counter service place to eat all week. We even came back again later in the week, it was that good.

While we ate in WPE, my DS11 made a friend. I was online placing the order and my son asks me if we can eat with his new friend. I was surprised when we walk over to the tables and we see a little boy eating all by himself. We walk over and he tells us that both of his parents work at WPE. His mom is the manager and his dad is a chef. So we sat down and ate with him and it turns our he is 11 also so the boys had so much to talk about. Then the boys mom comes out of the kitchen and sees us with her son and the look on her face was priceless. I explained to her that her son made friends with my son and he invited us to eat with him. She was fine as long as he was not bothering us. I told her it was no bother at all. When we were done we told the boy we were going to go next door to Goofys to make our own snacks. The boy asks us to wait a min. and he goes in the kitchen. He comes out with his mom's cell phone and tells us that it is alright with his mom if he comes to Goofys candy co. with us. So now I have 3 boys to look after. It was fine and my DS11 was happy his new friend was tagging along.

We made some yummy treats at Goofys. I wish had taken some pics but I forgot. I chose a fudge cookie with peanut butter in the middle, dipped in milk choc. topped with peanuts and reeses pieces and drizzled with more milk chocolate. It was HUGE. My DS11 chose marshmallows dipped in milk chocolate and topped with rainbow sprinkles and oreo cookie crumbs. I also got marshmallows in milk choc. but the only topping was the rainbow sprinkles. They were really good and lasted a few days. It is a great use of a snack credit.

We said goodbye to our new friend and headed to World Of Disney Store to look around and then we headed back to the GF. When we came back my DH was on the balcony and he took our pic.

so we took a pic of him.

We had another great day and we were ready to relax and call it a goodnight.

That's it for now, I will continue the TR tomorrow,

Thanks for reading along,
Loralie

 

[wannago2disney]

Great updates Loralie! It's too bad you missed the characters at CP, but very cool that they made you a card.

As for the weight loss, you look FANTASTIC, I don't even know you and I am very proud of you

Tosh

 

[KarBear]

Loralie:

LOVE reading along!!!!!

 

[JoeyAnyc]

Hi loralie. I just came across this TR tonight. I'm a HUGE GF fan and really wanted to hear what you thought about it. You tell a great story Loved reading about your adventure. I look forward to the rest. This is going to be my 5th time in Disney, again staying at the GF. The most important thing I learned the first year was Late Afternoon Naps are a MUST! My DP can't go the whole day without it. So I usually let him rest, then I head out to all of the shops, which he doesn't care for. So it really works out well. I run on pure adrenaline in Disney. I HATE sleeping while I'm there. However, when I get back to the great turn down service, I just in bed and just crash hard. LOL

BTW - what "guide" are you referring to, that suggested afternoon breaks? I read a topic on peoples own planner they used I asked if someone would be so kind to e-mail me their guide that I can go by. Hopefully someone will respond. Just wondering what guide you're using.

Your TR has inspired me to jot down some notes on my Dec trip so I can post a great report like yours. I have to pull out my photos and start posting them.

Did you and the family ever get to Beaches & Cream, which you can access through Epcot? It's great. It also has an arcade next door, and across the way there is a minature golf course.

Thanks again. Will be waiting for more

 

[dpndka]

Great Update Loralie. The pics of empty main street and castle are amazing. I want to try to CP for breakfast this year. I was originally thinkin of doing a late bk but after reading your TR I think I wanna try an early ADR so I can get some nice pics by the Castle.

 

[BlueSkies]

Loralie Just finished reading the next few installments of your TR...it is terrific...and more before and after pics...they are all incredible!

OT Your weight loss philosophy in right on target...one day at a time ...so true...do you exercise as well...did that help in your weight loss...

Back to your TR...oh ya I have waited on the wrong boat line a time or two myself...sometimes it is hard tell what is going where!

Glad that you and your son got to ride RNRC together...makin memories!

And it really is incredible to return to that beautiful GF room at the end of the day...turn down is so much more that just turning down the bedding...the whole room is so inviting...

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your CP breakfast...we just added that to our list of ADRs...and we are feeling alot better about it after your review...

Looking foward to reading more...

 

[loralie]

Great updates Loralie! It's too bad you missed the characters at CP, but very cool that they made you a card.

As for the weight loss, you look FANTASTIC, I don't even know you and I am very proud of you

Tosh

You are so sweet. Thanks for the kind words.

Loralie:

LOVE reading along!!!!!

I am so happy to have you guys reading along.

Hi loralie. I just came across this TR tonight. I'm a HUGE GF fan and really wanted to hear what you thought about it. You tell a great story Loved reading about your adventure. I look forward to the rest. This is going to be my 5th time in Disney, again staying at the GF. The most important thing I learned the first year was Late Afternoon Naps are a MUST! My DP can't go the whole day without it. So I usually let him rest, then I head out to all of the shops, which he doesn't care for. So it really works out well. I run on pure adrenaline in Disney. I HATE sleeping while I'm there. However, when I get back to the great turn down service, I just in bed and just crash hard. LOL

BTW - what "guide" are you referring to, that suggested afternoon breaks? I read a topic on peoples own planner they used I asked if someone would be so kind to e-mail me their guide that I can go by. Hopefully someone will respond. Just wondering what guide you're using.

Your TR has inspired me to jot down some notes on my Dec trip so I can post a great report like yours. I have to pull out my photos and start posting them.

Did you and the family ever get to Beaches & Cream, which you can access through Epcot? It's great. It also has an arcade next door, and across the way there is a minature golf course.

Thanks again. Will be waiting for more

You are so sweet to say such nice things about my trip report. Thanks so much. I read a few guidebooks but mostly the Unofficial Guide. It's a great big book if you have not tried it yet but since you have been to WDW 5 times I doubt you would need it. We have never been to Beaches and Cream. I have seen pics and heard about the great Kitchen Sink, it looks like a great place to eat. Maybe next time, thanks for reading along.

Great Update Loralie. The pics of empty main street and castle are amazing. I want to try to CP for breakfast this year. I was originally thinkin of doing a late bk but after reading your TR I think I wanna try an early ADR so I can get some nice pics by the Castle.

It was really nice to get there early and go down Main Street with only a few people. It really gave us time to stop and look around rather than rushing with the crowd. The food was really good too. Have fun at the CP.

Loralie Just finished reading the next few installments of your TR...it is terrific...and more before and after pics...they are all incredible!

OT Your weight loss philosophy in right on target...one day at a time ...so true...do you exercise as well...did that help in your weight loss...

Back to your TR...oh ya I have waited on the wrong boat line a time or two myself...sometimes it is hard tell what is going where!

Glad that you and your son got to ride RNRC together...makin memories!

And it really is incredible to return to that beautiful GF room at the end of the day...turn down is so much more that just turning down the bedding...the whole room is so inviting...

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your CP breakfast...we just added that to our list of ADRs...and we are feeling alot better about it after your review...

Looking foward to reading more...

Thanks for all the compliments...your gonna make me blush. As far as the weight loss, exercise was a big help. I try to exercise at least 3 to 4 days a week. When I have a good week I can exercise 5 days. Some weeks are better than others. This week I started off great but the last few days have been tough. I just take it one day at a time, it's all I can do. I hope you enjoy CP for breakfast.

Thanks to everyone for reading along, I will try to have day 4 up tonight.

Loralie