"OUR BIG, FAT DISNEY VACATION!" Ch.26 NEW! 2/11 pg. 121 "And they lived happily ever&

[S.Poppins]

HHEELLOOO out there!!! UM Halloween is over, so take off the costume, put down the candy and come add an installment! Where have you been? Are you okay? I am beginning to worry!

 

[cherokeemamma]

Hey Umama.
Loved the lastest installment. You are such a hoot.

At our house we say, "Shake your tail feathers!"

I bet it is a blast to hang out at your house. What about inviting me over sometime?

Ya!

 

[Scot-n-Michelle]

hello - are you coming back???

 

[DisneyObsession]

HELLLOOOOOOO???????

Are you ok? Have you been drowning in the Halloween Candy?!?
Dig yourself out and come back!

I am having withdrawal and need the next installment!!!!

PLEASE?!?

 

[UtahMama]

Thanks for reading and posting!

And Thank You Lurkers!!!!! I am hono(u)red you've taken the time to read!

The other half of our Trip Reporting Team (DH) has switched shifts at work and now works from 3-11PM. He's home all morning and has it in his head to start finishing our basement! He's framing it right now and has most of the walls up! It's going to be COOL! We're adding 3 bedrooms, one of which will be my dream CRAFT ROOM . And a pool table area, and a huge media room...putting the speakers in the walls- very fancy shmancy. No he doesn't want my "help", I'd just get in the way. Plus he really wants to do it himself! What I'm TRYING to say is he's down there working so much, he's not up here looking over my shoulder anymore. SO! He took a few minutes and took my selected photos and re-sized them and put them on Photo-bucket so I'll write the next chapter tonight-ish (which means soon-like).

Instead of writing individual THANK YOU's, This is "it" this time! Sorry! I totally love all your responses but I usually forget someone and that's not good!!!!!
I hate when that happens to me. I shouldn't, but I get my feelings hurt so I know how it blows. SO THANK YOU GUYS!!!!!!

A special thank you for the Miss Piggy!!!!!!! I LOVE her tude!

 

[corinnak]

Well, thank goodness. Having seen the Umama response to sugar, I was starting to get a bit concerned, given the recent holiday, that you had maybe passed out on the couch or something! Hope the remodel goes beautifully - it sounds like it will be a great thing for you and your whole family when it is done, even if it does re-purpose your photo-resizer to other work temproarily. Looking forward to tonight-ish!

 

[UtahMama]

Chapter 19 Sept. 10, 2006

Chef Mickey Breakfast and Magic Kingdom Day

Stitch did NOT wake us up again. I am not going to subject myself to HIM before refilling my mug at least thrice. We drug our carcasses outa bed and dressed in our Disney Store Pirate shirts. Dallen and Riley each got two shirts to ‘layer’…the top layer being 100% Polyester, the fabric of choice for hot and humid climates.

The Contemporary Resort is home to Chef Mickey’s Character Buffet. We were excited to go to both. To reach our destination, we first had to take the bus to Magic Kingdom. Hello Bus Family! Then we could take the resort monorail to the Contemporary. I think of the 80’s version of The Mickey Mouse Club whenever I ride the Monorail (Remember? Geez, I forgot a lot of you are in your 20’s, so you don’t remember, do you!)

Yoo-Hoo (stolen from Sheridac’s TR who borrowed it from ZZUB) meaning “Anyhoo”, which is slang for “Anyways,” this adorable lady with permed hair and flip-up sunglasses chatted with us and 3 of us got to ride the front of the monorail.( I never did ride the front, by the way. What a martyr!) Me, Norah and my baby-daddy (one of them) rode a sucker car.

The Contemporary is an eye-full. I totally love the groovy décor. Everything is linear and modern and as colorful as a big box of crayolas.

Oh, look, there’s The Concourse Steakhouse where we are dining later in the week where we’ll be eating beef that tastes like antelope or deer and where we’ll be painting our daughter’s lips with a paintbrush plagued with impetigo….(no I didn’t foresee any of that or we woulda gone to Whispering Canyons again!!!)

Upon entering Chef Mickey’s, got into a line of sorts. We were to pose behind a plate for a nice expensive photo packet to be digitally formatted whilst we had our breakfast. That sounds lovely. There’s no way in heck we’re willing to fork out $30 dollars for a meal souvenir. We’ll make our OWN souvenir later to commemorate this meal.
Here is my cute 17 year old son Jordan:

Our table was in direct line of the kitchen-looking door where the characters changed shifts and often were “different” which I cant explain only to say one Minnie would go through the doors and an entirely different acting Minnie would come out. Make sense?

We took turns going to the buffet. Had our drinks, 5 orange juices and 1 diet coke, brought to our table. Everything was tasty as a buffet can be. One thing I noted was “Breakfast Lasagna” as if just writing those two words would jog my memory as to how wonderful it was or wasn’t. It sounds good though doesn’t it? I really thought I was writing very detailed notes for you so you’ll just have to take a sample of this mystery food and see for yourself!

Our Characters were, Chip, Dale, Minnie, Mickey, Pluto( I think!!!), and NOT Goofy. Goofy never came. Were we supposed to go to him? We waited and waited. No Goofy! DH loves Goofy. Goofy was past the buffet with a line to greet him. Since WHEN is Goofy not a table greeter? (Like I’ve been there a dozen times and am now an expert???)

When our darling photos came, we actually did consider buying them. For a second. We did the next best thing. You guessed it…..

Minnie enchanted Norah who tried to feed her and give her a drink of her sippy cup.
This child never shares her food or drink so Minnie must rock if you happen to be a 2 year old girl. Here she is flirting with Minnie's guy!

Here's Riley with Chip:

As our bellys were full and a baggy of m&m’s and gummy bears and properly stollen (which makes the baby Jesus cry!!!) from the sundae buffet, we exited and waved at stuck up Goofy..whom one must stand in line to greet. Which we didn’t do.

Back to the Monorail Line where I realize my room key/dining/park entrance card is GONE! I had it in a clear plastic pouch on my lanyard and now the pouch was GONE! GEEZ. Glad we didn’t connect this card with our credit card! We found flip-top sunglasses lady who got on her walkie talkie and asked if anyone had turned in a pouch with the name “UtahMama” on the card had been found. It had not been turned in. DANG!!! This turned out to be no big deal whatsoever. We got a new temporary entrance card and later got the room key replaced without the slightest problem (which is weird because I had read on the DIS that this can be the biggest ordeal EVER!) We were once again IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!

There’s the Locomotive Choo-Choo train chugga-chugga-ing and blowing it’s friendly whistle! There’s the music being piped in from hidden speakers! There’s that bubble gum/cotton candy smell I love, love, love!!! Walking down mainstreet is one of my very favorite things about our Disney vacation!!! In fact, I love it so much there’s a bunch of dancers just for me! These dancers are spectacular as they lip-sync and twirl and leap!

We headed right, towards TomarrowLand. Our First ride would be Buzz Lightyear. We have memorized the cheats and are rarin’ to defeat Zerg! Did I ever tell you when I rode this ride last year for the first time (with a then 1 year old baby in my arms), I didn’t realize till halfway through that this was an interactive game? I did not have YOU (the DIS) last year to save me from this travesty! THIS year there was a nice sized line. In this line we took this picture. This view was WAYYYY better in person! Do you see what I see?

This was just the first of probably 20 or so times we rode this ride. I have photo-proof that next time (in a few days from this day) my DH maxed out the game! He had straight 9’s all the way across. I ‘ve NEVER been so proud!

The next ride used to be called “People Mover” and it still is in my heart. THEY re-named it “Blue Line Transit” which hasn’t caught on in my opinion. I like this ride. It goes through Space Mountain. I snapped this photo of the filthy un-Disney bars!!! Should I send it to them? It was really dirty through the Space Mountain area.

Do they still page Mr. Tom Marrow? I swear, they didn’t! I’ve even watched our home-video to see if I just missed it…and it was GONE! If that’s true, it’s a sad, sad thing. I never would have missed it if it weren’t for another Trip Reporter making me love that part.

Lookie the little fat birds getting a free ride!

My boys wanted to ride Buzz again and I figured it was a spiffy time to relax and drink a ice-cold beverage that was calling my name from within the cooler. So I sat with Norah at the Launching Pad. This location is a people-watching spot if ever there was one. There was this very loud family whom I thought was like those interactive actors that mingle with the guests. But then some very un Disney words that rhyme with “Duck” kept spewing out of all of their mouths…including the kids! The dude had on a wife-beater and was very hairy except for his head. He was chomping on a turkey leg and feeding bits of it to the birds….I’ll let that sink in….he was feeding bird to the birds! The large crow-like birds looked like they’ve tasted meat before and kept begging him for more. He ate and cursed with his mouth wide open so I decided to move my daughter and myself to the other side, where we STILL could hear him. I just didn’t want Norah piping up with the duck-word at an inopportune time. She is a word sponge.

We then went to the Toon Town Fair. We rode the Goofy’s Barnstormer rollercoaster. At least I think we did. That sucker is done about 3 seconds after it starts! Jordan took the boys to play on the boat next to the Barnstormer. Ron, and I opted to seek airconditioning which meant the Character Greeting inside the County Fair “tent”. We’ve never done this. But since we had the autograph books and the color-coordinated Sharpee markers, we decided to get in line. There’s actually 3 lines with different groups of characters to greet. First we got in the line that housed Pluto, Chip and Dale, and Donald. Is Norah the only 2 year old to run up to the characters and hug them? The only one she didn’t do that to was Cinderella. Weird, huh? HEY! In line we chatted with this nice lady and her DH and it turns out she is a DISser! She was sooo sweet and I would have loved to spend lots more time with them. I think her daughter was adorable (I cut off her head in this photo I took! Sorry!!!) Please meet Aries1980!!!!! She is a scrapbooker and she is very cute!

We purchased Norah her first set of mouse ears. We were lucky enough to get a very fancy “NORAH” printed on the back of it. This is done free hand by the way which explains why sometimes there’s a really ornate name and sometimes it’s just plain. There’s Mr. Potato Head parts sold here too but it’s not the best selection…wait to buy when you’re at DownTown Disney. My tip for you! (And don’t feed turkey to the birds. It’s an abomination).

When we were in line for the Princesses, the boys found us and waited with us. We didn’t tell them which characters we were about to meet. My boys are very anti-princess (not Jordan, he thinks they’re “hot” remember?) so their faces were priceless. Especially Riley who got a kiss right on the cheek by a very pretty Aurora! Just so you know, Aurora’s lipstick does not wipe or wash off! We had a very cute little boy with a princess kiss tattooed onto his blushing cheek for the rest of the day! I have a feeling he’ll like that someday. Now, he yells at us and storms off to his room when we bring it up.

After this brief cool break, we toured the mouse houses. I really liked Minnie’s house! It is so pink and purple and cozy! There’s fun details in every inch! Take your time here! Lookie the cutie patootie looking over the wall!

Next, we rode the Tea Cups. I went with the non-spinning members of my family. The spinners were DH, Dallen and Riley…who emerged GREEN after that! So I suggested lunch! We headed for Cosmic Rays. I wont comment on the food. It’s your average Counter Service fare. There is a really cool “fixins bar” there. You could probably make a little salad if you wanted. The part I wanted to comment on was Cosmic Ray himself. He’s sort of like Alf but really creepy! I was weirded out by him. A little. In the same way I’m weirded out by the Burger King King and the Quaker Oats Quaker.

When we came out of the Starlight Café, the rain clouds were gathering. In Florida, rain clouds don’t gather for nothing. They were thinking about raining. We needed to obtain Fast Passes for the rides we had never ridden. First was the Winnie the Pooh then Peter Pan. We had a little time so we went to Haunted Mansion just in time to get refuge from the rain! The outside waiting area is much cooler during the rain! There’s a cool Urban Legend that the ghost-horse carriage was the very carriage that moved the body of Brigham Young in Utah. I don’t know if that’s actually true or not but I love little tid-bits like this. I’ll just believe because it’s funner to believe than to be a skeptic, especially at Disney World!

The Haunted Mansion broke down both in the graveyard scene and in the attic- at the bride scene! YIKES! I love this ride. I love it even more since reading a certain DISser’s TR! Funny how so many of you have influenced my vacation! Thanks Mel!

I almost forgot to tell you, Norah wasn’t scared of the stretching room! Not at all. That worries me a little.

It was nearly time for Cinderellabration to start. It was no longer raining but the ground was still wet. We got some choice spots and my 2 out of my 3 boys were NOT thrilled to be there! In fact, they would have rather gone to the Dentist.

Sitting out on the cement waiting for Cinderella’s corination, there were THESE folks with a wheelchair who acted like they were the ONLY one’s there. This “gentleman” wanted to perch his wheelchair bound family member in the perfect viewing position but arrived semi-late. He just steered the wheelchair right on through, and was extremely loud and rude! He ended up RIGHT next to ME. He even sort of tried to shove me over with his LEG! I shoved right back. Did he expect me to accommodate his rudeness??? Others surely did, I am, however, not “others’, and shoved back!!! In my very subtle, barely noticeable way…stood my ground. This dude had a very classy tattoo in memory of someone dear to him. Maybe someone who would not like him running over people waiting to see Cinderella? Someone who really liked, or in fact, WAS a Chihuahua??? Since he was the rudest person I have ever encountered, I thought you might enjoy his LEG!!!! (this is the very leg that stepped on my hand and I pictured myself attacking a few times. I starred at this leg the entire time. Wondering.)

Sitting there watching Cinderellabration, we sweated at least 5 gallons of water each. It was HOT! I have emerged from the shower with less water on me! GEEEZ, that was a hard thing to watch. The musical really made little sense but it would have been cute had I not been dripping wet in the HOT heat. Our misty fans didn’t even begin to comfort us!

Whatever:

We headed over to the It’s a Small World ride. My boys hate the ride. I love it because of the air conditioning was set at “Alaska in the Winter”. They pretended to sleep because when each of them was a baby, they each slept on this ride! Here's Jordan "pretending" to sleep. I THINK he's pretending!

They perked up when they thought there was a naughty word on a Disney ride! They laughed as ONLY little boys do.

We rode the not-at-all-scarry Snow White ride and the Winnie the Pooh ride and finally, the Peter Pan ride. I like each of them but I noticed they are very dirty. There’s dust and grime everywhere. Hmmm. I had never rode Peter Pan and was disappointed at the dust. The ride I mean, not the fictional character. I did like seeing the character I was named after!

We did Mickey’s Philharmagic. Oh My Gosh! That is so fun! I loved it!
We rode Dumbo then headed for the Carousel. We were the second group in line. We were right after a family of horse-thieves! I had told my DH we HAVE to get the horse with the golden ribbon on it’s tail…it’s Cinderella’s favorite, rumor has it (I believe stuff like that, remember?) This family must have heard us and watched us watching the golden ribbon horse. They bee-lined it to OUR horse! Here they are! GRRRRRR!

I KNOW they heard us. I glared at them the whole ride. No, I looked at my darling daughter! This is a look she gets sometimes when she feels very special. I think she looks exactly like Michelle from Full House years ago when she looks like this.

We also have the video and she gets this very look in her eyes when she watches it. We ended up riding again since we were forced to ride the non-preferred horse the first time.

We found our way to Liberty Town Land and got in line for funnel cakes! We had never had this culinary treat and were excited to try one. We got 3 to share and some ice-waters. Deep-fried dough is the perfect choice for a hot humid day when you’re wearing polyester! Especially when there’s about 2 pounds of powdered sugar to get through. My boys licked their fingers and dipped them in the left-over powdered sugar and then licked them again! I think I’d do the same if I didn’t have a “problem” with sugar! Funnel cakes are a great treat and we really liked them!

We hadn’t been to the Hall of Presidents in over 8 years and decided an air-conditioned attraction would be GREAT! I had forgotten how TOTALLY great this attraction is! Each President is earily realistic! Each has little detailed mannerisms to look for! One’s foot kept shaking. Some of their fingers tap! It really was very well done. I am relieved no one “boo’d” our current President. I just think personal opinions would NOT have been appropriate at this extraordinary attraction. It is a MUST SEE!

This day was Magic Kingdom’s Extra Magic Hours (EMH) so this was a long, long day. I need to do the rest of this day next chapter.

 

[OhMari]

Your new post was like finding a good book I set down awhile ago. Thanks for the new update. I'm really contemplating going to the Hall of Presidents, I saw Clinton in 2000, so I guess I should go see how George W. Bush is, but I am afraid I will crack up laughing. I laugh every time he speaks on tv because of all the comedians that make fun of him.

 

[Smileybug]

Am I really first?!!

No, I didn't think I was. I love the report!!

 

[tain321]

This is my first time going to WDW during the Christmas season. I need someone who has seen it to tell me why I should splurge on the party tickets. Thanks!

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Great Report Utah Mama! Your boys are funny sleeping on IaSW

You were busy on this day can't wait to read some more.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Uma, love your report. And your little girl is soooo adorable!

But the report of dust and dirt really, really bothers me, I may have to elevate that.

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[Beana9802]

I think of the 80’s version of The Mickey Mouse Club whenever I ride the Monorail (Remember? Geez, I forgot a lot of you are in your 20’s, so you don’t remember, do you!)

I TOTALLY remember that. I am in my 20's, but..I remember it...and know what you're talking about!!

 

[NAB]

Your dd does look like Michelle from Full House.

The one pic with you and Norah in Minnie's house reminds me of Celery's cartoon, the one that says it feels like I am being watched. Your dd is to young for boyfriends.

Love all the pics too.

--

 

[sharkB8HooHaHa]

I've been thinking of getting some "ink" and now I think I've found the PERFECT tattoo! Thank you, UMama for posting that.....I LOVE IT!

 

[mmeb144]

I did like seeing the character I was named after!

You're named after Tiger Lily? Peter Pan? Am I supposed to know your name?

Someone who really liked, or in fact, WAS a Chihuahua??? Since he was the rudest person I have ever encountered, I thought you might enjoy his LEG!!!! (this is the very leg that stepped on my hand and I pictured myself attacking a few times. I starred at this leg the entire time. Wondering.)

OMG! You are too funny! I'll have to remember the photo revenge trick next time I run into a rude person.

Marie

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

Hey UMA

Another great chapter and loved the pic's.

And to let you know I was here...

 

[Nurse_Mommy4]

I love the pic of the rude guys leg!!! Too funny!

I would have "politely" shoved him back too.

 

[mikamah]

I'm loving your report. It's great to see all the pics of your adorable family. Norah does look just like michele. I used to love that show.

 

[lexmelinda]

I thought you might enjoy his LEG!!!!

Wow, that's the best laugh I've had in a while. Thanks for sharing the rude leg.