Poncho Up, Chicas! DISmoms 5, May 2-6, 2013 Updates Galore 12/9

[mefordis]

Not this year- traded Jersey week for dec 26-28 followed by a 7 night eastern on the fantasy over nye! really enjoying California - we leave sf today and are heading to Yosemite !

Did you post your CA plans anywhere? I really hope you write a trip report when you return! Cannot WAIT to read it, if you do!

Yosemite is great - are you staying at the Ahwahnee Hotel? We stayed there before the kids came along. That place reminded me of the hotel in The Shining! We loved it! Waterfall right outside the hotel!

Edit: Ooooh. Just read in one of your TRs that you ARE staying there! I cannot WAIT to read your TR (hoping you'll do one!!!)

 

[knewton64]

-


gettin' caught up again on yer TR -
been busy these last 4.5 weeks....


LOSING ** 34 POUNDS **
(more on my weight loss story on page 6 of my San Fran, Rose Bowl / parade TR via my below listed signature)




Hope all is well -





T.T.F.N.

 

[anewmac]

**** DISMOMS REUNION****

Just got home from seeing El in Dland. We had a great visit and I already miss her! Her family is adorable and I thank them for allowing me to steal so much of her away from them!!

 

[CRdisMom]

So after returning to the future minus any scary dinosaur, we went back to AKL. We all hit buffet, grabbed something to drink and headed down to the pool. This pool is nice. We grabbed a few chairs behind the bar. I believe Ellen, Drea and Lonnie all got a drink at the bar while I headed towards the hot tub. My allergies were getting progressively worse as we were there. (turns out it wasn't allergies but that's later) The hot tub and pool had lots of kids in it. It was busy. I think Drea met me over there but we decided to head back to the chairs and relax. Lonnie was doing the best to stay out of the sun so we had grabbed chairs under some trees.

As we were sitting in the chairs there was some noise above our heads and two women were looking above us and pointing. We looked up and saw a VERY large hawk with some sort of small creature in its mouth. We all jumped up and as we jumped up the hawk swooped down on us. Yea nothing scarier than seeing a hawk comI ing at you full speed. Needless to say we got up and went back to the room to get ready for our trip to MK and Gastons.

I don't care how many times I go to WDW, walking into MK always makes me teary eyed. We had some time to kill so we hit the shops. My Camila bracelet decided to pop open so I bought a replacement cheap one to save my beads until I could have the real one replaced at the jewlers back home. Come to find out I could have done it at MK as they are a camilla dealer.

We slowly made our way to gastons. We hung outside while we waited for our ressie. It was packed! no walk ups. Looked around all the construction of the new mine ride. AWESOME --can't wait for that to open. I have photos someplace but can't find them. Once our name was called we got a candelabra to carry to our table. We got a great tour of the room. Kind of loud be very intimate at the same time. The fun part was we were seated next to the window that was snowing. I felt like I was at home . I wasn't feeling well. My tummy was not agreeing with travel this week. I didn't care I really wanted those pomme fries. OMG!!! They are the best. When we got our dinners they came without the aioli. We nearly rioted. The server brought it right away. We had the best conversation with her. Seriously if we could have grabbed a chair we would have had her join us. We learned lots about the operations and how Sannaa has changed. She had come over from Sanaa. lots of fun info. We all saved room for the desert. I think I had the strawberry cupcake. WOW was it sweat. I liked it but didn't eat the whole thing. Lonnie was brought a plate of the grey stuff for her birthday. Yummo! In the midst of dinner the beast made an appearance and went to his meet and great room. He only stays there for about 15 min each time so we saw him make his way there several times. I think one criticism of the place was that the sound track can drive you to drink and yes the drinks were good. Only place in MK you can have a glass of wine.

After dinner we hit the new dumbo ride. One of the dumbos was stuck up in the air. and they had been there for 20 min. I would not have been a fan of that. The queue is great. The interactive playground is great for the younger set. We barely waited for the ride. After that we headed towards future world. Mickey and Donald were having a dance party. I know E has some great video of Drea and me. Like I said the wine was good at Gastons. After that I said I hadn't been on COP in a million years-lets go. hahaha. there was a reason I hadn't been on that thing in that long. One couple got of the ride mid way through. Serious no-no but it wasn't moving and all they did was open a door. The vignette are hilarious. The last one that was updated in the 90's is crazy!

At this point I realized it was May the 4th. Yup took me all day. I told the family I was going to but them May the 4th be with you stuff. So the DIS moms run to HS began. They were closing in an hour. so drea and I left Ellen and Lonnie and began our crazy trip!/SIZE]

 

[podsnel]

I am so sorry I still don't have time to update-we leave for florida on Monday morning to visit the inlaws- but I wanted to post a few pics to go with Laura's tale....



Life is rough...



On our way to BOG




The Minniesoder snow



Laura and her cupcake-



Laura and her other cupcake-



Flyin' on Dumbo-





Not a vid there- just a bazillion pics. A vid later when we were dancing- but PB is HORRIBLE tonight, it won't upload- so you will have to be patient. I would guess I will have time in Florida- usually Sean doesn't want to spend all day on the beach. PLEASE say a prayer he gets on the plane on Monday!!

FWIW- I have been trying to upload a pic of Drea and I from last week for the past half hour with NO LUCK- gotta just loooove that photobucket!

 

[podsnel]

**** DISMOMS REUNION****

Just got home from seeing El in Dland. We had a great visit and I already miss her! Her family is adorable and I thank them for allowing me to steal so much of her away from them!!

Miss you girlfriend!!!!!!

 

[englishrose47]

Great mini update !!! PB has been very naughty lately !!! It seems to be hit or miss !!!

 

[MEK]

Welcome back and have a great time in Florida! I will def say a prayer that Sean gets on the plane. I know that can always be rough for you. I hope you have a wonderful time.

Love the most recent pics. Very fun! BoG is such a cool restaurant. Not the greatest food - but a great ambiance.

 

[Beth D]

Good mojo on your upcoming trip!

Hopefully one of you got a pic of the hawk?

 

[Mysteria]

Not this year- traded Jersey week for dec 26-28 followed by a 7 night eastern on the fantasy over nye! really enjoying California - we leave sf today and are heading to Yosemite !

Not a bad trade! Can't wait to hear all about your trip west. We are hoping to do a Vegas/California trip for our 10th anniversary in 2015.

 

[podsnel]

Well, I am back from my latest travels and have just started the California TR! Hope you will join me everyone - here's a link-

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=49546031&posted=1#post49546031

And I will update this one tomorrow- PROMISE!!!!!!!!

 

[podsnel]

OK...so step back in time with me to right after breakfast at the Poly......

We dropped off Lonnie's car at AKV, preferring to let someone else do the driving that day. We headed back, and on our way to EE saw....





I really love spotting Devine, it always feels magical, doesn't it?





We picked up FPs, and then went to ride (sans Lonnie, aka the super chicken)- single rider was IMPOSSIBLE, so we went for the 30 minute (was more like an hour) wait on stand-by. FP+ (drea has a theory) and band groups strike again. During our wait, where we had a loooong time to take it all in....



When it said "World famous Sherpa" I just knew it was a pic of MEK!!!



That ain't no little foot...



30 minute wait you say...HMMMM??????



YAY!!



Someone else was taking photos too-



Guess what? There STILL doesn't seem to be any track!



WOOHOO!!!!!!





I was snappin away the whole time, lol-



YAHHOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!



Feeling a bit parched from all the waiting, laughing and YAHHOOOOEEEEEEEEing, we did the only thinkable thing and went to get a beverage from the Yak-



And ya know, it was PACKED in there, too! What the heck? It's early May- everyone else go HOME!



So we took our drinks outside



Until it was FP time-





Laura gets scared at the silliest things-



Uh-Oh- I really don't understand how they haven't caught this Yeti yet(I)...I mean, he is ALWAYS in the same spot!



Ok- THAT was fun!



Of course we called loni to tell her what she was missing-



Just LOOK at the FP line!



Cont'd next post-

 

[podsnel]

It was all the way back HERE



That is just stupid. So....next we went to dinosaur, a ride which we knew we could ALL do-





Drea was SO SCARED REALLY!!



Next drea and I took a spin on PW, and met a young girl who was in one of the band/choral groups in the park- she was SO SPUNKY! Afterwards, we decided to take a little break over there at that nice little AKV Resort. On the way....



And...



Right on the bus and back for a swim!





Up in CL, it was tea time-





And in our villa, we already had



Some people were at the pool- alond with lots of flies at the pool. Truth be told, the flies were pretty nasty- a CM told us they had been having a problem with the flies. I REALLY hope that has been taken care of now. Because Loni was very concerned about it







My toes were just happy to be here...



Laura was having an interesting Hot Tub experience-



I left her with drea to go get some beverages for the Cali girl and myself. When I was here in November with my family, they had the MOST AMAZING citrusy kind of a cocktail- when I looked at this menu, however, the citrus bev had midori in it- I did not remember Midori in my November drink, but ok. I'll give it a shot-



It was a citrus infusion- I think in November it was a citrus splash? Either way, this particular drink was clearly inferior. MUCH too sweet. Like the other 10 cocktails on the menu. So glad they made sure ALL the cocktails had extra sugar in them now, not just 9 of 10. Such a bummer. (On the plus side, the drink menu changed again when I was in CA and the citrus drink on there NOW is once again AMAZING and refreshing!). Funny how they have a great drink that's orangey, and it always alternates with a Yuck orange drink before they make a new great one again. I wish they would just stop trying to fix what ain't broke! Ah well- cheers!



There was a hawk at the pool- who was trying to kill us- or, actually, some other poor little creature, in the end, so we decided to go back up to the safety of our room where the wild animals were far, far away.

Unless you count Laura and Drea. Which...you definitely could.

Time for CL happy hour....next...

 

[podsnel]

SO upstairs we went to get ready for dinner at BOG while partaking in the CL Happy Hour. Wild animals were still in attendance-



but at a much safer distance than they were at the pool.

Unless you count Laura & Drea. Which you should.

Anyway....here are Saturday night's offerings, which I am sad to say were nowhere near as good as what Friday's were-



Except for that plate- they have the hummus etc every night, and it is always good.













Cheeses were also good- it was just the hot offerings that were not so hot.



This CM was so nice! Very cheerful!



Turn down service in concierge is always nice too-



Once we had scarfed down our share, we took a bus over to MK- tonight we were dining at BOG, and I personally could not wait to get me some truffle fries and aioli. MMMMMMM..... On the way from the bus, I made a new friend-



And once we got inside, Drea made a new friend, too!



Although they seemed to already know each other from home. He took our pic-





Cont'd next post

 

[podsnel]

And we went on to storm the castle-





It was a nice evening-



No raining, no crying and no screaming (til later) from Laura & Drea.

Once we got to the New Fantasyland, we peeked over the fence to see how it was comin over there on that new mountain-





I checked us in, after I waited for the two women ahead of me to be told 20 times over 10 minutes that there were no open tables and they were not able to seat them tonight without a reservation. Still, they stood there to discuss the various aspects of the BOG menu. FINALLY, I checked in, and



waved bye bye see ya later to them. lol.

At the door, they handed me this-



They didn't hand me that the last time I came, so I wasn't sure why I got to carry it in, but ok. Then the seater asked if we would each like to have a turn with the candelabra before she had to take it away FOREVER.

Not quite sure, but I think Barbie and Elfis got the shaft when it came to this particular magical moment. Here is everyone else fighting over...I mean, taking their turn-







Ok are we all done now? Are we sure? Ok- enjoy your meal.



Am I missing something? LOL-

So- Laura enjoyed feeling at home by the snowy window



As did Barbie & Elfis in their Mousketire



But they were still a little pissed about getting the shaft on that whole candelabra incident, you can tell.

And they were not making it up out there at the podium, there was a full dining room inside.



On the table-



Our server was really wonderful, Laura was right about that, and we ordered no apps (we had had enough at CL) and went straight to dinner. I had the chicken which has since been replaced on the menu. It was fine. I was not there for the chicken, I was there for the fries.



We were ALL there for the fries- and we were all allowed to sub them for whatever the other sides might have been. Not sure who had what of the rest of this, but here it all is- Pan seared Salmon on Leek Fondue - Served with creamy Saffron crushed potatoes. - $22.99



Sauteed Shrimp and scallops - With veggies in a puff pastry with creamy lobster sauce - $25.99



I think Laura also had the since discarded chicken like me. Here is our server- we LOVED her-



Time for dessert! The last time I was here, our server had recommended the strawberry cupcake. So we got one of those-



And one of these-



The big challenge? How the heck do ya eat these things?





Next post-

 

[podsnel]

They did look so pretty, though, when they were all hangin out together!





Maybe they are just meant to be admired and not eaten. Hmmmmm.....

Loni was presented with the Grey Stuff in honor of her birthday-



We did have a nice meal here, it is such a beautiful venue- you really feel like you have stepped into the movie. Plus it is ALWAYS nice to have a glass of wine with dinner, especially on vacation. We were invited to walk around to see the rest of the restaurant before we left. So of COURSE we did. And I managed to take some really awful photos with my camera in there- which is the reason why I hauled my big DSLR all over Cali last month and left this, the other camera, in the pool bag for most of the trip.







We all waited for that Beast to show up, ad when he did-



Then Laura enjoyed the knights...



and thanked them from saving her from the gargoyles-



Next up- the biggest thrill ride of the trip, and some moms are staying up later than others....

 

[podsnel]

After dinner, it was time to get our ride on! But first, a little nighttime peek at what's to come-





It looked like this, in case you were curious-



So since we couldn't get on THAT....we went for THIS-



Where side B or A or 1 or 2- anyway, was stuck. So while they just sat, we went on-



Yea, I know you saw it before, but they are just SO cute!!

I did NOT take a video, I just took a bazillion pics. Here's a couple-





And then we photo-swapped with some other Dumbo fans.



AWWWWWW....love these girls!!

Next up was what's on 3 out of 4 girls' dancecards- actually DANCING!



Click to play-


Loni. does.not.dance. ever.

If I could figure out how to splice out (from my 1986 wedding when Loni was my MOH) me begging Loni to dance with me, and all of our friends, and her BEGGING, nonono, Ellen, I don"t like to dance....

but I can't, so ....you can only have that!

HOWEVER..... the excitement continued that night as we bravely boarded.......



The COP!

Oh...my friends...THIS is a thrill ride of its own kind. But, can I just say....I have such great, fond memories of it!

And now....I have new, much, much different ones.



Because every time we moved on to a new era....we put our arms up! Cuz' we are DAREDEVILS, every one!

Afterwards, it was fireworks time!



Then it was time for Buzz Lightyear to come to ....the rescue!



See? My girls are so cute- even when they got their game face on!



Loni and me?

I kicked her a.......



No idea what their score is, but one's a hero and one's a cadet, so figure it out for yourself....



And then....you will have to ask D&A, because....

Loni and I called it a night.

We were soooooo tired....See?



Ahhhhhhh.......the exhilaration and exhaustion of being caught up!

TAG girls- ur it!

 

[jenseib]

They keep changing the BOG menu I think it has 3 or 4 changes since it opened...and a couple pf price increases too.
I think Jeanne told me that they did away with those fries and just have plain ones now. I hope she is wrong and it was just a one night thing.

 

[dizneeat]

All caught up here too!

Thank you Ellen for going on vacation at about the same time we did, so I was only 5 pages behind.

Love all your MK and BoG photos. They bring back A LOT of happy memories (from two weeks ago).

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Those items in AKL CL were the same as the ones we had this past week! I didn't care for the hot ones, but the shrimp salad was pretty good. Their scones during tea time were so tasty!

We had lunch at BOG last Wednesday, I had pre ordered our lunch before we left home. Had the onion soup & the turkey sandwich with fries. The food was decent, but the fries were plain. We ate in the rose room, your pictures turned out pretty well. It was so dark in that room to photograph without a flash.