Sorry Gaston, They are MUCH More Interesting Than You!*6/8* NEW Trip Report Link p154

[MEK]

Sorry I haven't gotten to replies yet. I will try to get to them later today. Busy day ahead! Everyone have a great day!

 

[wiigirl]

Great update

 

[eandesmom]

Ok, I've got some replies to get to and Mary Ellens wonderful update to respond to as well but I thought I'd get you all the results as I know you are on the edge of your seats! Not. Here is how I calculated the results. Yes, my own official rules committee. Except Glenn didn't vote so no points for him!

We had 2 shirts per boy. 10 total possible points as follows.
2 for correct choice (each) total possible 8.
1 for correct reason (each) total possible 4.
I also gave a point for for correct ride but wrong tee (each) which is closely related to the correct reason.

Andy - 0
Mark 1 point

Pam 1 point

Pat - 1 point

teekatthe pony 1 point

Ann 1 point

Sheree - 3 points

Mary Ellen 4 points

Now, Mary Ellen had insider knowledge and I'm not convinced she didn't see or hear me mention which way anyone was leaning so...I'm giving this hands down, to Sheree! Prizes to be discussed in a minute. Now...no one got all the points possible. I did leave out one detail.

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

I wondered if anyone would remember this...



Yes. This is my family As some of you know, one of my brothers (the one in the middle) lives in Germany with his family. My boys are OBSESSED with wanting to visit him, with their German heritage and with Germany in general. In fact there is one DISer who had an inside track on this one as I'd texted her a picture after we got back but I've not seen her posting in a bit.

If Scotland had a tee it could have gone the other way. Hey, we are proud of our heritage!

From my dad's 75th birthday party (no clue where Eric was!)



The boys number one choice was....



Interestingly enough I didn't take a picture of their number 2 choices at the time, I think because they were a Christmas present I just squirreled them away. What a happy coincidence that they just happened to choose to wear them to dinner last week. Clearly they were not thrilled about the picture taking while we waited for our table.



I ended up with a few tees for myself, but as I didn't post any of them, I didn't include that in the contest.

From Yak and Yeti





also this cute little tray that was $1.99 at the register, I have it on my vanity to hold glasses or whatever every day and I love it!



From the Festival



The boys pins that I traded for

Eric



Evan



Santa also put this in Evan's stocking

Evan has made us Fried Chicken from POP, Meatloaf from PTC and a Coconut Curried Chicken Stew from Boma. All VERY yummy!

and this in Eric's

Which both Eric and Evan have read already and I plan to finish in Aulani. In fact Eric used this as a report in school and then got the whole class to feature Walt as a Luminary. As to me, I had an agenda, he needed to push his non fiction reading and this made it easy to have him do something he needed to for school...without him really realizing it.

Jeff got some of these (quite a few actually)

And both boys got some of the Goofy's sour candies (worms or other I don't recall but they each got a bag...they love that stuff).

I did not get Jeff the beers around the world tee, either one of them, he was decidedly non responsive (think it would have been rubbing it in) so I opted not to. He has enjoyed "his" cookbook very much!

Everyone did get a luggage tag along the lines of the one I had made for Mary Ellen and they are getting good use, including Jeff's Mickey Pilot one which will be flying to Aulani soon!

And...that's all she bought!

For our winner....I have a little something for you and will be sending it to you

 

[KatMark]

MaryEllen, what beautiful, beautiful pictures around World Showcase. I especially love the colors in the fountain when you reached Future World. Mark and you would get along great...he'd love to wear a poncho on Splash Mountain too if I let him.

Can't wait to see what else you decide to do at the MK with your solo time.

Nice purchases, Cynthia (sorry I didn't participate in the contest...this wedding in 29 days is taking all of my spare time). Love the t-shirts and the cookbook. I really need to pick up that cookbook one of these trips.

 

[Pinkocto]

I never ever ever would have guessed the Germany tshirts. Sounds like a family trip to Germany is in order!

 

[glennbo123]

MEK, your Main St. pics really capture the hustle and bustle going on that evening. I'm glad your wait-times for rides weren't very long though. I was surprised that you were going to ride Splash at night, so the poncho made sense.

Cynthia, I would've never guessed the Germany shirts. I'd love to have that Coconut Curried Chicken Stew recipe from Boma. Mmmm.

Edited to add - don't bother typing the recipe...I found at least 8 sources on the inter-web, such as this one.

 

[eandesmom]

Cynthia, I would've never guessed the Germany shirts. I'd love to have that Coconut Curried Chicken Stew recipe from Boma. Mmmm.

Edited to add - don't bother typing the recipe...I found at least 8 sources on the inter-web, such as this one.

Quick comment on this. I'd (I mean Evan) would make it again but honestly I'd use boneless meat or de-bone first. The flavor was fabulous but it was a bit of work. We used a combo of thighs and legs and they were a pita on a number of levels. I don't want to have to cut meat off the bone in a stew (or have skin in my stew for that matter) and that definitely isn't how it's presented at Boma. Conversely it's a giant mess to take it out of the stew after cooked to de-bone/remove skin. Next time we will just sear boneless breasts instead.

 

[teekathepony]

Hehehe I got one point at least!! I never would have guessed the Germany shirts, but they're really cute. I love all your souvenirs, especially your own t-shirt from Yak & Yeti!

 

[annmarieda]

I love all the purchases! I didn't come close to knowing the shirts you got for the boys...so not sure why I got a point.... but I will take it.


What a score on the little tray. Super cool.

 

[eandesmom]

d

Next on the food agenda



Followed by this

I'm going with Kalua pork and maybe a lettuce wrap thingy? Both look YUMMY!

The sun was starting to set and it looked like it was going to be an absolutely gorgeous site, so I found myself a table near Norway so I could rest my camera bag and take pictures.

GORGEOUS!

Even though I had a Splash FP with a 9:20 return time, I decided to brave the stand by line. 10 minutes later I was in the back seat of a boat. Oh yeah - clearly I was ready to ride. Check out that back row! And yes - that IS a poncho. I wasn't taking any chances with getting wet. The boys can call me a sissy, but it was just too darn cool out to walk around wet. Luck was with me and the timing of the giant spray at the base of the mountain was off. I escaped with nearly a drop!



I did manage to get one decent cell phone pic on Splash and one "almost" decent picture. Zip id e do dah!

I am very impressed that you made it over to MK after that gorgeous sunset and even more so that you went on Splash! I think the poncho was a brilliant idea and you actually look great in it! Super fun picture.

Well done and great pictures!!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Love the tees that you chose, especially the one from Yak & Yeti. Cute the boys wanted the Germany shirts. My DH is half German, but the other half is Irish. Me, I'm Scottish & English.

I can't wait to until you do your TR about Aulani.

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! I love your World Showcase sunset pictures, it's so beautiful there when the sun is going down! I probably would have stayed right there for Illuminations though!

BUT going to MK was a great idea! Even if it looked crowded, I'm sure the energy was great! And you got to do 2 of the mountains with very little wait, awesome! Can't wait to see where you're headed next!

 

[Leshaface]

All caught up!

You son looks very handsome in his suit for prom! They both look great all dressed up.

AW! I love the duck story. On our last day, we were at MK and saw a momma duck with her ducklings. Cutest thing ever! You have some restraint, I must say! I would have gone over immediately and pulled him out of the pool

Great idea on hopping over to MK. A perfect way to end the trip

 

[eandesmom]

I just can't believe we ran into Tina like that. I still don't know if I would have recognized her if she hadn't sad something. I totally miss Tina on the boards and I hope she comes back someday.

I miss Tina too! So Tina...if you are lurking...HI!

Fingers totally crossed for her on her tryouts. I am sure she will do fabulous!

well they were supposed to post the results yesterday, then last night and it still isn't up. Which meant she went to another tryout last night (same club as the ECNL team but for their A team..which apparently includes 4-5 "reserve" players for the ECNL team) and then tonight I'm not sure if she plans to go to her current/old club's tryout or not.

And of course, because she is 16, she didn't track all of this and agreed to babysit for someone even though she and Jeff were supposed to hit opening night for Star Trek since she heads to Cal Poly tomorrow. UGH. I will be so glad once we just know what is what.

I'm so glad you got the hike in. It just looks so beautiful. I wish I could go hiking someplace like that close to home, but alas....never going to happen. Denny and I did go for a bike ride on Saturday morning and that was really fun. Its so hard for me to ride my racing bike anymore. The whole position is uncomfortable, but i got new cleats last year and they are pretty super awesome. So hopefully after a few more rides I'll get my "bike legs".

I've never been brave enough to do the cleat thing myself...I have a hybrid which I love but between my neck and my eyes...I just can't do it anymore. I'll do it in Hawaii, every once in awhile is ok, but just can't do it on a consistent basis, not worth the repercussions.

Emily's dress really was beautiful. And I saw pictures that Jackie posted of Chelsea on FB and they were gorgeous. I just wish we had dresses to wear like that when we went to prom.

Sorry K is going to miss the prom, but I hope her camp goes really well like the other one did. I'm sure she'll do great.

I still kick myself. I wore the greatest dress in a school fashion show that was bascially a prom dress ad for a local store. I didn't buy it because "everyone" had seen it already. Honestly I think I'd still find it stunning today. Which I would definitely not say about the one I did wear.

Yeah - I think he got confused. During the first trip he was still such a bad @$$ that he probably didn't even notice. This was a delayed reaction.

If he ever dates online you can really give him a hard time!

Yeah!!!!! I am waiting to buy the other half of my October flight so, in the event something has to be changed or I can rebook for credit, I can use that credit next May!

Sweet! I am hoping to use miles for mine but it depends on what we use for the Dec trip. Chances are it won't be the best use of miles so I should have some avail.

I am also going to get another TIW in June. I literally figured out where we are eating and calculated out the price of what I think we "might" eat. I included one alcoholic drink per person for the dinner meals and we just broke even on the $100 cost. I told Denny we will just have to drink more!

I plan to get one in Dec so if you don't have one, I will.

Aww, saying goodbye to Cynthia. I didn't "know" Cynthia before this TR, but I had a great time getting to "know" her through both of your posts!!

Nice to get to "know" you too!!!

Phew! After being away for 2 weeks, I'm all caught up! A lot happens around here in 2 weeks.

Cynthia, your Hawaii trip is getting sooo close! I'm looking forward to that TR too, I've got to still catch up on the other one.

I'm so excited to go it's not even funny. Although I was telling Jeff last night...they might need to just pick me up from the office on the way to the airport. I feel very unorganized at the moment for that trip. And probably will all the way until Sunday at the rate I am going.

I do believe I did see an afternoon tour but did not get to do one myself .

Todd and Paul were there and they say " Hey"

I had a room almost all the way to the tennis courts. Being that the only elevators are near the lobby area, it was either walk up four flights of stairs from the quiet pool or backtrack to the center for the long hallway walk.

When coming from DHS and the pool it was stairs and when coming from EPCOT it was the elevator.


I liked BWV but still have a soft spot for BCV, but the points for a standard can't be beat for the location. I have done too many short trips lately and really need a longer one. That and home stress had an effect on this particular trip.

Next may! One whole week!!!

Just sayin'

Hey did you decide if you will be there for NYE or not? I can't recall...and if so where are you? BCV?

Those back stairs are great. I'm a view junkie though so can't say I'll ever book standard out of choice. Which is a little sad I know but...it is what it is.

I'm a bit sad about the 2 hour versus 3 hour change as well.

Way too much to catch up on everything! Guess I am too late to the T-shirt contest party. I don't know the E's well enough yet to venture a guess, and I'm guessing the results will be posted before I can consider all the options. Maybe next time around.

I am sure there will be another contest at some point

Nice purchases, Cynthia (sorry I didn't participate in the contest...this wedding in 29 days is taking all of my spare time). Love the t-shirts and the cookbook. I really need to pick up that cookbook one of these trips.

It's a great cookbook, I recommend it. I'm amazed you are here at all Kathy, impressive!!!

I never ever ever would have guessed the Germany tshirts. Sounds like a family trip to Germany is in order!

I confess I was happy that they chose that. They don't often have matching tees and it was fun to get them the same one and know what it meant to them. I don't love the Space Mountain on Eric to be honest, black is not really a good color for him, but he likes it. They have gotten a TON of wear out of both so they were good solid choices. We'd love to have a family trip to Germany. The airfare is a non starter right now but I hope at some point we can figure it out.

Cynthia, I would've never guessed the Germany shirts. I'd love to have that Coconut Curried Chicken Stew recipe from Boma. Mmmm.

Magdalene and my brother got a kick out of them I thought it was pretty cool actually that it is what they picked and they wear them a ton. They are super soft tees too, the quality is pretty wonderful. So is Mr. Potato head but the Space is more of your standard issue variety.

Hehehe I got one point at least!! I never would have guessed the Germany shirts, but they're really cute. I love all your souvenirs, especially your own t-shirt from Yak & Yeti!

I love that Y&Y shirt. Heck I loved that store, I had NO idea it existed despite our power AK day in august where I really thought we explored every nook and cranny. Cracked me up though as clearly it is a juniors tee based on the sizing. I found it amusing that in the same trip I bought one small tee and one large...and both fit perfectly.

I love all the purchases! I didn't come close to knowing the shirts you got for the boys...so not sure why I got a point.... but I will take it.

I'd have to look but think you guessed a space mountain tee, just not the right tee.

What a score on the little tray. Super cool.

I really thought about buying a set but wasn't sure how/where I'd use them. The price was amazing and it's so stinking cute!

 

[rndmr2]

Great updates!

Mary Ellen,
Looks like a good last night, Beautiful sunset pics at Epcot, Great you were able to ge to MK one last time, I love BTTMR at night, but have never been on Splash at night, I don't blame you for wanting to stay dry.

Cynthia,
Love the T shirt choices, I like the Mr Potato Head one, Fun!

I read that Walt Disney Book, there was another one I really liked, called "The Man Behind the Magic" that was really good. I did a term paper on Walt too, it was while I was in Nursing School for an English class and I got an A on it.

My mom had an earlier version of the Disney Cook Book, I want to get the more recent one.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Well, Yay for me!!
I feel pretty lucky!
I wish I'd bought that cookbook - I've eyed it many times!

I got the same festival shirt as you did. Love that the sleeves are a bit longer.

Cute stuff at Y&Y! I've never been in there either. Of course, I want to eat there one of these trips too.

 

[MeMom]

Santa also put this in Evan's stocking

Evan has made us Fried Chicken from POP, Meatloaf from PTC and a Coconut Curried Chicken Stew from Boma. All VERY yummy!

and this in Eric's

Jeff got some of these (quite a few actually)

And both boys got some of the Goofy's sour candies (worms or other I don't recall but they each got a bag...they love that stuff).

Nice gifts!
I hope there will be a day when Brooklynn has the chance to do a report on Walt Disney. Pretty awesome that you'll be reading that book in Aulani!

 

[jash08]

Awesome updates ladies!!!

Mary Ellen: Your pictures from Epcot are awesome!

Cynthia: Good purchases! I love the items that we buy that we use and see in daily life, like your little tray.

 

[MEK]

At Disney? Beats me. Can't think of anything.

Beautiful sunset!

Thanks! It was the most perfect evening and the most perfect sunset.

Beautiful. Can't beat that.

Can you say "SCORE"!!!!!!!!!

So the crowds weren't anywhere near Frontierland, I'm guessing.

There seemed to be crowds everywhere, but they were not in the queue for the ride. Perhaps because it was a little cool out?

Sunset in World Showcase during Food & Wine. Sigh. Definitely one of my favorite places! ler!!

That evening was so perfect. I didn't realize how fabulous the October weather is and that just added to the fun of F&W.

Gorgeous pictures, as always. Looks like you got a lot done that evening as a solo traveler!!

Thanks!

I did have a lot of fun as a solo traveler. I just went totally on a whim and that was really fun!

I never ride Splash without a poncho and I don't care who knows it!!

Right on Sister! A poncho is a must in my book!

IThe freedom of solo touring is intoxicating; you don't even need those thimblefulls of wine!!


Kathy

haha to the thimbleful of wine. That was ridiculous. I agree - solo traveling can be so great. It is fun just to go where the wind blows you. so to speak.

BEAUTIFUL sunset pictures! Wow. As much as I love IllumiNations, on my last night I would have gone to MK too.

I just didn't want to leave the park at 9:30 when the park was closing. That just wasn't enough park time for my last night. So I'm glad I decided to head over to MK.

And you got to ride SPLASH! Yes, definitely a good decision.

Splash is such an awesome ride, especially with a poncho! I'm glad I got to ride it and I'm looking forward to riding it in June.

I love your pictures!!! Love, love, love them. I have a hard time picking favorites, but the sunset shots over the World Showcase lagoon are just beautiful.

Thank you! It really was a gorgeous sunset that evening. I totally enjoyed watching it and taking pictures. I think that's one of the nice things about being alone. You definitely don't have to worry about bothering or holding someone else up.

You are a brave woman on Splash, I am too chicken to stick my hands up. As a matter of fact, I haven't been on that ride since my honeymoon...I must have taken pity on my DH, and the last time was almost 9 years before that. Apparently I go on it once every decade....which sadly means I must be due...

One a decade! That's awesome! As far as the hands up thing - I always pull them down at the last minute when I do the "tuck I don't want to get wet" maneuver at the end of the ride.

Gorgeous evening. I used to not be a fan of park hopping when Claire was little, but last trip we did it and I loved going to another park for just a few more hours at night.

It was a gorgeous evening and I just knew I needed to get over to MK one more time before I left. It was a good choice!