bumbershoot
DIS Legend
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Shannon, just try to make sure everyone has the right tickets for plans! That's all I'm sayin'. 
Sunburn, not windburn : WDW and Universal in September
- Thread starter bumbershoot
- Start date
Brady's Mom
Get off the roof, get off the roof!
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Shannon, just try to make sure everyone has the right tickets for plans! That's all I'm sayin'.
The good news for me is that DLR is sooo much less complicated than WDW. I don't have to worry about all the ticket variations that you did!
For us it's more the decision between parkhoppers or AP's and the best time to buy them for optimal use!
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
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I swear I will continue with this trip report soon.
But for now I gotta go take a shot of albuterol (the problem with cleaning is that it stirs up the dust that had been sitting there, minding its own business, and stirring up dust makes dust angry, and angry dust flies down my lungs and creates a ruckus) and do some vacuuming or some such nonsense...
But for now I gotta go take a shot of albuterol (the problem with cleaning is that it stirs up the dust that had been sitting there, minding its own business, and stirring up dust makes dust angry, and angry dust flies down my lungs and creates a ruckus) and do some vacuuming or some such nonsense...
kaoden39
<font color=peach>Prayers and pixie dust from your
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- Aug 17, 2006
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It is amazing how fast our kids grow. My BIL brought me some pictures of my kids yesterday from when they were little and the change is just amazing to me. The one picture is 12 years old and the other is about 16 years old. I know they have grown since then but Loren seems to have grown so much in the last year alone. He is around 6 feet now and last year I was still taller than him.
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
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6 feet, oh my gracious!
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
- Messages
- 69,750
September 15th! (a weird day with a WEIRD day report, very scattered *just like the day*)
It was decided that 1-day tickets would be purchased by those without tickets, and then they would be upgraded. The tickets would be used at DHS that day! Excellent plan.
We took cars in that day. It was so hot already in the morning. There was some weird parking stress that I still don't totally understand. Parking doesn't seem to be a difficult thing, normally! I do wish that my aunt would cave in and ask her doctor if she can get a placard; she has all sorts of problems with her legs, and being able to park close would be a great boon to her. But, the morning started off with me walking with my cousin and her daughter, while the others all walked separately, and it took a bit for everyone to feel totally happy again. Big groups, ya know?
None of us had been on Star Tours in awhile, and there was some massive excitement for it. I don't remember why, but I became the FP runner for that ride (even though it was 5 minutes). It would be most convenient if I had taken notes, but...again...too many notebooks, not enough brain power.
This will be a holding spot for when Robert is here to tell me what I've forgotten.
In the meantime, cousins.
Our Star Tours FPs were "up" so quickly that it was only an hour before we could get our next FPs! I was aware of that, and actually kept track of time. Some of us went on Star Tours in the standby line, while others roamed the streets, watching Jedi Academy and going to the bathroom and possibly shopping...
Star Tours....I'm not really big on 3-D. I figure that our brains process what we see in 3-D (well, most of us have eyes and brains that do it for us, but not all, I recognize that), and I don't need *extra* 3-D. I was also not very thrilled to have the possibility of a podrace, as the podracing is my least favorite part (and I'm including JarJar in this) of the 5 Star Wars movies I've seen.
But, and it ended up being a big but, I liked it! Even though we hit the podrace on our very first time. See, I guess they have something like 54 different bits. And on each ride, a computer puts the bits together in different ways. So the number of unique ride experiences is actually pretty big, depending on which way the bits are put together. Kinda neat.
I ended up being a fan.
Oh, and the particular 3-D glasses they chose? They are The Coolest-Looking things EVER. If I were a different sort of person, one would have become my free souvenir.
The family was consumed with doing something. What, I do not know. But whatever it was, I didn't want any part in it. I was hot, and I didn't want to be standing around or whatever it was they were up to! So I collected everyone's tickets and told them that I'd go get TSMM fast passes. I found out later that there was much doubt as to whether I could do that! Eons later when I found out about the doubt, I explained that you must always look at the bottom of the FP for the time for the next FP. Anyway, I was successful, of course.
There was some walking back and forth that day. I got to know the back streets of DHS.
I know that we did the Muppets attraction, which was as fun as it always is! And TSMM was, indeed, ridden. However, we rode it standby, because our FPs were so far out in the day. Star Tours was ridden at least twice, because standby was so short and we had those FPs.
Also, this little cutie was purchased by my cousin (and, a week later, also by me).
The other purchase made that day was a felt had styled similar to Indiana Jones' hat. He was *very* excited about this.
Although I don't know the order of things we did, or why we were wandering all over creation, or any of that, I do know that eventually we decided to do a walk-in to the SciFi Dine-In Theater (is that what it's called?).
Sci-Fi is a restaurant that is themed like a drive-in playing sci fi films (and cartoons). There are cars in there, it's fairly dark, and really really loud (especially if you are, like I was, sitting RIGHT next to a speaker).
There are three sorts of seating arrangements there. For those with ADRs (advanced dining reservations), they reserve the seats "in" the cars; they are booths, and you face forward. For walk-ins, you have two choices. Either a small table set WAY back in the room, that's sort of an umbrella table like you might find near a snack bar at a drive-in, or tables plunked in between a front and a back of a car. That's the kind we had, and I liked it WAY more than I would have liked the booths in the cars.
They used to have a marinated tofu dish for the veggies, but the DAY before our visit they'd gotten rid of that dish.
Now it was just Yet Another VeggieBurger (YAVB?). Sure, it was a vb with a huge purple onion and fancy things on it, with sweet potato fries on the side, but still...YAVB. (I do recognize that this was the first vb of our trip, but still, it didn't feel like it)
I *highly* doubt I'd eat there again unless they put a real meal on there.
I also had a glowy adult beverage. This was so nummy while I was drinking it. And then it felt SO BAD once we got out into the hot hot sun.
Star Tours...
After Star Tours...
Eamon always gets shot down. Does it have anything to do with Random Child entering the picture?
And Eamon always falls off, onto the ground, from the speederbikes. I think it does have something to do with the Random Child.
Another note about SciFi. Their kid's meals. One of the possibilities for a kid's meal side dish is tomato soup. Sounds fine, right? Well, my cousin got it, and took one bite and rejected it. My aunt chose to eat it, because she doesn't believe in wasting food.
Side note to the "another note"...if someone eats something just so it's not wasted, without a wish for the food or a need for the food, and if it makes a person not feel well because they already eaten THEIR food, IMO that's wasting food! End to the side note.
So she was eating it, and said it was spicy! I tasted some, and wow yes, very spicy. Not just salty, but actual spice.
So along with giving our server feedback on what to tell the manager (I'm ordering a veggie burger because we're here and it's all ya got, but not because I WANT the veggie burger...bring back real food for vegetarians), we gave him feedback on "who makes SPICY soup for kid's meals??????"
We also gave him a solid tip. We're not crazy, LOL.
By this time it was well after 4, and I was dragging. Tensions had dropped and risen and dropped and risen etc etc and I'd had that boozey beverage and it was HOT and hot and even more hot than I'd ever possibly expected (I've lived in Miami! Spartanburg SC! Virginia! and Huntington WV! I've been in hot 'n humid! But this was just unspeakable.) and I was dragging.
I wasn't saying anything about it, because I don't like admitting defeat, but then discussions about who wanted to do what, and who didn't want to do anything, and what kids wanted to go home, and etc etc etc started.... And ultimately I ended up offering to go home with my aunt and the kid-cousins. I *was* going to drive, but then it was remembered that I'd had that drink NOT long enough ago (and my aunt had had a margarita at the same time), and the drink had hit me hard enough as it was... So we went home on the bus, instead.
Where we met a lovely family from Alabama!
Meanwhile, cousin 'n hubby 'n Eamon 'n Robert had a blast, riding Rock 'n Roller Coaster and various other things. Then cousin/hubby left, and E and Robert used all the TSMM fastpasses to ride a few times in a row, and then they left, and then everyone came home.
This is another holding spot for when Robert is here to tell me what I've forgotten.
It was decided that 1-day tickets would be purchased by those without tickets, and then they would be upgraded. The tickets would be used at DHS that day! Excellent plan.
We took cars in that day. It was so hot already in the morning. There was some weird parking stress that I still don't totally understand. Parking doesn't seem to be a difficult thing, normally! I do wish that my aunt would cave in and ask her doctor if she can get a placard; she has all sorts of problems with her legs, and being able to park close would be a great boon to her. But, the morning started off with me walking with my cousin and her daughter, while the others all walked separately, and it took a bit for everyone to feel totally happy again. Big groups, ya know?
None of us had been on Star Tours in awhile, and there was some massive excitement for it. I don't remember why, but I became the FP runner for that ride (even though it was 5 minutes). It would be most convenient if I had taken notes, but...again...too many notebooks, not enough brain power.
This will be a holding spot for when Robert is here to tell me what I've forgotten.
In the meantime, cousins.
Our Star Tours FPs were "up" so quickly that it was only an hour before we could get our next FPs! I was aware of that, and actually kept track of time. Some of us went on Star Tours in the standby line, while others roamed the streets, watching Jedi Academy and going to the bathroom and possibly shopping...
Star Tours....I'm not really big on 3-D. I figure that our brains process what we see in 3-D (well, most of us have eyes and brains that do it for us, but not all, I recognize that), and I don't need *extra* 3-D. I was also not very thrilled to have the possibility of a podrace, as the podracing is my least favorite part (and I'm including JarJar in this) of the 5 Star Wars movies I've seen.
But, and it ended up being a big but, I liked it! Even though we hit the podrace on our very first time. See, I guess they have something like 54 different bits. And on each ride, a computer puts the bits together in different ways. So the number of unique ride experiences is actually pretty big, depending on which way the bits are put together. Kinda neat.
I ended up being a fan.
Oh, and the particular 3-D glasses they chose? They are The Coolest-Looking things EVER. If I were a different sort of person, one would have become my free souvenir.
The family was consumed with doing something. What, I do not know. But whatever it was, I didn't want any part in it. I was hot, and I didn't want to be standing around or whatever it was they were up to! So I collected everyone's tickets and told them that I'd go get TSMM fast passes. I found out later that there was much doubt as to whether I could do that! Eons later when I found out about the doubt, I explained that you must always look at the bottom of the FP for the time for the next FP. Anyway, I was successful, of course.
There was some walking back and forth that day. I got to know the back streets of DHS.
I know that we did the Muppets attraction, which was as fun as it always is! And TSMM was, indeed, ridden. However, we rode it standby, because our FPs were so far out in the day. Star Tours was ridden at least twice, because standby was so short and we had those FPs.
Also, this little cutie was purchased by my cousin (and, a week later, also by me).
The other purchase made that day was a felt had styled similar to Indiana Jones' hat. He was *very* excited about this.
Although I don't know the order of things we did, or why we were wandering all over creation, or any of that, I do know that eventually we decided to do a walk-in to the SciFi Dine-In Theater (is that what it's called?).
Sci-Fi is a restaurant that is themed like a drive-in playing sci fi films (and cartoons). There are cars in there, it's fairly dark, and really really loud (especially if you are, like I was, sitting RIGHT next to a speaker).
There are three sorts of seating arrangements there. For those with ADRs (advanced dining reservations), they reserve the seats "in" the cars; they are booths, and you face forward. For walk-ins, you have two choices. Either a small table set WAY back in the room, that's sort of an umbrella table like you might find near a snack bar at a drive-in, or tables plunked in between a front and a back of a car. That's the kind we had, and I liked it WAY more than I would have liked the booths in the cars.
They used to have a marinated tofu dish for the veggies, but the DAY before our visit they'd gotten rid of that dish.
Now it was just Yet Another VeggieBurger (YAVB?). Sure, it was a vb with a huge purple onion and fancy things on it, with sweet potato fries on the side, but still...YAVB. (I do recognize that this was the first vb of our trip, but still, it didn't feel like it)I *highly* doubt I'd eat there again unless they put a real meal on there.
I also had a glowy adult beverage. This was so nummy while I was drinking it. And then it felt SO BAD once we got out into the hot hot sun.
Star Tours...
After Star Tours...
Eamon always gets shot down. Does it have anything to do with Random Child entering the picture?
And Eamon always falls off, onto the ground, from the speederbikes. I think it does have something to do with the Random Child.
Another note about SciFi. Their kid's meals. One of the possibilities for a kid's meal side dish is tomato soup. Sounds fine, right? Well, my cousin got it, and took one bite and rejected it. My aunt chose to eat it, because she doesn't believe in wasting food.
Side note to the "another note"...if someone eats something just so it's not wasted, without a wish for the food or a need for the food, and if it makes a person not feel well because they already eaten THEIR food, IMO that's wasting food! End to the side note.
So she was eating it, and said it was spicy! I tasted some, and wow yes, very spicy. Not just salty, but actual spice.
So along with giving our server feedback on what to tell the manager (I'm ordering a veggie burger because we're here and it's all ya got, but not because I WANT the veggie burger...bring back real food for vegetarians), we gave him feedback on "who makes SPICY soup for kid's meals??????"
We also gave him a solid tip. We're not crazy, LOL.
By this time it was well after 4, and I was dragging. Tensions had dropped and risen and dropped and risen etc etc and I'd had that boozey beverage and it was HOT and hot and even more hot than I'd ever possibly expected (I've lived in Miami! Spartanburg SC! Virginia! and Huntington WV! I've been in hot 'n humid! But this was just unspeakable.) and I was dragging.
I wasn't saying anything about it, because I don't like admitting defeat, but then discussions about who wanted to do what, and who didn't want to do anything, and what kids wanted to go home, and etc etc etc started.... And ultimately I ended up offering to go home with my aunt and the kid-cousins. I *was* going to drive, but then it was remembered that I'd had that drink NOT long enough ago (and my aunt had had a margarita at the same time), and the drink had hit me hard enough as it was... So we went home on the bus, instead.
Where we met a lovely family from Alabama!
Meanwhile, cousin 'n hubby 'n Eamon 'n Robert had a blast, riding Rock 'n Roller Coaster and various other things. Then cousin/hubby left, and E and Robert used all the TSMM fastpasses to ride a few times in a row, and then they left, and then everyone came home.
This is another holding spot for when Robert is here to tell me what I've forgotten.
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
- Messages
- 69,750
September 16th, Lovebug Day. And that's not a good thing.
The jetlag was hitting me hard, and I was finding it difficult to wake up. On this trip, the family decided that my aunt would sleep in the "studio" component of the 2 bedroom, cousin and her hubby would sleep on the sofabed (so that the younger adults could stay up chatting late without bothering aunt or children), and we, again, had the "big" room with the King bed. While we would be happy to sleep in the "studio" room, ultimately it doesn't make sense b/c of the number of children each of us has.
Anyway, my point is that I was in the big King room and it's big and really really quiet (apart from the early morning golf maintenance people and golf carts going by the outside windows...our rooms backed up on the golf course) and could hear almost NOTHING going on outside my door, especially because that door was down a bit of a hallway off the living room.
Sleeping was just lovely. But it did interfere with things! On the other hand, it's not like people were all ready to go as soon as I deigned to join them, LOL.
So anyway, I'm not sure when it was decided, but this was to be a swimming day. It's funny, because we kept on talking about the Polynesian pool when talking about our legal, sanctioned, DVC-owner-and-guests-staying-on-points Pool-Hopping. But we never made it there! I still do not know why.
After much discussion, we decided to check out Coronado's pool this day. This resort is a "Southwest-themed Disney Moderate Resort hotel encircling Lago Doradoa glimmering 22-acre lakethat evokes the spirit and romance of Spanish-colonial Mexico" and I long to stay there.
We smooshed into the Durango and parked and wound our way to the main pool. Alas, as we got closer and closer, we found the lovebug infestation was growing. Lovebugs are benign beetle-like bugs. Harmless. And disgusting. They travel around in pairs, "kissing". They fly, crawl, stay still...in pairs, "kissing". Get a room, you bugs!
While I wasn't afraid of them, I really really really did NOT want them on or near me. I didn't want to kill them, and in fact I nearly cried when I realized that a pair had landed on my flipflop while I was walking (I don't like killing things, and only sanction "murder" when something has 8 legs), and while taking a step I had killed them...I just didn't want them to be there. Makes sense, right?
But anyway, theme. While approaching the pool...
Hidden Mickey!
Big huge decoration at the pool. You can walk up the steps just to where the "roots" are, and that's it.
The pool was fabulous and an excellent temperature and I went down their slide and it was fun, and Eamon LOVED the slide and went down multiple times. It was lots of fun. They had pool games (that we didn't take part in, but it was fun to have that energy), and they had pool toys like blow up balls. We got one of those, and I found that my cousin E has a bit of a talent at hitting balls in a volleyball style. We batted that ball around for quite awhile.
Alas, the littler cousin was having problems. She's 4, and 4 year olds are particular, and we'd forgotten her pink/purple princess floaty vest back at OKW. Whoopsie. No one wanted to ask aunt/grammy to bring it over. Any parent knows that there are really two ways to go with this. OK, 3. One, just have the floaty-less child attached to you in the pool and be OK with it. Two, go get the child's float even if it cuts into the fun-time. Three, take the child, take the Disney floaty vests, power that vest onto the child, because you KNOW that in 5 minutes the kid will be having fun and will have forgotten that it's not *theirs*.
And then there are the other options...sigh.
Ultimately, Robert ended up driving back to OKW to get the vest. Mission of mercy.
While Robert was gone on his peacekeeping mission, I got thirsty and had some myth that I could sit on a lounge chair drinking a mai tai and being peaceful. Yeah, in lovebug season.
I waited AGES for my maitai (and quesadilla) at the pool bar, and developed a soon to be patented arm sweep to get the stinkin' lovebugs AWAY FROM ME! Augh! Yeah I really disliked them. A pox on going in September during lovebug season! Bah! The bartender joked that they had a protein drink made from lovebugs...there were SO many dead and "kissing" on the counter, it was just gross...
I tried, TRIED, to sit down with my drinkie-poo (after inviting Eamon over to share my quesadilla), but the lovebugs wouldn't let me. Misery! If it had been the pool at Hard Rock Hotel I would have just taken the drink in the pool with me, but Disney frowns upon that a bit more than Universal, so I didn't. I had no peace, I had no loungey time, it was all just "kissing" bugs on me, around me, trying to sit on my drink and my food etc etc etc.
Robert returned, the conquering hero with the floaty vest, there was much rejoicing, people swam a little more, others ordered food... It was nice. Except for the stupid lovebugs.
Now the background to this day was that I had the Grand Floridian's Afternoon Tea planned for the Ladies. The other background is that no one but me *really* wanted to go. I mean, they did, but there were concerns. While we went off to the Tea, the Menfolk were to go to Downtown Disney.
Since there were concerns and since there were odd communication breakdowns, no one really *planned* for these things. No timing was planned, clothes weren't planned...it was all madness.
Utimately, my cousin decided to go, she decided to bring her daughter, and we had NO time to get home, changed, and to the GF. But we did it anyway! The guys were left in their swim trunks, LOL, and went to DTD by Disney transportation and had a good time, though Robert complained about things, but they had a good, manly time.
As my girl cousins and I screeched into the parking lot at OKW and ran into the villa, I said "we have 30 minutes to do an hour's worth of primping/changing/driving...this is true Womanhood!"
And that's where I'll leave ya, because I gotta go to an acupuncture appointment.
The jetlag was hitting me hard, and I was finding it difficult to wake up. On this trip, the family decided that my aunt would sleep in the "studio" component of the 2 bedroom, cousin and her hubby would sleep on the sofabed (so that the younger adults could stay up chatting late without bothering aunt or children), and we, again, had the "big" room with the King bed. While we would be happy to sleep in the "studio" room, ultimately it doesn't make sense b/c of the number of children each of us has.
Anyway, my point is that I was in the big King room and it's big and really really quiet (apart from the early morning golf maintenance people and golf carts going by the outside windows...our rooms backed up on the golf course) and could hear almost NOTHING going on outside my door, especially because that door was down a bit of a hallway off the living room.
Sleeping was just lovely. But it did interfere with things! On the other hand, it's not like people were all ready to go as soon as I deigned to join them, LOL.
So anyway, I'm not sure when it was decided, but this was to be a swimming day. It's funny, because we kept on talking about the Polynesian pool when talking about our legal, sanctioned, DVC-owner-and-guests-staying-on-points Pool-Hopping. But we never made it there! I still do not know why.
After much discussion, we decided to check out Coronado's pool this day. This resort is a "Southwest-themed Disney Moderate Resort hotel encircling Lago Doradoa glimmering 22-acre lakethat evokes the spirit and romance of Spanish-colonial Mexico" and I long to stay there.
We smooshed into the Durango and parked and wound our way to the main pool. Alas, as we got closer and closer, we found the lovebug infestation was growing. Lovebugs are benign beetle-like bugs. Harmless. And disgusting. They travel around in pairs, "kissing". They fly, crawl, stay still...in pairs, "kissing". Get a room, you bugs!
While I wasn't afraid of them, I really really really did NOT want them on or near me. I didn't want to kill them, and in fact I nearly cried when I realized that a pair had landed on my flipflop while I was walking (I don't like killing things, and only sanction "murder" when something has 8 legs), and while taking a step I had killed them...I just didn't want them to be there. Makes sense, right?
But anyway, theme. While approaching the pool...
Hidden Mickey!
Big huge decoration at the pool. You can walk up the steps just to where the "roots" are, and that's it.
The pool was fabulous and an excellent temperature and I went down their slide and it was fun, and Eamon LOVED the slide and went down multiple times. It was lots of fun. They had pool games (that we didn't take part in, but it was fun to have that energy), and they had pool toys like blow up balls. We got one of those, and I found that my cousin E has a bit of a talent at hitting balls in a volleyball style. We batted that ball around for quite awhile.
Alas, the littler cousin was having problems. She's 4, and 4 year olds are particular, and we'd forgotten her pink/purple princess floaty vest back at OKW. Whoopsie. No one wanted to ask aunt/grammy to bring it over. Any parent knows that there are really two ways to go with this. OK, 3. One, just have the floaty-less child attached to you in the pool and be OK with it. Two, go get the child's float even if it cuts into the fun-time. Three, take the child, take the Disney floaty vests, power that vest onto the child, because you KNOW that in 5 minutes the kid will be having fun and will have forgotten that it's not *theirs*.
And then there are the other options...sigh.
Ultimately, Robert ended up driving back to OKW to get the vest. Mission of mercy.
While Robert was gone on his peacekeeping mission, I got thirsty and had some myth that I could sit on a lounge chair drinking a mai tai and being peaceful. Yeah, in lovebug season.
I waited AGES for my maitai (and quesadilla) at the pool bar, and developed a soon to be patented arm sweep to get the stinkin' lovebugs AWAY FROM ME! Augh! Yeah I really disliked them. A pox on going in September during lovebug season! Bah! The bartender joked that they had a protein drink made from lovebugs...there were SO many dead and "kissing" on the counter, it was just gross...
I tried, TRIED, to sit down with my drinkie-poo (after inviting Eamon over to share my quesadilla), but the lovebugs wouldn't let me. Misery! If it had been the pool at Hard Rock Hotel I would have just taken the drink in the pool with me, but Disney frowns upon that a bit more than Universal, so I didn't. I had no peace, I had no loungey time, it was all just "kissing" bugs on me, around me, trying to sit on my drink and my food etc etc etc.
Robert returned, the conquering hero with the floaty vest, there was much rejoicing, people swam a little more, others ordered food... It was nice. Except for the stupid lovebugs.
Now the background to this day was that I had the Grand Floridian's Afternoon Tea planned for the Ladies. The other background is that no one but me *really* wanted to go. I mean, they did, but there were concerns. While we went off to the Tea, the Menfolk were to go to Downtown Disney.
Since there were concerns and since there were odd communication breakdowns, no one really *planned* for these things. No timing was planned, clothes weren't planned...it was all madness.
Utimately, my cousin decided to go, she decided to bring her daughter, and we had NO time to get home, changed, and to the GF. But we did it anyway! The guys were left in their swim trunks, LOL, and went to DTD by Disney transportation and had a good time, though Robert complained about things, but they had a good, manly time.
As my girl cousins and I screeched into the parking lot at OKW and ran into the villa, I said "we have 30 minutes to do an hour's worth of primping/changing/driving...this is true Womanhood!"
And that's where I'll leave ya, because I gotta go to an acupuncture appointment.
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
- Messages
- 69,750
Yeah, lovebugs went on the list (with the heat) of "you never know how bad it is until you're there" for me. But that day at Coronado was the worst day of them that we had. So that's good.
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
- Messages
- 69,750
More of the 16th!
So when we were so rudely interrupted by the need to stick needles in my skin (and I interrupted the typing of this part with E's aikido and my workout), I was talking about the ladies rushing to Tea. My aunt was basically ready (she'd been at the resort relaxing), I was basically dry (having gotten out of the pool a bit earlier than the cousins) but needed to cool down and get something vaguely cute on. My cousin and her daughter needed to dry off, get changed and cute and ready.
As I said to them, this was a test of womanhood to see if we could do all of this AND get over there in time.
I was ready quickly, but that's b/c my natural style is very casual, with very little makeup and nothing much done to my hair at all. My cousin put on the barest swipes of makeup, and her daughter is 4 and therefore very cute most of the time anyway. We all managed to get ready and out the door in way less time than we ever thought.
The drive seems straight forward, but to get to the Magic Kingdom resorts you have to go through MK parking. Thankfully the lines to park were light, and we got through. Since I was planning on using the Tables in Wonderland card, I knew I would get free Valet parking (the two go together), and that made parking easier. We found the Tea room, smiled, and asked if we were too late. She said that of course we weren't (we were probably 10 or 15 minutes late).
She seated us at a window seat, and our server Patrick, from Baton Rouge, came over to introduce himself. He was SO sweet, I just knew we'd be taken care of.
They have a menu that looks short, but it's actually pretty intense. They have MANY teas, and they take them very seriously. For food, they go from savory foods to sweet foods.
You can get things a la carte and spend very little money (2 jam tarts and a pot of tea for 9.75 plus tax and tip, for example), or you can spend something like $38 per person and get the:
Princess Kate Tea - A Spring tea served with a classic dish of potted shrimp followed by a medley of cheeses, an array of seasonal fruits, and cheddar cheese biscuits. A scone, jam tart, and a selection of delicate pastries is accompanied by a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and your choice of tea.
We went with the middle road. The three adults ordered tea (I got the Earl Grey, and aunt and cousin got some tea that wasn't on the menu called Mad Hatter). I got the strawberries with cream, and the other adults each got the English Trifle (or, as the receipt calls it, "triffle"). The 4 year old lady in our party got the Mrs Potts Tea:
For the young tea lover in your party, we offer a variety of tea sandwiches, tuna salad, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly on white bread. We serve our magical dark tea (chocolate milk), followed by a choice of two pastries.
She can't have peanut butter, so they doubled up on the ham and cheese, and also got watercress&cucumber sandwiches and maybe tuna salad.
As we waited, we looked out on our surroundings, and noticed a bride and groom having pictures taken on the second floor of the Grand Floridian, on the opposite side from the Garden View Lounge, where we were. Awwwww!
The tea was there far sooner than expected! This is very likely because I generally oversteep my tea tremendously. Poor Patrick would be aghast at how often I forget about my tea, LOL.
When the tea arrived, we each had our own pot. The chocolate milk pot was the smallest, then there was mine, and then aunt and cousin shared a pot because they'd gotten the same tea, and their pot was rather large. It was all just beautiful.
Patrick *amazed* little A. He poured her "tea", and it started off like a normal pour, but then he raised the pot higher and higher and higher, up to at least his head level! It was so cool. She couldn't believe it.
Our food was there immediately after the tea was brought out.
The strawberries were sooooooooo good. The trifle (triffle, LOL) was delish too, though I only took the tiniest bite (honestly, I was worried that it was made with gelatin, which I don't eat). Little cousin wasn't into her watercress&cucumber sandwich, so the 3 of us shared that one. She devoured the others, though.
When her cup was empty, Patrick reappeared to do his trick, and this time I thought she was going to fall over. She clapped her hands to her cheeks and her eyes were SO wide, and she couldn't move, she was so afraid he was going to spill! But he didn't, and she drank a gallon of chocolate milk. Seriously, how much did that pot hold?
Meanwhile, we were drinking cup after cup of tea. My Earl Grey was beyond description, it was SO good. It had flavors I've never tasted before! (see above for oversteeping problems that I have) They really loved their Mad Hatter as well; it had caffeine but was also herbal, if I recall correctly.
As we sat there, we suddenly noticed the wedding couple right outside our window, along with the photographer. Awwww.
We just kept eating tiny bite by tiny bite, drinking lots of tea, relaxing, talking...no one argued, no one was snippy, everyone was just so pleased with the experience. It was probably my absolute favorite part of the whole trip. It was definitely my favorite part of the big family part of the trip.
The wedding couple was gone, but soon enough we saw this sight outside our window.
We spent ages there. It was wonderful. I recommend it to anyone who, well, who would like to sit and sip and nosh a bit and *relax* in a lovely room. Although the servers were getting on with their work, and part of it was cleaning up a bit (the tea isn't all day), they *never* made us feel rushed. Even after we paid the bill we still sat there, just talking. It was the calmest I saw my little cousin *ever*.
OH, at the end of the tea, Patrick came out with a pink rose for each of us! It was just the BEST end to the tea that I could imagine. Even though the tea didn't last forever, it was like this magical interlude of the day and the trip that was almost as though it had been sprinkled by pixie dust. (and you KNOW I don't say stuff like that)
Just fabulous.
So when we were so rudely interrupted by the need to stick needles in my skin (and I interrupted the typing of this part with E's aikido and my workout), I was talking about the ladies rushing to Tea. My aunt was basically ready (she'd been at the resort relaxing), I was basically dry (having gotten out of the pool a bit earlier than the cousins) but needed to cool down and get something vaguely cute on. My cousin and her daughter needed to dry off, get changed and cute and ready.
As I said to them, this was a test of womanhood to see if we could do all of this AND get over there in time.
I was ready quickly, but that's b/c my natural style is very casual, with very little makeup and nothing much done to my hair at all. My cousin put on the barest swipes of makeup, and her daughter is 4 and therefore very cute most of the time anyway. We all managed to get ready and out the door in way less time than we ever thought.
The drive seems straight forward, but to get to the Magic Kingdom resorts you have to go through MK parking. Thankfully the lines to park were light, and we got through. Since I was planning on using the Tables in Wonderland card, I knew I would get free Valet parking (the two go together), and that made parking easier. We found the Tea room, smiled, and asked if we were too late. She said that of course we weren't (we were probably 10 or 15 minutes late).
She seated us at a window seat, and our server Patrick, from Baton Rouge, came over to introduce himself. He was SO sweet, I just knew we'd be taken care of.
They have a menu that looks short, but it's actually pretty intense. They have MANY teas, and they take them very seriously. For food, they go from savory foods to sweet foods.
You can get things a la carte and spend very little money (2 jam tarts and a pot of tea for 9.75 plus tax and tip, for example), or you can spend something like $38 per person and get the:
Princess Kate Tea - A Spring tea served with a classic dish of potted shrimp followed by a medley of cheeses, an array of seasonal fruits, and cheddar cheese biscuits. A scone, jam tart, and a selection of delicate pastries is accompanied by a glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne and your choice of tea.
We went with the middle road. The three adults ordered tea (I got the Earl Grey, and aunt and cousin got some tea that wasn't on the menu called Mad Hatter). I got the strawberries with cream, and the other adults each got the English Trifle (or, as the receipt calls it, "triffle"). The 4 year old lady in our party got the Mrs Potts Tea:
For the young tea lover in your party, we offer a variety of tea sandwiches, tuna salad, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly on white bread. We serve our magical dark tea (chocolate milk), followed by a choice of two pastries.
She can't have peanut butter, so they doubled up on the ham and cheese, and also got watercress&cucumber sandwiches and maybe tuna salad.
As we waited, we looked out on our surroundings, and noticed a bride and groom having pictures taken on the second floor of the Grand Floridian, on the opposite side from the Garden View Lounge, where we were. Awwwww!
The tea was there far sooner than expected! This is very likely because I generally oversteep my tea tremendously. Poor Patrick would be aghast at how often I forget about my tea, LOL.
When the tea arrived, we each had our own pot. The chocolate milk pot was the smallest, then there was mine, and then aunt and cousin shared a pot because they'd gotten the same tea, and their pot was rather large. It was all just beautiful.
Patrick *amazed* little A. He poured her "tea", and it started off like a normal pour, but then he raised the pot higher and higher and higher, up to at least his head level! It was so cool. She couldn't believe it.
Our food was there immediately after the tea was brought out.
The strawberries were sooooooooo good. The trifle (triffle, LOL) was delish too, though I only took the tiniest bite (honestly, I was worried that it was made with gelatin, which I don't eat). Little cousin wasn't into her watercress&cucumber sandwich, so the 3 of us shared that one. She devoured the others, though.
When her cup was empty, Patrick reappeared to do his trick, and this time I thought she was going to fall over. She clapped her hands to her cheeks and her eyes were SO wide, and she couldn't move, she was so afraid he was going to spill! But he didn't, and she drank a gallon of chocolate milk. Seriously, how much did that pot hold?
Meanwhile, we were drinking cup after cup of tea. My Earl Grey was beyond description, it was SO good. It had flavors I've never tasted before! (see above for oversteeping problems that I have) They really loved their Mad Hatter as well; it had caffeine but was also herbal, if I recall correctly.
As we sat there, we suddenly noticed the wedding couple right outside our window, along with the photographer. Awwww.
We just kept eating tiny bite by tiny bite, drinking lots of tea, relaxing, talking...no one argued, no one was snippy, everyone was just so pleased with the experience. It was probably my absolute favorite part of the whole trip. It was definitely my favorite part of the big family part of the trip.
The wedding couple was gone, but soon enough we saw this sight outside our window.
We spent ages there. It was wonderful. I recommend it to anyone who, well, who would like to sit and sip and nosh a bit and *relax* in a lovely room. Although the servers were getting on with their work, and part of it was cleaning up a bit (the tea isn't all day), they *never* made us feel rushed. Even after we paid the bill we still sat there, just talking. It was the calmest I saw my little cousin *ever*.
OH, at the end of the tea, Patrick came out with a pink rose for each of us! It was just the BEST end to the tea that I could imagine.
Even though the tea didn't last forever, it was like this magical interlude of the day and the trip that was almost as though it had been sprinkled by pixie dust. (and you KNOW I don't say stuff like that)Just fabulous.
ClarabelleCowFan
<font color=teal>Found Someone You Have<br><font c
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- Jun 23, 2005
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Is the tea simply a "girl" thing or were there any boys or men there? Wondering if I should book this for me and the girls or if the boys would enjoy it as well.
kaoden39
<font color=peach>Prayers and pixie dust from your
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
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I saw on another friends trip report that there were men and boys in her pictures. I think that it depends on the boys themselves.
ClarabelleCowFan
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Thanks. I know DH and my youngest son (4) would enjoy it but not sure about my older ones (9 and 7). Hmmm.... Sounds like a fun girls only fun thing to do while DH takes the boys swimming or something.
Thanks for the photos of the tea. LOVE the china teapots!
bumbershoot
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2007
- Messages
- 69,750
There were men there and they looked to be having a nice time. I do not, however, know if they got roses. Robert would have loved to do the tea, after all our one official cruise excursion on our honeymoon was tea at Jewell Gardens, and it was his request. But I really wanted to just do this with the ladies, and let the guys hang out a bit.
Brady's Mom
Get off the roof, get off the roof!
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
- Messages
- 1,546
I would LOVE to do the tea. I think DH would love to do it, too. Maybe even DS's 7 and 9 - not really sure about DS 15. 
He's a hard one to figure out.
It sounds like such a relaxing, restful thing to do. I'll have to add it to my mental list of things to do at WDW - when I ever get there.
He's a hard one to figure out. It sounds like such a relaxing, restful thing to do. I'll have to add it to my mental list of things to do at WDW - when I ever get there.
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