Tales from the "Mouse" Side -- Our Not So Scary Adventure

[OhioDisneyLover]

Welcome to my trip report! I had so much fun with my pre-trippie that I thought, what the heck, go for it!

I introduced us all in my pre-trippie, but as a reminder, the nutty bunch consists of:

Me (Sophia – 46)
DH (Joe – 37…yeah, I know)
Mom (she will be mad as a hornet if I disclose her age)
DSis (Michelle, or Shelly as we call her – 31)
DNephew (Matt – 11)

I was the planner of this trip. The rest of family goes along for the ride. Normally when I ask for dining suggestions I get “whatever you want is fine with us.” Yeah, that works for me too!

Day 1 – I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane………………….
DH and I decided to meet the family at Hopkins Airport for our 9:30 a.m. flight out of Cleveland. Continental changed the flight a few times on us but 9:30 wasn’t so bad. Originally we were to fly out at 7:30 a.m. Mom being the early bird that she is, wanted to leave for the airport by 7…either that or be at the airport at 7…can’t remember exactly now. Have a great time mom….we’re not leaving that early! Frankly, I figured DSis would still be doing laundry and packing at that hour. Mom badgered her to death the week before we left to let her do her laundry so this wouldn’t happen. Guess what, mom won!

DH and I called for a cab to come and get us at 7:30 a.m. Our cab driver was an odd dude. He stood out in the rain in our driveway adjusting his headset for like 5 minutes. DH and I were sitting in the cab waiting on him trying to figure out why he had decided to stand out in the rain and do that.

We got to the airport by 7:45 and had checked in on line the day before. We were flying first class (treat for us since it was our anniversary trip) so they didn’t even yap at us about our luggage….you see, we took 4, yes 4 suitcases with us! I also had my backpack (instead of a purse) and my laptop and DH had his laptop and the camera bag which he totally hated carrying.

DNephew and DSis at the airport. Yeah, she is going to be mad that I posted this.

Here is our plane.

Oops, no, HERE is our plane. I spent 15 minutes looking at the end of the wrong jet way. I could not figure out why they were all staring at my like I was nuts.

I got this Disney camera because I liked the clip art. The camera is not all that great and takes forever to take a picture, but I messed with it on the way down and took these shots. After we got our luggage I out it away never to be seen again.

The flight was bumpy, I mean really, really bumpy. I hate turbulence and I hung on to DH for dear life while he of course, slept! God, I hate when he does that to me. I am freaking out and he is snoozing away.

I think this is the reason why there were so many bumps!

After landing at MCO, we left the plane and noticed that the ceilings are being redone again. Will they ever finish that project? I don’t have pictures because I was racing to the restroom like a fool when the plane landed.

We did not use Magical Express, instead we rented a car and DSis rented a car. DH likes the freedom to go wherever he pleases while we are vacation so we have always rented a car. DNephew wants to ride the ME SO BAD…apparently because they show a movie from what he says. Selecting a car is always special. We are NOT good at that at all. The one that we got this time made this horrible freaking noise and the passenger side rear view mirror was all messed up. Of course, we did not notice these things until we were on our way out so we stuck with the car all 9 days. DSis followed DH out of the garage. Off we go……..does everyone have toll money? Mom of course had an entire roll of quarters, etc. Me, not so much.

We decided that we were all hungry so we went directly to Chick f La for lunch before heading to Wal-Mart (yes inkedupmomma, I know, you hate Wal-Mart). DH and I got things that we needed along with some snacks and stuff for our room and some breakfast foods thinking that we would have a quick breakfast in the room and then head to the parks for rope drop. Yeah, that didn’t happen.

After shopping we headed over to our resorts. DH and I stayed at AKL and the rest of the family stayed at CBR. DH had given our luggage to the bellmen because we didn’t know if our room would be ready or not. I stood in this massive line to check in and they said that our room was ready. Right as we were about to get our keys, someone noticed that it was a standard room with bunk beds so they decided that they would change our room. We booked standard so it didn’t matter to me but we didn’t need the bunks and someone else might so we said that they could move us if they wanted to. We ended up with a free upgrade to a savannah view. Yay! DH went back to the bell desk and they said that they would meet us in our room. I had three packages delivered to the resort via UPS (water and glow stick galore) so they were sending a courier up to the room with the packages as they were heavy.

DH and I headed to our room. Yikes, it was a long walk from the lobby. Once we got inside, we noticed that there seemed to be someone else occupying our room. There was luggage there, open soap in the tub, stuff in the fridge etc. I called down and they said transferred me to the bell desk. They asked me if there were yellow ME tags on the luggage and I said yes. Bell desk thought that maybe it was delivered to the wrong place. Our bellman came with our stuff and he tried to figure out the mystery for nearly 20 minutes. They finally decided to move the luggage as they double checked and we had the only keys to the room. DH felt bad for the bellman so he tipped him very well. The bellman in turn must have thought that he should give us a tour of the place. He showed us the stairwell for a better view of the animals and told us about the all of the recent births of animals on the savannah, etc. In the end, I felt bad that he had to spend so much time with us due to this mishap.

While we were at lunch earlier in the day, we decided that we would not go to a park today. The original plan was either MK or DHS however instead we were going to explore our resorts.

Around 5:30 or so I called DSis to see what they wanted to do for dinner. No one could make up their mind so DH and I decided to see if we could get into BOMA. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking…fat chance! We got in. There is a podium at the entrance of the AKL for BOMA check in after 4:30 (or 5:30, can’t remember). DH walked up and asked if there was any chance that we could get in. They said 40 minutes and gave us a beeper. We headed into the gift shop and less than 20 minutes later the beeper went off. Yay!

We had never been to BOMA before. We really enjoyed the food there. The coconut rice was awesome. I could have had just that for dinner.

Then I found them………….ZEBRA DOMES! OMG, these things are amazing. They became a staple in my diet over the next 9 days.

I had a voice mail from DSis after dinner wanted to know if we were hungry. They went to Old Port Royale for dinner. I told her that we already ate and she said that Mom wanted to come to our room to see the baby giraffes from our balcony so they were going to make their way over. DH and I waited in the lobby. Once they arrived we made the trek to our room so that mom could see the baby giraffes, etc. I think that she’d like to stay in a savannah view but I doubt we’d ever get her out of there to go to the parks! She would spend all of her time on the balcony.

Here are a few pictures from our balcony and the balcony off of the nearby stairwell.

Love this little guy:

After viewing the animals, the family went back to CSR to rest up for Sunday.

Next up…………..EPCOT and our Behind the Seeds Tour experience

 

[Punchy]

Cute pictures!

 

[Mom2JPL]

Enjoying your tr so far! Love the pics!

Can't wait for more!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Cute pictures!

Enjoying your tr so far! Love the pics!

Can't wait for more!

Yay Readers! Welcome to my TR!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Ok, so my fat little fingers hit the button before I could add pictures of the AK to my first post!

Balcony chair

Bed

Lobby and looking outside from the lobby

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

We decided to have breakfast at the resorts this morning. DH had I had a quick bite before heading over the CBR to pick up the family for EPCOT. The CM at the gate told us that our KTTW cards would open any resort gate....hmm, this is good to know............

We shopped a bit at the CBR gift shop, which I think is awesome. Shopping turned out to be something that we did quite a bit of this trip, but boy, was it fun!

I got myself one of those reusable bags, would have been nice if I actually reused it. I also bought an awesome zip up hoodie from CBR with matching shorts.

Once the rest of the family was finished with breakfast and DNephew was done with his daily jaunt into the arcade, we headed over to EPCOT. We decided to just take one car. DH is a disabled vet and has a handicapped parking pass. Since he just had his car accident and was in a bit of pain and mom was just out of the hospital, we decided to use the pass. I have one gripe here. What is it with people that are walking in the lanes where the cars are suppose to be and they don't even bother to look or to move for the cars to go by? This drove me nuts, especially at EPCOT. It was so freaking difficult to park the dang car.

The lines were short for the most part to get in. It was interesting to go through baggage check. I had a draw string back pack and most of the time they didn't even make me open the zippers inside. Some did, some did not.

I had prepaid for my Photopass CD so I insisted on a photopass picture once we made it through the gates.

SSE had a posted wait time of 10 minutes. We were able to walk on. DH and I had been on it since the refub but the rest of the family had not. Here we are. Sorry about the picture quality.

We had gotten a late start and we knew that we had to be at The Land by 11. We walked over to The Land and checked in. We took several cameras with us this trip and I wanted to use our larger one for the tour. DH is way better at taking pictures with it than I am. I never did get to go to the class that I wanted to go to before the trip. Hopefully I will be able to do so before next year.

Mom and Matt waiting for our Behind the Seeds Tour to start:

Mom and I were the only ones thrilled to be going on this tour. The rest of the family wasn’t so thrilled but they were good sports. I have to say that I LOVED this tour. I’d do it again without question. It was so interesting to see and hear about all of the things that they are doing over there. I loved the flowers that were there.

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and a lot of fun as well. We were able to taste cucumbers that were grown there and they were very yummy. It still amazes me that they grow all of these things without soil.

We got to hold one of these pumpkins. Yay!

Mom and I both felt sorry for these guys. Apparently they are going to be someone’s dinner.

We were also able to feed the fish. We fed the tilapia and they went nuts.

More pictures of the tour:

Hidden Mickey on the Tour:

Before our tour we decided to get an FP for Soarin. This is the first time that any of us went on it. I was always a bit scared but this trip I decided to go for it. DSis and I went over to try and get the FP’s and that is when we found out that my AP just did not like FP machines at all. The CM came over and gave me a FP only card to use in the park whenever I tried to get a FP. He told me to get my AP redone which I failed to do for a while. DH wasn’t too happy about that but more of that later. Turned into quite the, shall I say, “situation.”

Ok, so anyway, after our Tour we went on Soarin. Mom sat this on out. It took me a while to get use to it because I do get motion sickness frequently, but I really enjoyed it. Loved the orange grove scent. My favorite part though was flying over Disneyland. Just incredible.

All of us were hungry after Soarin and decided to get something to eat at Sunshine Seasons (I think that’s the correct name?). I had chicken, carrots, potatoes and grapes. DH had the pork chop and peanut butter cake. No food pictures here but DH did manage to use the remote control and take this one of all of us.

After Soarin we went over to Mouse Gear, which is one of my favorite stores. DH found a watch that he wanted but I wanted to check at WoD first for it since we get an AP discount there. Why pay full price if we didn’t have to. It ended up that he didn’t bring it up again.

I wanted to stop at character connection but holy crap, the line was insane! We skipped it and ended up not going back at all.

Matthew (DNephew) wanted to do Test Track so we walked over. Wait time said 40 minutes but I don’t think it took us longer than 20 to get on. Mom sat this one out too, but she made the mistake of sitting outside instead of waiting for us in the gift shop. She had just been released from the hospital and we were worried about what the heat and humidity would do to her. Here is our TT picture. I added it to our Photopass card. For some stupid reason I am ALWAYS looking down.

We left TT and headed towards our ADR’s at Biergarten. I had planned for my sister to purchase DH’s anniversary gift at the shop in Germany and we had to figure out a way to do that without him catching on.

We stopped in Mexico for a margarita which was an incredible 9 bucks! Yikes, that is insane! Matt left his sunglasses at home so DSis went and got him some in Mexico. By this time mom was really not doing well. We headed over to Norway to ride Maelstrom and to get her out of the heat. I told her that we should stay and watch the movie after the ride to give her more time indoors. That and we always seem to skip the movie at the end and I wanted to see it. Maelstrom showed a wait time of 10 minutes and I think we waited about the same amount of time. This ride is growing on me. I didn’t like it at first. Thought it was a bit hokey but I think I like it more now.

We shopped in Norway for a bit. I would love to be able to buy a sweater from there some day but the prices are crazy. They had men’s flip flops there that were 85 dollars! OMG! I stopped at Kringla for some yummy school bread for later on before we headed over to Germany.

Once in Germany, I waited to see what stein’s DH would admire this time so that we could be sure that we made the right selections. I had decided before we left that I would be getting him one for our anniversary. The original plan was to take it to CRT and give it to him there. He could not decide which one he liked out of two so I asked DSis to get them both and to have them sent to their resort. While she did that I tried to distract DH in the other part of the store. This was not easy people. I had to pretend I was interested in some of this sports stuff and ask him questions about teams, etc. I was sure that he had to think that something was up but I think that he just figured that the heat was getting to me. I did manage to get another Steiff bear (white one) for my collection and a Mickey Mouse. After DSis was finished we made our way to Biergarten.

Side story here….. When Matthew was younger my sister was trying to tell him his nationality. They were listening to Greek music in the car (I am 100% Greek) and she was trying to tell him that he was part Greek. He said, no mom, I’m “Herman.” By the way, the Mickey that I got was a “Herman” Mickey!

We had 5:50 ADR’s but mom felt crappy and we wanted to see if we could get in early so that we could get back to the resorts. The show was nearly over and the CM told us that we could get seated now and that if we wanted to, we could also stay for the next show.

Check out the entertainment!

We were seated with a nice couple from Massachusetts (I think) and man could they eat! I was impressed by the amount of food that they could put away. They were very, very nice people and we had a great time talking with them. They said that they were not on the dining plan and didn’t get the free dining either. My eyes were larger than my stomach. The food there was delicious. DH liked the pork schnitzel. The potato dumplings were outstanding as far as I was concerned, as was what they labeled vanilla pudding which was more like custard. YUMMY, We will definitely go back. I can't seem to find a picture of my plate!

Here is a shot of DH with the small beer. He wanted to get the large one but thought my mom would go nuts.

Matthew wasn’t so impressed. He was hoping to get a “real” hotdog. Dude, no Oscar Mayer here!

After dinner we took the boat to FW instead of doing the rest of the countries in WS since mom wasn’t feeling well. There was a nice breeze (finally). I was a little bummed that we had to go but at the same time, very worried about mom.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Here are other pictures that I wanted to include earlier. I'll get this right sometime!

Matt waiting to board the plane.

Our luggage...see 4 big bags!

DH on the plane. Check out his hat!

Mouse Gear ... took these for scrapbooking!

Matt in Norway!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

I got so excited, I'm posting first and now going back to read. Glad I found it!!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

I got so excited, I'm posting first and now going back to read. Glad I found it!!!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Alright Sophia, I cant remember if I noticed in your PTR about your husbands age difference. All I have to say is

WAY TO GO SISTA!!!!! You are one HOT LADY!!!!

Ok I'm done with that now. Moving on.

I'm so glad you liked Beirgarten. I went once back in the day and I hated the food. I loved the atmosphere but hated the food. I'm afraid I might this time too but Jeff insists on it. That beer will probably knock me on my rear though!

Great shots of the family in the airport. funny pic of your sister. i would have killed you too. but that is what sisters are for!!!

Score on the BEAR!!

Cant wait for more.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Alright Sophia, I cant remember if I noticed in your PTR about your husbands age difference. All I have to say is

WAY TO GO SISTA!!!!! You are one HOT LADY!!!!

Ok I'm done with that now. Moving on.

I'm so glad you liked Beirgarten. I went once back in the day and I hated the food. I loved the atmosphere but hated the food. I'm afraid I might this time too but Jeff insists on it. That beer will probably knock me on my rear though!

Great shots of the family in the airport. funny pic of your sister. i would have killed you too. but that is what sisters are for!!!

Score on the BEAR!!

Cant wait for more.

Shawna, I was afraid of Beirgarten too but I asked Joe to pick just one place and that was where he wanted to go. Everything else was pretty much all about me.

Yeah, my sister will have a fit when she sees some of the stuff that I am going to post. She knows that I love her and heck, just look at good old Pooh sized me. I ain't no prize!

While I am writing this TR all that I can think about is our next trip with Jenn (inkedupmomma) and her family. They are awesome and we hope to plan a few ADR's together as well as MNSSHP.

And I can't wait to read your TR when you get back!!!!!!!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Sophia,
Great TR so far - love the photos! What else is family there for but to embarrass??
can't wait to see the photo of the stein, DH is desperate to get his.
I wasn't too sure about the food at Biergarten - but as you say, something has to be for the men! DH plans to get one of those 'man-size' beers as well! Guess who'll be driving that night!
Can't wait to see your photos of MNSSHP and CRT - maybe one day!
AKL looks fab! for the upgrade!
Di x

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Hi Sophia,
Great TR so far - love the photos! What else is family there for but to embarrass??
can't wait to see the photo of the stein, DH is desperate to get his.
I wasn't too sure about the food at Biergarten - but as you say, something has to be for the men! DH plans to get one of those 'man-size' beers as well! Guess who'll be driving that night!
Can't wait to see your photos of MNSSHP and CRT - maybe one day!
AKL looks fab! for the upgrade!
Di x

Thanks Di! I didn;t take pictures of the stein's if you can believe it but I will take them now and post them when I get to our anniversary!

DH just loved Biergarten. It looks as though we will be there again next year. You had to see the large beers. OMG, they were HUGE!!!!!!!!!!

We did not get a good picture of the headless horseman again this year. I have no idea why we fail each and every time. I do have pictures to post though of MNSSHP and CRT.

I am so glad that you are going to get to go soon, however I am sad that I didn't get a chance to meet you. Hopefully one day.

Thanks for reading!
Sophia

 

[inkedupmomma]

ok.. im ready for the next installment!! and now i really miss you guys!!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Day 2 – Part II

After we left EPCOT we headed back to CBR to take a little break. We decided that we’d go to DTD tonight.

Mom was on a search for Lady and the Tramp stuff. They never seem to have much. We went into WoD and she found two Lenox Lady and the Tramp items that she really wanted. She got them and had them shipped directly home so that we wouldn’t have to worry about how to get them on the plane, etc.

DH and I did a fair amount of shopping there as well and we took advantage of our AP discount. I was bummed that they were out of Micky-Roni and Cheese as I get at least 6 boxes while we are there. It’s a nice middle of the winter Disney fix for us. We normally do not eat any other mac and cheese. I was told that they were out of it all over the property.

After WoD, DSis and I headed over to Basin for bath bombs. Love those things. We also got them for our friends back home. Basin also offers a discount so we took advantage of that too. It’s nice to be able to save a penny here and there.

From Basin we went to Team Mickey so DH could check out any Steeler’s stuff that they had. He ended up only getting a hat, which surprised me. I got my sister’s boyfriend an Ohio State shirt while we were there. We were bummed that he was not able to join us on our vacation.

I felt like having a snack so I went out and got popcorn. No one else was interested. It was late by then and we sat outside to people watch for a bit before taking my family back to CBR and heading back to our resort.

DH wanted to watch the Pittsburgh/Cleveland game. He got to see some of it so he was happy. I cleaned out my backpack in order to get ready for the DAK. We were excited to go there because we were finally meeting up with Jenn (inkedupmomma) and her family.

Next up…..DAK and me being jealous of the fastest texting fingers in the world!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Day 3

We started our day off with 8:20 ADR’s at Tusker House. DH and I love the food at Tusker House. I especially like the sweet potatoes that they have for breakfast. Yummy.

We arrived at DAK shortly before rope drop. It was EMH there in the morning and I need to remind myself not to make ADRs in a park when it’s EMH. It’s a flippin mad house.

We went through the gates and I was trying to organize myself while DH was trying to hand me his ticket to put back in my backpack. Let’s say that things did not go well and I told my family to go ahead to Tusker House and get us registered. Once DH was ready, we started to make our way back there only to find ourselves in front of the opening ceremony of the park, which I have never seen before. Here is a crummy shot.

Once we got to Tusker House I found that DSis had registered us but they made her wait until the entire party (guess who) arrived. I had to get into the back of the line and then let them know that we were there. Once we were all together we had our picture taken. I bought it but let me tell you, you can tell that the entire group, except for Matt, was totally po’d at the world. DH po’d at me, me at him, DSis and Mom at both of us. Nice. I may scan and post the picture later because frankly, I crack up just looking at it. It is horrible to say the least.

Breakfast was good and we had great character interaction. We saw all of the characters within 15 minutes of being seated. Here are a few pictures that I took.

After breakfast I was kicking myself for not getting FP’s for KS. Duh!

The wait said 30 minutes so we got into the stand by line. I don’t recall it taking 30 minutes. Our CM was funny and we were off to a great start until the vehicle made a very loud bang noise. Everyone was stunned, including our CM who told us that this was not part of our trip and that we had to wait for someone to come out to see what the problem was. Shortly thereafter, this dude shows up.

We still don’t know what the problem was but it was bizarre to say the least. I was able to take a few pictures of our journey.

We made it safely back from our 2 week safari in record time and headed over to EE.

Stopped to try on hats along the way.

Joe looks like a total dork in this one.

Mom and I were not about to ride EE so we went in search of a restroom. DH, DSis and Matt all rode EE and mom and I were waiting for them at the exit.

Here is an awful photopass picture of us.

There was a discussion about them riding again but mom and I wanted to see if we could catch Nemo.

We made our way over to Nemo when I got a text from Jenn saying that they were in the park. YAY!

Nemo was good although it was so hot outside that being in the cool air, in the dark, made it very easy to take a little nappy.

After Nemo we headed over to Kali so that Matt and Shelly (DSis) could ride. Along the way we saw Devine.

DH and I wanted to wait to meet up with Jenn, John and the kids and mom was not in the mood to get wet so she sat on a bench and made some friends.

So here is where my jealousy of the fastest texting fingers in the world came into the picture. I told Jenn where we were standing and DH and I were anxiously awaiting their arrival when lo and behold he sees someone texting like mad and says…” I think I see her, I think I see her.” Just then my blackberry goes off and it is a message from Jenn! Yay! I have to tell you that Jenn is awesome. I am SO glad that I got to meet her and her family. John is super nice as well and he and DH seem to hit it off! Kayla and Jack are so dang cute. OMG, if you could have seen them playing in the water. Precious. Jenn and I went in search of beverages for them while the guys stayed behind. Here are pictures of Jenn's babies. Aren't they adorable???

My mom was still waiting for Shelly and Matt to get out of Kali. We were able to talk for a bit before the heat was just really getting to be too much for mom so we said our good-byes (for now) and headed out of the park.

Joe took this picture of us. Jenn, I had no clue that he did this.

Mom said that she was hungry so we headed over to AKL to the Mara. I really wanted to go to Flame Tree BBQ at DAK but we were already out of the park. At Mara, Mom and I had the African stew which was very good. Shelly and Matt had pizza and Joe had a burger. I, of course, had zebra domes as my dessert.

The family headed back to CSR so that Matt could swim and do homework. He had a lot of it to do so we tried to take enough breaks to give him time to get it done.

Joe took a nap once we got back to AKL and I worked for a couple of hours before our ADR at Fulton’s. There was a trend here with me and working. It seems that I can never be disconnected from the office.

This was waiting for us when we arrived, along with a jackpot of soap products!

We drove separately to Fulton’s and on our way we thought that we saw Jenn and her family driving down the same road that we were on. I not so quickly sent her a text (remember, I am SUPER slow at texting) and sure enough, it was them!

DH forgot his disabled parking pass but that was okay, we were able to find a spot. I was rather impressed with how well he was doing on this trip so far. I really wanted him to get a scooter but he just would not do it.

We had time before our ADR so I went to do my damage at the Christmas store. I got a really cute Jack Skellington ornament, a Belle and Beast ornament (Belle is my favorite), Christmas cards, Halloween luminary bags and other Christmas ornaments as well. DH and I had them sent back to the resort so that we would not have to carry them around with us. We decided then that we were going to UPS for sure to send things home.

We went to Fulton’s for dinner and I am bummed that I did not have a camera with me. The spread that they give you for the crackers and bread is awesome. I was happy that we got the recipe to take home with us. Mom, Shelly and I shared a shrimp cocktail and the three of us had the crab legs. Matt had the child spaghetti which was tiny and Joe had Lobster Narragansett. Mom and I asked for no butter on our plates at all and wouldn’t you know it, we had butter all over the place. We didn’t send it back although we were both sure that we would not be feeling well later. I think we shared a banana dessert and a cobbler. I didn’t care for the banana whatever it was but the cobbler was good.

We were going to shop a bit after we ate but we were all too tired. Once Joe and I got back to DAK I had to stop at the front desk to get a new KTTWC. When we checked in I did not let them give me charging privileges after I read all of the horror stories about people getting double charged for tips on the dining plan. Well, I was unable to connect to the internet unless I had charging privileges on my KTTWC so I got that done before going to the room because I ended up having to work a bit more that evening.

Once we arrived to our room we noticed that we had a voice mail. Apparently we had a delivery waiting for us. One of the sales reps that Joe works with had sent us a bottle of champagne for our anniversary. What a surprise. We put it in the fridge and unfortunately never had the chance to drink it. I felt so darn bad about that once we realized it. It was such a nice gesture. Joe said that he is a real Disney lover like we are too.

We were supposed to go to Sea World the following day. Mom had free tickets for us but she was a bit worried about the heat because most of the shows and stuff are outside. She decided that it would not be a good idea to go so we made another plan for the next day.

Up next: Does ANYONE know how to get to the Florida Mall, and where is the BEST Disney outlet store?

 

[inkedupmomma]

Alright Sophia, I cant remember if I noticed in your PTR about your husbands age difference. All I have to say is

WAY TO GO SISTA!!!!! You are one HOT LADY!!!!

:

I think I said teh same exact thing to her lmfao!!!! believe you me though shes got the heart of a 5 year old!! sweetest online person i have ever met, and her hubs is so cool. and i foresee her dn and my dd hooking up on our short disney trips lol! since its gonna be our new thing lol!

 

[inkedupmomma]

omg.. i look like fat hot tired beat in that pic lol!! it was sooo hot that day.. remind me not to ever do dak on my first day again!! and we loved meeting you guys too and look forward to our yearly vacations with you and then Christmases once we're real tight did i ever tell you about how i hate picking where to go for x-mas cause my family is so seperated.. from now on I'll just say sorry we're goin to ohio.. so obyeo.... oh yes i did get that gay on you

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

omg.. i look like fat hot tired beat in that pic lol!! it was sooo hot that day.. remind me not to ever do dak on my first day again!! and we loved meeting you guys too and look forward to our yearly vacations with you and then Christmases once we're real tight did i ever tell you about how i hate picking where to go for x-mas cause my family is so seperated.. from now on I'll just say sorry we're goin to ohio.. so obyeo.... oh yes i did get that gay on you

It was ridiculously hot that day. It was actually grossly hot. Just so you know, Christmas dinner is here at my house at around 3 p.m. every year. Don't be late!

Matt and Kayla looked cute togehter, didn't they?

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Day 4 – Shopping, Raglan Road and more shopping

Today was designated as our shopping day since we were not going to Sea World. As much as I like to shop, I'd rather be at a park shopping to tell you the truth. We had taken a Tom Tom with us so that we could navigate easier to places that we wanted to go outside Disney property. Once it finally found a signal we were off to the Florida Mall where we were convinced we’d find bargains. You see, we thought that we were going to an outlet mall. Um, no. Joe gave me the business because I looked like a total tourist with my itinerary cards, my anniversary button and of course my lgmh on my backpack. He said that I “screamed tourist.” So after making Joe drive over there and seeing that it was just a regular mall, we felt guilty telling him that we wanted to leave especially when he wanted to look around. We did however find a M&M store which I have never seen before so that was cool. My manicurist loves M&M stuff so I got her a bunch of things for Christmas. I took these pictures too.

So after we humored him by walking through this incredibly expensive mall, we decided that we wanted to the outlet mall where the Nike store was (can’t recall the name) off of I-4, the Premiere Outlet place and the “junk stores” on Irlo Bronson Highway and also to the Harley shop. We went to the large outlet mall first and our first stop was the Nike store, as usual. We did some shopping there and then we went to the Character Connection. We were able to find real bargains there. It was definitely looking like it was going to be a good day. From there we split up and Joe and I went to the Coach store just to look around just for fun. I didn’t think that we’d see much there that was reasonable but I was wrong. I was able to get a Coach laptop bag for work at a very reasonable price so I was happy about that. From there Joe wanted TCBY so we called the family to have them meet us there. It was getting hot again and I mean hot. We met up and then went to Auntie Anne’s for drinks and a pretzel before heading to the next shopping stop….the Harley store. I programmed the Harley store, or what I thought was the Harley store into the Tom Tom. This sent us on a wild goose chase all over Kissimmee. All the while we were driving we managed to use at least ¼ tank of gas and we got to listen to the car going thump, thump, thump along the way. We really should have exchanged the rental car on day one. Joe was less than pleased that I had managed to get us lost even with a navigation system. I think the rest of the family was laughing in silence in the back seat of the car because he was going off like a rocket. On the plus side we were able to see a lot of Kissimmee and we ran into things like the dinner shows that they have, the helicopter ride places, and the entrance to Give Kids the World.

I always wanted to know where that was because my cousin’s family had gone there back when Sara was alive. She was 11 when she died. Make A Wish sent them to Florida. Here is a picture of Sara and yes, that is THE Phil Collins. Long story on how that happened but I have to say that he is an incredible man. Anyway, Sara had a blast on her Make A Wish trip. She didn’t get to see much of Disney while they were there though as she got sick. Poor baby was on so many different medications. It is a sad, sad story.

Ok, back to my TR. Sorry about going off topic.

We had ADR’s at Raglan Road at 4 something so us getting lost really messed us up. We finally found the RIGHT Harley store and had a whole 10 minutes to shop. Mom wanted to get Biscuit a hat (short explanation is that he is our friend’s dog) and Joe wanted to get something for his friend that sent us the champagne. After we shopped at lightening speed we left there and headed for Raglan Road. You know where I’m going here right? Yeah, the Harley store that is right across from Raglan Road. We felt like dorks when we saw that.

Dinner at Raglan Road was awesome except for the soda bread which was gross.

Hidden Mickey

We did some shopping at the Raglan gift shop before heading into, yeah, the Harley store. As we were going inside Joe got a call from the dealership. His car came in but it was disaster and the dealership wanted to arbitrate with Ford since we had already paid for the car. That put him in a foul mood. I did manage to get these pictures while we were at the Harley store.

Our experience at the Harley store was hysterical. Mom got on the bike but she could not get off the bike. I had to help her and let’s just say, that was an experience.

We went on over to DTD because I wanted to go to the Memories store. It was a bust. They don’t have anything new for scrapbooking and I was disappointed. Mom went into the Art of Disney and found another Lady and the Tramp statue to send home. Way to go mom! I found an awesome picture for my office so I got that as well.

From there we went into Goofy’s candy. I wanted to get one of those slurpy’s that I had read about. Joe and I both got Mickey’s. I had banana and he had grape. They were both yummy. Matt got Goofy in coke flavor. I wanted a caramel apple but the place was packed. It was insane how crowded the store was.

Matt wanted to go to the lego store so we headed that way. DTD was really getting crowded by this point. We sat outside the store while he made his selection and my sister went in to pay for it. By that time we were exhausted so we headed back to our resorts to rest up for the next day.

Next up: Happy Birthday Matt….um, no, it’s not my birthday.