Team Renfroe trip report with TONS of pics & reviews

[MRYPPNS]

Please let us about this "warning" money that the kids got.

 

[Figment's Friend]

Aunt Sara sounds hilarious! I love 50's Prime Time; we went there a few years back for my birthday, and our waitress made me stand up with a cupcake and had the entire restaurant sing me happy birthday! Your DS is a true rocker -- the Eagles and now RNRC-Aerosmith! Cool kid! Btw, both of your children are just gorgeous.

 

[dddisrunner]

Great update! Looks like you had a GREAT morning! PTC looks like it was alot of fun and ALOT of food! LOVE that Aunt Sara really "played" it up, it makes all the difference in the experience!

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

That dollar warning this is a good idea. We do something similar with Josh as he gets however many dollars in pennies at the beginning of a trip and then when he wants something he cashes them in for dollars and we pay for the items. But if he is bad he has to give us pennies. The fault in our plan however is that usually by day 3 or 4 he has spent all his pennies so he can be as bad as he wants. And believe me he has figured out this loophole. I am going to talk to Aaron about changing this to the last day like you guys do. That is a good plan I think.
Oh, also, I'm so happy you guys had a great time at 50's PTC. We had a blast. That day my BIL and his ex-wife, her husband and baby and my neice and nephew joined us (long weird family story) for lunch at DHS and it was great. Aaron and his brother and my former SIL all got warned then the dunce hats for elbows on the table. My BIL decided to push the issue and put his foot up on the booth in protest. His 5 year old son ratted him out to cousin Sara (a different one from yours though) and she had our entire section point at him and say shame shame shame. It was awesome! Such a fun place for a family meal!

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

Alan, thank you so much for your wonderful report. I've been reading for a couple weeks now and loving it. I think the thing that grabbed my attention about your report is that you're such a positive person and an all around down to earth guy - not to mention a great husband and father.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Did anyone notice the Hidden Mickey???

I'm loving your report. We ate at a lot of the same places as you guys on our DDDP trip in January.

Going back to finish reading!

 

[TigerKat]

Another great installment Alan. Kinda sad, every installment brings us closer to the end of a truly fabulous report.

 

[Snowy-girls]

Well Alan,another great day+report,the food looked gorgeous,i also love a hearty meal whist over there as like you say it makes a change to the norm.My girls can't wait to see the HSM show+my dd7 really want's to see the Power Rangers-am i right in saying that you have to queue seperatley for each one?Surely you don't get to have your picture with every one then?Unfortunatley with this day's report i know the end is near.x.

 

[jjk]

I love 50,s prime time cafe,your picture of the green bean sundae made me laugh and brought back some great memories.

 

[TCKK]

Awesome update once again. Prime Time looks like so much fun and the food looks terrific too. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Disney Debbie]

Loving the reports! You're going to have to do reports on your days at home now!!

Prime Time is my favorite restaurant just for the fun of it. We love to go and rat each other out to our "mom"! My nieces love to get their dad in trouble!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I tell you what... you couldn't have done a better job scouting dining locations for me if I'd handed you my itinerary! 50's is another place I'm planning on trying! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks again!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Great report and pics as usual Alan , can't wait to read about 50's Prime Time, this is one we definately want to do

Thanks, Karen!

Well Alan, I have to say it looked great and great interaction , we'd definately be up for it!, we did Whispering Canyon last year and really enjoyed the interaction, only because it was all aimed at my Mum

That's hilarious that your Mum was the object of all the joking! How funny!

Another few great installments Alan
Your Son's a rocker with his t-shirts! I bet he was cool when he returned to school!
After two visits to WDW last year I am really sad to have missed the 50's prime time, we chose sci-fi and Mama Melrose's instead - another reason to go back I guess
Still loving the trippie and hanging for every last drop!
We love the Hollywood studios park, I know it's not a fave of most being quite small, but we love the theme!

Thanks, Joanne! I told DS that the DISers said he was a rocker...and he said, "of course!"

How did you like Sci-FI and Mama Melrose's? We almost did Mama Melrose's.

Glad you're still enjoying the report! New installment is coming up.

Please let us about this "warning" money that the kids got.

I need to explain the "dollar warning" thing. Before we go on a vacation, we go to the bank and get 20 one dollar bills for each kid and put them in an envelope. Every time their behavior gets to being a problem, we give them a "dollar warning" meaning that either they stop the behavior or they have to give us one of their dollars. This works great for our kids! The first year we did it, DD lost most of her money! But this year they did great! DD didn't lose a single dollar, and DS only lost one dollar! So, on the last day of the trip, they get to keep whatever is left. DD had all $20, and DS had $19.

Aunt Sara sounds hilarious! I love 50's Prime Time; we went there a few years back for my birthday, and our waitress made me stand up with a cupcake and had the entire restaurant sing me happy birthday! Your DS is a true rocker -- the Eagles and now RNRC-Aerosmith! Cool kid! Btw, both of your children are just gorgeous.

That's awesome! I'll bet you had a great time on your birthday!

Yes, DS is definitely a cool kid! Thanks so much for your compliments....we have been very blessed with beautiful kids.

Great update! Looks like you had a GREAT morning! PTC looks like it was alot of fun and ALOT of food! LOVE that Aunt Sara really "played" it up, it makes all the difference in the experience!

Thanks! We definitely had a GREAT morning! Aunt Sara was really cool, and even our DS who is borderline "too cool for Disney" loved the experience.

 

[englishrose47]

Great update Alan as usual!! I'm leery of trying 50's as I don't like greens and can only tolerate green beans but those did look good , not the greens . I guess I'd get a veggie sundae too!!

 

[alan_renfroe]

That dollar warning this is a good idea. We do something similar with Josh as he gets however many dollars in pennies at the beginning of a trip and then when he wants something he cashes them in for dollars and we pay for the items. But if he is bad he has to give us pennies. The fault in our plan however is that usually by day 3 or 4 he has spent all his pennies so he can be as bad as he wants. And believe me he has figured out this loophole. I am going to talk to Aaron about changing this to the last day like you guys do. That is a good plan I think.
Oh, also, I'm so happy you guys had a great time at 50's PTC. We had a blast. That day my BIL and his ex-wife, her husband and baby and my neice and nephew joined us (long weird family story) for lunch at DHS and it was great. Aaron and his brother and my former SIL all got warned then the dunce hats for elbows on the table. My BIL decided to push the issue and put his foot up on the booth in protest. His 5 year old son ratted him out to cousin Sara (a different one from yours though) and she had our entire section point at him and say shame shame shame. It was awesome! Such a fun place for a family meal!

Ah yes....the loophole! I thought we were going to reach that point with DD the first year we tried it, but greed got the best of her! She was really jealous when DS got to buy more than her on the last day of that trip! Since then, she has been an angel when the "dollar warnings" are in question!

That is SO funny about Cousin Sara getting an entire section to SHAME your BIL! That's great!

Alan, thank you so much for your wonderful report. I've been reading for a couple weeks now and loving it. I think the thing that grabbed my attention about your report is that you're such a positive person and an all around down to earth guy - not to mention a great husband and father.

Awww....what a nice thing to say! Thank you VERY much, momtoBrandon&Jacob! I really appreciate the compliments!

Did anyone notice the Hidden Mickey???

I'm loving your report. We ate at a lot of the same places as you guys on our DDDP trip in January.

Going back to finish reading!

Hahaha...that's great, Sherri! Good call!

Thanks for the compliments!

Another great installment Alan. Kinda sad, every installment brings us closer to the end of a truly fabulous report.

Thanks, TigerKat! I wish it didn't have to end either....just like the trip itself! I appreciate you hanging with Team Renfroe!

Well Alan,another great day+report,the food looked gorgeous,i also love a hearty meal whist over there as like you say it makes a change to the norm.My girls can't wait to see the HSM show+my dd7 really want's to see the Power Rangers-am i right in saying that you have to queue seperatley for each one?Surely you don't get to have your picture with every one then?Unfortunatley with this day's report i know the end is near.x.

Hi, x! Hope all is well! Yep, you have to queue seperately for the Power Rangers....or just snap a photo or two like we did!

Thanks for hanging with us throughout!

I love 50,s prime time cafe,your picture of the green bean sundae made me laugh and brought back some great memories.

We loved it! Of course, Sara eventually brought the guy a REAL dessert, and told him that she was just trying to teach him a lesson that was for his own good! She was really funny.

Awesome update once again. Prime Time looks like so much fun and the food looks terrific too. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks, TCKK!! The food was actually better than what I expected. We booked the 50s Prime Time Cafe for the atmosphere and the experience...but the food was a nice surprise. Again, it's not gourmet, but it really hit the spot on that day!

 

[Michelle_and_Aaron]

Great update Alan as usual!! I'm leery of trying 50's as I don't like greens and can only tolerate green beans but those did look good , not the greens . I guess I'd get a veggie sundae too!!

If you ask them to sub the greens or whatever for corn or green beans they will happily do that. My ex sil did that and that way you won't make mom unhappy by not eating your veggies.

 

[alan_renfroe]

Loving the reports! You're going to have to do reports on your days at home now!!

Prime Time is my favorite restaurant just for the fun of it. We love to go and rat each other out to our "mom"! My nieces love to get their dad in trouble!

Thanks very much, Disney Debbie! My DW told me that I should do a blog or something. She thinks I'm a pretty good writer and story-teller.

I love that the nieces try to get their dad in trouble at the 50s Prime Time Cafe! We saw a couple of people in the restaurant that weren't playing along, and I thought, "why even come here if you're not going to play along?"

I tell you what... you couldn't have done a better job scouting dining locations for me if I'd handed you my itinerary! 50's is another place I'm planning on trying! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks again!

Hi Christine! That is SO funny that I've basically covered your itinerary!! I must have telepathically picked up on your favorites!

Great update Alan as usual!! I'm leery of trying 50's as I don't like greens and can only tolerate green beans but those did look good , not the greens . I guess I'd get a veggie sundae too!!

Hi englishrose47! Don't fret about the veggies...you can always pass them off! That veggie sundae was just too funny! You can tell from the picture that the guy was cracking up!

Next installment coming up.

 

[alan_renfroe]

After our awesome lunch at the 50s Prime Time Cafe, we walked out of the restaurant without a plan. It was about 97 degrees with almost 100 percent humidity. Now, we are from Alabama....and we KNOW what hot is. This was a HOT day!

We walked around a bit, and tried to talk DD into trying Star Tours, but to no avail. We were going to get a picture of our kids on this thing....but there were too many other people taking pictures, and I was ready to get into somewhere air-conditioned.

We passed by the Sci-Fi, which looks like a fun place to eat also.

We also saw the Cars from Cars

We ended up at the One Man's Dream attraction. It was nice and cool, so we decided to go through the attraction. It was VERY interesting and informative! I felt like we got to pay homage to the creator of this wonderworld of never, neverland. It really is worth your time to go through!

After stepping back outside, we decided to leave the park and go to Downtown Disney for a few hours before going to dinner.

We went to DisneyQuest first. Since we had the waterparks and more option, DisneyQuest admission was included. (I didn't take a picture of DisneyQuest....it was SOO hot I think my brain was frying!)

DisneyQuest was .... um....liked very much by our DS! It was covered with teens, most of which were not very friendly or willing to give our kids a chance at anything. We did the Cyber Space Mountain attraction first. This was BY FAR the best thing at DisneyQuest! DD & DW created one ride and DS & I created another. We all LOVED this ride! Of course, DS had created a very intense ride with lots of inversions, but we both loved it! He was howling he was laughing so hard. It ended up being one of his very favorite things at Disney World. We tried the Aladdin's Magic Carpets, but it was a huge disappointment...not very fun at all. We also did the Virtual Jungle Cruise. It was fun, but not as much fun as one of the rides in the parks.

After the Virtual Jungle Cruise, DS and DD wanted to try some of the video games. Even though there were signs up basically saying not to hog the machines, older kids without adult supervision were not about to relinquish the games to our kids. I really didn't like the atmosphere at DisneyQuest, and I would have been angry if I would've paid the normal admission price. However, Cyber Space Mountain made it worth the trip.

After leaving DisneyQuest, we drove over to DTD West.

Here are the kids with the LEGO family:

We headed over to Goofy's Candy Company.

At Goofy's Candy Store, we still had like 34 snacks left on our Deluxe Dining Plan, so we started picking out things that we could take back home with us as souvenirs. We got all kinds of treats! We basically got something for everyone back home just using our remaining snack credits!

While at Goofy's, the weather finally broke and the bottom fell out....it rained buckets! At least it cooled things off a bit! We waited for a small break in the rain and made our way back to our vehicle.

We left Downtown Disney and headed to the Polynesian Resort for our dinner reservations at Kona Cafe.

Next installment - Kona Cafe dinner review

 

[SunnieRN]

Oh wow, your sons appetizer looked awesome!!! Yummm! I was hoping that one of you had ordered the pot roast as I have heard it is so good, I was hoping to see a good picture!!
Your meal looked great and Aunt Sara seemed perfect!!
Loved the pictures of downtown disney and the lego family! Too cool! The dogs are awesome. How much time must it have taken to build all of those? I know I don't have the patience! Were they made out of all small legos? That's what it looked like in the picture?
34 snack credits left, that's great! Yummm! Did you get any of the build your own treats? Those look really yummy!!
Looking forward to your dinner review!

 

[Figment's Friend]

Alan, the heat you were describing sounds like what we're going through here in South FL right about now! I'm sure it's just as bad in Alabama. Can't wait for the review on Kona, I have always wanted to dine there but haven't made it quite yet!