The Darling Family June 2011: A Last Minute Budget Vacation

[schmass]

Wow, Bonnet Creek looks amazing! That red and white bow in Wendy's hair is adorable - so sad that she wasn't feeling well.

 

[dismagiclover]

Wow, Bonnet Creek looks amazing! That red and white bow in Wendy's hair is adorable - so sad that she wasn't feeling well.

Hilton Bonnet Creek really was amazing! Wendy's bow is actually the headband I had made for the marathon. She really wanted to wear it when she met Minnie.

 

[dismagiclover]

Lisa gets a prize for guessing our next destination. I am pretty suprised anyone guessed because most people wouldn't think of this as a destination. Her prize is a trip report update

If you have followed my past trip reports you may recall my boys have what I think is a rather strange obsession with Duffy, the Disney bear. They first met him last October, and visited him again in January. When I asked Michael for his must dos this trip meeting Duffy was at the tippy top. So 12:00 had finally arrived and it was time to go meet Duffy. I highly suspect Michael may be the only person on the planet that would rate Duffy as the #1 Disney World attraction. Anyway we headed for Duffy’s Meet and Greet. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Duffy the Disney Bear here is a storybook that contains some of his backstory. (Basically he is a bear that Minnie gave to Mickey when he was going on a trip so he wouldn’t get lonely. In reality he is a way for Disney to sell stuffed Teddy bears.)

Anyway, Duffy was happy to see his biggest fans again. Here are the pictures.

By this point our tummies were rumbling. We were very close to Mexico so I decided this was a great chance to try out the new CS in Mexico.

I’m so glad we did. It was very tasty! Here is my meal.

We ate at a table outside which was very nice, but pretty busy. When we finished the boys needed to use the restroom so we went inside.

I wished we’d eaten in the inside area. It was cool, quiet, and had a lovely view of the water. This is a table service place during the evening and I bet it is lovely. Definitely a place worth returning to. And next time we eat there I’m eating inside. So by the time we finished up our lunch it was around 12:45. The shuttle back to our hotel came on the hour. I figured there was no way we would make the 1:00 shuttle so I figured we had some time to kill. I asked the boys what they wanted to do. They said they wanted to go color Duffy. (Apparently coloring Duffy is almost as good as meeting Duffy.) So we headed into the pyramid and they did some Duffy coloring.

That didn’t take too long. What’s next?

 

[lynn46356]

I'll take a guess (and probably won't be correct) but how about single rider line for Test Track again! I love TT!!!!!! Nothing beats the outside portion. Well then again maybe EE, SM, RnR, TT, etc. etc. Thanks for the information on Duffy. As my boys are older (23, 22) and 13 I'm not into the characters much. I always wonder about his story. You filled me in!!!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I thoroughly enjoyed my prize! I remember the boys loving Duffy the Bear from your previous trip reports.

The meal from the new Mexican counter service looks really good. Maybe I need to add that to our list of restaurants to try.

 

[MagicShell]

It is pretty funny that Duffy is at the top of the list, but everybody has their favorites I guess. Waiting to hear what else the boys wanted to do.

 

[dismagiclover]

I'll take a guess (and probably won't be correct) but how about single rider line for Test Track again! I love TT!!!!!! Nothing beats the outside portion. Well then again maybe EE, SM, RnR, TT, etc. etc. Thanks for the information on Duffy. As my boys are older (23, 22) and 13 I'm not into the characters much. I always wonder about his story. You filled me in!!!!!

Test Track is a good guess, but I don't think my boys would be brave enough to go single rider. That will be a happy day when they are! And you're welcome for the Duffy info. I am sure that will be vitally important some time in your life

I thoroughly enjoyed my prize! I remember the boys loving Duffy the Bear from your previous trip reports.

The meal from the new Mexican counter service looks really good. Maybe I need to add that to our list of restaurants to try.

If you do add the Mexican CS just make sure that you eat inside! That would have made the meal even better!

It is pretty funny that Duffy is at the top of the list, but everybody has their favorites I guess. Waiting to hear what else the boys wanted to do.

I also find it quite amusing that Duffy is such a favorite. They just latched on to him. Hopefully you don't have to wait too long for the next update.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Hello my friend I just found this but after my panic subsided on the whole "how could I have missed that she started this" I realized we were leaving the day you started Going back to read......

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Enjoying your trip report - shame about Wendy getting sick. Bonnet creek looks very nice and you are very lucky to have had so many WDW vacations in the last 18 months

 

[dismagiclover]

Hello my friend I just found this but after my panic subsided on the whole "how could I have missed that she started this" I realized we were leaving the day you started Going back to read......

Hello my old friend No reason to panic. You definitely had better things to do then sit around reading trip reports the past couple of weeks! I'm glad you are here now. I can't wait to hear about your trip! So get that report started

Enjoying your trip report - shame about Wendy getting sick. Bonnet creek looks very nice and you are very lucky to have had so many WDW vacations in the last 18 months

I have been very lucky with all of our recent Disney vacations. And I've loved and appreciated every minute of them! (Well almost every minute.)

 

[dismagiclover]

After some Duffy coloring the boys decided Innoventions was calling their name so we began the walk over there. We were waylaid by the site of a photo pass photographer. So we took some pictures with some fun topiarys.

I don’t know why we only took pictures with Mater, but here is a shot of Lightning.

A few feet later we were waylaid by another Photopass guy. (I have a problem.) Here is what he took.

Finally we made it to Innoventions. What did the boys want to do? Be in their own video game.

Here is the final result. (You can see me in the reflection.)

Next they decided they should save up some money for our next vacation.

I guess they weren’t liking this budget vacation thing. Usually they save for college. Here they are diversifying their savings.

If I remember right they reached their goal so I guess our next vacation will be extravagant. (It’s going to be an Alaskan cruise. Too bad that money isn’t real.) It was about 1:45 so I figured we needed to skedaddle over to catch our hotel shuttle. On our way out we spotted one of John’s favorite characters without a line. So of course we stopped to say hello.

Then we headed out to catch the shuttle. We didn’t have to wait long and this bus was much more luxurious than Disney transportation. It was a charter bus with very comfy seats. We did have to make a stop at Hollywood Studios, but it didn’t take long to get back to the hotel. What would we find there? Would Wendy be recovered?

 

[cdotla]

Poor Wendy...hope she recovers quickly. Good thing she didn't get on MS...that could have been a complete disaster!!!!

Too funny how much your boys like Duffy! Go fugure!

Glad you got to have some bonding time with the boys.

 

[ellajeansmom]

Hi Jenny!

So excited that you have another trip report to share with us all

Poor Wendy, that was not a good start to your trip, hopefully she recovered quickly. Too funny that Duffy was at the top of the "to do" list for the boys, and you definitely have a knack for spotting the photopass photographers!!

Looking forward to more

 

[Angies1274]

Great updates!!

Love your character pics! But...poor Wendy. I hope she feels better soon! My boys can't wait to meet Duffy! He looks so cuddly! I'm so glad you liked the new CS in Mexico. It's definitely on our list of places to try next trip.

 

[MEK]

I didn't miss too much! All caught up now. I really hope Wendy was feeling better when you got back. It's bad enough to be sick, but to be sick in the hot Florida weather. Bummer!

You got some cute pictures of the kids.

to the comfy resort bus!

 

[Shannon84]

Those topiarys are SO cool looking, I hadn't seen any pictures of the cars ones

I have a photopass problem too I swear, just want to make sure I get all the shots I can

 

[dismagiclover]

Poor Wendy...hope she recovers quickly. Good thing she didn't get on MS...that could have been a complete disaster!!!!

Too funny how much your boys like Duffy! Go fugure!

Glad you got to have some bonding time with the boys.

It is a very good thing Wendy didn't get on MS. Though I think they may have barf bags on there. It is always fun to just hang out with the boys at Disney. No grown ups around to spoil the fun

Hi Jenny!

So excited that you have another trip report to share with us all

Poor Wendy, that was not a good start to your trip, hopefully she recovered quickly. Too funny that Duffy was at the top of the "to do" list for the boys, and you definitely have a knack for spotting the photopass photographers!!

Looking forward to more

Hello my old friend! I'm glad you found me! I do love my photopass though my family is getting tired of it. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to get them to go along with all the stops.

Great updates!!

Love your character pics! But...poor Wendy. I hope she feels better soon! My boys can't wait to meet Duffy! He looks so cuddly! I'm so glad you liked the new CS in Mexico. It's definitely on our list of places to try next trip.

I hope your boys don't like Duffy as much as mine As you will see much of our time in Epcot this trip revolved around Duffy.

I didn't miss too much! All caught up now. I really hope Wendy was feeling better when you got back. It's bad enough to be sick, but to be sick in the hot Florida weather. Bummer!

You got some cute pictures of the kids.

to the comfy resort bus!

Wendy getting sick was definitely a bummer. You'll have to wait and see how that ends ups I did love that comfy bus. Too bad the Disney buses aren't as fancy.

Those topiarys are SO cool looking, I hadn't seen any pictures of the cars ones

I have a photopass problem too I swear, just want to make sure I get all the shots I can

I loved the topiarys. One of these years I want to go for the Flower and Garden Festival. It will have to be either a solo trip or I'll have to wait 12 years though because the kids are in school.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Poor Wendy...hoping she's feeling better soon!

Great pictures of the boys...those topiaries are so good! I did a walk thru of Innoventions this year when all the kids were in there to do Sum of all Thrills but by the time I got there they were done It's been many years since we've spent any kind of time there so I loved to see that the boys were in their own video game....every kids dream I'm sure

 

[schmass]

We brought my 9 month old niece with us in January, and Duffy was the very first character she met! She liked him, but not as much as your boys do!!

 

[dismagiclover]

Poor Wendy...hoping she's feeling better soon!

Great pictures of the boys...those topiaries are so good! I did a walk thru of Innoventions this year when all the kids were in there to do Sum of all Thrills but by the time I got there they were done It's been many years since we've spent any kind of time there so I loved to see that the boys were in their own video game....every kids dream I'm sure

The update about Wendy's condition is coming right up. I don't think we'll spend much time in Innoventions when the kids are older. It's great stuff for school age kids so we're enjoying it while we can. And yes being in a video game was definitely my boys' dream.

We brought my 9 month old niece with us in January, and Duffy was the very first character she met! She liked him, but not as much as your boys do!!

I don't think anyone likes Duffy as much as my boys