The "It's not my Birthday" trip report (Trip complete)

[tkd lisa]

Cast: Me, Lisa, almost 42. I had made about 7 trips to WDW before last year, when we moved to FL. Since we've moved to FL, we've had 2 stay-over trips, and several one-day trips.

DD: Kaylie, 14 years old. Fearless thrill rider, loves to pin-trade. She celebrated her 14th birthday at WDW over spring break.

DS: Casey, just turned 13. This is NOT his birthday trip! He made it very clear to me that he doesn't want any celebration, even though he turned 13 last Friday. He is NOT a thrill rider. His favorite activity in WDW is Innoventions. He could give the tour through the house of the future!

DM: Helen, retiree. Enjoys the atmosphere at WDW, but doesn't do anything bumpy or fast. Her only visits to WDW have been when we've taken her, but this will be her 5th stay over visit. She's done one of our day trips this year too. She hurt her knee about 2 weeks ago, so we're going to watch how much we walk.

Where/When/Why: Pop Century, 1-4 September. I originally booked this trip to celebrate Casey's Birthday, but then they offered free dining. We have FL seasonal passes, so it took me a while to figure out it was worth it to take the offer. Let's just say that this is going to really be a cheap trip.


Now that the kids have been in school a month, I've decided to not pull them out early. DS has his core classes at the end of the day, and he's missed science twice already because of a doctor and dentist appointment.

I joined DVC a couple of weeks ago, when we went over for a one day visit. Since Pop doesn't have a whirlpool, and my Mom could probably use one for her knee, we may try to pool hop. I've been told that you can only pool hop if you're staying at a DVC resort using points, but I'm going to just ask the lifeguard and see if they'll let us do it. I figure it can't hurt to ask.

I've also pulled down the final hours and EMH days for the parks (at least according to the "official" WDW site).

So my final plans are (free dining credits mentioned throughout)!

Friday, 1 September (TODAY!)

DD's bus returns home about 3:30. We'll load up into the van and pick DS up as school gets out at 4:00. I hope to be on the road by 4:10 and arrive at Pop Century by 5:30. We'll take the bus over to EPCOT (or maybe drive). We have reservations at 7:00 pm for 9 Dragons for DS's birthday dinner. (plan is to use 2 TS credits here) If we have any spare time we'll probably split up and let DS visit Innoventions while the ladies wander World Showcase. If there are any Soarin FPs left, I'll pull a set before we go over to WS. We'll watch Illuminations after dinner. My Mom hasn't seen this since Christmas 2004. We'll stay for some of EMH and try to get into bed by 11:00.

Saturday, 2 September.

MGM has morning EMH, but closes at 7 tonight (probably for the Tom Joyner family reunion).

We'll start with CS breakfasts at the Pop Food court (expect to use 2 CS credits). I'm sure DD will ride her favorites (ToT and RnR) multiple times with fast passes. Since DS doesn't ride this, and grandma can't go on RnR, she'll probably end up with about 3-4 rides on each. I may try to get Gma to ride ToT this time, but we'll see. Over the rest of the morning, I'd like to fit in:

Indiana Jones (we haven't seen this since Christmas 2004 either).
Little Mermaid (Mom's never seen it)
Muppets 3d (again, Mom's never seen it)
The animation tour,
and maybe the stunt show.

DS will hang by himself for a good part of the morning here. We have ADRs at Sci Fi for 11:30. Mom missed this over spring break, so we came back here just for her. Again, I'm planning on 2 TS credits here. For the 3 of us at Spring break, we had 2 meals, and didn't have appetizers or desserts and we were all full.

We'll take a break, and this is when I think we'll try to pool hop. I think we'll try to head over to the Boardwalk and see if they'll let us do this. I know Mom will need the warm water on her knee by this time.

After our break, we'll head over to Magic Kingdom. Plans for here include:

POC, Buzz Lightyear, DD will probably ride the mountains, etc.

We have ADRs at OHana for 7:15 (4 TS), then we'll come back for Spectro and Wishes. The park closes at 10, and I plan to be in bed by 11:00.

Sunday, 3 September

We have ADRs at Kona Cafe for 8:00 and plan to use 2 TS credits here. I really want to try the Tonga Toast, but we'll see what everyone else wants. I can see DS deciding to stay at the hotel longer this morning and using a CS credit for breakfast at the food court, but we'll see how it goes.

After breakfast, we'll probably go to either MGM or MK. IF we go to MGM, we'll try to get into the BackLot tour and the Stunt Show. At MK, we'll probably go back through POC and watch the pirate show. We plan on CS for lunch today, and will probably use 3 CS credits (I know DD will want chicken strips, and she eats every bite of those.)

We'll take a mid-day break, and if the pool hopping thing worked yesterday, we'll probably try it again. This time, we may try the SSR pool. That's my home resort, and I'd like to show my mom around a bit.

After our break, we'll go to EPCOT for the evening. DS will probably hang in Innoventions until it closes, while we visit World Showcase.

Must sees:
Voices of Liberty (Mom's never seen them, and I know she'll love it!)
France movie (again, for Mom)
Turtle Talk

We have ADRs at Coral Reef at 6:30. I'm planning 2 TS credits here, which will finish up our TS credits.

Then we'll hop over to MGM to see Fantasmic at 8:30. Another thing Mom's never seen.

MK has evening EMH, but we'll probably skip it for an early night.

Monday, 4 Sep (Last day).

Pop food court breakfast (2 CS credits).

To AK for EMH by 8:00.

Plans include:
EE (for DD)
Kali (for DS)
Conservation Station
Gorilla Trail

We'll see how busy it is here. We'll probably eat lunch at Tusker House, and may use 3 CS credits.

I expect to try to take care of someone's lunch since we'll have CS credits left.

We should be on the road for home by 2:30 or so to let the kids settle in before the next day of school.

So those are my "final" plans. Stand by for what actually happens!

 

[NUguyinCrew]

Wow, good luck on the whirlwind tour. Your pre-trip is nearly a TRIP since youre leaving today! We have 9 days left will our flight and I cant wait!
Have fun!

 

[tkd lisa]

We’re BAAACK! So how did it go? Overall, really well. This was a little different trip that had a lot of neat twists and turns. I’ll try to get to basics in here, then go back and add pictures and any details I forgot.

As a reminder, the cast is me, Lisa. I’ll be 42 the end of this month, and this is something like my 12th trip to WDW.
DM is a retiree. She stays with my kids when I have to travel, so I treat her to WDW in return.
DD, 14 is a thrill ride junkee. She’s been to WDW one less time than me.
DS, 13 is NOT a thrill ride junkee. Enjoys the technology things at WDW. One less trip than his sister.

First evening, Friday, 1 September.

Plans were to leave by 4:10 and check in at Pop Century by 5:30. ADRs at 9 Dragons in China at 7:15, then watch Illuminations followed by some evening Extra Magic Hours.

Here’s what really happened.

DD got off the bus right at 3:30, and we headed out to DS’s middle school to pick him up. We were all loaded up and on the way by 4:15. Luckily, traffic was moving right along, so we were at the check in desk by 5:30. We were taking advantage of the free dining program, but we have seasonal Annual Passes, so I was very clear that NO ONE put their room key into a turnstile! Those one day passes will be used as the beginning of next years APs!

We were assigned room 6356. It was in the 70s section, and was in a really nice location. We were at the far end of building 6, overlooking the lake. It was very quiet, but an easy walk up to Classic Hall. The kids headed to the room, while Mom and I parked the van and brought up the luggage. I then headed over to Everything Pop to get a reusable mug and a couple of snacks for the kids. I knew I probably wouldn’t get the $12 worth out of the mug, but I NEED my morning coffee, and it makes a nice souvenir. They didn’t take the Disney Dining Experience (DDE) discount on the mug, although I know some people have gotten it. I got a piece of cheesecake for DS, and cheesefries for DD to snack on (2 snack credits used + $12.70 for the mug).

Mom and I unpacked, while the kids ate, and we all headed to the bus stop about 6:25 and made it over to EPCOT by about 6:50 (we had 7:15 ADR at 9 Dragons in China). I took everyone’s passes and went to get FPs for Soarin. My mom had hurt her knee a few weeks ago, so we tried to minimize the walking. I told the kids to get her to the boat dock for world showcase and I’d meet them in China. Once I got over to the Land pavilion, the CMs were just covering the FP machines since they were gone for the night. So I quickly walked over to Test Track to get FPs there. Mom called and said the kids walked over to China, and she was waiting on a boat. About this time (7:10), DS called and was worried that we would lose our reservation. He went ahead and checked us in while I walked over. Mom was still waiting on the boat, and I decided that it wasn’t that long of a walk, so I met her halfway, and we were all seated by about 7:30.

As I mentioned, we had the free dining plan for this trip. That meant we got 1 table service (TS), one counter service (CS) and one snack (SN) per person per day. Or a total of 12 of each type of credit. Since our family is made up of very light eaters, I had planned out eating in 5 table service restaurants over the 3 nights, and we would split meals to have enough credits. The CS credits we would use mostly for breakfasts.

This meal was DS’s choice for his birthday dinner. He had turned 13 the Friday before this one, but he didn’t want any fuss made over his birthday on this trip. I had planned 2 TS credits here, and I told him he could choose what he wanted first. Well, wouldn’t you know, he decided he wanted Duck. The duck is a two person entrée (which means we wouldn’t be able to choose anything else). I tried to talk him out of it, but he was bound and determined that was what he wanted. Since I knew this wasn’t something my mom or daughter would enjoy, I decided to order fried rice and pay for it out of pocket. To make things worse, they didn’t have their normal duck that day. What we got was basically deep fried duck, still on the bone chopped up into little pieces. It had 4 puffy pancake things and came with steamed rice. DS did end up eating a fair amount of it, but I couldn’t figure out a polite way to get the meat off the bones.

Anyway, what we ordered was:

Tri-Star Appetizer (serves 2) - A delightful combination of 3 favorite Dim Sum: Pot sticker, shrimp and pork spring roll, and chicken & shrimp shao mai. - $10.99

Beijing Duck Dinner (serves two) - Two courses: Crispy Beijing duck skin with steamed butterfly buns and Beijing style stir-fried shredded duck with string beans. - $38.99

Nine Dragons Fried Rice - Stir-fried with shrimp, ham, chicken, and veggies. - $14.75 (paid out of pocket, and used DDE for 20% discount).

The kids each had iced tea (Mom and I had water), and we had mango pudding and ginger ice cream for dessert.

Overall, I’d give this meal 1 ½ stars out of 4. But it was primarily because of what we chose to eat. I know the Gen. Tso’s and sesame chicken that other people were getting looked pretty good to me!

The kids left before dessert to visit the shop in Japan, and Mom and I were done by about 8:15 or so. We decided that DS and my mom didn’t want to stay for EMH, so we’d watch Illuminations from the Future World side and they’d leave afterwards. Mom took a leisurely stroll over there, while the kids and I used our TT fast passes. We finished there at 8:55, and when I called Mom to see where she was, she said “I’m between the two burning cauldrons”. She didn’t realize there were cauldrons around the ENTIRE lake! Since we were running out of time, we just watched by the boat dock, and met up with her when the crowds cleared out. Mom and DS were able to get a bus back to Pop Century right away, and were back at the room before 10.

DD and I got our EMH wrist bands, and she decided to ride Maelstrom. We waited about 15 minutes to go “Back, back… over the falls”. For some reason, she really likes this ride! We skipped the movie, then walked the rest of the way around world showcase. We rode Journey into Imagination, then waited about 20 minutes to ride Soarin. By this time (11:00), I was worn out so we headed to the bus stop. The line was wrapped all the way around, but they were bringing in two buses at a time. We got on the 4th bus, and were back in the room by 11:30.

Overall, it was a pretty good day. My mom’s knee seemed to be holding up pretty well, and I knew we’d have much better dining ahead! I didn’t take any pictures this day.

 

[tkd lisa]

Today's title is:

Who are you and what did you do with my son?

Saturday, September 2nd:

Plans for the day:

Counter service breakfast at Pop Food court (2 CS credits planned), to MGM for EMH at 8:00. Lunch at Sci Fi, then pool hop and take a break. Over to MK for the afternoon until dinner. ADR at OHana at 7:15. Back to MK for Spectro and Wishes.

What really happened:

This day mostly went according to plan, which is a rarity in my family! I woke up to my cell phone alarm, and was able to put the wake up call on speaker phone. It started with the first words of Haunted Mansion, then Stitch interrupted yelling “No Sleeping!” and Mickey popped in to apologize for Stitch. DD really liked the Haunted Mansion part, since that’s one of her favorite rides!

I went down to get breakfast for us all. I had thought that we got a drink and a juice with the entrée for CS breakfasts, but it turns out that only applies at the table service breakfast. I ended up getting an adult breakfast platter (eggs, bacon, biscuit and home fries), and adult waffle platter (waffle and bacon), and two milks. I had my mug for my coffee fix. Total would have been $14.77, used 2 CS credits. Everyone had enough to eat, and we headed out to the van by 7:40.

I decided to drive over to MGM so that we could pool hop more easily. We parked in film, but the tram had just left. The kids decided to walk up to the entrance, so they took their passes and headed in. Mom and I waited on the tram to save her knee. We went in and had a couple of photopass shots taken of the two of us. I called DD at about 8:30 to see where they were. She said “I’m loading into the ToT elevator.” I said “Is Casey at the gift shop?” She said “No, he’s riding Rock N Roller coaster. Got to go. Bye!” I was SURE I heard her wrong, so we headed over to the RnR gift shop. Out comes DS grinning from ear to ear and waving a little piece of paper. “Mom, I went on RnR by myself. It was SOOOO cool. My picture’s really good. My hairs blowing straight back. I want to get it, and I’ll use my birthday money.” You could have knocked me over with a feather! I went ahead and pulled fast passes for RnR that were good for 9:30, and we went into the picture area. I told DS that the picture was my treat since he was so brave about riding. So I bought my very first spontaneous ride photo (total $18.06)! We had it shipped back to the room after the whole family looked at it.

Since we were on a roll, DS decided he wanted to ride ToT while we waited on the RnR fast passes. It was a walk on, and Mom went through the line with us. We tried to convince her she’d enjoy the ride, but it wasn’t going to happen! I pulled out a couple of pennies for the kids to “float” while we were waiting. They were only running one side of this, so we probably spent about 10 minutes in line. Mom took the chicken exit, and we loaded into the middle row. DS was between DD and me, and he kept asking “Tell me when it’s going to drop Mom!” He did get the penny to float, but I have no idea where it ended up. He came off the ride saying how cool it was! But he didn’t want to ride it again today. I snapped a picture of the kids at the exit elevator, and we got the pressed quarter at the exit.

By this time, the RnR FPs were good, so we left Mom on the bench and headed off to our limo ride. It was a walk on and they didn’t even need our FPs. DS asked to ride in the back seat, while DD wanted the front. DS and I rode together, and he really was woo-hooing the whole ride! Once we got done, we met back up with Grandma. She wanted to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and DD was willing to go see it again. DS and I headed over to the animation studio, but the first tour didn’t start until 10:00. He looked in the shops, and I met up with Mrs. Incredible and Frozone, who were in the courtyard there. I got both of them to stamp my hat, and took a few pictures.

By this time, DS decided he didn’t want to do the animation tour, so we moved on to One Man’s Dream. We poked around in there for about 25 minutes, and mom and DD met us just in time for the movie.

We decided to go over to the Backlot Tour next. The kids wanted to volunteer, but they’ve changed the rules recently. The minimum age is now 16 (DD and I volunteered in May, and there was no age limit then). We went on through the tour, which Mom had never done before. There were people working in wardrobe so she enjoyed that. They’ve added the cage from POTC 2 (the one where Orlando Bloom is held), and DD took about 6 pictures of it! And I snapped one of catastrophe canyon. I should have taken one of Mom's face, since it was priceless!

It was time to head over to Sci Fi Dine In for our 11:15 ADRs. We took the back roads over there, and were seated right away in a 4 seater car. Notice DS ducking from the camera!

This was a great meal, and the server was really good about working with us on the dining plan. She confirmed that shakes were available as drinks here, and asked if we wanted her to split the entrees back in the kitchen. Since I wasn’t sure who would eat what, I just had her bring out extra plates. At our request, she also brought the appetizers and entrees together, since we were sharing. We had:

7 Bean Beef Chili - Finished with shredded cheddar, pico de gallo, and tortilla chips. - $5.19
Crispy Onion Rings - A generous portion of battered onion rings. - $6.99
Shrimp Penne Pasta - Made with garlic, capers, plum tomatoes, baby spinach, and white wine topped with asiago cheese. - $17.19
Slow-roasted BBQ Ribs - Baby back ribs slow-cooked in Coca-cola and basted with BBQ sauce served with French fries and coleslaw. - $16.99

The kids each had a milkshake (cookies and cream and vanilla), and mom and I had water.

I had the chili and a couple of onion rings. DD ate most of the pasta, but gave me the veggies out of it. DS ate the ribs and fries, and Mom had a couple of his ribs, his cole slaw, and the rest of the onion rings. We had plenty of food, and still left some on the plates.

For dessert, the kids were full (remember those shakes!), so Mom and I ordered:
Happiest Celebration on Earth! Cheesecake - With caramel sauce and treats. - $5.19
Warm Apple & Pecan Crisp - Warm apple & pecan crisp. - $5.49

The cheesecake was REALLY good. It had m&ms and caramel corn around it, which DD ate a bit of. My mom thought the apple crisp was a little tart, but I thought it was just right when you added a bite of the ice cream to it.


The bill would have been $79.70 and we used 2 TS credits.

We were out of there by 12:30, and DS headed back to the room via bus. The ladies took the tram out to the car, and we drove over to the Boardwalk. I used my DVC valet parking privilege, and we headed down to the Keister Coaster pool. I went up to the lifeguard and told her I was a DVC member, staying at Pop Century and asked if it was okay to pool hop. She said “Sure, we’re not full. But you can’t go over to Beach Club.” She pointed out the restrooms, and we got changed and picked up a couple of towels. DD stayed in the main pool, and enjoyed some of the pool games they had organized. Mom and I used the whirlpool to try to loosen up her knee. We took a short dip in the main pool to alternate hot and cold, and we were all finished up within an hour.

I’m going to break this day up here, and add more later, since I’ve got lots of pictures for the evening.

 

[tkd lisa]

Title for this evening: Ohana means family.

We drove back over to the room, and picked up DS. We took the bus over to MK, and got there just after 3pm. DS wanted to spend some time in the Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) station which is on Main Street. DD was on a mission to ride the rehabbed Pirates of the Caribbean. But it was 3:00. That means….. It was PARADE time! Mom wanted to see the parade, so I told DD to go ahead on to Pirates. But before she could figure out how to get around the parade, she realized that there were pirates AND villains in it, so she stayed to watch. We were right in front of Guest Services, and could see fairly well, considering we walked up at 3:10! This was the new parade (I can’t remember the name of it right now!), and it was pretty neat. Notice the villian float with Chernobog, who's one of DD's favorites.

As soon as the parade finished, DD headed off to Pirates. Mom and I took the train around to Frontierland (saving those steps on her knee!). This is the first time I can remember the train being FULL. They actually had to have people wait on the next one. I’m sure it was because the parade just let out, because it wasn’t really that crowded at the park. DD called and said there was a 40 minute wait at POC, but she was going to ride anyway. Mom and I got off by Splash Mountain, and walked over to Adventureland. I had this NEED for a dole whip, so I sat her down near the Treehouse and got in line. There were probably 4 people in line, and I swear this was the SLOWEST moving line I have ever been in. It truly took 25 minutes to get up to the front! I have to admit one guy got about 10 things, so that was most of the hold up. Unfortunately, I was standing in full boar sunlight, so it seemed like forever! I got a dole whip float, which would have been $3.69 (1 SN credit used). I took it back over to Mom, and we walked back to the POC entrance to wait on DD. I heard some commotion over near the ride, and realized the pirate show was about to start. I called DD, who was just getting off the ride, and told her “Jack Sparrow’s going to be here NOW, so you need to get out here!” We left mom to finish the dole whip, and got up close to the rope designating the stage area.

This is a very cute show, where “Mac”, who’s one of Jack’s crew sets the stage for Jack. Jack finally appears, and they end up picking out 4 young kids to train as their new crew. The 4 kids get to sword fight with either Mac or Jack. One of the kids they chose was an adorable little girl of about 5 in a pixie costume. She was just precious, and gave out the biggest ARRRRGH when they told her to sound like a pirate! Here are a few photos. I have a couple cute ones of the pixie, but since she's not my child, I better not post them.

Once the sword fight was over, they talked about buried treasure and decided they needed more helpers to dig it up. The pulled about 20 kids in, and gave each of them a rolled up paper that designated them as “Pirates in Training”. Of course, DD got one of them, and she swears she’s keeping it forever. The show lasted about 20 minutes, and I got a lot of good pictures of Jack. He really is a dead ringer for Johnny Depp, but his voice is very different. I hadn’t told DD about the show in case we didn’t see it, but I’m so glad we did.

By this time, the clouds are starting to build up to an afternoon shower. DS has called a couple of times. He needed me to come to the VMK site and bring his pass. I left DD and mom to enjoy the Tiki Room (and dodge the rain), and headed over to Main Street. DS had done several of the challenges, but in order to claim his prize, they needed to scan his pass. He ended up with a stack about 2 inches thick of VMK cards plus a wrist band (like the Live Strong bands) that glows in the dark. They also gave him a couple more photocopied challenges that they had. One was for Tomorrowland, one for High School Musical, and one Thrill Rider Challenge. We headed over to Tomorrowland to do that challenge. I pulled Buzz Lightyear FPs while he worked on the challenge. It was misting rain by then. He finished up the challenge, and we rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority since the rain was starting to get heavier. As we went into Space Mountain, DS said “Hey, why are the lights on?” Yes, the ride was down. The line was completely empty, and cast members were just standing around. It is a little weird to see that ride all lit up. DS said “Boy, I’m never putting my hands up on this ride! I know I’ll get them chopped off!” As we finished, DD and mom were over by Buzz Lightyear waiting on us. DS decided to turn in his Tomorrowland challenge, so he took off. The rest of us hopped back on TTA so they could see Space with the lights on, but it was dark again when we went in. People were just beginning to file into the line, and it was running, so when we got off TTA, I sent DD over to ride Space Mountain, while mom and I waited.

The standby line SAID 5 minutes, but we waited about 30 before I started to worry. DS had the cell phone, since DD had been with my mom, so I couldn’t call her. I went over to the exit and started asking people how long they had waited in standby to ride. And I figured out what was taking so long. They had let everyone with FPs from the time the ride was down go through before the standby! So it ended up being 40 minutes in a 5 minute standby line. I did meet a couple of DISers who had the lime green Mickeys. Anyway, we were all re-united, and our Buzz FPs were ready to use. I rode with mom, while DD rode alone. In the very first room, I hit something big, so I ended up with my best score ever! 370,000 points! Mom had a pathetic 20,000, but we decided she was improving each time through. I think she got 150 points her first ride!

We gathered up DS on our way out main street and headed out to the Poly for our 7:15 ADR at Ohana. Mom and DD decided to take the boat over, but DS wanted to ride in the front of the monorail, so off we went. We had to wait for one train to cycle through, but ended up riding with a very cute set of twin boys who were about 5 years old. They were staying at SSR, and told us it was really a neat place. I told them I was glad to hear that since I just bought DVC with SSR as my “home”. We met back up with DD and Grandma, and were seated almost immediately.

Our server was Cousin Grant, and he was very nice. He got all our drink orders, and then the singer was calling people up for the coconut races. DD headed up that way, but DS didn’t want anything to do with it. I snapped some pictures of her, and some of the BBQ grill. We were seated about 7:25 and enjoyed an absolutely beautiful sunset. The atmosphere in this restaurant was just wonderful. Even with the singer and the kids races, etc it wasn’t nearly as loud as many of the Disney restaurants. I could hear the mood music in the background and we had a really nice sized table with plenty of space around us.

The servers brought our appetizers (salad, shrimp, wonton strips, and sticky wings). I think DS ate the majority of a bowl of wings himself! He really liked them. DD ate some shrimp and the wonton strips. I had a bit of everything. The meats started to come out then. But the singer called for the limbo, and believe it or not, DS decided he would try that since “I’m pretty good at limbo”. I knew better than to take a picture of him! They came back before the food got too cold. DD really liked the steak, and DS liked the sausage. The sausage was different than I expected. It was very mild, and didn’t seem to have a skin on it. We also tried the turkey and the pork. I had some potatoes and stir fried veggies, which were typical side dishes. They asked for birthday or celebration, but of course, DS wouldn’t go up there. Then came the big finish! The dessert! It was banana bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and banana foster sauce. And it was melt in your mouth good. My mom actually took a second helping (which I can’t remember her doing EVER in my entire life!). I thought DD was going to lick her plate! DS really liked the sauce over his ice cream (he was pretty full, and didn’t try the pudding). Total for this night would have been $110.72 (I think that was before tip), and we used 4 TS credits. I have to say I think this is my very favorite Disney Dining experience. I give it 4 stars out of 4. We left there close to 9 oclock, so it was a very leisurely dinner.

We went out to take the monorail back to MK. We had decided that we were all heading back to the room, but in the monorail, we realized it was raining, so that just confirmed the decision. We quickly walked over to the bus stop, but were soaking wet by the time we got under cover. A bus came quickly, and we were back in the room by 9:30. Warm baths and showers for the kids, and we were all in bed by 10:30.

 

[tkd lisa]

Sunday 3 September

A Mother-Daughter morning

Plans for today: Breakfast at Kona at 8:00. Morning at either MGM or MK. Mid day pool break with EPCOT in the evening. ADR at Living Seas at 6:30. Take the boat to MGM for Fantasmic at 8:30.

What really happened?

I woke up before the alarm this morning, so I was able to take a nice quiet bath before everyone got up. This morning we just had empty silence on the wake up call. As I suspected, DS decided he wanted to sleep in, so I left him his room key and the ladies headed out to the van. I didn’t think there was any way to take Disney transportation and make it to the Poly by 8:00 since MK didn’t open until 9 that morning. I did make my only wrong turn of the trip. I ended up doing the loop around the MK parking area since I didn’t go far enough over to the right after the parking booth. But we still were there by about 7:50 and were seated right away.

As we sat down, DD laid her head on the table and said she really wasn’t hungry, so she didn’t want to stay. I ordered her a smoothie to go (paid OOP) and got coffee for me and juice for Mom. DD’s smoothie came and she headed out to the monorail to get the bus back from MK to Pop Century. She got back to the room about 9:00 and went back to sleep.

Wow, just me and my Mom. On our own! We started by ordering a Tonga Toast with ham to share. It was really good, and we finished most of it between the two of us. I can’t find the receipt for this one, but I know it was around $20. And it was REAL drip coffee, not the Nescafe stuff! I paid $4.00 for DD’s smoothie, and took the 20% DDE discount. We finished up about 8:40 and I told Mom to pick what she wanted to do. She decided that she didn’t see a lot of things she wanted to at MGM, so we headed back over there, and parked about 9:00 in Stage. We were much closer than yesterday, so we decided to walk to the entrance. Once inside, we watched a street scene for a bit, and got Mom’s photo for the next “Casting Call”

Mom was interested in the animation studio, but I knew it didn’t open until 10, so we headed to the Great Movie Ride to kill a little time. Once again, we had the gangster scene. Maybe someday I’ll get the cowboy! After this, we headed to the animation tour and watched the Mushu movie. Mom really enjoyed this. I liked seeing Chris Sanders, since we have a Chris Sanders in our family (he was the Mushu creator, and did a lot of work on Lilo and Stitch too). The characters weren’t out yet, and the first drawing class wasn’t until 10:40 (they were every 20 minutes after that), so we headed back out. We stopped by the Singing in the Rain umbrella while we were there.

Looking at the times guide, Mom was interested in either Indiana Jones or the Stunt Show. But they were both at the same time (11:40 and 11:50). I told her that it was up to her, since I’d seen them both, and to my surprise, she picked the stunt show. We wanted to come back and do a drawing class before then, and the only other thing she wanted to do was Muppets 3D. So that’s where we headed next. I clearly remember watching this show on Saturday nights when I was a teenaged babysitter. Mom really enjoyed this, since it’s right up her alley. The theater was about 50-60% full, which kind of surprised me.

After this, we headed back over to the animation studio and went in for the 11:00 drawing class. We got Donald Duck (front view). I figured that mine would be terrible since Donald seems pretty complicated, but I was surprised at how good mine turned out.

Mom’s on the other hand…. Well, it was interesting! The artist told us to start out with an orange sized circle, but Mom thought she should start with a bigger one so she’d have plenty of room. She made a circle the size of a dinner plate, and had no where to add the hat and bill to it! It really was a lot of fun, and we had some laughs!

We left there and strolled over to the Stunt Show theater for their first show. As we walked up, I looked up at all those steps and thought about Mom’s knee. I walked over to the CM and said “My Mom has been having some problems with her knee. If handicapped isn’t full, is it possible for us to sit in that section?” The CM said of course, and sent us up a ramp (instead of the steps), and we were seated just above the camera area. It was very open with LOTS of spaces there, and Mom really enjoyed the show. I got some pretty good pictures, and it was so funny to watch my mom watching the show. I had to point to the action several times, since she was distracted by all the other things going on. When we finished up, she said “I’m glad I saw it, but I don’t think I want to see it again.”

We walked out to the car discussing what we wanted to do next. We did want to hit up DTD to look for a watch for me (my birthday is the end of this month and my watch broke about 2 months ago), but the clouds were starting to build up, so we decided to hit the pool first before the rain. I drove over to SSR and followed the same process as yesterday (checked with lifeguard who said “come on in!”). There were two hot tubs here, and one of them was in the shade, so we picked that one! We stayed about an hour, and headed over to DTD about 1:45.

We had talked about getting lunch, but neither one of us was very hungry, so we split a frozen lemonade at DTD. When they rang it up, the receipt said 3 snack credits remaining. Since we had only used 3 out of our 12 credits before this, I called the kids to figure out what happened! Turned out DS had gotten a waffle meal for breakfast (1 TS), but didn’t get a drink with it. He then went back to get a slice of cheesecake, and two pop rocks (3 SN credits). DD decided she needed a snack too, so she got some licorice and a coke (2 SN), then went back to get a chicken finger meal (1 TS). I said “What’d you get for drink and dessert?” She said “Nothing, I didn’t have enough hands to carry anything.” So we definitely didn’t use those credits to get the biggest bang for the buck. But the kids were fed and happy, and it was FREE, so no biggie!

After figuring that out, we decided we needed to get back to give those kids some supervision! We went into WOD and got my birthday watch, and I got a Christmas gift for the kids (shhh, it’s a secret and they check these reports out sometimes). We were back in the room about 2:30 and headed out to EPCOT for the evening.

Again, I’ll post the evening in the next post.

 

[MissMichelle]

Very nice TR so far...Can't wait to read the rest. I am headed down in 2.5 weeks so every second of TR reading I can get in, helps to keep me in my zone

 

[tkd lisa]

Sunday afternoon/evening, September 3rd

A wet evening

When I last wrote, we were leaving our rooms at Pop Century headed to EPCOT for the evening. That rain that had been threatening before our pool time was coming closer and closer. We just missed a bus to EPCOT, and it took about 15 minutes for the next one (the longest wait between buses all week). The bus pulled up just before the skies opened up, so that bus driver was our HERO! We moved in front of the storm, so we made it into the park before the rain hit there. I pulled a Times Guide and saw that the Voices of Liberty was going to be performing at 4:15 and 5:00. It was 4:00 when we got into the park, so I made some command decisions.

DS wanted some technology time, so he took one cell phone and headed to Innoventions. He was to call me if he left there (he did, to go to Mission Space – more on that later). I handed out ponchos and sent DD and Mom over to the WS boats and I headed to the Land to get Soarin FPs. I had 3 passes, since DS insisted on keeping his pass “in case he needed it for some more VMK stuff”. The FPs were good for 8:45 – 9:00. Hmmm. We planned on Fantasmic at 8:30, but I got the passes just in case, since my mom had said she really wanted to go on Soarin again (she was bummed when DD and I went Friday during EMH). By the time I made it out of the Land, the rain was coming down fairly steadily so I pulled on my poncho (keeping my new Mickey watch under cover so it would stay dry!) and sloshed over to meet the ladies in the American pavilion.

Mom and DD had gotten to the pavilion just before the show started. They ended up walking because Illumination prep was already going on so the boats weren’t running. I guess they had the drawbridge up, which was really interesting according to my mom. I walked in at the end of the first song, and as usually I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Every time I’ve seen them, they’ve had the same high soprano and two of the tenors. I spoke to one of them afterward and asked if they ever got a day off? He said they work 5 days a week, so it’s just been coincidence that I’ve hit their working days.

We moved into the theater to watch the movie. There was a pretty good crowd there since the rain was still coming down steadily. DD truly LOVES this movie. I think she’s seen it 4 times since May! By the time we left there, the rain was down to a drizzle. DD had been asking to buy an umbrella/parasol in China since our May trip, so I finally gave in. She went over to buy it, while Mom and I headed over to France. We timed it well and walked in 5 minutes before the movie started. Mom had never seen this, and I knew she’d really enjoy the music. DD rode Imagination again while we did this, and DS was spending time in the Mission Space pavilion. He rode a couple of times, then hung out in the games area. When we all got together, I asked DS for his AP, but he couldn’t find it. During dinner, he decided it must have dropped out at Mission Space.

We had 6:30 ADRs at the Coral Reef restaurant, so we all mutually headed that way about 6:00. Since we’d only used 1 TS credit at Kona that morning, we had 3 credits left to use up. We were seated after about a 10 minute wait in a booth on the middle terrace. David was our server. We told him we were on the dining plan, and he said that only soda, milk, tea or coffee were available here. DD lobbied hard for the flavored sodas to be included, but it was “no-go”.

DS REALLY wanted to go up to the aquarium, but I made him pick out something to eat before he could go. I also told him he could NOT bother anyone sitting there or use the flash on the camera. Here are our dinner choices:

Shrimp Cocktail - Served with a spicy cocktail sauce. - $9.99 (shared my mom and me)
Creamy Lobster Soup - Made with Chervil and Brandy. - $6.99 (DD’s order, which she LOVED!)
Crab Claws – we got 3 of them, and I think it was around $10 (DS’s order, but this is a new item)

Pan Seared Ahi Tuna – Also a new item, I think it was around $28 I think it came with wasabi potatos and DD substituted the whipped potatos intead.
Grilled Mahi-Mahi - Served over Israeli Couscous and Tat soi with Honey-Soy glaze. - $25.99 (DS’s order, which I shared)
Seared Sterling Salmon - With Mixed Greens, Roasted Potatoes, and Pancetta-Garlic Vinaigrette. - $23.99 (Mom’s order)

We also had one coke, one root beer, one tea, and one water.
When we looked over the menu, I was surprised to see no crab cakes. We asked David to see if it was a special, and he said this was the 2nd day for the new menu, and the crab cakes were gone. He told DD the Ahi was sushi grade, and she was happy with that. She loves raw tuna, and ordered hers rare. I basically picked out the mahi for DS, since he wasn’t in an eating mood, and mom got her salmon well done.

DS went up to the window to take pictures while we waited on our food. I checked to be sure he wasn’t bothering the people he was by, and they said he was very polite, and had told them a LOT about fish. When the food came, he was telling us all about the pictures he had taken (none were very clear so I won’t post them).

The appetizers came out fairly quickly. DD truly loved her soup. She asked David for the recipe, and he took our email address to have it sent. DS sucked up the crab claws immediately and asked if he could get more (remember we were at Ohana the night before, where they brought more of anything you wanted!). The shrimp was fine, but the cocktail sauce wasn’t what I expected (more watery, less spicy).

While we waited on the main course, we entertained ourselves watching the divers. Mom kept noticing one diver who had his arms crossed over his chest. We tried to guess why he was doing that and DD won the prize for the best answer. It was “He’s probably a teenager who has his scuba certification but he DIDN’T want to spend his vacation at WDW, so he’s sulking”. We finally figured out that no one was moving their arms, and this person probably was afraid they’d wave their arms if they didn’t cross them.

The main course came and was also excellent. I put part of the mahi onto a plate for DS, and kept sliding more over there when he wasn’t looking so he actually ate a pretty good serving. DD ate ALL her tuna, but the rest of us left some of our meals. Then it was DESSERT. Of course, I had to tell them about the chocolate wave, so we ended up with two of them, plus a butterscotch brulee.

The Chocolate Wave - Warm Dark Chocolate Cake with a White Chocolate Grand Marnier center with Chocolate Canache and White Chocolate Ice Cream. - $8.00 (DD and I)
Butterscotch Brulee - Butterscotch Cream with fresh Wild Berries. - $8.00 (mom)

The wave was very good but rich! It reminded me a LOT of the chocolate soufflé at Palo (on the Disney cruise line). DD ate up all the center part right away. Mom liked the brulee and had a few bites of the wave as well. DS spent his time up at the fish tank!

When all was done, our total was $167.44 (3 TS credits used). It was very good food, but this one wouldn’t be worth the price for me if I was paying OOP. I’d probably do it at lunch instead.

The kids left while Mom and I stayed to settle the bill. DD wanted to ride Mission Space, so she headed that way. DS wanted to see the inside of the aquarium that he’d been looking at from the other side, so he headed that way. Mom & I left the restaurant about 7:45, and it was still misting. We decided that Fantasmic would probably be cancelled, so we’d stay and use our Soarin FPs. I found DS in the line for Turtle Talk and convinced him to let Grandma watch with him.

Then I headed over to Mission Space to see if I could recover DS’s annual pass. I checked at the space race area and the ride exit, and neither one had it, but they suggested I check at the gift shop since that’s where they put things to be picked up. I asked the CM there to check, and when I told her the name on the AP she said “Oh, my buddy Casey! I call him the mechanic because he helped me fix my string thing.” I chatted with her for a while and verified that DS had been well behaved when he was there. It was really reassuring to have that conversation. DS is at the age where he really doesn’t want to hang around with his Mom and sister, but I wanted to be sure he was a considerate guest when he’s not with me. Nicole was very positive about his behavior and said he is really a nice kid. But in spite of that, his pass wasn’t there, so I went up to guest services next. After the CM pulled out about 6 boxes to check for it, I asked “would it just be easier to issue a new pass?” So they did. The funny thing was that he got the same type of pass he had before (Expedition Everest)!

It was about 8:30 by this time, and DD had called from MS saying she was done. I sent her over to the Land to meet up with us. DS called and said he wanted to go back to the room. I told him to have Grandma go over to the Land and wait by Soarin for me. As DS was talking to me he said “Now Mom, you guys stay just as long as you like. I know Kaylie wants to have some fun. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” I was dying of laughter at how hard he was working to convince me that he’d be okay! We actually passed as he was walking out, so I stopped him to tell him what his friend Nicole said about him.

The ladies all met up at Soarin, where DD discovered that they now have a gift shop! She lobbied hard for a plant, but I told her that she’d have to save her money. 8:45 finally came and we headed onto the ride. There was a group of 20 something locals behind us who had quite a bit to drink. They were really getting on my mom’s nerves, but since they decided that our line wasn’t good enough, we didn’t have to sit by them on the ride. Mom enjoyed the ride (we did too), and we headed out of the park right at 9:00. We got the first bus back to Pop, and were in bed by 10.

 

[tkd lisa]

Monday, Sept 4th

A day of surprises

I decided not to set any alarms today and just see how things went. AK had EMH hours, but I knew that no one would be up for it. I hadn’t done any packing up, and we had a fair amount of wet stuff from the rain showers so I didn’t want it to mold.

I woke up at 7:11, and headed into the shower. When I came out, Mom was awake, so we headed down to Everything Pop to get some breakfast. Mom said she wasn’t hungry, but just wanted a cup of tea. I got a ham and cheese omlette and her tea (plus my coffee in the mug), and we headed outside to eat. It was pretty chilly inside, so we ate outside. I ate about ½ of the omlette and took it back for the kids. We were back to the room by 8, and the kids were up watching cartoons. DD ate the potatos and some of the omlette, but DS didn’t want it. He got dressed and went back down to get something for himself. As he left I said “Don’t forget to get the drink with it this time!” Mom and I start packing up while DD is showering. DS comes back with a bottle of Perrier. Don’t ask me why, because he couldn’t explain it either. He said he wasn’t really hungry and he thought it was just regular water in a pretty bottle. We’re now down to 2 snack credits.

Mousekeeping knocked on the door about 8:30 to see if we were gone yet, but we didn’t finish up until about 9:00. Mom really wanted to go to Animal Kingdom, so that’s where we headed. I thought DS might want to go turn in his challenges at the VMK shop in MK, but he wanted to stay with us (shock of all shocks!) The kids walked up to the entrance, and Mom and I hopped on the tram. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. There was an empty tram parked in our way, and they had to bring in another driver for it. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes for the guy. The kids wanted to show Grandma the “secret” entrance through Rain Forest, so we walked right in that way. I took all the passes and headed to Everest. Mom and the kids went down the Pangani Trail, with DS in charge of the camera.

I pulled EE FPs that were good for 10:45-11:45 and walked past the drums to meet up with the family. The kids and I had spent a morning at AK last month, and DS had asked to see Flights of Wonder (the bird show) but the timing didn’t work out then. There was a show today at 10:30, so I tried to get everyone to go to that, then we’d use the EE FPs. DS said “I don’t want to see that now.” Okay, well, there’s no line for the Safari, so let’s go on that. We walked right on, and saw a variety of animals. They were doing something over by the lions were the zookeepers were dangling ropes down into the canyon by Pride Rock. I never did find out what the deal was there.

After the safari, the EE FPs were almost ready. And DS said “I’m going on that too.” Wow! I guess RnR really did a number on my kid! I sent my mom over to Conservation Station and told her we’d meet by the drums when we were done with EE. We pretty much walked on with our FPs, and were in the middle of the train. They put us with a single guy, and DS wanted to ride with him. I think he talked his ear off the whole ride. DS didn’t want to ride again, so DD took the extra fast pass and headed back in while DS and I waited outside. I saw DD come down the hill about 5 minutes later. When she got off she was so excited. She got to ride with Yeti Guy! It was his 507th ride (according to him). He’s the guy who wears the claws and yeti hat. He even has a shirt that says “Yeti Guy”. DD was so excited to ride with him.

We left there and stopped to use our last two snack credits for ice cream. They got the strawberry bars and I got a bite from each (the Mommy tax). DS decided he wanted to go ride Dinosaur, but he wanted to go by himself. DD doesn’t like that one anyway, so she and I headed out to meet mom. There was another Flights of Wonder at 11:30, and I thought we’d be able to make it. As we headed down the path, we came across DeVine!!!! I’ve never seen her before, and she was SOOO cool. Thankfully, she was still there when we came back through with mom, so she got to see her too. Here’s a couple of pictures I snapped.

We went into Flights of Wonder next. DD wanted to sit up front, and mom and I sat midway back in the middle section. The cast for this show was fairly good. I particularly liked Bwana Joe.

When it came to the stunt where the bird plucks the dollar from someone, they picked the lady sitting in front of me. But she didn’t have any money. Her husband was digging around, so I finally just handed her a dollar. When that bird took off with it, she just looked at me like “Do you want your money back?” Thankfully, I knew it would be coming back.

Then they asked people to hold up their camera high. And they picked me to come up on stage to take a picture with a great big owl flying over my head! I focused my camera, waited on the owl, and ….. my cell phone started buzzing! Luckily I’d turned the ringer off, but it scared me into snapping the shutter way too early so I didn’t get the picture. I did get a magical moments certificate too! Plus I got to hear DD saying “You go Mom!” That’s always good to hear when you’ve got teenagers!

The phone call was from DS who had finished with Dinosaur and wanted me to meet him in the gift shop so he could finish spending his birthday money. I had him wait til the show was over. I sent Mom and DD over to watch the drummers who were performing by Tusker House, and headed out to Dino Land. Once again, DS was so thrilled with his ride and talking a mile a minute. I just don’t know WHERE he gets that from???? Anyway, he had picked out two dinosaur lego creations, which used up almost all of his birthday money. He had $3 left and said “Mom, use that to get Kaylie a Jawlipop (the jawbreaker on a stick). I know she wants one.” Since we had the meal plan, I hadn’t gotten any of our normal candy purchases since they mostly weren’t covered as snacks. It was really thoughtful of him, but he’s pretty good that way.

We headed back across the park to meet up with mom and DD at Tusker House for lunch. DD got in line with me, while the others scouted out a table. I knew I had extra credits, so I told the ladies in front of me I’d buy their lunch. They really couldn’t believe that they could get all that food and it cost them nothing. There were only two of them, and I was pretty sure I’d have at least one more extra, so I told the lady behind me she could have however many credits were left (it was her and her husband). We finally got to the register, and I had a total of 7 CS credits left, so I was able to take care of everyone. We got:

Salmon, coke, and cheesecake (DD)
Rotisserie chicken, lemonade and chocolate cake (mom and me split)
Rotisserie chicken, sprite and carrot cake (DS)

All the others chose the chicken sandwich, plus various side dishes. Total would have been just over $90 (7 CS credits used).

Mom and DS were out near the smoking area, but it was fairly quiet there, and the smokers were a fair bit away from us. DS had to finish watching the limbo guy before he ate, but everyone enjoyed their meals. We finished up and headed toward the exit. On the way out, I had everyone stop for a photopass shot, since we got a free 5x7 with out package. There is a very good shot in an alcove overlooking the tree of life. Since it’s in an alcove, you don’t get anybody else in the picture. When we got home, we ordered it and will probably use it for our Christmas cards.

We were on the road by 1:30, and home by 2:30. Another successful Disney trip!