mickeyschickie
Disney Commando in Laid-back Mom disguise...heh he
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2000
- Messages
- 353
The McElwain Family Gets Welcomed Home (Day Two)
December 5, 2004
We awoke early despite our late night and Grandma Gail and I took a little walk to find coffee and a quick snack. We walked back to the hotel, gathered up the crew and headed for Saratoga Springs aka our Home away from Home! We were so excited. The trip went quickly and we arrived around 10 am at the resort. We had an easy check-in but our room was not ready yet, but we had the House of Blues Gospel Brunch to go to anyway.
Word of Warning!!! Do not rely on Disney Dining for info re: The Gospel Brunch...you must buy your tickets through the House of Blues...Disney Dining made PS for us to eat at the House of Blues at the same time as the Gospel Brunch, but in the restaurant, not the concert hall, so no buffet available and no entertainment. Luckily, we were able to buy tickets at the box office a few minutes before the show started. Anyway, we loved the brunch!!! The food was excellant, we were seated in two pews on the second floor, which the buffet up there is far less crowded than the buffet on the first floor. They offered an omelet bar, an assortment of juices and water, soft drinks to order and I believe you could also order Mimosas or Bloody Marys for an extra charge...this was all set up on the bar of the concert hall...behind our pews was the buffet table...Caeser salad, a tomato and onion salad, fresh fruit, peel and eat shrimp, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausge gravy, biscuits, crossaints, corn bread, BBQ Chicken, Jambalaya, prime rib...all was excellent! We really enjoyed the food and then when we were just about finished gorging ourselves...the show started...I cannot remember any of the names but before the curtains opened, a woman with a very striking voice began reading scripture...her voice was so passionate, tears came to my eyes. What presence she had...The music was also wonderful and uplifting...It was so nice to not feel like we were missing out on church while we were on vacation. If if ever are there on a Sunday again, I can assure you that we will be going to church at the HoB. The group preformed a lot of songs that we regularly sing in church and the ones we didnt know were easy to learn and to sing along to.
We left the HoB and called the resort...our 2 Bedroom Villa was ready...we were so excited! We couldnt walk back to Saratoga Springs fast enough. We found the van and drove to our Congress Park room #1321. We had a nice view directly across from Fultons Crabhouse and ran around checking out everything, changed our clothes and headed out to enjoy the Florida sunshine and the pool. We really enjoyed the quiet pool all week, we never even made it up the the big pool...we felt that this was enough. After an afternoon of swimming and lounging, we headed up to the room to rest before our dinner at 1900 Park Fare and our night at MVMCP.
We arrive at the Grand Floridian around 4:30 for our PS, I went to check in and discovered that they had lost the cake order for my MILs birthday cake and the slipper for my DD. But they wrote everything down again and got us seated. The food was good but not outstanding here...with a few exceptions...we loved the Strawberry Soup, my FIL enjoyed the mussels and Princess Charlotte ate about three whole plates of the plain penne pasta that was offered on the childrens bar. We saw all of the characters right away except for Cinderella, but she was at the table when they brought out the cake and sang to Grandma Gail. Charlotte loved her slipper, but she ate some of the triple chocolate cake while I ate her filling and the raspberries. We had the rest of the cake boxed up and were trying to figure out how to squeeze it into the bottom of the stroller when the manager asked if we would like her to drop it off at SSR on her way home from work. She was so nice and we had to sign a waiver for her to deliver it, but it made it there safe and sound and was delivered to our room the next morning.
We headed over to the Magic Kingdom for the MVMCP. We were all very tired but very excited. We made it over to Tomorrowland and then they checked for our wristbands again. We were surprised to find out that Grandma Gail did not have one on, so we had to wait while she went back to the front of the park to get one. I dont know how she did not get one on the way in, all the rest of us did...she finally came back and we did the TTA, the Speedway and the Teacups. We then headed over to Fantasyland. Grandma Gail and Grandpa Numan took Charlotte on Snow White while I got in line to meet Sleeping Beauty, Princess Charlotte joined me in line while her grandmother told me that Charlotte didnt like Snow White and they were going to get on some more rides and walked off! I told her that Ernie had went to the bathroom and we were supposed to meet outside of Tinks shop...she just kept on going. Well, we waited to meet Sleeping Beauty and then we met up with Ernie...I told him what his mother had said and he said he saw her and she said that they were going to the bathroom. Well, we waited for them to come back for a little bit, and when they didnt return, we went on the Carousel, they still hadnt returned, so we took Charlotte on Dumbo, still no sign, and we rode the Carousel again...notice we didnt not leave the immediate area that we were originally in. Always keeping an eye out for them, Ernie just kept saying I cant believe she just left like that... well I could! I finally told him that I did not want to miss out on our family picture in our matching Mickey sweaters, so we walked over to Tommorowland to get the pic taken. On our way back, we rode the teacups a few more times...Charlotte loved it but I think five times in one evening is my threshold for spinning. We headed over to check Tinks again for the inlaws and moved back to watch Wishes from what I consider to be the wrong side of the castle...after that, we rode Dumbo again and watched Mickeys Philharmagic (which Charlotte loved) then headed to the front of the park to few the parade...we were just about to the end of Main Street to my fave viewing spot outside of the Barber shop when we found them...they had spent the last three hours just looking for us...as if it was our fault...well, they looked everywhere but where we were supposed to meet up, because we had left Charlottes stroller there every time we were in Fantasyland so if they went there, they would know we were nearby. Anyway, we were together once again to view the parade. Except the Princess fell asleep and missed the while thing...but I got some cute pictures of Wendy and Peter Pan sneaking a peek into her stroller. And I loved it when it snowed on Main Street!!! It was a magical night for the three of us, not so much for Ernies parents but it was their own fault...who just walks off in WDW!!! So, we carried off sleeping babe to bed and Ernie and I headed down to the hot tub...and sat watching Pleasure Island until we just about dozed off in the rocking chairs by the water...this quickly became our nightly ritual and one of the favorite parts of our whole trip. We strolled back to our room drowsy, exhausted from our busy day and looking forward to our day at the Magic Kingdom on Monday.
December 5, 2004
We awoke early despite our late night and Grandma Gail and I took a little walk to find coffee and a quick snack. We walked back to the hotel, gathered up the crew and headed for Saratoga Springs aka our Home away from Home! We were so excited. The trip went quickly and we arrived around 10 am at the resort. We had an easy check-in but our room was not ready yet, but we had the House of Blues Gospel Brunch to go to anyway.
Word of Warning!!! Do not rely on Disney Dining for info re: The Gospel Brunch...you must buy your tickets through the House of Blues...Disney Dining made PS for us to eat at the House of Blues at the same time as the Gospel Brunch, but in the restaurant, not the concert hall, so no buffet available and no entertainment. Luckily, we were able to buy tickets at the box office a few minutes before the show started. Anyway, we loved the brunch!!! The food was excellant, we were seated in two pews on the second floor, which the buffet up there is far less crowded than the buffet on the first floor. They offered an omelet bar, an assortment of juices and water, soft drinks to order and I believe you could also order Mimosas or Bloody Marys for an extra charge...this was all set up on the bar of the concert hall...behind our pews was the buffet table...Caeser salad, a tomato and onion salad, fresh fruit, peel and eat shrimp, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausge gravy, biscuits, crossaints, corn bread, BBQ Chicken, Jambalaya, prime rib...all was excellent! We really enjoyed the food and then when we were just about finished gorging ourselves...the show started...I cannot remember any of the names but before the curtains opened, a woman with a very striking voice began reading scripture...her voice was so passionate, tears came to my eyes. What presence she had...The music was also wonderful and uplifting...It was so nice to not feel like we were missing out on church while we were on vacation. If if ever are there on a Sunday again, I can assure you that we will be going to church at the HoB. The group preformed a lot of songs that we regularly sing in church and the ones we didnt know were easy to learn and to sing along to.
We left the HoB and called the resort...our 2 Bedroom Villa was ready...we were so excited! We couldnt walk back to Saratoga Springs fast enough. We found the van and drove to our Congress Park room #1321. We had a nice view directly across from Fultons Crabhouse and ran around checking out everything, changed our clothes and headed out to enjoy the Florida sunshine and the pool. We really enjoyed the quiet pool all week, we never even made it up the the big pool...we felt that this was enough. After an afternoon of swimming and lounging, we headed up to the room to rest before our dinner at 1900 Park Fare and our night at MVMCP.
We arrive at the Grand Floridian around 4:30 for our PS, I went to check in and discovered that they had lost the cake order for my MILs birthday cake and the slipper for my DD. But they wrote everything down again and got us seated. The food was good but not outstanding here...with a few exceptions...we loved the Strawberry Soup, my FIL enjoyed the mussels and Princess Charlotte ate about three whole plates of the plain penne pasta that was offered on the childrens bar. We saw all of the characters right away except for Cinderella, but she was at the table when they brought out the cake and sang to Grandma Gail. Charlotte loved her slipper, but she ate some of the triple chocolate cake while I ate her filling and the raspberries. We had the rest of the cake boxed up and were trying to figure out how to squeeze it into the bottom of the stroller when the manager asked if we would like her to drop it off at SSR on her way home from work. She was so nice and we had to sign a waiver for her to deliver it, but it made it there safe and sound and was delivered to our room the next morning.
We headed over to the Magic Kingdom for the MVMCP. We were all very tired but very excited. We made it over to Tomorrowland and then they checked for our wristbands again. We were surprised to find out that Grandma Gail did not have one on, so we had to wait while she went back to the front of the park to get one. I dont know how she did not get one on the way in, all the rest of us did...she finally came back and we did the TTA, the Speedway and the Teacups. We then headed over to Fantasyland. Grandma Gail and Grandpa Numan took Charlotte on Snow White while I got in line to meet Sleeping Beauty, Princess Charlotte joined me in line while her grandmother told me that Charlotte didnt like Snow White and they were going to get on some more rides and walked off! I told her that Ernie had went to the bathroom and we were supposed to meet outside of Tinks shop...she just kept on going. Well, we waited to meet Sleeping Beauty and then we met up with Ernie...I told him what his mother had said and he said he saw her and she said that they were going to the bathroom. Well, we waited for them to come back for a little bit, and when they didnt return, we went on the Carousel, they still hadnt returned, so we took Charlotte on Dumbo, still no sign, and we rode the Carousel again...notice we didnt not leave the immediate area that we were originally in. Always keeping an eye out for them, Ernie just kept saying I cant believe she just left like that... well I could! I finally told him that I did not want to miss out on our family picture in our matching Mickey sweaters, so we walked over to Tommorowland to get the pic taken. On our way back, we rode the teacups a few more times...Charlotte loved it but I think five times in one evening is my threshold for spinning. We headed over to check Tinks again for the inlaws and moved back to watch Wishes from what I consider to be the wrong side of the castle...after that, we rode Dumbo again and watched Mickeys Philharmagic (which Charlotte loved) then headed to the front of the park to few the parade...we were just about to the end of Main Street to my fave viewing spot outside of the Barber shop when we found them...they had spent the last three hours just looking for us...as if it was our fault...well, they looked everywhere but where we were supposed to meet up, because we had left Charlottes stroller there every time we were in Fantasyland so if they went there, they would know we were nearby. Anyway, we were together once again to view the parade. Except the Princess fell asleep and missed the while thing...but I got some cute pictures of Wendy and Peter Pan sneaking a peek into her stroller. And I loved it when it snowed on Main Street!!! It was a magical night for the three of us, not so much for Ernies parents but it was their own fault...who just walks off in WDW!!! So, we carried off sleeping babe to bed and Ernie and I headed down to the hot tub...and sat watching Pleasure Island until we just about dozed off in the rocking chairs by the water...this quickly became our nightly ritual and one of the favorite parts of our whole trip. We strolled back to our room drowsy, exhausted from our busy day and looking forward to our day at the Magic Kingdom on Monday.
