The one with the DGF...**Part 9 added on PG 3***

[WDW LOVR]

This tour was $100/person, but if you used your Disney Visa there was a 20% discount. There are other discounts available if you are a DVC member and I think also if you have an Annual pass, but the Disney Visa was the largest. I think the others might be 10-15%.

Over all the tour was 2 1/2 hours or so and it was worth every penny in our books.

 

[cjnix29]

Enjoying your trip report! Especially from a fellow NW Ohioan!

 

[WDW LOVR]

When we last left off we had just finished our most excellent adventure in the Living Seas. We head back to OKW to clean up for our evening at DTD. With everyone “neat and pretty” we head down to the dock to catch a relaxing ride on the boat from the Hospitality House to DTD, but drats! we see the boat pulling away just as we’re approaching the boat dock. Not really wanting to wait another half hour for the next boat (they run once an hour before 4:00 and every half hour after) we take the next bus, which shows up just a few minutes later. A short bus ride later and we’re half sprinting, heads down for the House of Blues. Having some breakfast at 10 or so this morning, swimming for 30 minutes in the LS and then heading to DTD at 5 or so in the evening with nothing to eat in between will leave you with a powerful hunger. And the HOB is just the place to take care of that hunger. We love the HOB. Every trip we talk about trying one of the other restaurants at DTD but we always end up at HOB, except when we’re just doing a light lunch or dinner and then it’s the Earl of course! Anyway, we’re seated after just a couple minutes wait but I think we probably waited 20 minutes for our server to show up. It must have just been a fluke because this was probably the 6th or 8th time we’ve eaten there and we always have had great service in the past. And the service was good this time too, once someone noticed us. We have our usual good meal which also as usual is too big to finish. Every time we go we threaten to split orders, but we never end up doing it, which is usually ok because we take the leftovers to our room and have them for breakfast the next day. Yah buddy, Cajun food for breakfast. That’ll put hair on your chest. And on the men’s chest’s too.

We waddle out and do some shopping at the HOB store and the Virgin record store before the kids go to Disney Quest. DW and I decide to take a walk down to the Marketplace to try and ease that massive ball of pain that is our stomachs. Well, we get about half way to the Marketplace and we spy the little patio outside Raglan Road which looks quite interesting. And what does any self respecting LOTW do when the kids are at the sitter’s…er….Disney Quest, with cell phones and instructions to call us when they’re done and we’ll tell them where we’re at? Well belly up, of course. And let me tell you, after HOB it’s a big belly to up, or something like that. A Harp draft for the little woman and a Bombay sapphire martini for the big (bellied) man. This was the largest martini I’ve ever seen that wasn’t made in my kitchen. And it’s the same price as any normal Bombay sapphire martini at WDW. Expensive, but when it’s easily double the size of any other martini I’ve had in The World (that’s Disney World, not the world) you’re not going to hear any complaints out of me. Well, at least not about the drinks. Maybe the metal part of my belt digging into that over lap induced by the HOB, but not the drinks. Thankfully we decided not to take the camera with us to DTD, I’m sure you guys wouldn’t want to see a picture of that. It wasn’t pretty. Anyway, Laurie and I sit on the patio, enjoying the evening, people watching and drinking large martini’s and Harp’s.

An hour or so into our big sit these couple of jolly green giant looking dudes come hopping, no, more like springing down the road. They have on these big yellow/green floppy wigs, green and yellow body suits, with fake muscles underneath and some kind of spring metal contraptions on their shoes that allowed them to bounce with every step. When they started jumping they were easily getting 5-6 feet off the ground. When they would run they could take probably 10 ft strides with these things. And that’s all they did. Bounced around. Scared people. Made the most of photo opportunities with the young ladies that were showing up at Pleasure Island for an evening of flirtin’ with the guys. Scared some more people. There were two families that came out on the patio for a meal. They were from the UK somewhere…that’s United Kingdom, not University of Kentucky for all you New Riegel folks…don’t ask, it’s a long story…..ok what the heck, this episode is almost over anyway.

Years ago we helped some friends from New Riegel, OH. plan a trip to WDW. We told them all our best hints, secrets, which days to go to which parks, where to stand for fireworks etc. We also told them to make sure they stopped by the English pub at Epcot and had a beer as it was a nice place to relax, the beer is good and cold and the people (both customers and CM’s) are friendly. The night they went to Epcot I was working the night shift and got a call from him. He wanted to tell me they had searched all over and didn’t see any English pub. I asked him if they’d walked around the World Showcase. Yes. Well, you walked right past it then. No we didn’t. We looked all over and couldn’t find an English pub. Which way did you walk I ask? Clockwise? Yes he says. If you walked clockwise you would have walked right into the thing as you cross the bridge between France and the United Kingdom. United Kingdom? Yeah, you know, United Kingdom, England, Great Britain. All the same thing. They are? Yep. Well we saw the United Kingdom, but we didn’t see the pub. What are you going to do? Cracked me up. We still harass them about that every once in a while.

Ok, back to the story…these two families sit down for a meal, 2 moms, 2 dads and 4 or 5 kids between them. The kids all sat down nicely and pulled out some of their recent purchases and started to color, play with the toys, etc. The dads got beers while the moms went inside to clean up (I’m assuming). While the kids are sitting at the table, behaving themselves nicely, one of the green meanies comes jumping up and leans way over the fence right over this boys (who was probably 5 or 6 yrs old) shoulder and yells really loud “hey, what cha doin?” Scared the huey out of the kid. He practically fell out of his chair trying to get away from the GM. The GM wanted the kid to slap him five, but the boy was having none of it. The other kids were talking to him, slapping hands and all, but the one boy said, no way. Well, another pack of young ladies gives the kid a break so he can return to his coloring. A short time later the GM’s come back and pull the same thing. Same result. Kid can’t get away fast enough. GM’s leave and this time the little boy moves his coloring book and markers to the other side of the table so the big bad GM’s can scare him again. Cracked me up. Not the little boy, but us, definitely yes.

DW and I enjoy the rest of the evening, sitting on that wonderful patio. The kids finish at DQ and meet up with us where DS#2 joins us for a drink (coke that is) while DS#1 and DGF go to the Marketplace to do a little shopping. They’re back a while later, we pay our bill and head back to OKW. BTW, that bill. Less than $60, and they take the DDE card. Man, I love that DDE card. And we were there a while and we had lots of drinks (LOTW take full advantage of every opportunity that presents itself). Laurie and I decide Raglan Road is one of our new best friends, just like Bill from PA on the Dis said it would be. We’ve got ADR’s there for our upcoming adults only trip in Oct. Looking forward to another evening of good food, good cheer and good people watching.

Tomorrow we switch resorts to BWV, go to Epcot and do an Illuminations cruise. See ya then!

 

[WDW LOVR]

Duplicate post, sorry. Must have twitched when I hit the send.

 

[tlmdisney]

I love this trip report!

 

[WDW LOVR]

The next part of our 9 night adventure is the day we switch resorts from OKW to BWV. Since we were moving to BWV we thought it would be smart to go to Epcot today. We also have an Illuminations Fireworks Cruise on the Breathless this evening, so besides a little pain packing everything up to move to BWV it should be a fun day.

We're up fairly early (for us ) considering the previous evenings introduction to Raglan Road, with it's Harp Beer and JUMBO martini's. We finished packing what we hadn't taken care of the previous day and call Bell Services to transport our luggage to the BW. I made sure to give the poor CM a decent tip as we were on the third floor, and luggage, groceries, beer and 5 days worth of Disney junk is quite a job to move.

Once at Epcot we plan to do the attractions in FW that we missed the first visit the previous Tuesday. That means I get to listen to the kids complain when I tell them we have to ride Living with the Land. They think that ride is the most boring in the history of mankind, but I LOVE it. I think it is too cool all the different experimental growing techniques that are on display. The kids think it's a snoozer. DW humors me by riding along even though I'm sure she agrees with the kids. I tell them that DGF has never been on the ride before so tough do-do, we're going. DGF is extremely smart and I'm sure she'll enjoy it. And she's very nice, so if she agrees with the kids (and DW) she'll tell me she enjoyed it, just to be polite. That's good enough for me. DS#1 is really going to be ticked when we make him ride Journey into Imagination next As I figured, DGF either really did like the ride or she's just too polite to burst my bubble. We move on to Imagination riding the figment ride and then watching Honey I shrunk the audience before heading to Biergarten for our lunch ADR's. DS#1 is ever the gentlemen as he tells DGF prior to the mouse around your ankles thing what's coming so she can pull her feet up. It must be true love

After our most excellent lunch, DW and I head over to the BW to check in while the kids head back to FW to ride TT and MS. We're in luck as our room is available and our luggage has already arrived. We get into our room, unpack most of the stuff and most importantly, get the beer in the Fridge.

Once back at Epcot we phone the kids and tell them we'll meet them at Canada for Off Kilter's first show at 2:30. I know I've read some pretty nasty threads about people on cell phones while at Disney, but for families with teens who want a little freedom, I think they're great. We can be in contact with them at any time (except in the Biergarten, that place is a castle!) and they can stretch their wings without their style being cramped by the parents. Anyway, what does any self respecting LOTW do when they have some free time away from the kids? The Rose and Crown, of course. A DDE discounted Harp for the little woman and a Boddington's for me. As the CM is giving us our beer I look down and there is a large group of CM's standing around the piano where Leon is singing Leaving on a Jet Plane. There is one CM in the middle of the group that seemed to be the center of attention while the rest of the CM's swayed back and forth singing at the top of their lungs to this young man. Leon is altering the words to fit the year the CM's spend at WDW and that's it's time for him to leave to head home. It was quite touching. I asked the CM bartender if that was a tradition for the departing CM's and she said yes. I'm sure there are many times those CM's can't wait to leave (especially after dealing with us pain in the rear guests), but there seemed to be quite a bit of love going around that I'm sure they'll value for the rest of their lives (or maybe I'm just full of it and he couldn't wait to get out of Dodge)........Anyway.......

we go strolling through the shops in UK, hoping, just hoping we'll run into the hotest au pair in the world.....You know who I'm talking about....that's right Mary Poppins. She's practically perfect in every way ya know. Well, as luck would have it we spy Mary strolling around one of the shops with none of the little rug rats tugging at her dress that always get in the way wrecking my "alone" time with Mary. I'm beside myself with excitement as I tell Mary she's my favorite and practically perfect in every way! Mary flirts with me while spelling supercalifrag...oh, you know the word...and then proceeds to spell it backwards! I'm in love. Beauty and brains too! I wonder if my company has any openings in our London office. From off in the distance I hear this strangly familiar voice saying "turn around." Being lost in my own little Poppins world it takes DW a couple more tries to get me to turn around so she can take my picture with Mary. What a wife! The woman of my dreams is flirtin with me big time and she want's to record it in picture for all time!

Ok, Ok, I don't want to hear it. If DW can drool all over Off Kilter's legs and Capt Jack Sparrow, I can have a dream if I want to. Mary and I make small talk for a few more minutes before DW starts getting impatient. Off Kilter is about to start and she wants to make sure she gets a seat. See, I told you.

I say my tear filled good-by to Mary, promising to look her up next time I'm in London and off we go, North to Canada. The kids are already camped out waiting for OK to begin.

Being the good kids they are, they even saved us seats. Off Kilter begins their set. I look over at DW and a little pool of drool is already beginning to trickle out the side of her mouth. Ok, in a sense of fair play, since I know all the men are book marking this thread so they can return to look at our picture of that goddess Mary, I'll give the ladies something to come back to also.

Ok, one more.

Off Kilter is excellent as usual. We'll watch them a couple more times before the end of the day. We check out MoRockin and British Invasion, watch the candy lady and Drummers at Japan, do some shopping, ride the Maelstrom, pick up a bottle of Laila perfume for DGF in Norway (It's the best! DW always has a bottle in storage just in case we can't make it back to WDW for a bit), enjoy some adult beverages and get some dinner at which ever CS strikes our fancies. It's approaching time for our Breathless Illuminations Cruise so we take a relaxing stroll over to the Yacht Club boat dock.

Our "Captain" Mike introduces himself. This is Mike.

He asks whether we've ever been on a fireworks cruise before and if we like to go fast. Yes, this is our 4th time on the Breathless and YES we want to go fast! For those of you unfamiliar with the Breathless or other fireworks cruises here's a few details. The Breathless is a replica of Dick Tracy's boat. It's a mahogany/teakwood speedboat. There are also pontoon boats available for the fireworks. Pontoon boats seat 12 (I believe) and the Breathless seats 7. I think 7 is stretching it unless someone wants to sit up front with the captain. Anyway, you leave from the Yacht Club dock, cruise down the channel to MGM and back and then you dock right under the bridge between France and UK to watch Illuminations. It's expensive, but it's also a blast. Snacks and soft drinks are included and you can order other things from Yacht Club dining. And what does any self respecting LOTW do when going on a Fireworks cruise? Order some "other things" from Yacht Club dining of course.

We leave the dock, taking the necessary pictures of course.

Here's the happy couple. Ain't they cute?

Here's DW, DS#2 and Me.

We head down to MGM and back. The pontoon boats are cruising also and the Breathless can't show her muscle as it'd give the other boats a ride they didn't pay for. We can only hope that we get a stretch of canal or Crescent Lake that allows us to (sorry Emeril) "kick it up a notch". Well as luck would have it as we're making the corner out into Crescent Mike says "Lets give you a little preview and the folks on the BW a show!" as he puts the hammer down. We fly past the BW, laughing and waving at the crowd the whole way. We make a hard left and circle around for another pass.

It's time for us to tie off on the bridge supports for Illuminations. It's already been a fantastic time and we haven't even seen the fireworks yet. Here's a picture of the crowd on the bridge right above us waiting for Illuminations.

The show begins and is awesome as usual. This is our favorite fireworks show in WDW. Nothing against Wishes or Fantasmic, but we like Illuminations the best. Here is the perspective you get being right on the water for the fireworks.

At the end of the show Mike unties us and asks if we're ready for some fun? Of Course we yell, Let's see what this boat can do! Mike takes us back to the canal between the Swan/Dolphin and MGM and spends the next 20-30 minutes flying back and forth, doing donuts and bouncing across our own wake. "I'm sure I'm making the Friendship boats mad" he says, but since it's Fathers Day "I'm going to give you guys a treat!" We head back to Crescent Lake and make about 3 or 4 more passes in front of the BW before Mike says it's time to head in. The kids plead with Mike for just a little more. "It's Fathers Day" they say and Mike agrees that we'll go for some more on this special day (For Me ). Back to MGM we go at full speed (which is close to 60 mph on the straight a ways) for some more donuts. Mike must have figured out we were up for a good time because on the last donut he cut across the wake and cut sharply to the left which planted a large portion of the MGM bay right in our laps. I remember thinking "there's a wall of water pouring all over me, but I don't care cause this is a blast". That pretty much ended the cruise. We did one more drag down the canal to Swan/Dolphin before heading to the Yacht Club dock. There's no way to adequately explain what fun we had. I'm not sure if we'll ever do another Breathless Cruise again because there is no way it could be as good as this.

We head back around Crescent Lake to our room at the BW, a fantastic day had by all. Next installment, Blizzard Beach and the Hoop Dee Doo Review.

 

[pumba]

thank you thank you thank you.......this is the greatest. I have never done the cruise but will some day. AND OFF KILTER IS MY FAVORITE.....I have one of their Cds and when I want to reminise I put it on.......thanks so much for reminding me....and Jamie is a doll...oops.....no drool honest

 

[almousefan]

That is so neat! I had no idea that there was a special boat ride you could take for the Illuminations. It sure has to beat milling around WS with 80,000 total strangers! I can hardly wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[WDW LOVR]

Bet I got you guys thinking on that third one, huh? Think BW as a home resort for 2 LOTW and fun evening entertainment.

Ok, we'll get to that later. We're up kind of early, for us Today is Blizzard Beach and the Hoop Dee Doo Review. We want to get to BB somewhat close to opening so we can do some of the water slides without waiting in lines too long. Especially Summit Plummet for me. So of course this is the worst bus wait and ride of the trip. We love the Epcot area resorts, but the bus system for the resorts, in a word, STINKS. You'd think with what you have to pay for staying at one of those resorts you could get a more efficient bus system, but no.

The bus picks us up at BW and then proceeds to Swan and Dolphin. They say the buses run every 20 minutes early in the day, but that was the longest 20 minutes I've ever seen. And then we get the driver that thought all the roads on WDW property were a school zone. So we get to BB around an hour after we arrived at the BW bus stop. We're not there as early as we intended, but still early enough that as I run to Summit Plummet (well, as close to running as this body does anymore) while the family gets a locker that I won't have to wait too long in line. By myself. Cause the rest of my family is a bunch of chickens. I've already explained the ride weinies in a previous episode and that weininess extends to Summit Plummet. They won't even try it. I'll say it again....Chickens. As I'm approaching the top of the stairs, by myself, I see the family waving and waiting at the bottom. My turn comes and off I go. This slide is the bomb! It gives you the wierdest sensation in your bootie as you're screaming down the slope. I come to a stop at the bottom and my kids say "you went the furthest of anyone to come down!" They think that's cool, I realize I need to go on a diet.

We head back up Mt Gushmore, on the stairs, to Teamboat Springs, the family raft ride. Once or twice more up that Mtn and I've got a pretty good start on that diet. We hop on with no wait, laughing and yelling all the way down. Lets do it again! So back up that Mtn we go. Again. Ok, the ole thighs are screamin now. No wait again and another fun ride down. The kids decide they want to check out the other water slides and DW and I decide to check out the lazy river before it gets too crowded. The lazy river is the best if it's not crowded, but when it is crowded it's the worst. Anyway, we tell the kids we'll meet them at the restaurant at noon and plop in the river for some serious relaxing.

We meet for lunch after 2 or 3 laps, ride some more water slides, mess around in the wave pool and decide to head back to the room to relax a little before heading off for the HDD.

With our 7:15 show time we decide that if we leave by 5:45 we should be to Ft Wilderness in plenty of time to get a relaxing beverage and sit in a rocking chair on the Crockett's Tavern porch for a bit before the show. A quick bus ride to MK and the Ft Wilderness boat from there shouldn't take more than 45 minutes tops. WRONG. The bus ride was quick enough. Probably 20 minutes tops from the time we got to the bus stop until we arrived at MK.....but then the wait started. The Ft Wilderness boat was just leaving as we ran up. That's ok, those boats run about every 20 minutes so we still should be to FW in good time. WRONG. It was close to 40 minutes before the next boat came and by the time we stop at WL on our way to FW it's almost 7:00. We half run up to Pioneer Hall to make sure we get our picture taken prior to the show. And of course, the line is long and it begins to spit rain. We plead with the CM to not stop taking pictures before they get to us. She looks at the sky and tells us we'll be ok. This will be our 8th time to the HDD and we've purchased the pre-show picture each time. It's kind of neat watching the kids grow up in the series of HDD pictures.

Here's this years installment.

This is DGF's first visit to the HDD and DS#1 is so excited to be taking her. We love the HDD. I know it's corn ball humor and the food is just ok, but WE LOVE IT. We're seated in the 3rd row first table on the left. It's not a bad table, but we've had better. But we don't let that dampen our excitement for the show. The HDD doesn't disappoint. DGF has a great time and thanks us profusely for bringing her along. My kids wonder if we're going to come to the HDD the next time we come to Disney.

We take the standby bus back to the BW which is a lot more efficient than we figured it would be. By the time we get back to the resort, the kids are cooked. Lots of swimming at BB and a fun evening with a large meal at the HDD and they're ready to hit the hay.

Well, what does any self respecting LOTW do at 9:30 at night on the Boardwalk when the kids have visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads? Go to Jellyrolls of course

If you've never been to Jellyrolls, you have to go. It is a great way to spend an evening. It's a Monday night so the the crowd is fairly small but that doesn't mean the place isn't jumping. A Miller Lite for the bride and a martini for me. Uh...we don't have any olives the CM says. Excuse me, what bar in the world doesn't have olives? I guess, this one. Our plans to skip the grocery stop on the trip from the Airport to WDW in October just changed. That's right. We're stopping for a jar of olive so I can take them along to Jellyrolls. Having a martini without olives is like having a beer without a smoke, it's like....Ok, can't finish that one on a family site like the Dis, but if you've been watching Last Comic Standing you'll know where I was going. If you haven't been watching, what are you thinking? That show is absolutely histerical. Anyway, the evening goes too quick, and as we stumble back along the boardwalk to our room we talk about how much fun we have everytime we visit and about how we can't wait for our next trip to Jellyrolls.

Next installment = MGM, Epcot and a celebrity sighting in the pool at BW.

 

[mytwotinks]

I am loving your trip report! What lucky kids you guys have. It is great to read your report and hear about how much fun you have with your teenagers.

 

[AussieAngel]

Awww, that's a great photo of everybody at Hoop-Dee-Doo!

And on a side note, you really, really remind me of somebody, WDW Lovr, but I don't know who!! I've been looking at your photos tonight for longer than is generally thought acceptable, trying to figure out who you look like!! Tehehee!

Anyhoo, great trip report! You're very brave to do Summit Plummet! I'm so clumsy, I'd probably fall forward half way down and land on my head.

 

[almousefan]

Can't wait to hear about the celebrity sighting! Don't keep us hanging!

 

[WDW LOVR]

I know it's been a while, but I've been out of town for work for the last 3 weeks and haven't had a chance to write. We just made reservations for a family Christmas at OKW so the juices are flowing again as I write in my hotel room.

When we last left off the bride and I were stumbling along the Boardwalk back to our rooms after another fantastic evening at Jellyrolls. Tomorrow MGM is the plan.

We sleep in today. We've been to MGM once already this trip and staying at Jellyrolls until the wee hours makes the adults want to sleep as long as teenagers do every day. Gosh I wish I could sleep like that again, without a 5th of gin.

We head out around 10:30 or so, and being a nice day, we decide to walk to MGM. As we approach, I get that uneasy feeling. There's too many people crowding around the entrance. We're really beginning to notice that the crowds have picked up the second week of our trip. Not to worry. We have ADR's at 50's PT and DS#1 is excited about taking DGF there. If all we do is ride a couple rides and go to eat and then find something else to do, that's ok with us.

Well, that was about the extent of it. We grabbed some FP's for ToT, walked around a little looking for another attraction to do, to no avail, so decided to go to 50's 45 minutes early to see if we could get in. If not, there's always the bar.

The bar it is. I order a Dad's lemonade and the little misses a beer. Dad's lemonade is one of the foo foo drinks that they put the little flashing ice cube in. Our previous day at MGM I had to drink 3 of them (and rip on some dork in plaid pants and sandals with black socks criticizing me about my foo foo drink) because it was so hot (that's my story and I'm sticking to it), so each of our kids, yep, we're considering DGF one of the kids, each had their own cube. After my first "lemonade" I'm standing there playing with my cube (??) when I notice this little girl standing there looking like she really really wanted to ask me for the cube. Well, I might be an ox, but I'm a softie at heart, so I ask her if she'd like it. She's quite shy at first as I'm sure her parents have told here about accepting things from strangers but after I tell her she can have it if she wants, she accepts. She heads over to the bar where the rest of her family is (Mom, Dad and sister) and starts rubbing it in her sister's nose. I see her explaining how she got it and pointing to us and 30 seconds later she comes over with Dad (I'm thinking he's going to make her return it). He asks in a French accent (not up on my french, but I would suspect Quebec) if I was sure she could have it. Of course I say and he tells me I just made his daughter the happiest little girl at WDW. Well that put a big smile on my face, but also a frown as the sister was shut out. Oh darn, I guess I'll have to have another! 55 minutes after arriving (and about 3 minutes after getting the next lemonade) we finally get seated. I'm not too upset as the bar was good (see earlier episode) and it was air conditioned. Anyway, we get seated and begin to peruse the menu.

Of course the kids go straight for the desert menu.

As luck would have it, our French friends sit at a table close by. I finish my drink and plan on giving it to the sister when we leave. As it was, the little girl had to use the restroom and Dad was taking her which they had to walk right past our table to get too. I grabbed Dad's arm and offered the other daughter my other ice cube and you should have seen her face light up! It was the best. Dad told me that I had just made here day while thanking me again and again.

Dinner is great as usual. See the smile on the bride's face?

Our server is in character, both with us and the tables surrounding us. We leave with bellies full and naps on our minds. At least the adults minds. Lucky for us MGM is crawling with people so the kids suggest going back to the BW for a swim. Ok, you guys go back to the room, Laurie and I are going to OKW to pick up those DVC watches we had our eye on before we moved to BW. And then a nap.

We get the watches and get back to our room around 3:00, thinking a nice nap would be great. I DON'T THINK SO. DS#1 and DGF want to do a little shopping on the BW and DS#2 wants to swim. Ok, I'll go swim while the little woman gets a nap. Because a rested mom is a happy family. Guys, you know what I mean.

The two of us head down to the pool and DS#2 heads for the water slide. It's still unnerving seeing him come screaming out of that clowns mouth.

Some how it's like you expect someone with a hockey mask and chain saw to be right behind him, but he survives. About the third trip down the slide, from behind me I hear a voice that sounds familiar. It sounds like Andy from the show According to Jim . I turn around and swear it's him. He's got a couple kids hanging off his back having a grand old time. Just about then I hear this other guy say to his daughter "I swear it's him" and "I'm going to go ask him". Just then my son come swimming up and I show him Andy. We walk over and I ask if he's Andy from the show and he says "yes I am". He sticks out his hand and introduces himself as Larry. My son and I introduce ourselves and we have a short conversation. Larry was the nicest guy. I ask if this is their first time at the BW and he tells us yes and that they love it. He also points out that the two young acrobats hanging off his back are on their first trip to WDW. We talk for a few more minutes and I decide it's time to leave him and his family alone. Boy the Wife's not going to believe this one. She never does.

A number of years ago we were at BB and I saw Chris Everett (the tennis star) in the bobbing wave pool. Laurie thinks I'm crazy. A few years later we're in line for Test Track when I see Rick Barry (the NBA hall of famer) in line a few people in front of us. She doesn't believe me until the next day when we see Rick Barry is appearing live at the ESPN club that day. So I'm sure this will be no different. We finish swimming and go back to the room. Nan a nan a boo boo, guess who we saw? We tell her the story and she actually believes us. For a minute. The first chance DS#2 gets to be alone with her he tells her we made the whole thing up. He's such a little dickens. Now she doesn't believe us anymore.

We get cleaned up and decide to go to Epcot for the evening.

Here's a couple pictures from the evening.

This one is kind of a tradition. I always take a family picture at the fountain in France.

This one is towards the end of the night on our way to an Extended Hours ride on Soarin. Which never happened as the wait was 120 minutes (heck with the extended hours). So we go back to Norway (where they're still selling beer) to ride the Malestrom. No wait, so 3 or 4 laps around Norway and we're ready to call it a night. All in all a great day. See ya next time (Including a Larry sighting at the BW Bakery).

 

[almousefan]

Great to hear the rest of the story! My husband had a similar experience with John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves. He saw him as we were dining out one evening, but he failed to bring it to the family's attention until he was out of sight. We didn't believe him until we ran into him later in the evening.

 

[WDW LOVR]

Today is our last full day at the world. I get up earlier than usual and with DS#2 in tow, go to the BW Bakery to get breakfast. Who's standing in line right in front of us? Yep...Larry from the BW pool. I point him out to the boy who asks if I'm going to say anything to him. No, let's leave him alone. Besides Larry is makin the CM's scramble. Now Larry is either a big eater because of the show or he is a natural big eater who happens to play a large man on the show. Either way his Bakery order was impressive....this coming from a guy who can eat with the best of them.

Quick story. The first Thanksgiving Laurie and I spent together we were at her Mom's house having dinner. I'm about half way through the feast when I notice the other 7 or 8 people there just sitting, empty plates, everyone quiet. I looked up from my third plate of food and Laurie's aunt just starts giggling. I ask (thru my mashed potato filled cheeks), What? She says "I just love to watch you eat!"....

I believe God gives every person on earth one special talent, and mine is eating.....So I'm a guy who knows his food, and Larry is my idol. I know he has 4 kids (found that out in the pool yesterday) and a wife to feed, but man that was the biggest take out Bakery order I've seen since John Belushi in Animal House....hey, maybe there's a connection there....Larry's on the show with John's brother Jim....hmmmmm, I'll have to think on that one a little.

After breakfast we clean up and head to Epcot. If you haven't figured it out by now, Epcot is our favorite. We have ADR's at Chef's at 5:00 and are planning on spending the day doing all our favorites, listening to the bands and assulting the livers.

It's a nice day, even though hot but we have a great time. We get to Chef's right at 5:00 and are seated promptly right next to the windows. We were hoping we'd get a table by the windows so we could look out at the WS while having dinner. This is our first time at Chef's and it won't be our last. We try to eat at one new restaurant at WDW each trip and this choice does not disappoint. DGF took 4 years of French in H.S. and spent 2 weeks in France this past school year, so we tell her she has to do all the ordering for the group. Our CM server was from Monaco (which DGF visited when she was in France) and she was fantastic. She answered all our questions, kept our drinks full and was one of the most polite servers we've ever had at Disney. Laurie and I each tried a glass (well, multiple glasses) of Pinot Blanc. This was the first time we've tried this wine and it is now our favorite. Light, semi-dry with just the hint of sweetness. All in all a very good wine. Our food is promptly served and is all very tasty. My escargot appetizer was fantastic.

The rest of the evening is spent just wandering around the WS, taking in the sights and sounds, just enjoying the fact we're at Disney, but lamenting the fact that tomorrow we head home. We watch illuminations one more time (because it's our favorite) and head back to the BW to pack up for the trip home.

Next up, our last day....