The Tale of the Grow Walk .Hunh?

[jenseib]

Sounds like a lovely evening. Very nice rooms, too.

it was.

That's a very nice room and pool area! Looks like Claire had a nice time.

I'm glad you were able to get the photo from Deb!

Deb is so nice and thoughtful!

They are giving out smartphones to use.

Good to know!

How nice that the crowds at Hollywood Studios were more manageable and that you did not have to wait long for Startours. The hotel looks really nice, but what a shame that you struggled with getting backwards and forwards.

Corinna

It was a nice way to end the evening at DHS. And once we got to the Marriott and figured out how to get there, it was much easier spotting the driveway , though in the dark is wasn't always well marked.

That Marriott looks very nice! I really like your room(s) and the pool area. How fun that they show Disney movies at the pool!!

I know I thought that was funny too. I suppose a lot of people that stay there go to Disney. They had scheduled activities each day/night and if I was just hanging at the resort it had a lot of options. I, however, am not one to just hang at the hotel much.

So funny the difference in the parks! One is packed to the gills the other much emptier! The Marriott looks really nice! They really have some great hotels. Claire just loves to swim doesn't she! I feel like her wanting to swim has been a theme of all your TRs! I can't believe how tall she is too. She is gonna be taller than you pretty soon!

She LOVES swimming. My BIl across the street has a pool but they have not opened it up for the last 2 summers ...which is driving us batty.
So whenever we go anywhere, swimming is on her list of must dos!

 

[MEK]

Needless to say, Claire was very happy we went to the meet and she thought they were both a lot of fun. See mother know best!

Super cute picture and yes - momma always knows best! You mean Claire hasn't caught on to that yet?

 

[MEK]

figment by jenseib, on Flickr

Momma may always know best, but kids do have a way of getting what they want. But, you're right - it would be a shame to have it close and not have a stuffed Figment to remember it by.

 

[MEK]

Love the manatees. I got to kayak with them in February and it was awesome!

Lovely aquarium pics.

Weren't the topiaries great this year? Cute picture of Alice!

I love Via. I totally agree that it is a must do every time I visit. I just love the pizza. It is SO good! Oops to knocking the sauce over.

I love the Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure. It is definitely not something I need to do every trip, but I do like to visit every few years. I think its very well down and it just exudes patriotism. Call me a fan. Great pics!

I think I am caught up!

 

[jenseib]

Super cute picture and yes - momma always knows best! You mean Claire hasn't caught on to that yet?

I know!! You would think by now she would know that!

Momma may always know best, but kids do have a way of getting what they want. But, you're right - it would be a shame to have it close and not have a stuffed Figment to remember it by.

Yes they do!

Love the manatees. I got to kayak with them in February and it was awesome!

Now that would be fun and a bit scary too!

Lovely aquarium pics.

Weren't the topiaries great this year? Cute picture of Alice!

I love Via. I totally agree that it is a must do every time I visit. I just love the pizza. It is SO good! Oops to knocking the sauce over.

I just love it there! I need to bring Skip there some day....if he ever gets away long enough to come. It's been several years since he's been to Epcot now.

I love the Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure. It is definitely not something I need to do every trip, but I do like to visit every few years. I think its very well down and it just exudes patriotism. Call me a fan. Great pics!

I think I am caught up!

I felt patriotic too!!

 

[petals]

catching up.

You went to Via Napoli. I loved it there. Lots of fine sights... I mean food there

Luvin the nemo border on the photopass pics.. Instead of pre ordering why don't you just get a card if you use it and then asking online after if there's anyone you can share in with to get your photos cheaper after, I've seen people do shares of those things before online

Luvin Claire's Minnie mouse style shades btw!

So cool with Perry appearing in the water.

 

[KatMark]

All caught up...and will comment on what I remember.

Glad Claire enjoyed her mission.

I hate rude, ignorant foreigners. We have had our run-ins with them in the past.

I love your "no eyes" on Spaceship Earth.

I never thought to go to Beaches & Cream for just dessert...what a novel idea.

The Marriott is gorgeous.

 

[jenseib]

catching up.

You went to Via Napoli. I loved it there. Lots of fine sights... I mean food there

Umm...yeah...I know what you mean!

Luvin the nemo border on the photopass pics.. Instead of pre ordering why don't you just get a card if you use it and then asking online after if there's anyone you can share in with to get your photos cheaper after, I've seen people do shares of those things before online

They are doing away with photopass these days, so it's harder to do a share and the memory maker is harder to do a share, though doable, but you have to have it ahead of time to get the ride photos.

Luvin Claire's Minnie mouse style shades btw!

So cool with Perry appearing in the water.

It was a fun mission for her and it kept her happy for a bit!

All caught up...and will comment on what I remember.

Glad Claire enjoyed her mission.

I hate rude, ignorant foreigners. We have had our run-ins with them in the past.

I love your "no eyes" on Spaceship Earth.

I never thought to go to Beaches & Cream for just dessert...what a novel idea.

The Marriott is gorgeous.

I hate rude foreigners too. I don't get why they think they can be like that.

It was the funniest thing with me having no eyes....and we later find out it wasn't just any pair of sunglasses that would do it...I must have special ones.

That's not dessert....thats dinner!!!!

 

[jenseib]

March 23, 2014, Sunday

As I always do, I woke up way too early. I headed outside and took a little walk. I met a lady today and we got to talking. She was there with her husband and son who was close to Claire’s age. They were doing Disney and Universal I believe. We had a nice chat and soon it was time to head back to the room to get showered and ready for our day. I woke Claire and she got moving, but slowly. But at least she was moving.
We all had a breakfast ADR this morning and we were meeting up with my cousin Katie, who was also at the world. I believe this was her last full day here and would be heading home tomorrow, so we thought it would be nice to have breakfast with her and her family since our trips overlapped.
You may remember Katie from my 2012 Nov. trip report. Her family cruised with us…..Thad, and her 2 boys, Jude and Luke.
Even though we don’t live too far from each other, we don’t see each other very often.

I programmed Siri and Mom and Dad were going to follow us over to the Poly. Of course when we came to the MK gates, I couldn’t remember which way to enter and entered on the wrong side. I told the gate CM that the car behind me was also going to the Poly and then we made the crazy dash across all the lanes and luckily we were not killed, nor did we kill others…though I am sure someone probably cussed us out at some point……SORRY!!!!

Now the Poly is under construction and it was quite the mess there, but we had our bands checked as we entered…I told them once again the car behind us was part of our ADR and we found our parking, which was kind of far out, but not too bad.

We did have a little bit of a walk up to the resort, but it wasn’t awful.







Once we were about to enter, Dad realized he left his hat in the car. So he headed back to get that and we went inside. He is a hat fanatic and has to wear one while outside.

I believe this is now gone. I probably was there right before they started work in here.









We actually were early, but looked around for Katie and family.



We headed upstairs and still no sign of Katie yet.











Dad made it back and found us and Katie finally arrived as well. However, Thad didn’t make it….he was sick. I think both of her boys had been sick over the week as well. I know Luke was sick the day before they left, but I think he popped back to health pretty fast, but then Jude got sick one day while they were there and I think they even skipped a park day because of it. Thad took ill today and she was hoping he would feel a bit better later in the day to join them.

I went and checked us all in and Claire and I were the only takers on the photo op…..ok, it was mostly me and I made Claire join me.







We had a little wait before we were called back. The boys were getting antsy, and I could tell Katie was getting tired. They had a full week so they were wired…..oh and Katie was expecting as well….and she just had a little girl about 2 weeks ago.

Then a funny thing happened. Katie pulled out a bag of candy…I think it was skittles or something like that….and tells Jude he can only have like 3 as the rest are for Luke. She goes on to explain that Luke refuses to eat pretty much all real food and this is practically the only thing she can get him to eat….and she’s a pediatrician!!! I thought that was funny. And Luke must be surviving as he looks healthy. She says she tries to shove food in his mouth when she can, but she isn’t very successful.

She also told us since Thad wasn’t joining us, that we could use one of their dining credits….they did deluxe dining …..and she didn’t want to lose the credit. We decided that we would put Dad on her bill.

After a bit of waiting, we were called back….thank goodness as we were all starving now.



We had bread on the table, but I am one of the few that is not fond of it…because their famous bread has coconut in it and I can’t stand coconut….I tried it again and it was still icky!

I did nibble at the other kind, but that has raisins in it, which I also don’t like, so I had to pick those out.





Last time we ate here in 2012 it was just OK. Nothing special and we had a poor waitress, which probably made us not care for it so much. This time we had a great waitress and plenty of food and refills on drinks. The food tasted better too.
We did tell the waitress how to split the bills and of course Dad starts up with…”I’m not with them, I’m with her”….UGH…we tell him to just be quiet and go with the flow.

 

[JKSWonder]

I was thinking "Ohana?" I could swear after your 2012 report you were never going to go back there.

The Marriott looked nice and that's good to know that because my father just gave me and my sister his timeshare interest which is exchangeable with Interval International, so I'm keeping my eye out for good places.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am glad that your breakfast at 'Ohana this time round was a better experience. We noticed the same between September 2010 and December 2013. They food was much better and the service had improved.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

I was thinking "Ohana?" I could swear after your 2012 report you were never going to go back there.

The Marriott looked nice and that's good to know that because my father just gave me and my sister his timeshare interest which is exchangeable with Interval International, so I'm keeping my eye out for good places.

You are right.....for dinner. I just did not like the food much at all for dinner...and it will be quite a while before I give it a chance again. Breakfast was just Ok...but I wasn't planning on going back anytime soon for that either as we had bad service...but this is the day my cousin wanted to eat here and it was the only day that would work to overlap and do a meal so I just went with it, not expecting much at all out of it....I am glad we did as the food was really good this time around and much better service.

I am glad that your breakfast at 'Ohana this time round was a better experience. We noticed the same between September 2010 and December 2013. They food was much better and the service had improved.

Corinna

It really was night and day. In 2012 it was just food, nothing special...I swear this time everything tasted so much better!

 

[petals]

I loved O'Hana for breakfast but then when Stitch was there i would have been happy anyway

 

[Woth2982]

Glad to hear your breakfast went better this time around! I swear a good wait staff really makes a difference! I can see how thrilled Claire was with that photo lol. Poor cousin Katie with three sick family members. Almost worse they weren't all sick at once just to get it over with. Hopefully she didn't get sick too. Nice you were all able to meet up for breakfast! What is it with men and their "Im not with them" moments? Kids do it too lol.

 

[KatMark]

Always the far right for the resorts when headed to the MK resorts.

Yes, that is all gone at the Poly now...so sad when we were there in June.

We've not done Ohana. First, I don't like Stitch and I don't like family style; I prefer a buffet where I can pick the food I want. I don't do eggs so that kind of kills the whole Ohana thing for me. And that bread...yuck; I don't blame you for not liking it.

I have to say your dad cracks me up. He reminds me a lot of my dad and you just have to tell them to shush and go with the flow.

All that little boy eats is candy and she is a pediatrician?

 

[mickeystoontown]

I remember those cute little boys from your cruise report. It's funny that your cousin, the pediatrician, is giving her son Skittles. I guess I'm like her a bit. That's why Hunter started eating Little Debbie Fudge Rounds for breakfast many years ago. It was all that I could get him to eat. Now, he's ventured out a bit but that was all that I could get down him back then.

We've never tried Ohana for breakfast mostly because John can't stand Stitch. Everything you had looked really good though. Well, except for the bread with raisins. I'd have picked those out too.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oops forgot to add that I laughed at the vision of you two cars zooming across the lanes of traffic to get to the Polynesian. That's sooooo something that I would do. And, your Dad and his "I'm not with them comment". I'm sorry but he's just too funny with his comments. That's what my Mama would say too. You just gotta at 'em.

 

[FancyNancy]

That was so nice of your cousin to give you dad her extra dining credit!

That really stinks that her whole family was sick at one point or another on their trip. That is like my worst fear for a Disney trip. That I come down really sick on my trip and have to miss park days!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Glad you had a better experience this time at 'Ohana - and that was very thoughtful of Katie to gift you one of their dining credits!

 

[jenseib]

I loved O'Hana for breakfast but then when Stitch was there i would have been happy anyway

We aren't stitch fans....we don't dislike him either....just not a big deal to us. But I do love his blue color and how it makes nice photos!

Glad to hear your breakfast went better this time around! I swear a good wait staff really makes a difference! I can see how thrilled Claire was with that photo lol. Poor cousin Katie with three sick family members. Almost worse they weren't all sick at once just to get it over with. Hopefully she didn't get sick too. Nice you were all able to meet up for breakfast! What is it with men and their "Im not with them" moments? Kids do it too lol.

A good server does make a difference. But the food was much better too.
I go to see Katie today and her new baby who is just 3 week old...such a cutie.
My dad is attached to my moms hip.

Always the far right for the resorts when headed to the MK resorts.

Yes, that is all gone at the Poly now...so sad when we were there in June.

We've not done Ohana. First, I don't like Stitch and I don't like family style; I prefer a buffet where I can pick the food I want. I don't do eggs so that kind of kills the whole Ohana thing for me. And that bread...yuck; I don't blame you for not liking it.

I have to say your dad cracks me up. He reminds me a lot of my dad and you just have to tell them to shush and go with the flow.

All that little boy eats is candy and she is a pediatrician?

I swear I know that too...but it's like I get there and my brain goes totally backwards. Plus the pressure of making sure my parents don't get lost!!!
You know, I am not a big egg fan either. At places like this, I often try it, but one helping is enough....though while at Disneyland....we had some darn good eggs. The bread however....YUCK!
My dad just doesn't pay attention....
I know...Kaite totally cracks me up. I saw her today at a family party and she said he still refuses to eat most food. He does like fruit, so she can get a bit of that in him and he likes greek yogurt...but she can only get about 1 of those a day, but she has looked up his protein needs and the yogurt gives him his daily needs. She says every so often she can force a few chicken nuggets in him.