The Twelve Days of Swinter: From Castaway 'Key' to a Partridge in a Palm Tree!

[monica23535]

Great update as usual

Does the fan still feature so prominantly in your daughters life all these months later?

 

[sharonW]

the landscaping is really pretty at CBR, actually the entire resort looks like heaven. I always shyed away from staying at CBR because of it being so spread out and I felt there is more then enough walking in the parks. Your pics are awesome. You'd better get a few nice big photo albums(now that i opened the worm can again!) and start filling them with these wonderful disney memories you've made! Great update!

 

[sjs314]

Rinky I can not believe how beautiful CBR is. Looking fwd to reading about your lunch at Starring Rolls. We sadly missed going there

You are slowly making me think about going end of Oct into November to see the Halloween/Christmas transformation

 

[MeMom]

You just continue to fuel the fire on my wait for staying at CBR. I think what I have decided to do is stay there next spring when the only traveler with me will be my friend, Kay. Jill had already stayed there, so I won't feel guilty staying at a new place without her. We could stay at CBR the first 2-3 nights and then transfer right around the corner to Pop and make the rest of the trip not so costly. Unless we get lucky and get free dining, and then we might just stay in one place - either just stay at CBR the whole time or at Pop the whole time. My other thought was to give All-Star Movies another go 'round since the refurb. Who knows where we will end up. I'd like Kay to stay in one of the nicer resorts, since she's only stayed at values. She enjoys resort hopping, and I know she would enjoy staying at a nice place. We'll just have to see what seems good as this 'year away still' trip formulates.

The CBR food court is very good. We go over there to get the chicken/fish meals with vegetables sometimes when we get tired of burgers and nuggets.

I just put some colorful jewels up on our report, too. Looked a lot like yours.

I'll have to skip school sometime and go that last week in October/first of November to see the overnight change.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Great update as usual

Does the fan still feature so prominantly in your daughters life all these months later?

Thanks! No the fan is not glued to her hand anymore. She does have it displayed in her room though.

the landscaping is really pretty at CBR, actually the entire resort looks like heaven. I always shyed away from staying at CBR because of it being so spread out and I felt there is more then enough walking in the parks. Your pics are awesome. You'd better get a few nice big photo albums(now that i opened the worm can again!) and start filling them with these wonderful disney memories you've made! Great update!

Well I would agree with you about CBR. It is too spread out in my opinion. I knew going in that I REALLY wanted a room in Jamaica (or Aruba) so that we could be right next to the bridge. If we had been placed anywhere else, I'm not sure I would have liked it very much. I totally agree about there already being plenty of walking and not wanting to do even more at the resort. Honestly, if they would've refused me a room in Jamaica or Aruba, I was going to pay the difference and upgrade to preferred. Some people don't mind the extra walking at all, but sadly, I'm not one of them. And our trips are always so long that I just can't walk like that nonstop for 12 days. Maybe when I was 20, but...

Rinky I can not believe how beautiful CBR is. Looking fwd to reading about your lunch at Starring Rolls. We sadly missed going there

You are slowly making me think about going end of Oct into November to see the Halloween/Christmas transformation

You know I had no idea that we were going to see both seasons. That was a total surprise to me. I thought they didn't decorate until the first MVMCP which isn't until about the 10th. I am so glad we got to see some of it though. Our other two trips were during the Christmas season and I loved it! So this was that best of both worlds!

You just continue to fuel the fire on my wait for staying at CBR. I think what I have decided to do is stay there next spring when the only traveler with me will be my friend, Kay. Jill had already stayed there, so I won't feel guilty staying at a new place without her. We could stay at CBR the first 2-3 nights and then transfer right around the corner to Pop and make the rest of the trip not so costly. Unless we get lucky and get free dining, and then we might just stay in one place - either just stay at CBR the whole time or at Pop the whole time. My other thought was to give All-Star Movies another go 'round since the refurb. Who knows where we will end up. I'd like Kay to stay in one of the nicer resorts, since she's only stayed at values. She enjoys resort hopping, and I know she would enjoy staying at a nice place. We'll just have to see what seems good as this 'year away still' trip formulates.

The CBR food court is very good. We go over there to get the chicken/fish meals with vegetables sometimes when we get tired of burgers and nuggets.

I just put some colorful jewels up on our report, too. Looked a lot like yours.

I'll have to skip school sometime and go that last week in October/first of November to see the overnight change.

I think that sounds like a great idea to go in the spring with Kay, although your girls would LOVE that pool so that would be a bummer for them to miss that. But we did just what you mentioned. We stayed at CBR b/c of the free dining promo. You had to stay at a mod to get the table service for free so we priced out just staying at CBR the whole time or staying at Pop and paying the difference for the TS dining upgrade. It was such a small difference in price that it just made sense to stay at CBR. I hope you get that same kind of deal next spring!

I can't believe we posted the same picture on the same day!

 

[sharonW]

Forgot to say how neat it was getting to experience the two seasons at the world, seems like the time frame you picked is perfect. You get more for your money!! now who doesn't like that!!

 

[MEK]

That was a lovely tour of CBR. You've got a great eye for pictures. You would love a DSLR and you could just start by using the auto or programmed mode and they start fooling around with the settings. Having the eye will give you a head start.

Now I have to admit, I never considered visiting when fall decorations are out one day and Christmas start the next. That's awesome and it really gives me something to think about when I pick our cruise date.

Your daughter has another adorable outfit on! And I personally think the fan goes quite well.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Forgot to say how neat it was getting to experience the two seasons at the world, seems like the time frame you picked is perfect. You get more for your money!! now who doesn't like that!!

We really enjoyed that aspect of the trip and it was so unexpected! Just a little extra pixie dust that we got!

That was a lovely tour of CBR. You've got a great eye for pictures. You would love a DSLR and you could just start by using the auto or programmed mode and they start fooling around with the settings. Having the eye will give you a head start.

Now I have to admit, I never considered visiting when fall decorations are out one day and Christmas start the next. That's awesome and it really gives me something to think about when I pick our cruise date.

Your daughter has another adorable outfit on! And I personally think the fan goes quite well.

Well thank you for the nice comments. The only time I seem to get any picture practice (I dare not call it photography ) is when we are on vacation. I occasionally have the time to play around with it when we are at home, but there is not much that's picture worthy around here. I have to travel at least a hour & 1/2 to get anywhere that has anything pretty enough to try to photograph.

I think when I finally do make the switch to SLR, I'm going to take a photography class to help me learn all the settings. That is the hard part to me. A lot of times I can see a good picture just waiting to be taken, but just can't quite figure out the best settings for the situation. The P, C, M, Av and Tv are what confuse me. I've read up on each one, but I still get mixed up as to when to use what. AND it doesn't help me that whenever I am taking pictures, my loving and patient family is always rushing me along! I did go out on two more walking tours around CBR though pretty early in the morning while they were still sleeping and I was amazed at how much better the pictures were when they were not there hurrying me along! I'm apparantly not very good at multitasking, because when I am trying to watch my child and being asked a million questions with every breath, I just cannot concentrate on taking good pictures!

Oh well, it's a work in progress and I thoroughly enjoy it whether the pictures turn out perfect or not.

The change over of seasons was really cool. We felt like we were in a time warp or something! I had my mind set on this being a fall trip so the Christmas stuff was a nice surprise. We have been twice before in early November and the Christmas stuff was already out, but I knew it would be b/c the MVMCPs had already started. It was a great time to go though and I would pick that time frame again!

The fan is in the same color palette as her outfit isn't it? I'm fairly certain she didn't plan it that way! I need to look through the rest of my trip pictures again and see just how long that fan hung around!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Oh I was SO looking forward to your CBR pics !! I actually had Jayden sitting here with me and he was like "Oh, Mom, I really want to stay there sometime !!" and I said "maybe next trip we can" (and I'm NOT kidding !!)
I can't wait to surprise him !! :banana
How cool that you got to see the seasons "change"like that !!

 

[micandminforever]

I loved the CBR pictures we stay there last year and it was so much found sitting on the beach and looking at the flowers. We are staying at PORS this fall and hoping for a queen size bed, but I will miss the beach and flowers.

 

[petals]

Cupcakes in the next update did you die and go to cupcake heaven as well like I did in my trip report (linked below for a shameless plug )

 

[jenseib]

You got some great flower pictures. I can't wait to see pretty flowers...tomorrow!!!!!! YAY! Well it wil lbe dark when we arrive, so it might actually be Tuesday!

I am so excited to see Christmas things up that early. I have been hoping that I will get to see some of this in Nov. myself. Did any other parks have Christmas stuff up before you left?

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Oh I was SO looking forward to your CBR pics !! I actually had Jayden sitting here with me and he was like "Oh, Mom, I really want to stay there sometime !!" and I said "maybe next trip we can" (and I'm NOT kidding !!)
I can't wait to surprise him !! :banana
How cool that you got to see the seasons "change"like that !!

I'm so excited for you! Make sure you let us all know how you liked CBR as soon as you get back! I've got two more big batches of CBR pics that I wish I could get to before you leave for your trip, but there's no way I will. I hope you have the best trip EVER though!! Spend a few minutes in a hammock for me.

I loved the CBR pictures we stay there last year and it was so much found sitting on the beach and looking at the flowers. We are staying at PORS this fall and hoping for a queen size bed, but I will miss the beach and flowers.

CBR is a gorgeous and relaxing resort. We really fell in love with it. I think we are going to try out POR next time too but I am so tempted to go back to CBR.

Cupcakes in the next update did you die and go to cupcake heaven as well like I did in my trip report (linked below for a shameless plug )

Well you know I had to go over and check your TR to see and I'd say that you are on the right track with the cupcake heaven! I have your TR bookmarked and will definitely start reading along as soon as I wrap this one up, or before that if I have time. I have so many TRs that I want to read right now. MEK has one going too but I am so far behind and I just don't have enough time to read all the TRs that I want to when I am writing one of my own. If only I could quit working, then I could DIS full time!

You got some great flower pictures. I can't wait to see pretty flowers...tomorrow!!!!!! YAY! Well it wil lbe dark when we arrive, so it might actually be Tuesday!

I am so excited to see Christmas things up that early. I have been hoping that I will get to see some of this in Nov. myself. Did any other parks have Christmas stuff up before you left?

Thanks Jen! I sure hope you get to see the Christmas stuff too. It is so pretty! We never made it back to Epcot after Oct 31st so I can't say if they had decorations up or not, but HS was all decked out and MK was fully decorated except for the big tree (but I don't think they put that out until after Thanksgiving anyway). MK is the real show stopper though. That's the park you don't want to miss at Christmas. I don't recall AK having much if anything out yet. And you most likely won't see too much done at the resorts either. They seem to decorate after the parks do.

 

[MEK]

I think when I finally do make the switch to SLR, I'm going to take a photography class to help me learn all the settings. That is the hard part to me. A lot of times I can see a good picture just waiting to be taken, but just can't quite figure out the best settings for the situation. The P, C, M, Av and Tv are what confuse me. I've read up on each one, but I still get mixed up as to when to use what.

I am far from an expert, but it takes everyone a while to figure out the different settings. It just takes practice and review and there are some good videos on youtube that help. I would love to take a good photography course. I think it would be so interesting!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Alright, I’ve left you standing with the Photo Pass guy on Hollywood Boulevard long enough. Let’s finally go get that lunch I promised you!

We hung a right and headed towards the Tower of Terror.

I had done some research before the trip in an attempt to find a decent counter service option at Hollywood Studios. We’ve tried several places in the past and none of them have really been keepers. I kept reading over and over about the sandwiches and cupcakes at Starring Rolls, so we were determined to see for ourselves what they had to offer.

This place is TINY or should I say tiny. There is no inside seating, but that wasn’t a problem for us. It was a beautiful day and plenty cool to eat outdoors.

Christmas decorations in the ceiling…

We walked through the line, which had a very confusing set up by the way, and made our selections. The hardest part was choosing between the ham and the turkey sandwiches. They both looked good and neither of us could decide, so we did what we usually do… we got one of each so we could share and get to sample both. DD eventually settled on the ham.

My dessert choice was very easy. I had heard so much about the butterfinger cupcake that I knew I had to get one.

My tray…

DD was SO excited about that bag of Doritos! I never buy stuff like that at home, so she was really happy about getting a whole bag of those all to herself!

So did we finally find a great counter service place at HS?

Well……… yes and no!

Somehow I ended up with the ham sandwich on my tray, which was fine because DH and I were SHARING, remember? Well, he took one bite of the turkey and that dirty rat reneged on our deal! He said it was too good to share! He did let me have one nibble and I have to say it was awesome! It had a really good cheese on it (Swiss I think) and a wonderful sauce. My ham sandwich on the other hand had no cheese and no sauce or dressing on it at all. It was just ham and something green (arugula maybe?). It wasn’t bad, it was just really plain and needed some oomph to it, especially in comparison to the turkey. I should’ve asked for a pack of mayo or something, but I didn’t. Anyway, it did the job of filling the void in my stomach so I didn’t complain, and DD was happy with hers, so it wasn’t the end of the world.

Now, in my ‘teaser’ I promised you a colossal cupcake and boy am I going to deliver! That butterfinger cupcake was gargantuan! I was pretty sure that I was not going to be able to finish that thing, but once I cracked through the chocolate shell and saw that the entire top was filled with frosting, I knew I was in over my head! This is all that I was able to eat.

Did you notice the fork marks in the frosting? Yep, you have to eat that bad boy with utensils! Only a snake with his unhinged jaw would be able to bite through that cupcake!

It was definitely good, but it is so sweet that they need to cut the portion down to at least one third the size. And what you can’t really tell from this picture is that there was also melted chocolate fudge in the center of the cake! That thing was dangerous!

So, the final verdict is that we will definitely eat here again, but I will be getting the turkey sandwich and we will most likely share just ONE cupcake!

Finally full and reenergized, we decided to finish making our way down Sunset Boulevard.

I tried to get a picture of this store window but the sun wasn’t cooperating. I thought the effect ended up looking kind of cool though.

And look, my family is on display in this window!

I wonder how much they sold us for? Hmmm, I bet we ended up on the clearance table.

When we came upon the Beauty and the Beast theater, we realized that a show would be starting in just a few minutes. We LOVE this show! No one does live entertainment like Disney!

It was only 5 minutes till showtime, but we easily found some great seats just a few rows back from the stage.

Continued in next post

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I have seen this show on every trip, but it’s still just as good to me as it was the first time. And it’s such a great story, don’t you think? In fact, there are so many wonderful truths of life on display here.

Let’s explore a few, shall we?

Unattractive girl is rejected by a spoiled brat Prince, so she casts a spell upon him that banishes him to a life as a beast…

Life Lesson: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Pretty girl has no social life because she spends all her time with her nose in a book…

Life Lesson: All work and no play makes Belle a dull girl.

Handsome guy wants to marry the pretty girl, but she is disgusted by his shallowness and arrogance…

Life Lesson: Beauty is only skin deep.

Pretty girl stumbles upon a castle deep in the forest where dishes and furnishings talk and sing…

Life Lesson: Expect the unexpected.

In time, the beautiful girl sees the good within the Beast’s heart…

Life Lesson: You can’t judge a book by its cover.

However, the handsome but arrogant man was not about to give up his girl without a fight, but things didn’t turn out too well for him…

Life Lesson: If love don’t come easy, you better let it go!
(Hmm, I think that’s actually an old country music song, but hey, in this case, it’s still good advice!)

In the end, the beautiful girl was able to look beyond the Beast’s grotesque exterior and love him for the person he had become…

Life Lesson: Love is blind.

See, I told you there was a wealth of wisdom in that old fairy tale!

And let’s not forget that the title of the 7th day of Swinter foretold of three couples kissing…

Well pucker up because here comes the first smooch of the day…

One down, two more to go…

And no B&tB production would be complete without a final farewell from the happy couple…

and a whole slew of ladies twirling around the dance floor…

I always wonder if those girls are supposed to represent the stereotypical bridesmaids in pink taffeta dresses?

And one final picture of the ‘Beast’ just to give you a chuckle…

Ok, all that education has exhausted me, so we will stop here for now. Classes will resume in the next update!

Coming up: Two screaming girls and a whole lot of smooching going on!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I am far from an expert, but it takes everyone a while to figure out the different settings. It just takes practice and review and there are some good videos on youtube that help. I would love to take a good photography course. I think it would be so interesting!

I have taken one photography class and it helped me tremendously. It was a two part class though and I only took the firt one. We learned all about the rule of thirds, framing, etc. which was a huge help to me, but the 2nd part was about exposure and that would have been great to take. I just didn't have the time to take the second part. I need to go back and do that. But again, there isn't enough time in a day! I guess if I quit Dissing, I would have time for lots of other things!

 

[jenseib]

Great DHS shots. lunch does look good. Your DH is a bad boy!
I want to eat there someday too. We have yet to make it there. I want a peanut butter cupcake though. (notice I didn't say anything about a sandwich?) )

You got some great B&B shots, but Belle is less than beautiful....I know she looks better than me, but she is kind of chunky, and so am I again, but I don't go and try to play Belle either.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I was looking at your CBR pictures and am now longing to be there. I'd probably give them a million bucks too if I could just lie in that hammock for the day. Every time we go to the CBR, I walk around and think "you forgot how pretty this place is".

I've never eaten at Starring Rolls but it sounds like a place we may have to try. It'll take some talking though since Hunter is not a sandwich eater. I might, however, be able to entice him there with your picture of the cupcake.

It's been a while since we've seen Beauty & the Beast. Your pictures were great and they make me want to take time to see it again.

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Found it amusing that you had the Christmas decorations going on but were served your soft drinks at lunch in the Halloween cups! Guess they really did have all their holidays mixed up.
Great updates as usual. I do love looking at all your pictures.