There is NO random dancing at Disney! A June TR *NEW 9/19 *FINAL THOUGHTS*

[IluvXU]

I cannot bring myself to open my Mickey soap either.... maybe soon, for a back to school treat!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Basin is my favorite, favorite store. I love how you can smell it from 20 feet away outside. The bath bombs are my favorite thing to buy there. They have good scents.

I have never been in the Lego store either, although I'm sure it is in my near future now that I have a little boy!

 

[Disneyvirg]

What a fun DTD experience!

The star wars dress up outfits look like they'd be a blast for your son!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

We were in a Basin store last week in Vegas at the Venetian Hotel. I purchased some soap to take home as gifts. We never get to stay long in either store at Disney because Baylor has a super sonic smeller and runs from the store. In December I'm getting some Mickey soap!

Your shopping trip looked like lots of fun and some great purchases were made. Costumes always seem to get used over and over, awesome choice Ian.:

 

[Howellsy]

I like Basin but I can't help feeling they've stolen all of Lush's products Still, it always smells amaazing when I go in there, I might actually buy something from there this year
Great shopping pictures though

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Hi Christine!

I'm caught up! Admittedly, I used the links on your first post, but at least I'm back on track. I hate missing all the chatter, but I was never going to catch up if I had to read 15 pages!

Great report! Love the AK pics and we also LOVE FOTLK! No EE for you?? I am a roller coaster junkie!

Your MK day sounds fabulous! I can't believe Ian never got to the fort. He would have loved the rifle roosts and the secret escape passage. Oh well...leave it to a man to not ask for directions! LOL!

MK at night...can't be beat!

So glad you took a resort day! SAB sounds out of this world!

Oh..forgot...Sanaa! The food was beautifully prepared, but I am not a fan of Indian food. I do want to go to AKL next time however...maybe Boma?

Great DTD trip! Love the Mickey soaps! And Goofy's? MMMMM!

Now that I'm caught up I will be joining the chatter!

Almost forgot...I really thought the title explanation was going to be an iCarly reference! Great story though....I love the little inside jokes that linger from trip to trip!

 

[Porturican]

Hi There! I just jumped over here from Sunset Cliffs TR because I was curious about the wet weather. I just started reading your TR but it's sooo cute so far. BTW your son has a great name! Ian is my son's name also! Well I guess I'll get back top reading!

 

[Porturican]

Decision #2 then was where to eat. The girls were voting for Cracker Barrel, but we didn't really want to stop for that long, and Ian was voting McDonalds, but ugh.

My Ian loves, love, LUVS McDonalds too! And he is 14! If you ask him where he wants to eat he will always say McDonalds.

 

[cjackearl]

Oh my goodness! I'm like 6 pages behind. I lost 6 days of posting somehow (and my brain, it's the heat I guess). Wow!

No problem!
We had the same experience. Adequate but not warm service and AMAZING food! Oh I love that tuna oscar! I almost got the mahi, Dh had the steak. SO good! The kids fish was mahi though, what a great deal!

Definitely worthy of a return visit.

cute pic!

I like it too. I think its a pretty good "psych" picture.

awww....isn't it funny to see what they like and what scares them and then the unexpected surprise of staying up way past bedtimes

I still shake my head over how much he liked the HM, since his vivid imagination conjures up all kinds of scary scenarios at bedtime that scare him. I loved hearing him say how excited he was to stay up late. Sometimes it really is the little things that make the big impacts.

I want to try this one of these days but fear I will pretty much have the same reaction to it.

You mean the float? Yea, it was just too much.

what a perfect day! I SOOOOO want to take the kids to SAB someday but it just doesn't make sense for this next trip, sadly.

Someday. BUT staying in the Treehouses!! That will be amazing.

that sounds a little nutty to get to the actual food. I would like to go there although I think it's on my list for breakfast this next trip instead of dinner. We will see!

I'd never seen anything like the buffet mob confusion at any restaurant. It rectified itself quickly, but I think a little later dinner ressie would have avoided it. The breakfast looks great with cute characters.

Oh my goodness, how cool! What great trivia.

I wonder if a behind the scenes at AK tour is offered. I'd love to see how Disney cares for their critters.

Great purchases! I need some of those soaps. I love how kids can spend hours in costume play, it does make it worth while.
The soaps both smell great and yes, costumes definitely have lasting play value around here. I think we might have 4 light sabers now.
The appeal of the sour powder thingies?

pure sugar.

ICK.

mine love them too.

You're absolutely right. I mean, I like a pixie stick at Halloween, but those tubes? Ack!

I love DTD. I don't remember seeing Basin but will look this time. My neighbor is taking care of my dog so I am sure I can find something in there for her. We seem to go to Lego and WofD every time we go there.
I like what your son picked out. My grandson is the same way, will look and look and once he finds it we won't change his mind.

Basin would be a great store to pick up a present. Lego and W of D are hard to miss.

I do that too! I've collected each days soap that Mousekeeping leaves and I have Mickey soap in my second bathroom. Most people roll their eyes at me when they see it but it makes me smile everytime!

Very cute. Mickey soap is a smile inducer in my house too.

oooooh! Shopping!!

I just love shoppng day!!
Yes, me too!
Sounds like you got some great stuff good for you all!
I think we all went in knowing what we wanted, well except for Mr. Ian. And we ended up coming back to DTD once more for a couple of missed items.
Goofy's we had never been to before, we ended up getting the pretzel rods, a giant Oreo, and a mega hunk of Peanut Butter fudge... I was in heaven. I can't wait to go back!!!!!
I so agree!! LOVED the pretzel rods. And we got a few other things are next visit.
But Basin looks so fun! A lot like Lush, I guess?, if you have heard of that chain...
I love Lush. Basin has some of the same things as Lush, but much the store is much smaller with less variety of products.
Mickey soap TOOO cute, and nope, I wouldn't be using it either

It looks kind of sad, sitting on my bathroom counter in its wrapper, but I just can't open it and I don't want to put it away!

WOW!! You guys made some great purchases at DTD!! I just love to shop around there! I can't say I have ever made any purchases at the Basin store but I think I might have to change that this upcoming trip!!
It was a great place to even just get away from the crowds. It felt peaceful and smelled great.
Love the Potato Heads...they are way too cute!!!

Aren't they though? Thanks for not thinking I'm a head case.

I cannot bring myself to open my Mickey soap either.... maybe soon, for a back to school treat!

That sounds like a great occassion to crack open the Mickey soap.

Basin is my favorite, favorite store. I love how you can smell it from 20 feet away outside. The bath bombs are my favorite thing to buy there. They have good scents.
I used the first of my five bath bombs tonight. It smelled great and turned my bath turquoise!!
I have never been in the Lego store either, although I'm sure it is in my near future now that I have a little boy!

Your time is coming, for sure!

What a fun DTD experience!

The star wars dress up outfits look like they'd be a blast for your son!

He loves them and he makes an awfully cute little Jedi, if I do say so myself.

 

[cjackearl]

We were in a Basin store last week in Vegas at the Venetian Hotel. I purchased some soap to take home as gifts. We never get to stay long in either store at Disney because Baylor has a super sonic smeller and runs from the store. In December I'm getting some Mickey soap!
Poor Baylor, having a super sensitive sense of smell must be a challenge and Basin is not a subtly smelling place in the least!
Your shopping trip looked like lots of fun and some great purchases were made. Costumes always seem to get used over and over, awesome choice Ian.:

It's funny to see him in the Darth Vader costume with the heavy breathing pack in the mask.

I like Basin but I can't help feeling they've stolen all of Lush's products Still, it always smells amaazing when I go in there, I might actually buy something from there this year
Great shopping pictures though

I love Lush. Basin does have some of the same things, but Lush has lots more, some amazing, some a little different...

Hi Christine!
Hey Missy!
I'm caught up! Admittedly, I used the links on your first post, but at least I'm back on track. I hate missing all the chatter, but I was never going to catch up if I had to read 15 pages!
That's what they're there for. Link away.
Great report! Love the AK pics and we also LOVE FOTLK! No EE for you?? I am a roller coaster junkie!
EE? No thank you M'am. I am a roller coaster chicken, and proud of it!
Your MK day sounds fabulous! I can't believe Ian never got to the fort. He would have loved the rifle roosts and the secret escape passage. Oh well...leave it to a man to not ask for directions! LOL!
I know, right? He really couldn't wait to point some guns. Oh well.
MK at night...can't be beat!
Agreed!!
So glad you took a resort day! SAB sounds out of this world!
It was much needed, for sure. SAB is an amazing place. We could have spent hours more there.
Oh..forgot...Sanaa! The food was beautifully prepared, but I am not a fan of Indian food. I do want to go to AKL next time however...maybe Boma?
Boma would probably be a great choice.
Great DTD trip! Love the Mickey soaps! And Goofy's? MMMMM!
I could go for some pretzel rods right now!!
Now that I'm caught up I will be joining the chatter!

Almost forgot...I really thought the title explanation was going to be an iCarly reference! Great story though....I love the little inside jokes that linger from trip to trip!

The little things are often what are remembered the most.

Hi There! I just jumped over here from Sunset Cliffs TR because I was curious about the wet weather. I just started reading your TR but it's sooo cute so far. BTW your son has a great name! Ian is my son's name also! Well I guess I'll get back top reading!

Welcome!! Thanks for popping over. Ian's not a very common name. How fun that you've got one too.

My Ian loves, love, LUVS McDonalds too! And he is 14! If you ask him where he wants to eat he will always say McDonalds.

Oh no! I was hoping he'd grow out of it.

 

[beyondblessed]

I can't wait to read more!!!

 

[cjackearl]

I can't wait to read more!!!

Hello! You're so sweet. More coming right up!

 

[cjackearl]

Friday was our Echpot day and per usual we wanted to be there for rope drop.

Before I go any further, I guess I should explain why in the world I'm calling Epcot, Echpot and I'm desperately hoping not to offend half of the country with my explaination. You see, on our way to DTD the previous day, Madeline and George were seated in the back of the bus, while Amelia, Ian and I were near the front. At one point I looked back and my DH and daughter were both giggling, but looking out the window like they were trying not to laugh. When we got off the bus, Madeline and George came up to us and started laughing out loud. Apparently a southern lady had been talking to her companions about their plans to visit "Echpot" the next day. Now the fact that she was southern is completely irrelevent, except the syllables of Echpot were drawn out, southern like. It was cute, and became another one of those little jokes that kept coming up. Like I said, we're easily amused.

Anyway, back to Friday. We had decided ahead of time that we'd drive to Epcot because, staying at the BC, there was no direct transportation to Epcot's front entrance. We got in our car and drove to the toll booth thingie outside of Epcot, where the attendant glanced at our resort parking permit and our AAA parking pass. We asked him where the AAA parking was, and he answered, without an ounce of emotion or inflection, "Follow the green line." If you've ever watched The Adams Family, imagine Lurch standing behind that ticket booth. So Follow the green line to Echpot begins sounding like Lurch and then switches over to Paula Deen. Follow the green line became our standard answer whenever one of us asked where something was for the remainder of the trip and even now. See, I told you, easily amused. Once we found the green line, followed it to our parking spot and made it to the turnstiles, we had a short wait before we were let in.

Ian was in the stroller.

A quick explanation about the stroller. We'd started out renting a single stroller, at both AK and the MK which worked out fine for the most part, except for the missing stroller when we got off the train in Frontierland at the MK. However, we wanted one for DTD and the International Gateway walk, so we purchased the one sold in resort gift shops on Thursday. It worked really well, was easy to push, folded super flat and was light. I wish we would have picked it up earlier in the week and saved the money we spent renting, but oh well.
The plan was for George to keep to the front of the Soarin' pack and get fast passes. The kids and I would meet him near the standby line, we'd get a child swap ticket, and he would ride Soarin' with the girls. This was the first ride that I was really disappointed Ian wasn't quite tall enough to ride because I know he would have enjoyed it, but what can you do? Fortunately he didn't know what he was missing. Fast passes secured, George and girls rode Soarin' while Ian and I decided to take a boat ride through Living with the Land.

Both Ian and I liked this ride. I enjoyed looking at all the agricultural innovations Disney is involved in and Ian enjoyed yelling out, literally, the names of the vegetables he recognized. Once our ride was over, we stopped in Sunshine Seasons for a muffin and a Vitamin Water to share while we waited for our family's trip over California to be over. Soon it was my turn to ride Soarin' with the girls. This is really one spectacular ride and I'm glad I got to ride it at least once. (foreshadowing) George and Ian had gone over to The Seas to wait for us. We were hoping to catch Turtle Time with Crush before our 11:30 lunch reservation. They rode the Nemo ride with no wait and we met them in the aquarium room.

Unfortunately, there was a 20 min. wait until the next Turtle Time show at 10:55. With an 11:30 reservation in the WS I thought we'd be pushing it, so we decided to try seeing it later. George went to get Test Track fast passes while the kids and I went to visit Figment. I love this little dinosaur. Or is he a dragon? After our ride we walked into the World Showcase and met George in Canada. We had a lunch reservation at Le Celier! The Canadian pavillion is just gorgeous.

We gave the CM our name, then Ian and Amelia decided to begin some Kidcot masks. I have a picture of them working on the masks later, but Canada is where they started them. Soon, our name was being called. We had the most wonderful server here. I don't remember his name, but he was very sweet. He noticed our anniversary buttons and asked about our anniversary, which was really this day. We've been married for 16 short years. He seemed to take note of that and then took our orders. I had the mushroom fillet with rissoto, George got the New York strip, Maddy ordered the Chef's selection with the cheese soup and a prime rib sandwich. Amelia got the kid's steak. Does anyone want to guess what Ian ordered? If you guessed pizza, you're a winner! We also ordered a bowl of soup to share. For dessert, I had the maple creme brulee, Maddy had the chocolate "moose", I don't remember what George had, and Amelia and Ian both got yet another sundae. Amelia was impressed though, because one of the toppings was banana chips. Everything was great! The soup was a great dip for the pretzel bread sticks which we really enjoyed and the steak was cooked perfectly. After our meal our server brought George and I an anniverary card that he'd had several other servers sign. I thought that was extra sweet. We took a few more pictures outside the Canadian pavillion.

Continued in Next Post....

 

[cjackearl]

George parked Ian here while he took a little video, but it sure looks like the poor baby is in time out!

We were making our way toward the International Gateway and the Beach Club. Maddy thought the UK rocked!

George wanted this picture. I guess even big boys like swords.

We had one more task to complete before going back to the resort: check out the Kim Possible missions! We found a distribution place the UK and had just started to ask a question, when the CM said, "Look! There's Mary Poppins and Alice! Go quick! We'll be here when you get back." I thought that was kind of funny, but we did go see Mary.

I think the girls were way too hot to want to be close to anyone at this point, even someone so practically perfect.

The KP CMs were indeed still there when we went back and I asked if we could be on two teams for the mission. She told us that would be no problem and gave us two tickets instructing us to come back at 3:00. Now it was time for an afternoon break at our Beach Club, so we began strolling along the International Gateway. We took some photos on the way.

When we opened the door to our room, we were surprised to see that there was a meeting in progress on the girls' bed.

Apparently Elephant is the OCD planner in this group and was telling the others the theme park game plan. We broke up the meeting, climbed into bed and were all asleep within minutes. What would we do when we woke up? And how could a good plan go so terribly wrong?

Next Post: A Disney Planning Failure

 

[Howellsy]

Great pictures once again! I love the animals' meeting ones especially Although I must point out that it's the UK pavillion not England, which is only one of four countries in the UK

Can't wait to read more

 

[dismagiclover]

Great update! And we got to see pictures of you I loved our meal at Le Cellier and I had the same thing as you. That Maple Creme Brulee was delish! Bummer thing about driving your car is now you're going to have to go back and get it. But it probably was better for rope drop. Cute pictures of the stuffed animals. I showed my boys and the laughed Nervous to hear about your "Disney Planning Failure"

 

[Lady Lallie]

What a wonderful update! I enjoyed it. I love your little inside jokes, Marc & I are very much like that so we always have things we are cracking up at that nobody else gets.

Mmmm...Le Cellier. SO YUMMY!

Too funny about the KP CM's.

 

[Angies1274]

So many great pictures in Echpot!!! (still can't get over that!!) We are easily amused in my family as well. Glad you enjoyed Le Cellier!! It sounds so yummy!! Someday we'll get there.... The pictures near the Canada Pavilion are just beautiful! Oh, and what a cute surprise to come back to!! An animal meeting led by an OCD elephant!!

Great update!! Can't wait for more...

 

[cjackearl]

Great pictures once again! I love the animals' meeting ones especially Although I must point out that it's the UK pavillion not England, which is only one of four countries in the UK

Can't wait to read more

Oops! I went back and edited the original post. You know, in the middle of the night when I was typing this up I debated with myself whether it was the UK or England. I should have just checked! Sorry.

 

[Howellsy]

Oops! I went back and edited the original post. You know, in the middle of the night when I was typing this up I debated with myself whether it was the UK or England. I should have just checked! Sorry.

Aw shucks, you didn't have to change it It's a pretty common mistake really, but I like to call Americans Canadian if they call me English It's just a sore subject with the Welsh, Irish and Scottish who tend to all be united by their (joking) dislike of the English, especially when it comes to sport!