They Should Really Put a Bar in Here - Closing Thoughts - 4/1

[afwdwfan]

I’m too excited to sleep!

Actually, I slept quite well.

Good plan. Otherwise it would have been like Barry’s last trip where someone would have to be stuffed into the back along with the luggage.

Likely you.

No, because nobody else would want to drive. I drove our car the whole way and the second vehicle followed me.

And miss all that scenic darkness!!!
The nerve!

Seemed to me that everyone was enjoying the view of the back of their eyelids.

Excellent. With very small young’ens along, that was actually mighty fine planning.

Don’t get used to the compliments…
They won’t be showing up very often

As always, my expectations remain low.

Some Macon Bacon?

South of Macon... Don't remember the town we actually stopped at, but it was probably a half hour south of there.

That is really cool! Your mom done good.

See now, her… I can compliment as often as possible.
Just surviving the ordeal of raising you elevates her to sainthood in the first place.

Or should she get some of the blame???

El Centro… we have a problem

Whoa…
Remind me not to get there right at check-in time.
Apparently you need to either be earlier or later on the arrival time.

No kidding. I've checked in as early as 7:30 am not expecting a room, and I've always had one ready at check in. The one time I actually wait until the true check in time to get there, I'm out of luck.

All part of my cunning plan.
It took a good bit of bribery and general underhandedness to insure that you’d be the one to receive a faulty RFID card.

So if my Mom is a saint, why did you do that with hers and everyone else's too?

That I actually believe. We’ve stayed at CSR once. It’s very nice to be sure, but it’s big and everything is a long walk away from nearly everything else.

I have no reason to lie about it.

Necessity may be the mother of invention…
but laziness is most certainly the father.

Nice job of bein’ lazy.
I’d have done the same (I ”guar-on-tee”)

Of course. It's just common sense. I would have been stupid not to use all the tools at my disposal.

My, how rapidly that moved from “feature” to “headache”

Indeed.

Ummmm…
That sounds just a might ominous.

Maybe just a bit.

Pretty pictures though.

And they're crappy cell phone pictures. Don't worry, they get worse.

Yes you do, sir.
And that’s the important key to this story.

Try as I might to give you a hard time through out this here TR (and be assured, I will), in the end you win, because I don’t have a trip of any length planned to get back down there for quite some time to come. Paint me as green as the hulk with envy. You described a fairly rough day, but it’s a great start to the TR itself.

Nice work. I’m looking forward to hearing more, sir.

I hated starting a TR like this. I don't want to seem like I wasn't having a good time, or come of as complaining about everything, but those first few hours just weren't fun and that's just the way things were. Things definitely get better though.

Just what exactly are you insinuating here sir?
Why, I am deeply insulted.



That was for the CMs reading along… truth: It’s quite the collection.
Hay like I said… it’s going to be a while before I can get back down there.
A little bit of magic around the house seemed like just the upgrade needed.

You just take the towel animals though, right?

I really think that Disney should note on your reservation if you are driving. I'm serious - there should be a way to note "Driving from X. Up all night. Needs available room on arrival." That must have been very difficult to have driven all night and not be greeted with a ready room.

We actually checked 12:30 PM as our arrival time on the online check in. This was a "best case scenario" time if we didn't make any stops other than when we needed gas, so I figured that they'd assign us rooms that should be ready by then. Apparently not.

Cool picture of you guys driving through the arches. Love that.

Thanks!

So tell me about the "up al night" drive thing. As I told you, we are driving in June. Just how unbearable is it to drive through the night. We aren't planning on doing that right now, but I'm just curious. Do you ever feel like you are just going to pass out at the wheel.

It doesn't bother me much at all. I don't mind driving though, and I've done it several times. The most important thing to me is making sure that I get a good nap in before we leave. If I can get 4 or 5 hours of sleep right before we head out, I don't have any problem staying awake for the drive. As long as I can get a nap or at least a full 8 hours of sleep the first night, the lack of sleep that first night doesn't really affect me much. I'm sure everyone is different though.
I love driving all night because we can get there so much faster. As long as everyone else is tired and sleeps through the night, I only have to stop for fuel and then we've only got to keep the kids entertained for a few hours after they wake up.

Love your location at CSR. Very pretty.

Looking forward to more!

It was definitely a beautiful resort! It might have been less than ideal for us, but the property was scenic and very well maintained to say the least.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Nicely done!

 

[afwdwfan]

Nicely done!

Don't encourage him.

 

[glennbo123]

Great job on getting a lot of highway behind you before breakfast. I'm impressed.

That is kind of cool to have a picture of your vehicle going under the sign. I know I've taken a couple for others, but they haven't stopped by to thank me.

Oh man, sorry about your room-readiness delay at check-in. Maybe you should've dropped some hints before she dropped the bomb....."Yeah, that bed is sure going to feel good after driving straight through for 16 hours."

 

[afwdwfan]

Great job on getting a lot of highway behind you before breakfast. I'm impressed.

And Barry thinks his van is so impressive.

That is kind of cool to have a picture of your vehicle going under the sign. I know I've taken a couple for others, but they haven't stopped by to thank me.

That's awfully inconsiderate after you went out of the way to do that for them!

Oh man, sorry about your room-readiness delay at check-in. Maybe you should've dropped some hints before she dropped the bomb....."Yeah, that bed is sure going to feel good after driving straight through for 16 hours."

Good idea! My brain just wasn't working that fast at that point in the day.

 

[glennbo123]

Good idea! My brain just wasn't working that fast at that point in the day.

That's understandable!

 

[afwdwfan]

Please Stand Clear of the Broken Doors

Sat. Dec 1, 2012

When we last left off, we had just finished unpacking and making ourselves at home. Translation, our room looked like a Buy Buy Baby truck smashed through the window.

We didn’t have time for naps, but we did get a chance to take showers and change clothes before we headed out for the evening. Our plan for the evening was to see the monorail resorts and then have dinner with Mickey Mouse!

We didn’t really want to haul the stroller onto a bus and then have to wait for a bus at MK late in the evening, so we decided to just drive to the TTC. We booked through AAA so that we could get the AAA Diamond parking passes. We’d planned to do a lot of driving so that we could avoid having to fight the stroller on a bus. We made our way up to the Resort Monorail platform and based on the fact that all the Disdads say “pictures or it didn’t happen,” The Avengers monorail wasn’t the first one that we saw on the trip as it pulled into the station, and therefore clearly wasn't the monorail that we boarded.

We climbed into the monorail and headed for the Poly. Just after we left the station the monorail came to a stop and we heard the recording about waiting for clearance. After just a slight delay we were on our way again, but the delay made us a little nervous. We wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to make it to our ADR so we decided to just stay on at the Poly since GF was the resort we most wanted to see with the Christmas tree and Gingerbread house. We stopped in the station at the Poly and the doors closed… then they opened… then they closed… then they opened… then they closed and we sat and a few minutes. Some CM’s were scrambling around on the platform and headed to the very back car. A few minutes later, we saw people walking from that car to other areas of the monorail. 4 or 5 of them entered our compartment that was already standing room only. They said there was a problem with the doors on their car and they wouldn’t close completely.

Once they evacuated the faulty car, we were on our way. We arrived at the GF and headed in to take a look at the Christmas decorations. We noticed that they really went above and beyond on the Gingerbread House this year. We still had a picture from 2011 on our camera and were noting all the intricate differences from last year to this year.

2011

2012

The difference is impressive, isn’t it?

We headed back out to the monorail platform to give ourselves plenty of time to make it to the Contemporary when we saw a group of 10 or 12 teenage girls entering from the monorail. We assume they were there for the Christmas parade taping from earlier in the day, but we couldn’t figure out if they were part of the audience or part of the show. They looked like Nicki Minaj wannabes. They definitely stood out in the crowd!

Fortunately, we didn't not get the Avengers monorail this time and we were quickly on our way to the Contemporary without having to deal with malfunctioning doors. This was the first time I’ve ever taken a monorail through the MK station and not gotten off. Being that it was our first night, it was kind of odd, but also exciting to see a glimpse of what the week had in store for us. When we finally got to the Contemporary, it was about 40 minutes before our ADR. I didn’t expect to be seated early, but I figured we might as well go check in before we looked around. I got to the Chef Mickey check in desk and gave them our information. The CM told me that she couldn't check me in because they aren’t allowed to check us in until 15 minutes before the ADR time. By this time, the word check-in was becoming a profanity to me.

We went back out to the concourse area. I think everyone else checked out the gift shop while Dad and I found a bench by the restrooms to sit and give DD her bottle. We waited until 20 min before our ADR to go check in, and of course by then there’s a huge line of people waiting to check in and the waiting area was packed. It was past our ADR time by the time we actually got in to get our picture taken and we were finally seated 25 minutes after our ADR time.

Now for another mini-rant: I don’t have a problem with them not seating me before my ADR. I didn’t ask to be seated before my ADR. All I wanted to do was check in so that we had that out of the way. I don’t understand how our checking in 30 – 40 minutes before our ADR is such a detriment to them. I’d think it would relieve some of the logjam, seeing as how there was nobody even in line to check in when I first went there. As it worked out, we got there early like they ask you to do, yet didn’t get through the check in process until AFTER our ADR time.​

They at least tried to make it worth our wait though. We had a big round table in the back section of the restaurant right next to a window with a view of the MK. I was seated with my back to the window, but I couldn’t resist turning my head every few minutes to soak in that view and appreciate where we were. We had time to go fill our plates before Minnie arrived for our first character interaction.

We had a hard time getting pictures. The camera actually died on me while Minnie was there, so I started reaching for cell phones, the iPad, anything I could use to take pictures. This was, unfortunately, our best Minnie picture. I got a new phone shortly before the trip and I hate it for a lot of reasons, one being the camera. My old one could take pictures almost as good as DW’s point and shoot camera, but my new one is awful. None of the character pictures I took with it turned out well. I put new batteries in the camera and got a few more later on, but I was so busy using the camera, my phone, DW’s phone, just trying to make sure we’d at least get one good picture somewhere along the line. Looking back at pictures, I think my mom must have forgotten to take her camera that evening. She didn’t have any pictures at all. This is when we decided to use the Barney Fife method for using the camera. We'd carry the camera and load some batteries into it right before we wanted to take a picture. Otherwise, it was basically dead weight because it was useless for spontaneous pictures.

We did get a few good pictures though

All in all, we were pleasantly surprised by our character interactions. At first DD was off to the side and I don’t think Minnie knew she was there. We moved her to the other side of DW so that she'd be right in front as they approached us, but then it seemed like the characters hardly seemed to pay attention to DS, because they were playing with her! She loved Pluto and tried to eat his nose, but then as each subsequent character arrived she seemed to become a little less interested in them. We were a little concerned about how DS would be with the characters since he really only liked them from a distance last year, and had been acting scared of basically everything lately. He did very well. He was reluctant at first, but after the first couple of characters approached him and knelt down to his level, he was just fine and looking forward to the next one!

We enjoyed our dinner and ate entirely too much. Not because the food was so good, but do you have any idea how much they charge for that buffet?!?!?! The food was actually fine, nothing special really, but we all know we go there for the location and the characters anyway.

We settled the bill and headed back up to the monorail and despite considering heading to the Poly, decided that we all just needed some sleep after our long day. We got off at the TTC and headed back to the cars.

We were back at CSR at probably 9 or 9:30 pm. I really don’t remember anything after we got off the monorail and I didn’t write anything down that night. I think both kids were asleep by the time we got back and I barely made it to the bed before I crashed for what would be a much needed full night of sleep…

Or would it be???

 

[eandesmom]

oh how frustrating on the check-in, that would make me rant too. I can't see how early check in would hurt a soul, very annoying. Bummer about the camera issues, that is so frustrating I know but there are a few good ones in there and it sounds like once seated, it was a fun meal!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We made our way up to the Resort Monorail platform and based on the fact that all the Disdads say “pictures or it didn’t happen,” The Avengers monorail wasn’t the first one that we saw on the trip as it pulled into the station, and therefore clearly wasn't the monorail that we boarded.

Don't tell my kids. They'll be annoyed.

We stopped in the station at the Poly and the doors closed… then they opened… then they closed… then they opened… then they closed and we sat and a few minutes.

They didn't put a toddler latch on that door, either?

We still had a picture from 2011 on our camera and were noting all the intricate differences from last year to this year.

The difference is impressive, isn’t it?

You had me going there for a second. That little lit bush in the corner really makes a difference.

Fortunately, we didn't not get the Avengers monorail this time

Wait a minute...

The CM told me that she couldn't check me in because they aren’t allowed to check us in until 15 minutes before the ADR time. By this time, the word check-in was becoming a profanity to me.

We will now refer to check-in as the Beverly time.

It was past our ADR time by the time we actually got in to get our picture taken and we were finally seated 25 minutes after our ADR time.

Yup, this has definitely been a magical trip.

We'd carry the camera and load some batteries into it right before we wanted to take a picture. Otherwise, it was basically dead weight because it was useless for spontaneous pictures.

At least you know what to get for Christmas.

We were a little concerned about how DS would be with the characters since he really only liked them from a distance last year, and had been acting scared of basically everything lately.

My boys do that, and they're almost into double-digits!

We enjoyed our dinner and ate entirely too much. Not because the food was so good, but do you have any idea how much they charge for that buffet?!?!?! The food was actually fine, nothing special really, but we all know we go there for the location and the characters anyway.

I think buffet is French for "You are legally required to overeat."

I think both kids were asleep by the time we got back and I barely made it to the bed before I crashed for what would be a much needed full night of sleep…

Or would it be???

{ominous music}

 

[afwdwfan]

oh how frustrating on the check-in, that would make me rant too. I can't see how early check in would hurt a soul, very annoying. Bummer about the camera issues, that is so frustrating I know but there are a few good ones in there and it sounds like once seated, it was a fun meal!

I'm sure there must be a reason, but I've got to think we've been half hour early for an ADR at some point in time before and didn't have a problem with it. I kind of wonder if maybe it is just a Chef Mickey policy since their internal waiting area is so crowded.

Dinner was definitely a lot of fun once we were seated. The characters were great and it was fun watching DS and DD interact.

Don't tell my kids. They'll be annoyed.

They didn't put a toddler latch on that door, either?

Believe it or not, this wouldn't be the last time a door issue delayed us on the monorail.

You had me going there for a second. That little lit bush in the corner really makes a difference.

It really does, doesn't it?

Wait a minute...

Yeah, I've got a headache too. I really don't know what I just said there.

We will now refer to check-in as the Beverly time.

I like it.

Yup, this has definitely been a magical trip.

Hey, we were in Disney World. How bad could it be?

At least you know what to get for Christmas.

No. Remember that iPad I mentioned? She had mentioned wanting one, so I got that for her for Christmas and just gave it to her early to use for the trip.

Now I wouldn't be surprised if I end up getting a camera for Christmas or something.

My boys do that, and they're almost into double-digits!

Good point.

I think buffet is French for "You are legally required to overeat."

That's the interpretation I always use.

{ominous music}

I actually just finished writing the update. It was going to be part of the next morning, but I hate to ruin the first day at MK and this night just deserves it's own. I'll probably post it tomorrow.

 

[KatMark]

Please Stand Clear of the Broken Doors

Sat. Dec 1, 2012


We didn’t really want to haul the stroller onto a bus and then have to wait for a bus at MK late in the evening, so we decided to just drive to the TTC. We booked through AAA so that we could get the AAA Diamond parking passes. We’d planned to do a lot of driving so that we could avoid having to fight the stroller on a bus. We made our way up to the Resort Monorail platform and based on the fact that all the Disdads say “pictures or it didn’t happen,” The Avengers monorail wasn’t the first one that we saw on the trip as it pulled into the station, and therefore clearly wasn't the monorail that we boarded.

I have to say we had the BEST bus service at CSR; but I can certainly understand not wanting to fold up the stroller, unfold, repeat, etc.

We climbed into the monorail and headed for the Poly. Just after we left the station the monorail came to a stop and we heard the recording about waiting for clearance. After just a slight delay we were on our way again, but the delay made us a little nervous. We wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to make it to our ADR so we decided to just stay on at the Poly since GF was the resort we most wanted to see with the Christmas tree and Gingerbread house. We stopped in the station at the Poly and the doors closed… then they opened… then they closed… then they opened… then they closed and we sat and a few minutes. Some CM’s were scrambling around on the platform and headed to the very back car. A few minutes later, we saw people walking from that car to other areas of the monorail. 4 or 5 of them entered our compartment that was already standing room only. They said there was a problem with the doors on their car and they wouldn’t close completely.

Typical monorail...always something breaking on it. We only rode it twice...between resorts, and we got lucky. Every other time we've been on it over the last five years, we sit for 15 minutes.

Once they evacuated the faulty car, we were on our way. We arrived at the GF and headed in to take a look at the Christmas decorations. We noticed that they really went above and beyond on the Gingerbread House this year. We still had a picture from 2011 on our camera and were noting all the intricate differences from last year to this year.

2011

2012

Truthfully, you didn't miss much with the decorations at the Contemporary or the Poly...I was very disappointed. On the other hand, the decorations at the GF (although I still don't like the resort and find it too for me) were spectacular.

We headed back out to the monorail platform to give ourselves plenty of time to make it to the Contemporary when we saw a group of 10 or 12 teenage girls entering from the monorail. We assume they were there for the Christmas parade taping from earlier in the day, but we couldn’t figure out if they were part of the audience or part of the show. They looked like Nicki Minaj wannabes. They definitely stood out in the crowd!

They were all over the place.

Fortunately, we didn't not get the Avengers monorail this time and we were quickly on our way to the Contemporary without having to deal with malfunctioning doors. This was the first time I’ve ever taken a monorail through the MK station and not gotten off. Being that it was our first night, it was kind of odd, but also exciting to see a glimpse of what the week had in store for us. When we finally got to the Contemporary, it was about 40 minutes before our ADR. I didn’t expect to be seated early, but I figured we might as well go check in before we looked around. I got to the Chef Mickey check in desk and gave them our information. The CM told me that she couldn't check me in because they aren’t allowed to check us in until 15 minutes before the ADR time. By this time, the word check-in was becoming a profanity to me.

We went back out to the concourse area. I think everyone else checked out the gift shop while Dad and I found a bench by the restrooms to sit and give DD her bottle. We waited until 20 min before our ADR to go check in, and of course by then there’s a huge line of people waiting to check in and the waiting area was packed. It was past our ADR time by the time we actually got in to get our picture taken and we were finally seated 25 minutes after our ADR time.

Now for another mini-rant: I don’t have a problem with them not seating me before my ADR. I didn’t ask to be seated before my ADR. All I wanted to do was check in so that we had that out of the way. I don’t understand how our checking in 30 – 40 minutes before our ADR is such a detriment to them. I’d think it would relieve some of the logjam, seeing as how there was nobody even in line to check in when I first went there. As it worked out, we got there early like they ask you to do, yet didn’t get through the check in process until AFTER our ADR time.​

We've often been told we can't check in until 10 minutes before our time. I forget where we were this past trip and they told us they were running about 15 minutes behind seating people.

They at least tried to make it worth our wait though. We had a big round table in the back section of the restaurant right next to a window with a view of the MK. I was seated with my back to the window, but I couldn’t resist turning my head every few minutes to soak in that view and appreciate where we were. We had time to go fill our plates before Minnie arrived for our first character interaction.

We had a hard time getting pictures. The camera actually died on me while Minnie was there, so I started reaching for cell phones, the iPad, anything I could use to take pictures. This was, unfortunately, our best Minnie picture. I got a new phone shortly before the trip and I hate it for a lot of reasons, one being the camera. My old one could take pictures almost as good as DW’s point and shoot camera, but my new one is awful. None of the character pictures I took with it turned out well. I put new batteries in the camera and got a few more later on, but I was so busy using the camera, my phone, DW’s phone, just trying to make sure we’d at least get one good picture somewhere along the line. Looking back at pictures, I think my mom must have forgotten to take her camera that evening. She didn’t have any pictures at all. This is when we decided to use the Barney Fife method for using the camera. We'd carry the camera and load some batteries into it right before we wanted to take a picture. Otherwise, it was basically dead weight because it was useless for spontaneous pictures.

Great character pictures, and your little guy did great.

We did get a few good pictures though

This picture made me smile from ear to ear...too darn cute!

All in all, we were pleasantly surprised by our character interactions. At first DD was off to the side and I don’t think Minnie knew she was there. We moved her to the other side of DW so that she'd be right in front as they approached us, but then it seemed like the characters hardly seemed to pay attention to DS, because they were playing with her! She loved Pluto and tried to eat his nose, but then as each subsequent character arrived she seemed to become a little less interested in them. We were a little concerned about how DS would be with the characters since he really only liked them from a distance last year, and had been acting scared of basically everything lately. He did very well. He was reluctant at first, but after the first couple of characters approached him and knelt down to his level, he was just fine and looking forward to the next one!

We enjoyed our dinner and ate entirely too much. Not because the food was so good, but do you have any idea how much they charge for that buffet?!?!?! The food was actually fine, nothing special really, but we all know we go there for the location and the characters anyway.

Not a fan of the food at all at CM's (last time we ate there was 2004 and the food was awful, but you can't beat the character interaction.

We were back at CSR at probably 9 or 9:30 pm. I really don’t remember anything after we got off the monorail and I didn’t write anything down that night. I think both kids were asleep by the time we got back and I barely made it to the bed before I crashed for what would be a much needed full night of sleep…

Or would it be???

I'm not surprised after the long day that everyone was ready for bed. Uh oh...that doesn't sound too promising on a "full night sleep."

 

[jecskc]

Joining in !! I agree with Kathy, that picture of your DD made me smile. So precious !! Ahhhhh the memories of mine when they were that little ....

 

[afwdwfan]

I have to say we had the BEST bus service at CSR; but I can certainly understand not wanting to fold up the stroller, unfold, repeat, etc.

Hmmm... we used the bus a few times. It was ok...

Typical monorail...always something breaking on it. We only rode it twice...between resorts, and we got lucky. Every other time we've been on it over the last five years, we sit for 15 minutes.

Well our luck wasn't quite that bad, and never has been, but the monorail just never seemed to be completely functional that week.

Truthfully, you didn't miss much with the decorations at the Contemporary or the Poly...I was very disappointed. On the other hand, the decorations at the GF (although I still don't like the resort and find it too for me) were spectacular.

I agree with you 100%. We saw the Poly last year, and while it might be one of the nicer resorts to explore on a day to day basis, it is at the bottom of the list when it comes to MK resorts for Christmas decorations. I don't think I could ever stay at the GF, and probably wouldn't go out of my way any other time, but I do love the Christmas decorations they have.

They were all over the place.

You saw them after you got there too??? I only saw them a couple of times on Saturday.

We've often been told we can't check in until 10 minutes before our time. I forget where we were this past trip and they told us they were running about 15 minutes behind seating people.

Ok, that was a new one to me. I don't have a problem with being seated a little late if that's the case, but I still don't understand why I can't at least check in and they can tell me they're running a little behind.

Great character pictures, and your little guy did great.

Thanks

This picture made me smile from ear to ear...too darn cute!

I really like that one. It's such a huge smile it doesn't even hardly look like her.

Not a fan of the food at all at CM's (last time we ate there was 2004 and the food was awful, but you can't beat the character interaction.

I can't say the food was awful, but it wasn't great either. The kids buffet items seemed good though. DS is a bit of a grazer, but he really ate well that night. I even had a some of the kids pizza and mac & cheese. Basically, they did the low cost items pretty well, but I was less than impressed with the roast beef they had.

I'm not surprised after the long day that everyone was ready for bed. Uh oh...that doesn't sound too promising on a "full night sleep."

I'm going to go ahead and post that little update later this morning I think. I was going to put it on the next morning's update, but there's no reason to make the first morning at a park a downer too!

Joining in !! I agree with Kathy, that picture of your DD made me smile. So precious !! Ahhhhh the memories of mine when they were that little ....

Thanks, that really is a great picture of her. I love that smile.

 

[afwdwfan]

Open the @#&% Door!!!

Sunday Dec 2, 12:15 AM


BAM, BAM, BAM!!!!

What the …?? *Sit up look at clock, 12:15 AM. Look at door. Silence. Try to go back to sleep.*

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! Open the door you @#$!

*Sit back up and look at door. Well it isn’t our door, must be some kids in a room nearby. Try to ignore it and go back to sleep.*

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! HEY, @$$#*!%, OPEN THE @$&#!^* DOOR!!!!

*I shot straight up out of bed as the realization hits… somebody’s pounding on mom and dad’s door!*

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! OK, #@*$ , It isn’t funny anymore. Open the @#*$ door!

By this point I’ve run over to the door and am looking out the peephole. It is a boy probably in his upper teens. He looks too old to be a Pop Warner kid, so I won’t blame this on them. I guess it could have been an older brother or something, but I really have no idea. At this point he’s relentlessly pounding and kicking at the door and yelling non-stop. I’d just put some shorts and shoes on and stepped back to the door. I had my hand on the lock and was ready to step outside and let him know he was in the wrong place and the noise wasn’t exactly appreciated. It turned out I got to the door just in time to see the good part.

At that insant, I saw my dad give him exactly what he wanted. Dad cracked the door open. He left the top latch on the door so it couldn’t open all the way and was trying to let the guy know he was in the wrong place. As he did that, the guy kicked at the door and tried to push his way in. Dad slammed the door right in his face. The realization hit him that he was at the wrong room and he took off stumbling away from the door and then ran away. I’m pretty sure he woke up with a headache and bruised foot in the morning though. Serves him right!

Despite the excitement, DW and DS slept right through it all… which is more than I can say for DD. She was awake and not very happy. She was due for a bottle that she didn't get since she fell asleep on the way back. I got her out of the pack n play and changed her diaper. I got a bottle ready and laid her back down. Usually she’ll relax and go right back to sleep this way. She’ll lay back with her hands behind her head as she drinks the bottle, and by the time it’s finished she’ll be calm and relaxed and just go right to sleep.

I couldn’t figure out why she was still upset and screaming. I reached down to try to calm her down and as I touched her, I noticed her pajamas felt wet. I felt around and she and the bed were soaked.

I didn’t turn on the lights when I was doing everything, so I didn’t realize that when I fixed the bottle, the nipple wasn’t in the right way and didn’t seal. As I was feeding her, more of the bottle was leaking out on her than going into her mouth. She and the pack n play were both completely soaked in formula.

Remember annoyed, impatient, grumpy guy from yesterday that really needed to catch up on sleep? He came back.

DW woke up and helped with the clean-up. I grabbed a couple of bath towels to lay down in the pack n play and fixed a new bottle. Before long she managed to drift back to sleep, and thankfully so did I.

Ok, maybe not a full night of sleep, but we can at least get a few more hours before we head out for our first park day!!!

 

[trennr]

 

[scott2997]

 

[KatMark]

This trip is certainly NOT off on the right foot (well, except the adorable pictures at Chef Mickey's). I hope the morning looks better all the way around.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Sunday Dec 2, 12:15 AM

Nothing good happens that late at night.

BAM, BAM, BAM!!!!

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! Open the door you @#$!

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! HEY, @$$#*!%, OPEN THE @$&#!^* DOOR!!!!

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! OK, #@*$ , It isn’t funny anymore. Open the @#*$ door!

From now on, you're taking Fed with you on your trips.

Dad slammed the door right in his face. The realization hit him that he was at the wrong room and he took off stumbling away from the door and then ran away. I’m pretty sure he woke up with a headache and bruised foot in the morning though. Serves him right!

I guess he made a wrong assumption. You know what happens when you assume.

I didn’t turn on the lights when I was doing everything, so I didn’t realize that when I fixed the bottle, the nipple wasn’t in the right way and didn’t seal. As I was feeding her, more of the bottle was leaking out on her than going into her mouth. She and the pack n play were both completely soaked in formula.

Remember annoyed, impatient, grumpy guy from yesterday that really needed to catch up on sleep? He came back.

Worse? How can things get any worse?! Take a look around you, Ellen! We're at the threshold of he--!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

As you pointed out, I’m a bit behind here, so we’ll start off with the broken doors episode…

When we last left off, we had just finished unpacking and making ourselves at home. Translation, our room looked like a Buy Buy Baby truck smashed through the window.

I do not miss those days.
Every outing to anywhere was like getting ready for extended deep-sea diving.

We didn’t have time for naps, but we did get a chance to take showers and change clothes before we headed out for the evening.

And the rest of the guests appreciated that fact I’m sure.

based on the fact that all the Disdads say “pictures or it didn’t happen,” The Avengers monorail wasn’t the first one that we saw on the trip as it pulled into the station, and therefore clearly wasn't the monorail that we boarded.

Mark should have your luck (or more rather, his kids should)

We stopped in the station at the Poly and the doors closed… then they opened… then they closed… then they opened… then they closed and we sat and a few minutes.

¡Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!

We noticed that they really went above and beyond on the Gingerbread House this year.


The difference is impressive, isn’t it?

Very
I’ll have to check that against our pictures form 2010 to see if I need bother trying to see and “upgrades” that may be forthcoming in any future trips down there.

We headed back out to the monorail platform to give ourselves plenty of time to make it to the Contemporary when we saw a group of 10 or 12 teenage girls entering from the monorail. We assume they were there for the Christmas parade taping from earlier in the day, but we couldn’t figure out if they were part of the audience or part of the show. They looked like Nicki Minaj wannabes. They definitely stood out in the crowd!

You have a daughter…
You’re just getting a small glimpse of the future that it to befall you.

When we finally got to the Contemporary, it was about 40 minutes before our ADR. I didn’t expect to be seated early, but I figured we might as well go check in before we looked around. I got to the Chef Mickey check in desk and gave them our information. The CM told me that she couldn't check me in because they aren’t allowed to check us in until 15 minutes before the ADR time. By this time, the word check-in was becoming a profanity to me.

Yep… that’s a lesson I’ve learned in the past. I’m always early if I can help it, but early for an ADR still means that you’ll be waiting every minute of the time that was originally scheduled.

Frustrating…
Still better then the outcome of being late though (not that much if it’s a popular location, but still)





Sorry to hear about the camera troubles…

…but the pictures you did get were excellent.
Well, the moments themselves were excellent, but the picture does let the rest of us try to be there with you.

We did get a few good pictures though

Yep… that’s good one.


A mighty good one.

All in all, we were pleasantly surprised by our character interactions. At first DD was off to the side and I don’t think Minnie knew she was there. We moved her to the other side of DW so that she'd be right in front as they approached us, but then it seemed like the characters hardly seemed to pay attention to DS, because they were playing with her!

Pretty girls always steal the show.
(It’s best that he learn that lesson early. )

We enjoyed our dinner and ate entirely too much. Not because the food was so good, but do you have any idea how much they charge for that buffet?!?!?!

That pretty much defines the word “buffet”

I think both kids were asleep by the time we got back and I barely made it to the bed before I crashed for what would be a much needed full night of sleep…

Or would it be???

That does not bode well.

Let me say up front that whatever it is that will be busting down your door in the next couple of hours here…

It wasn’t part of my master plan to make you miserable.
You must have more then one nemeses.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

BAM, BAM, BAM!!!!

What the …?? *Sit up look at clock, 12:15 AM. Look at door. Silence. Try to go back to sleep.*

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! Open the door you @#$!

*Sit back up and look at door. Well it isn’t our door, must be some kids in a room nearby. Try to ignore it and go back to sleep.*

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! HEY, @$$#*!%, OPEN THE @$&#!^* DOOR!!!!

*I shot straight up out of bed as the realization hits… somebody’s pounding on mom and dad’s door!*

BAM, BAM, BAM!!! OK, #@*$ , It isn’t funny anymore. Open the @#*$ door!

Welcome to the happiest place on earth.


Well…
If you could get rid of the rest of the guests that is.

I’m pretty sure he woke up with a headache and bruised foot in the morning though. Serves him right!

Yes… yes it did.

I didn’t turn on the lights when I was doing everything, so I didn’t realize that when I fixed the bottle, the nipple wasn’t in the right way and didn’t seal. As I was feeding her, more of the bottle was leaking out on her than going into her mouth. She and the pack n play were both completely soaked in formula.

Yah… you ain’t having a good run of luck at all.

Remember annoyed, impatient, grumpy guy from yesterday that really needed to catch up on sleep? He came back.

I have a feeling that the sunrise will bring better times.
That’s the story I’m going with here at least.

Now go back to bed.