Tim and Lesley Year of Million Compromises/TONS pics- 8/5 help me pg. 164!!!

[Lil'DisneyMom]

Hi Leslie!

I am usually a lurker, but had to join in on your TR. I read last years too, and I get SO excited to go back reading them. Congrats on the Fastpasses!! How awesome is that?!?!

 

[timandlesley]

Sorry guys, I just realized I left out some pics from my trip report yesterday, so I am posting them now, sorry about that. Here they are from our dinner at Concourse Steakhouse:

Here was my appetizer, lobster bisque, it was pretty good:

Tim got these onion rings that came with this awesome ranch dip, we all had fun eating these, Luke said at one point that was the favorite part of his trip so far during the meal, that was sooooo funny :

Here are the dinner rolls, pretty good:

I took a pic of the kids menu, hope this comes out, it was the new one that was pretty standard at most places Yuck!:

O.K., I'm off to work on the next installment, stay tuned
Lesley

 

[VanniGirl]

Another great installment!!

 

[jojo0612]

Lesley - totally love reading your trip report - it makes me even more excited about staying at POR in September!

I was so excited to hear about the My Little Pony station, my daughter is the biggest MLP fan, so this will be great to take her too.

I noticed the kids wearing their crocs - did they have any problem wearing them the whole time at the parks? I want to buy some for my kids but didn't know if any other brand (knock-off's) were okay to wear or if you need to wear the actual Crocs brand.

Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[kaysmommie]

Enjoyed your last installment! Sorry you had a bit of a stressful time, that is the worst feeling. I packed the My Little Pony box on our trip last fall. The problem was my DD had to have that darn popcorn cart and it took up half the box. We did fit the outfits though luckily. She reads some of your trip report with me and looks at all the pictures and now her and DS are playing with the pony stuff . Waiting for your next installment .

 

[timandlesley]

Day 5:
So the goal today was to sleep in, we had NOTHING planned until Lauren’s 4:00 Bippety Boppety Botique reservation, we were going to play it by ear, catch up on sleep and I had promised the kids some pool time they had been BEGGING for. Well, so much for sleeping in, I was woken up by Lauren at 8:00 turning the lights on and pulling back the curtains saying “It’s MORNING TIME!!!” Gotta love her enthusiasm. So I got up and turned the t.v. on for the kids and headed to the foodcourt to get breakfast for everyone. I brought it back and we ate in the room, the kids were playing with their new toys from the night before. Tim still was not awake so I let him sleep and got the kids dressed and we headed to the pool. Here are some pics of our stroll to the pool from building seven, gotta love POFQ:

The boat dock to DTD:

So we made it to the pool and there weren’t many people there early in the morning so I took some pics of the kids at the pool:

I love the way Lauren is looking at the alligator in that picture : )

Here they are ANXIOUSLY awaiting the slide to open (notice how Lauren is now giving the thumbs up in the pics too):

We had a GREAT morning at the pool, I just love POFQ’s pool. Luke instantly loved the sea serpent slide and went down it numerous times. I love how Disney has the floatation vests out for kids to use, Lauren had fun using that and swimming around with me.
I love the kiddie pool there, it’s nice how they have the squirty guy, here is Lauren exploring:

Luke even had fun coming in there to play with Lauren and get squirted:

By this point it was around 10:15 and the kids were BEGGING to do the hot tub, so we walked over there and had it to ourselves, it was so nice. I decided Tim had slept long enough (aren’t I nice) and gave him a ring, he surprised me by saying he was up and I told him to meet us at the hot tub. When he came down we started talking about how much we LOVE this resort, how pretty it was but how we wish we were closer to the pool/ food court and buses. Tim said “well, we have the day off today, why don’t I go and ask at the front desk if they could move us” I said “o.k.” so Tim headed to the front desk to ask. He appeared back and told us we needed to get out of the room ASAP, they could get us a room very close to everything (wouldn’t tell us what room or even a building number so I was just hoping it was worth the effort) but it wouldn’t be ready until 4:00. WOW. So we ran back to the room, packed everything up. I put together a bag with Lauren’s Belle dress in it, I quickly got dressed and put my hair in a ponytail for the day, got Luke dressed and we called Bell Services, had them pick up and store our luggage and we went and caught the boat to DTD.
We got to DTD around noon and decided to try Earl of Sandwich.

YUM!!! This place is awesome, I love that it’s on the dining plan.
I only took one pic because we were so hungry it went down QUICK. I forget the name of my sandwich but it had roast beef, blue cheese (sorry, I’m a blue cheese fan to my families disgust : ) and tomato, etc. on it YUMMY:

After lunch we still had a TON of time to kill before Lauren’s appointment. It was a gorgeous sunny day so we decided to let the kids play in the fountain again. I took Lauren to the bathroom and took her panties off and let her shorts on because I knew she would have dry panties and a Belle Dress to change into. I did the same with Luke and took his shirt off so he would have a dry shirt and dry underwear at least and I knew his pants would dry quickly. Tim and I found a nice spot on Earl of Sandwich’s porch in the shade with ceiling fans where we sat and enjoyed our drinks and deserts as the kids played. They had the time of their lives playing in the fountain for an hour:

That poor kid in the diaper needed a change : )
After that I changed Lauren into her Belle dress and Luke into dry underwear and shirt and we decided to shop around for a bit to let him dry off. Here is Lauren BEFORE her appt:

Before we knew it 3:50 rolled around and we checked Lauren into her appt. It is very cute, they give them a personal princess invitation which Lauren loved with the different hairstyles, Lauren quickly chose FairyTale Princess. The buzzer soon lit up and it said something like “Princess it’s time for your appointment” and we headed in. The two Fairy Godmothers working on Lauren were GREAT. I love this next pic because when I took it she was just looking down at Lauren and when I reviewed the pic she smiled right on cue, too cute:

A VERY patient supportive Luke looks on (this didn’t last long, it very soon turns to jealousy):

Lauren had the time of her life getting dolled up:

Makeup time:

They let her pick out the color of her crown, color of nail polish, color of eye shadow and her stickers for her face:

They have them hold up this over their face while they apply some hairspray:

I don’t have a pic of it but they wave a magic wand over their heads to apply the “pixie dust” Lauren loved this. Then they spin them around to face the mirror and tell them to close their eyes:

Lauren was THRILLED with her transformation:

 

[timandlesley]

We then headed to the photo studio they have there in downtown Disney. If you get the castle package (we brought our dress from home to save a TON of money- I highly recommend this, only cost us 45 dollars TOTAL) it includes a picture, well I had my AAA voucher for a free 5x7 photopass picture so I planned on using it for one of her BBB pics. We went over to the studio and the photographer took some outstanding pics of her, I had trouble choosing the one I wanted, wish I could show it here but we didn’t buy the Photopass card. Anyway, it was a VERY cute picture.
At this point though as they are taking her pictures Luke has his breakdown, I was worried about this from the start, I offered him the cool dude package when I booked this for Lauren but he passed saying he wasn’t interested, well it was all different when the day came and he saw all the attention and pampering Lauren was getting. He was crying so hard as she got her pics taken, I felt terrible. I promised him a night at the arcade, that seemed to help quite a bit, I also distracted him with a pressed penny machine that he did while she was getting photographed.
After that we decided we really wanted to hit a park, we had Wolfgant Puck ressie's that night but we really wanted to go somewhere else so we decided (again, COMPROMISES!!!) to use Counterservice credits for dinner and we'd do another sit down the last day of the trip - which you will find out at the end of the TR : ) so . . .. we decided to go to Animal Kingdom. There is no quick way to AK from DTD unfortunately, we got on a bus from DTD to the Animal Kingdom lodge, it seemed like forever, then at AKL we had to wait over 20 minutes for the bus to AK to arrive. Meanwhile at each station and on the buses Lauren was getting OODLES of compliments which drove Luke insane, Lauren of course at it up. Luke said “she can’t be a princess all week, she’ll just think she can boss us around !” Too funny!
We FINALLY made it to AK by around 6:00. I didn’t realize it was an EMH so it was a bit crowded and the skies didn’t look so good. We headed right to Tough to be a Bug show

The show freaked Lauren out a bit, I just love that show, so cool!!! Then we were starving so we decided to try Flame Tree BBQ, BEST COUNTERSERVICE OF THE TRIP!!! Oh my gosh this food was GOOD! I got the pulled BBQ sandwich and the key lime pie for desert, YUM!!!!

Tim got the ribs

GREAT meal had by all. By this time it was thundering BIG time and starting to sprinkle. We headed as fast as we could to the Dinosaur ride and ran up to the attendant to grab a Parent Swap pass, Luke decided he didn’t want to ride this year (scared him a bit last year although he acted brave and rode 2 times last year). Tim rode first, by this time it was a monsoon outside and there were TONS of people in the gift shop. Here is Luke acting like a T rex as we waited for Tim:

Then it was my turn, I went RIGHT in with my parent swap with NO line, walked right onto a vehicle. Right in the middle of the ride it stopped. Now, I don’t scare easily but this FREAKED me out. We were stuck in there with all of the dinosaur sounds in complete darkness, I really started to panic and was FREAKING out. The guy next to me said “this broke down earlier” I started to wonder how long I would be in Dinosaur land in darkness, then it started back up THANK GOD! It really is a cool ride but GOODNESS not in the dark!!!
After that it was still a monsoon so of course this was the day I didn’t bring the poncho’s with us so I bought an adult poncho to drape over the kids in the stroller (didn’t want Lauren’s new hairdo to get messed up) and we made a run for the gate.
We hit the arcade when we got back to POFQ to fulfill our promise to Luke, the POFQ arcade is nice and big, Luke had a blast!
When we got back to POFQ we found out our new room was 2301, GREAT room right on the corner so we had two windows, you walk down the stairs and it is RIGHT by the pool and RIGHT by the food court, DEFINITELY worth the move, I highly recommend building 2!!!
You can see the two windows behind excited Luke.

I took a quick pic of all that Lauren got to take with her which I thought was GREAT from BBB, they give them this cute bag, the sash, the TWO crowns (there is the one in front and a pretty glittery barrett crown that goes in the back of her head too, the nail polish and the makeup, Lauren was in heaven):

We got our suitcases from Belle services, unpacked and were situated in our new room in no time. YEAH!! It was definitely worth it, great idea Tim!
Stay tuned, tomorrow is our official Animal Kingdom day, GREAT DAY, Lauren gets granted an AWESOME WISH!!! And our girls night out at Askershus with the Princesses, stay tuned!!!

 

[Gina35]

Hi Lesley~ Another great installment. Lauren looked absolutely beautiful!! My 2 DDs are in their 20s now, and they didn't have ANYTHING this cool for them when they were growing up!! Disney just keeps getting better & better. Can't wait to see what my grandkids get to do there (when I have them)!! BTW, I'm sorry to bring up repeated info....but I've been searching the hundred-plus pages for the posts & can't find them!!! If you don't mind, will you PLEASE tell again HOW you order the water from Costco (Is there an 800 number that is nationwide??). Again, sorry to repeat....just sounds SOOOO convenient & really want to do it! Thanks~Gina

 

[tiggrbaby]

I am so glad you enjoyed the POFQ. It is really a great resort for a family with young kids.

And I'm so glad you shared your pics of Lauren at the BBB! I have all boys (now teens), and I would never have been able to experience something like that, so I'm glad I can live it through you!

 

[dlpcarden]

Lauren looked so adorable after her do up.....lol

I busted out laughing when I saw the picture of Luke acting like a T-Rex...He was so cute...

Those ribs and BBQ looked yummy!!

 

[jblb1020]

Lauren looks beautiful! I can't wait to take my daughter Kelsey! I will also bring her Princess Dress with us. The pictures of the kids are priceless! I hate carrying stuff around the parks but next time we go back my camera will attached to my hip!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Oh wow! Lauren looks adorable! Love her makeover!

 

[shannon47142]

How precious!!! I wish my daughter was young again!! Thanks for sharing --can't wait to hear about the new wish!!
Shannon

 

[steelfish535]

From one blue cheese lover to another (yes, my family hates it too)...Awesome, AWESOME report. I loved your report last year. You four are a beautiful family! You seem to have such a great time together!
I can't wait to read more. I booked Coral Reef as our anniversary dinner, so I'm really looking forward to it now.
Your kids are absolutely adorable!

 

[kaysmommie]

Lauren looks so pretty all done up in her Belle dress. My Kaylee can't wait until her BBB makeover, we booked the one in MK since it will be open. Loved all your POFQ pics too. It looks like the move was worth with the extra window it just looks more spacious to me.

 

[DisneyFan06]

Aww, your daughter is so beautiful. I can't wait to have a little girl myself and get her all dressed up like that. What an amazing dream come true.

Keep the report coming, I love it.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Awww....Lauren looks just beautiful!!! Looks like she just had a blast getting all dolled up! Sorry to hear about Luke's little meltdown - but, it sounds like he rebounded well with an evening of video games! LOL

We LOVE both Earl & Flametree - we eat at both locations every trip! Can't wait to hear about another Wish!

 

[Stargazer]

Great pics of your DD - that last photo at BBB says it all!

Eek - glad we didn't get stuck on Dinosaur! Yeah, yeah, it's all make believe until you're stuck in the dark with dinosaur sounds.

Also - you got 2 of my faves in this one installment. Those sandwiches at Earl were huge and amazingly delicious! Flame Tree was also voted best by our family - that BBQ sauce was really yummy!

new room - was it really alot bigger or is the angle of the photo? If so, I'll keep notes for which building we need to request on a future trip.

 

[Nicole786]

What a pretty princess Lauren makes!! We have an Earl of Sandwich at our mall, but they're not very common, and its interesting when i read about someones adventure in dining! I love the Hawaiin BBQ myself, but everytime i walk in there i want to ask if i can use my counter service credit!

 

[IluvXU]

Lauren looks so cute... poor Luke! It would be hard to be with a princess

Flame Tree - add it to our list! So did you not eat at Wolfgang Pucks? I thought you had reservations there sometime during your trip- right?
Also glad to hear Concourse was not a favorite... I considered it for one night. How long did the BBB take- and the pictures are included in your package- I think I am doing a photopass group with DIS!

You are truly getting this all out in record time!

Now you have me wondering what you did not get to do that you wanted to- but we will get there later!