Toetoe, we're not in Anaheim anymore! A fully completed TR - links on pg.1

[cynderella]

Nope they don't do that for everyone! You're Special!

Yay me!

Namedropper

Whatever works, babes.

 

[DISUNC]

When I called in early May to make the ADR for WTP, the CM I spoke with tried to talk me out of it! She saw that we had CRT ressies and said “I don’t know! That’s a really big breakfast. Are you SURE you want to do both of these in one day??” .

I had the same thought!

Well, my cell phone rang about 12:00:

“Hey! We’re at the GF right now, waiting for you.”

“Why are you doing that? It’s only noon.”

“Well, I didn’t know where I was going, so we left a little early.”.

He REALLY dont like to drive in strange places!!!! If you ever want to 'do him in'...make him drive in the UK, on the wrong side of the road!

The coolest part about the monorail ride over to the GF was that DD and I got to ride up front with the pilot!.

As of last year the use too give you Monorail Piliots Licenses! They dont do that anymore!

After a considerable wait,!.

Nice dig!

turned out to be 98 degree heat with something like 70% humidity.

70% humidty in Orlando during August is phenominally LOW!

I got a certificate for a free trading pin when I signed up for DME.

hate to tell ya this...But everyone gets them. I booked thru AAA with no DME (came through) Sanford. DME is FORBIDDEN there. It comes with your "FREE" PhotoPass coupon! We got the Yellow busses with the Gold Mickey head on them. The use to be character pins.

I’m thinking back to the OKW pin I saw on eBay…someone wants $10.95 plus $5.50 shipping for it. I don’t want to pay that!!!

Pin Traders in DTD has them. I saw it & mentioned to James thats is where you are staying!

she put on PJs to lounge in and ended up taking a 2 hour nap (along with DS, who “wasn’t tired”):

maybe trying to make that Sci-Fi Dine In ADR wasn’t going to be such a good idea after all.

Another of my favs MUST DO!

We had so much fun that we swam and slid longer than planned and didn’t get back to the villa and into bed until about 11:00 p.m.

 

[Va-bear]

Hey Chief!!!! I am laughing MY Eeyore off thinking of the face on your DD about to see - FIGMENT (eeekkk!!!!!!) What a sweetie!

 

[cynderella]

As of last year the use too give you Monorail Piliots Licenses! They dont do that anymore!

Aw! Now I remember hearing that! Well, bummer. That wasn't a good program to do away with!

70% humidty in Orlando during August is phenominally LOW!

Ok, I never really looked at the actual humidity level numbers, so it was clearly more than that. In So Cal, 70% humidity in the summer is very HIGH!

Pin Traders in DTD has them. I saw it & mentioned to James thats is where you are staying!

You know what? We never made it to DTD!!! Can you believe that? And there was a ferry over there from the resort!! On the list for next time, especially since we understand WDW DTD to be very different from the one at DLR.

Another of my favs MUST DO!

Gotta put Sci-fi on the list for next time. We were bummed that we were too pooped to do MGM that night. Gonna need 10+ days for the next trip. My cats will be sooo

 

[cynderella]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading, limeys and people I hadn't known previously. I am very flattered by your interest and happy to have you along for the ride.

 

[Anc96]

You know something .... we were there for 17 days, and WE DIDN'T GET TO DTD either this year..lol.
We've been there before though. But we did mean to go.. we just kept doing other things.

Oh.. and not to disagree with THE DISUNC... but I hafta here. Me and DD got our co-pilots licenses each time we rode up front (a total of 3 times) this year.. and we also got little sick-on wings! We'd never gotten those before.
Maybe the monorail's captains were so intimidated by having THE LIME KING himself riding, that they thought a "CO"-pilots for a king would be an insult. Thus poor DisNef had to lose out this time

Oh.. here's what the licenses look like (I just took it with my cell phone so it's not a good pic):

Agree about the Sci-Fi... it's a must do just because of the atmosphere alone!

So far you guys seem to be having a ball! I love reading your TP.. helps me re-live our great times too! And I love it that it's the first time for you too! Makes me see with new eyes again.

Great Report.. I'm lovin' it!

 

[cynderella]

So, as we headed out over the right hand path to WS, we got out the map to see where we needed to go. Yep, we were going in the right direction – and we promptly arrived in Canada; there was the sign for Le Cellier – right there! – and we were all pleased that it had been easy find and had a lovely ambience in general. This was my first hint at how charmed I would be by the World Showcase. It was only about 12:10 p.m. by that time, but we went inside Le Cellier anyway, thinking that as hot as we were, waiting for 20 minutes for our table in the air conditioning wouldn’t be such a hardship at all. This is when we got the clue: arrive for ADR 45-60 minutes early? Bad. Arrive about 20 minutes early? Good. We were seated immediately in that lovely cool dark restaurant and greeted by the nicest server ever, Shayne. He asked us a lot of questions about our ourselves, our trip, what we’d been doing (along with everything else, I mentioned just offhand that we’d done CRT and WTP the day before for DD’s b-day), and then he told us a little about himself and where he is from (Nanaimo, B.C.). Wonderful waiter, so if you go there and get seated at his station, give him the love he deserves.

DH and DS ordered the Prime Rib French Dip, which was admittedly fabulous, I got the really good Open-faced Sirloin Steak Sandwich and the Cheese soup as an appetizer, and DD got the kids’ pasta.

DH and I both got a Bloody Caesar to go with our meal (wow, spicy and delish!), DS got a chocolate raspberry shake, which he said was to die for, and DD got Sprite. It’s really very chilly in Le Cellier! So much so that DD wanted her light sweatshirt, which I had been carrying around in my Baggallini until today. DH had bought her a WDW backpack the day before for her birthday, so now she could carry it instead. Well, ok, since DH mostly wore the backpack, he carried it around, but at least I was finally relieved of the burden.

As we were finishing up our meal, we met a nice family seated right next to us who was from Texas. The wife and son had clearly American – if not overtly Texan – accents, but the dad had a pronounced African accent that was very charming. We spent awhile comparing WDW notes with them and the family on the other side of the Texas family’s table (people are so friendly at WDW…I loved that). Then Shayne came by with a belated birthday dessert for DD and a card signed by many of the other Le Cellier servers,

and everyone at the nearby tables sang happy birthday to her. It was really thoughtful, as it wasn’t really her b-day anymore and he didn’t have to do that. It made her day and was yet another dose of the pixie dust that made our trip so special. Here’s a pic of the dessert. She needed help finishing it before all was said and done. Thank God!!

Back out in the wilting humidity, we noticed a CM sitting in the little kidcot station cave next to Le Cellier, so let DD go in and color a mask. (Much grief was given about “coming to Disney to COLOR with CRAYONS.” I told the grief-giver to hush up and be patient, so he tried to do that – but it was hard.) While she did that, DH and DS sat in the shade and I walked up the path to a little cart to buy an Epcot passport. Rather than having the “passport-signer” CM fill in the space for Canada, though, DD and I decided to go back into Le Cellier and ask if our favorite Canadian, Shayne, would sign it instead. As busy as he was, he did this for her and helped create a great memory of that special day-after-the-birthday meal.

Up next: All that and we haven’t even left Canada yet! (I think WS is going to take a few installments).

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

I have to tell you I your little Princess, she is soooo adorable and makes the cutest little expressions! You need to post more about your ds, he seems like such a great kid too! What a great server you had, how sweet of him to do all that for your dd! Can't wait for more! Can't wait to hear more about your dh and his quest to put out all those fires. Btw, did he ever get a chance to wear his jacket or did he leave it home?

 

[eeyore45]

another installment!!


HI Cyn, still here - I'll try very hard to behave myself...

can you please update me on some.... 'laundy' beverages???? surely there's more to the world... than ..... refillable mugs!!! *wink *wink!!

 

[sewer]

SHOWOFF!!!!

First day back and you are writing a TR!

Yes it is amazing how much PAPER work you accumulate in WDW! I held onto EVERYTHING...for reference sake in a WDW shopping bag.

One question...what is " Magical Moments Certificates"?????



Giving me fuel to start writing mine!!!!

That's sooo funny because I never realized the paper pile was growing 'till it was time to pack for home. Anyway when we arrived home everything was unpacked, and the paper was thrown on top of the desk to be sorted out later. When I read Cynd's post I looked over the pile and just laughed.

 

[Va-bear]

Wo - I want that dessert!!!! Heck. I want to go to Le Cellier - it got nixed for Coral Reef, hope that was wise. Cant wait for more!!!!!
Va.

 

[PigletFairy]

Cyn this is a great TR! I do have a request... if you do have those drinks,

I get to say what the provocative pig taste like

 

[Va-bear]

Cyn this is a great TR! I do have a request... if you do have those drinks,

I get to say what the provocative pig taste like

Ohhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooooo .........




Oh, oh - this is what I needed this Monday!! Thanks!!!

 

[keishashadow]

glad I found the trail...

cynd, forget the trip report, you need to publish a book! (it's a good read ).

Reinforces one of the main reason I don't write trip reports, aside from the fact that I'm a natural procrastinator...I'm humbled by your narrative.

Great pics of your family...always funny to capture the kid's faces from 1st day to last, commando touring takes no prisoners.

dis unc's right about the humidity, you're lucky if it's less than 98% in the summer in F-L-A.

Ready to buy some points @ OKW yet - LOL?

 

[pperfectmom]

I'm loving your report. Thanks for directing us over here from the MLP thread.

 

[cynderella]

Done with our basic dealings in Canada, but still not having seen O Canada or the inside of the Canada gift shop, or really, any other part of Canada except Le Cellier and kidcot, it occurred to us that we had a lot of ground to cover if we were going to see all of the World Showcase today. Thus, it was tacitly agreed that we would have to forego our customary afternoon rest (“customary” after three days, heh) if we were going to continue on. Feeling much better from a nutritious and fulfilling meal (and 600 mg of ibuprofen), I agreed that we should press on until we made it back around to Mexico and then head to the resort in the late afternoon and do something close to “home” that evening. Don’t let my fussing about how long it takes to get around the World Showcase fool you; it was my absolute #1 favorite aspect of the WDW parks. I ADORED it. Which, in fact, is part of the reason I tolerated my toe and the whole walking thing for so long. The kids were game, but DD was getting pretty tuckered out from all the collective walking we’d been doing since Tuesday, so in most of the pictures, looks like she’s about to wilt.

We rush off from Canada to the fire in the UK. Note DH, as always, in the lead:

The UK went by in a bit of a blur. You will be glad to know, MLPers, that the first thing we did was stop for a Bass ale at the little walkup stand there in front of The Rose & Crown (as evidenced by the cup in my hand in the picture below). I wanted to wander around a bit and see the shops and architecture, but DH was only willing to slow down for the kidcot station so DD could have her passport signed. The “passport CM” wrote a charming little note, but we didn’t realize yet that the mask colored at the previous station in Canada was supposed to be stamped and have a dealybopper attached to it in each country. (This would come back to mildly haunt us the closer we got to Mexico.) We were excited to see Tigger and Eeyore in the character greeting room, but just as we walked over to get their autographs and pictures, they slipped out the back door. Well, darn it. No wonder there wasn’t a line! We wrote that off and moved on to France. We took a picture at the thing on the other side of the bridge over the International Gateway (see below - what is that thing with the travel posters on it anyway? We were moving too quickly for me to make a proper assessment).

Then we spent a few moments looking around before locating the French kidcot station where DD got her passport signed and her mask stamped and dealyboppered. So that’s what the mask is for!!! DH was under the impression that we’d have to color a mask at every kidcot stop and was a lot more receptive to the whole mask concept once he saw that the one mask would be stamped and have a doohickey attached to it. This became a fun addition to the passport endeavor, and I briefly suggested scooting back to the UK to get that done over there, but DH was having none of it, so we moved on and went into Impressions de France.

Here we are waiting to go into the movie. Guess which one is me!

Do you notice that the woman on my left has something lime green hanging from her backpack!? I never even saw it until I got ready to post my LGMHPCness here. I wonder if she was a DISer? Feel free to come forward if you recognize yourself!

We really enjoyed the Impressions de France show, not only because it was cool and relaxing inside the theater, but because it was a very moving film. I got a tear in my eye a time or two…very moving or I was just REALLY wiped out. But, either way, the whole family agreed that it was worth doing and I began to lament not having seen O Canada. This was a lament that would continue until we came home because I STILL HAVEN’T SEEN IT!

Ahem.

Wandering (quickly) through France, we headed to Morocco, straight to the kidcot station where the “passport CM” signed in Arabic. I love the look of Arabic writing. I once had a student (this is a whole story, but I won’t tell it here) who wrote all of his essays in Arabic and then had to translate them into English. It was fascinating to watch this process and so the WDW kidcot Arabic brought back fond memories for me.

We looked around Morocco (I mean, literally, LOOKED, as we were already enroute to the fire in Japan.)

By this time, not only was my daughter getting a little tired of dad taking pictures, but DS was getting a bit weary of it, too.

(He is saying, here, “God, Dad!” )


Next up: We wait a little longer in Japan than DH would like. Deal with it, buddy!

 

[Anc96]

I am sooo loving this TR! And, I appreciate how FAST you're getting it done! The pictures of your family are great! It makes it so much more personal.
The only thing is.. I don't want it to end!

Thank you for sharing your vacation.. it makes me 'home'sick, but that's a good thing.

 

[cynderella]

glad I found the trail...

cynd, forget the trip report, you need to publish a book! (it's a good read ).

Reinforces one of the main reason I don't write trip reports, aside from the fact that I'm a natural procrastinator...I'm humbled by your narrative.

Great pics of your family...always funny to capture the kid's faces from 1st day to last, commando touring takes no prisoners.

dis unc's right about the humidity, you're lucky if it's less than 98% in the summer in F-L-A.

Ready to buy some points @ OKW yet - LOL?

Thanks, keishashadow! I gotta tell you, we haven't quite gotten around to talking pointedly about DVC yet, but I did catch DH watching the DVC channel more than once while we were there and when DS asked about it, DH told him that it was "more than just staying at WDW" which is what appeals to him, I think. Might be some investment in our future...I dunno! DH liked the "Welcome home!" bit as much as I did! OKW!

 

[cynderella]

I am sooo loving this TR! And, I appreciate how FAST you're getting it done! The pictures of your family are great! It makes it so much more personal.
The only thing is.. I don't want it to end!

Thank you for sharing your vacation.. it makes me 'home'sick, but that's a good thing.

It's making me homesick writing it!

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

I just love your kids, they make the best expressions! Was that a camera in your ds hand? If so he should have taken a picture of his father taking millions of pictures.