TR for 5/24-5/30 at the POP! Lots of pictures!!

[Sunset Cliffs]

You have done so many cool things already on your trip! I can't even believe how close you were to the rhino. I bet that was so exciting. The rain sounds like it was pretty crazy. You looked like you were soaking!

It's too bad it took you so long to get your luggage. The "we don't deliver while it's raining" comment would have made me pretty mad. I'm glad that you didn't let it ruin your evening.

 

[DisneyMissy]

It was really neat when the rhino got that close! The rain was pretty intense...I hope it's gone by the time you get there! I was a little frustrated with the luggage people for not telling us that before it started raining, but Casey usually gets mad enough for the two of us so I'm usually telling him to relax & that it's not a big deal.

I also forgot to mention the other complaint we had with the hotel room. When I got in the shower, I noticed that the shower curtain was covered in mildew. I don't know how the people who were in that room before us dealt with it, but we left a note for housekeeping to change it. When we got back after our day in AK the note (and their tip) was gone, but the curtain wasn't changed. We called housekeeping just to ask them to bring one with them the next day, but they came and changed it 15 minutes later.

Day 3 will posted this afternoon

 

[DisneyMissy]

My PhotoPass CD doesn't work!!! I waited very patiently for it to arrive, and I was so excited when it got here today. Then, I popped it into my computer...and it didn't do anything. Went to My Computer and when I clicked on the CD drive it told me to enter a disk. I tried it in my Wii too, and the Wii couldn't read it. Oh well...I'm going to do my report for Day 3 now!

 

[dd50]

Sounds like you had a good time so far. Sorry about the luggage mishap but doesn't every vacation have at least one.

 

[DisneyMissy]

This day didn't begin quite as early as the day before, but still somewhat early. We had a wonderful bus driver from Long Island that morning. He gave us the scoop on how the bus system works so we wouldn't go to the wrong bus stop on our way back to the Pop (like we did on Sunday) and told us not to leave if it rained, because that is what everyone else would do. We arrived at Epcot around 10 a.m. and we headed straight to

The wait was about 40 minutes, so we got a FastPass then went to

Wait time: 10 minutes! So on we went! We did the intense training, which wasn't quite as intense as I remembered it in 2007. Casey didn't find it to be all that intense either. I wonder if it has anything to do with the lawsuits?! It was enjoyable anyway. We then took some pictures of the beautiful Flower & Garden Festival! Here are a few of my favorites!

I meant to go to the Butterfly tent where all of the fairies were, but with the rain we ran out of time

We headed back over to Test Track where we waited about 5 minutes before getting into the video area. If you watch CSI, you'll recoginize the guy in the Test Track video, and the Dinosaur video, and one other I believe! We both enjoyed this ride...it's a lot of fun, but not too thrilling (my mom loves it, and she's scared of most rides). Here's our PhotoPass picture:

I believe it was at this point we ran over to Mexico to grab some lunch!

Casey had the nachos which came with refried beans. I had the tacos (I guess I should have taken a picure with them unwrapped...sorry!) which came with refried beans and salsa. Both meals were pretty good. He's pretty picky about his Mexican food which is why I think he went for the nachos (hard to screw up). I was so very excited to eat my churro!! It was soooo yummy and HUGE! I only at the two taco and the churro and I was stuffed!

After lunch we went into the Mexico pavilion. I've never been inside before, but it was so pretty! I do believe we'll be making ADRs for San Angel Inn on our next visit. It was so romantic! We also went on the Gran Fiesta Tour, which was a cute little ride.

We then went back to the Future World for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (Casey enjoyed that very much, it was one of his favorite movies as a kid), Journey into Imagination with Figment, cute but a little trippy, and ImageWorks where Casey made this:

It was getting pretty warm outside as we passed the Epcot Character Spot, we decided to go wait in line to take picture with the characters! I would definitely recommend this to parents with young children, because it's a great way to meet the major characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald) without having to sweat your butt off waiting in line outside. We also enjoyed watching the old cartoons while waiting in line.

I believe it was after this that we went on Spaceship Earth. Believe it or not, this was my first time on this ride! I really enjoyed it. It was now around 3 p.m. and we were finally done with Future World. We had decided earlier in the morning we would only do Ellen's Energy Adventure if it started to rain. And guess what?! It started to rain!! So just as we were going to start our voyage around the world, we were running over to Ellen's instead. I did enojy Ellen's though and it was a great way to wait out the storm.

Up next: Day 3, Part 2: Our rainy voyage around the World

 

[DisneyMissy]

Sounds like you had a good time so far. Sorry about the luggage mishap but doesn't every vacation have at least one.

Hey dd50, thanks for stopping by! Oh yeah, there's always some kind of mishap so I do my best to not let it bother me!

 

[DisneyMissy]

Oh, I just realized we also did Turtle Talk with Crush while in the Future World. That was so cute!

We began our journey in Norway, since we had already done Mexico. We unfortunately got hardly any photos while in the World Showcase, because it was raining the entire time! To give you an idea of how bad it was raining, this was the only day Casey actually wore a poncho (and he hates ponchos!!). Here is one picture Casey just had to take while in Norway:

He thought the grass on the roof was the coolest thing ever.

We grabbed a FP for Maelstrom so we didn't have to wait 10 minutes in the rain...lazy I know, but oh well. I now wish I had the guts to do the Princess dinner at Akershus, because it smelled delicous! But it's okay, because I loved our meal that night anyway. We then looked around the shops in China for a bit. The one thing I HAD to do while in Epcot was to go to Japan and pick a pearl, so I asked Casey if we could make the trek over to Japan so I could do that, before it got too late. This experience may just have been the highlite of my trip! I had so much fun picking my pearl that I am going to tell you about it in disgusting detail!

We went to the Mitsukoshi Department Store and headed straight to the counter. You have to pay for your pearl(s) first, then they give you a number. The pearls are about $18 with tax. I bought 3 (one for me, one for my sorority sister who was puppy/apartment sitting for me, and my niece for her 9th birthday). I was given number 5. I then stood at the oyster area and waited for my number to be called. The little girl who got her pearl right before I got mine, picked an 8 mm white pearl (the biggest of the day). The nice Japanese lady at the counter hit the drum and everyone clapped. Then they show the pearl to everyone. Once she got her pearl, it was my turn! I looked for three oysters snuggled up close to eachother and found them hiding in a corner. Then, the women at the counter and I bowed to eachother! My first pearl: a very beautiful 7 mm gold colored pearl, my second pearl: a nice white 7.5 mm pearl, and my 3rd pearl (the one I kept): a gorgeous 7.25 mm silver pearl!! OMG it is sooo pretty! The ooohs and aaahs I got were amazing! One women who was watching got so excited she decided she had to go pick one! The nice Japanese lady again hit the drum (or gong, whatever it was) and everyone clapped!! Oh, it was so much fun!!

You can then choose a setting to set your pearl in. The have earrings, neckalces, cell phone charms, rings, and possibly more. My setting was my graduation present from Casey, and he told me to pick any setting I wanted. I chose a beautiful ring! It was available in white gold ($150) or sterling silver ($50). I really wanted the white gold so it would last longer, but I didn't want him to spend that much money, so I went for the silver. Here it is:

I absolutely love it!

After getting my ring set, we went back over to Norway to ride Maelstrom, which was a fun ride. Then it was time for dinner!! I think this post is getting a bit long, so I'll finish up our evening in the next post!

 

[DisneyMissy]

We had 7 p.m. reservations at the Garden Grill this evening. We arrived a little early and were seated in a few minutes. We had a big roomy table all to ourselves. The host gave us a menu and told us our waitress would be right with us. We had a minute to look over the menu, and Casey got very excited when he spotted yuengling beer on the menu! The menu told us we would be having turkey with cranberry relish, flank steak with roasted red potatoes, and seasonal fish with vegetables. Wait, wait, wait...seasonal fish?! We came here for fried catfish!!! When our server arrived at the table, she took our drink orders and assured me that we would have fried catfish. She also explained how everything is served family style and we can have as much of anything as we like...awesome!

Our plates:

The salad, which was soo yummy! The dressing was a buttermilk ranch I believe, and it was very good!

The bread and butter...to die for! It was oatmeal bread with honey butter and I would have been okay just eating that for dinner!

I got a little excited for the food and forgot to take a picture when it was first given to us...whoops! The turkey was very yummy and was served with cornbread stuffing, which was different, but good. I don't really like fish (fried catfish is Casey's favorite), and I thought the catfish was okay. Casey said it was different than any fried catfish he had had before, but good. The steak was good and the potatoes were awesome. This may have been my favorite meal of the trip!

The dessert..I forget what it was called, but it was yummy! It was somesort of blueberry bread something with a very very yummy vanilla bean whipped topping!

The restaurant actually rotates through three different scenes: a rainforst, a prarie, and a farm. You can actually see the boat from Living with the Land go through, so Casey decided he wanted to ride Living with the Land after dinner. We also got to see Chip, Dale, and Farmer Mickey at dinner!

So after dinner, we went on Living with the Land really quick. It was a very cool ride except when we saw the tanks of catfish...I couldn't help but think we at someone's mommy

Then we went and found a spot to watch IllumiNations. It rained through most of the show, but oh well...we enjoyed it anyway. After the show, we walked the rest of the World Showcase and looked in each of the shops. It was pretty yucky out, and it wasn't quite the romantic evening I had hoped for, but we still had a good evening. We went back to the hotel around 10:30 and found this

Yay!! We got towel animals!!

Up next: Day 4: Pictures of the POP and a day at the Studios

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

I L-O-V-E Garden Grill!! Love everything about it, the setting, the food, the characters....some of our best pictures have been taken here, so glad you enjoyed it!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

K, all caught up, I was so confused there for a while

You two are so cute in your pictures!! I am so happy that you had a great trip, keep the updates coming!

It made me so glad that you went to see Ellen in the rain~it's a fun way to spend time. I was cracking up when the CM's kept announcing it was 45 minutes, in case people wanted to leave, I was like, Lady, why do you think I'm here! It's 45 minutes I am NOT pounding the Disney concrete!

 

[DisneyMissy]

I L-O-V-E Garden Grill!! Love everything about it, the setting, the food, the characters....some of our best pictures have been taken here, so glad you enjoyed it!

Me too! I heard some bad reviews and my mom didn't like it at all so I was a little worried. I would kill for some of that bread and butter right now though!

K, all caught up, I was so confused there for a while

Haha, I'm glad you got all caught up!

You two are so cute in your pictures!! I am so happy that you had a great trip, keep the updates coming!

Thanks!! I'm uploading pictures on to photobucket right now for the next update!

It made me so glad that you went to see Ellen in the rain~it's a fun way to spend time. I was cracking up when the CM's kept announcing it was 45 minutes, in case people wanted to leave, I was like, Lady, why do you think I'm here! It's 45 minutes I am NOT pounding the Disney concrete!

Haha! It was a very nice way to relax a bit!

 

[DisneyMissy]

Casey was very tired this morning, so I let him sleep in while I did some shopping at Everything POP, got some soda in our refillable mug, and took some pictures around the resort. Here are the pictures!!

The view of the computer pool from our building (building 7) elevator area

Another picture from the elevator area

The pool area/ 90s building

Roger Rabbit

80s

90s

Bus area

50s

Petals pool bar

Hippy Dippy Pool

60s

70s

Kiddy Pop Jets

Mickey Phone!

Big Wheel

Twister (Casey wants to do this in our backyard some day)

1983 (Year Casey was born)

1987 (Year I was born)

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

Up next: Part 2: A day in the Studios

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

OMG! I'm gone for 2 days and you do a TON of updates. That was so much fun to read! I can't believe what full days you have and you don't get tired or grumpy. Good for you! The Garden Grille food looks really good. We thought about trying this, but I also heard some not very good reviews, so we decided to skip it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Your comment about the fish made me laugh. I always think about that stuff too. It's like the lobsters in the lobby of a seafood restaurant. It always makes me sad.

Your ring is so beautiful. I would have chosen the silver as well. I am pretty tough on my jewelry, so the silver would have made it feel a little more sturdy. The colors of the pearls were so cool! Now I want to go try this, and I have never wanted to before.

 

[DisneyMissy]

OMG! I'm gone for 2 days and you do a TON of updates. That was so much fun to read! I can't believe what full days you have and you don't get tired or grumpy. Good for you! The Garden Grille food looks really good. We thought about trying this, but I also heard some not very good reviews, so we decided to skip it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Your comment about the fish made me laugh. I always think about that stuff too. It's like the lobsters in the lobby of a seafood restaurant. It always makes me sad.

Your ring is so beautiful. I would have chosen the silver as well. I am pretty tough on my jewelry, so the silver would have made it feel a little more sturdy. The colors of the pearls were so cool! Now I want to go try this, and I have never wanted to before.

Haha I could have been there every day open to close and not get tired or grumpy! Casey on the other hand could sit around by the pool all day and be completely content so we had to compromise a bit! If you get the chance on your next trip, I would recommend trying Garden Grill, esp. if Dylan likes Chip n' Dale!! I hate the lobster tank at the grocery stores...it makes me so sad!!

Thank you!! It was such a fun experience! The settings weren't too expensive either, but if you were looking at a cage necklace you can find a lot on eBay for a lot cheaper.

 

[DisneyMissy]

So once I got Casey up and moving, we were off to DHS. I thought this would be his favorite park, but he decided he likes Epcot the best. Our first stop was a Toy Story Mania for a FP. From there we went on to the Backlot Studio Tours. I can't remember what it was like when I was younger, but I've heard that it has changed and people don't like it as much now. It wasn't amazing, but we enjoyed it. From there we walked around Streets of America for a bit.

Next, we did something Casey had been wanting to do since he was a little boy: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure! He was very excited, and we went a little picture crazy in here!

Then went to see Muppet Vision 3-D...I love this show! Casey enjoyed it too

By this point our next FP was available, so we took the long journey over to Rock'n'Roller Coaster...woooooo!! We got our FP and decided it was time for lunch. I had wanted to go to the Toy Story Pizza Planet, but it was all the way on the other side of the park...where we just came from. We looked over the menus at Catalina Eddie's and Rosie's, but each of them had that chocolate cake we didn't like for dessert, and Casey was really craving a pizza so...we walked all the way back to Streets of America to go to Pizza Planet, and boy I am glad we did! The pizza was pretty good and it came with a salad. They had way more choices for dessert, and the best of all...air conditioning!! Here's a pic of the grub (we each got the same thing)

It was now about 12:45 and Lights, Motor, Action was scheduled to start at 1:20 so that's where we went. This was my first time seeing the show, and it wasn't really what I expected. I was expecting it to be more of an explanation about how all types of different stunts are done, but they scripted it so it was like we were watching the filming of a scene for a movie. It was a little too choreographed for me, but it was still a good show. Casey was very angry, because he missed the finale trying to take pictures. He did get some good pics though!

They had started the show a little early, because it looked like a storm was coming that way. The rain litterally started two minutes after we got out of the stadium! We quickly made our way over to TSMM and were on the ride in just a few minutes! Most of the ride I was beating Casey...then came the bonus round. I don't know what he did, but he ended up kicking my butt!! He wasn't too mean about it though...he knows I like to win!

It was almost time for our FP return to Rock'n'Roller Coaster but we decided to check the wait time of TOT first. Only 10 minutes!!! We were actually on the ride in like 4 minutes! Awesome ride once again, but it was a bit more exciting at night time!

Then it was time for my favorite ride ever!!! I was sooo excited! We noticed there were FPs still available for a return time of 6:20 so we decided to get more!! We were getting pretty lucky this trip about getting the seats right in front, and the luck was with us again on this ride...awesome!! Did I mention that I LOVE this ride?!! Here's the pic of us riding! I think Casey was enjoying it too!

On our way over to the 5:30 showing of Indiana Jones, we stopped in the Starring Rolls Cafe (I looooove this place, awesome snack credit options!) I debated heavily between a fruit tart and candy apple and finally settled on the candy apple (so yummy!!). 5 minutes later Casey decided he wanted a soda and the CM at the cart asked me what I was eating At that moment I was very upset for this young lady (she was probably about my age). I don't remember where she was from at the moment, the UK maybe? but I was shocked to learn she had never seen/heard of a candy apple and told her she MUST try one! So after this shocking discovery, we found a good seat to watch the show. I do love this show, it's an oldie but a goody. We then went on to Star Tours. It makes me laugh that this ride is described as a "thrilling" flight simulator. Maybe back in the early 90s when I was 5...not so much anymore.

Then is was time for dinner!!! I just love the Sci-Fi! We got there a little early and waited about 15 minutes to get seated. We were in the back row of a car with a family of 4 in front of us.

He gave us our menus and let us know that on the meal plan we could order a milkshake as our drink That made me happy! I ordered a strawberry milkshake (left) and Casey got a chocolate (right).

Both very thick and delicous!! (Sorry for the pics being so dark. I thought it would be rude to turn the flash on)

A couple pics of the restaurant:

Our meals came very quickly. I ordered the ribs...so yummy! I forget what they come with, but I asked for fries instead (I Disney fries!!) and Casey ordered I think an Italian Grilled Chicken Sandwich with fries. He said his dinner was good, but not great.

I tried his sandwich and thought my ribs were much better!

Our waiter noticed the camera on the table and took a picture of us.

For dessert I got the hot fudge sundae and Casey got a chocolate peanut butter cake. The sundae was very good and Casey liked the cake except that it had pecans in it.

Our waiter was very nice and brought us two souviner cups with caramel corn (very yummy) for Casey's first visit (gotta love the buttons)! Sorry I didn't get a picture of them...they are in the sink right now! After getting home I discovered they glow in the dark...awesome! We left the park right after dinner and spent the night in the hotel room watching the Laker's game and enjoying the bottle of Captain Morgan we brought from home

Up next: Day 5: Our "relaxing" day...haha, yeah right!

 

[DisneyMissy]

So I hate to bring bad news to a party, but my Auntie Tootsie (the one pictured with Piglet and me on page 2) passed away last night She was admitted to the hospital while Casey and I were in Disney, but my mom didn't tell me until we got home, because she didn't want to ruin our trip. We were really afraid she was going to pass while we were in Florida in a week and a half, but she didn't want us to cancel our trip...she just wanted us to go and have a good time. So there's a little comfort in knowing we'll be here for the funeral and all. She loved Disney just as much as the rest of us, and we had really hoped she would get well enough to come with us, but we'll be thinking about her while we're there.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Sorry to hear about your Aunt. Your trip seems great! I just came across it this afternoon and read the pre-trip and all of the trip to date. Will be here waiting for more!!
Erin

 

[dd50]

So sorry to hear about your Aunt.

 

[DisneyMissy]

Sorry to hear about your Aunt. Your trip seems great! I just came across it this afternoon and read the pre-trip and all of the trip to date. Will be here waiting for more!!
Erin

Thanks for joining! Glad you're enjoying it!

So sorry to hear about your Aunt.

Thanks!

 

[DisneyMissy]

This day was supposed to be our day to relax and not rush, and in a way it was, but I was still up and ready to go at 9 a.m.! We decided to head to the pool around 10. I thought it would be fun to go check out the Hippy Dippy pool, but I have to be honest...I like the computer pool better. This could be because the computer pool was less crowded, the pool bar didn't open til 11 (it's vacation...I'm allowed to have a drink before noon!!), and the flower shower things weren't going. I fell asleep lying by the pool...luckily I put on sunscreen! Around 11 we went back to the room and got ready for the day.

We had lunch at Everything POP. I had the adult chicken nuggets meal. It was good, but nothing special.

Casey had the double bacon burger I think. He's not a fan of cheap burger patties so he said it was just okay.

We each got a sundae for dessert...yummy!!

Then it was off to

We planned on just checking out shops and doing a ride or two, so that's just what we did. The entire trip I was debating on buying a graduation cap ears hat, and we stumbled into The Chapeau where I realized for $3 you can get your name embroidered on it...so I broke down and bought it. Oh, and I thought it was cool that the cap was blue and gold, because those are my school colors!! We walked around the shops a bit and took a ride all the way around MK on the train.

Believe it or not, I've never used the train before. I thought it was really cute. Then we had to go pick up my hat and we realized the parade was about to start. We found a bench and plopped our butts on them to watch.

At this point we decided to get on a few rides. We grabbed a FP for the Jungle Cruise then went over to Pirates.

That would be Casey pretending to be a pirate

Since we weren't in a hurry we waited in the 30 minute line to ride Big Thunder Mountain RR...I love that ride!! Casey wasn't too impressed though

Our FP time rolled around so we headed over to the Jungle Cruise

This was my first time on the Jungle Cruise, and it was so cute! Our skipper had some pretty funny jokes.

We decided to head back towards the entrance to leave for Ft. Wilderness and ducked into shops along the way. Surprise surprise, it started to downpour while we were in the shops!! I forget the name of the store with all of the glass, but we hung out there for a while and watched some really cool glass blowing. This rain was almost a blessing in disguise, because if it weren't for the rain there are a lot of things we wouldn't have done but really enjoyed. Why we didn't take pictures of the glass blowing, I don't know. I think we were just too amazed by it. While looking around the shop later I found this

Price tag: $37,500!!!!

Up Next: Day 5, Part 2: A stormy sing-a-long and the Hoop-Dee-Doo!!