UPDATED! I am Your Host, Your Ghost Host. Tricks, Treats and Toddler in October 2011

[khertz]

Haha Will's silly faces!! When my aunt & uncle took my cousin to WDW for the first time, he was probably about 4 or 5, and in every single picture that they posed for, Michael would put his right hand up to his face so that his thumb & index finger made the number 7 right next to his eye, and stuck out his tongue. Kids come up with the strangest things!!

I LOVE what you did with his autograph book! Did just regular sharpies write well on the Shutterfly pages without smearing? What size book did you use? It is SO cute!! What a great souvenir for Will.

 

[msmith1026]

Love your PP pictures! I can't wait to get our CD, hopefully it will be here soon.

Doing our DIS meet up was one of my favorite parts of our trip. I am glad I got to meet Tricia and Laurie on my trip!

Will looked really cute at his CRT dinner--that costume is adorable.

 

[exwdwcm]

Love the PP pictures. Glad that you enjoyed CRT. We ate there years ago with DH's family and had a good experience as well.

We are thinking about going to WDW next November as well and stay at BLT.

CRT was definitely a pleasant surprise! Oh yeah- you will have to let me know your dates. We will be booking this Friday, our 11 month window opens then for DVc. November 9-17, 2012!

How was the weather for this trip?

The weather wasn't bad. It was actually warm at first, pretty hot in fact. We did have the awful rain on our MNSSHP day which was a bummer. Otherwise, we don't mind the rain! It was a little chilly on our water park day too- at least when you are wet and out of the water, it felt chilly. But overall I can't complain. It was pretty nice!

I LOVE CP breakfast!! It's one of my favorites. We are scheduled for one for our February adult trip even, lol.

I totally agree about making great friends on the DIS. Laurie(LJD2143), Darren, Brent and I are even going on an adults trip in February together. It was amazing that even the kids got along well!

Oh that is so cool Tricia! You can make some amazing friends here, that is for sure!

I am jumping on board. I am usually a lurker, however I just had to tell you that your son is adorable. I am sure he makes your husband and you very happy. I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

Welcome out of lurkdom! so glad to have you here! Thank you so much.

Haha Will's silly faces!! When my aunt & uncle took my cousin to WDW for the first time, he was probably about 4 or 5, and in every single picture that they posed for, Michael would put his right hand up to his face so that his thumb & index finger made the number 7 right next to his eye, and stuck out his tongue. Kids come up with the strangest things!!

I LOVE what you did with his autograph book! Did just regular sharpies write well on the Shutterfly pages without smearing? What size book did you use? It is SO cute!! What a great souvenir for Will.

I know, the crazy faces were well, crazy. lol. Where do they come up with this stuff, seriously! Thank you on the autograph book. Yes, regular sharpies worked well on it. Didn't smear for the most part. Just had to be careful and let it dry a minute or two. I ordered I think like something just below 8.5 x10 size. or it might be 8.5x 10- i'll look at home and I'll try and find the link for all the pages other DISers made. You just add them to your own shutterfly account.

Love your PP pictures! I can't wait to get our CD, hopefully it will be here soon.

Doing our DIS meet up was one of my favorite parts of our trip. I am glad I got to meet Tricia and Laurie on my trip!

Will looked really cute at his CRT dinner--that costume is adorable.

Thank you! Yes, DISers are the absolute best. At least DH now understands why I like doing meets. He was a bit perplexed at first- meeting strangers and all. But then again, he plays online games (used to play World of Warcraft) with people from all over the world and also was on a mustang/car message board and met folks too, so he should know. LOL! Can't wait to see your PP pics!

 

[exwdwcm]

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, PART 2

So we left off with us taking a break in the room after a lovely morning at MK. We had a brief rest in the room, and a nap for Will and then headed back out to visit Epcot for the first time this trip. Epcot is probably my second favorite park. We planned to avoid Food and Wine, since we know it can be more crowded on the weekends. We’d tackle it later in the week.


So we took the monorail over to Epcot, which we ended up deciding was a hassle much of the time, having to switch at the TTC etc. We ended up just driving later in the trip, especially for morning visits when we could get close parking since we do RD. We arrived at Epcot and hit Spaceship Earth first since there was no line. I always feel sorry for the folks that actually wait in a line for this ride, not realizing if they just waited until mid afternoon, it would be dead. Will got a little scared on some of the dark parts. I really miss the old Jeremy Irons narration.
Next up was over to Journey into Imagination. Alan hates this ride. Not my favorite either, but we figured it was a quick and easy ride. Will played for a few minutes in the play area.

After we exited, we spent some time playing in the fountains outside. I have great memories of these jumping fountains as a child. My parents took pictures of my sisters and I playing here each trip. So we let Will take his time playing here for a bit.

As you can see it was warm enough for shorts and a tank top again today. Pretty hot.

We hit Nemo and Friends next. Again, no lines at all. This is a cute little attraction and Will enjoyed the ride. We spent some time after exploring the aquarium and saw the dolphins. When done, we headed for some samples of free coke! Pass on the Beverly please. I hate the sticky floors in here, but it is a must do each trip.

It was nearing 7pm or shortly after, so we headed towards the World Showcase for our dinner reservations at Teppan Edo. This was a first for us. We’ve never dined there before. It was the only place we ate (sit down) that wasn’t covered by our TIW card. So we walked towards Japan and see how crowded it is back here in the WS. Ouch! Glad we avoided it earlier. We do have fun checking out the food booths. I think this is when Alan realized what the Food and Wine Festival was and he thought it was so cool. He really liked exploring all the menus. Neither of us are foodies at all, heck, I am pretty picky actually and more of a meat and potatoes type of girl, but he will eat anything. Same for William- so glad he is an adventurous eater too. We stopped in Morocco and shared a meat lefta pocket, it was good. I also stopped in France for the Cosmo there. It was delicious!


We arrived in Japan about 7:30pm and checked in early for our 8pm ressie. Got a page and headed into the store to explore. But we were called up just 5 minutes later. We were seated with a guy from NY and his mom, plus 2 other ladies. The NY guy was obviously having a good time at F&W if you know what I mean. He talked about how often they come down and he seemed to be flashing $$ everywhere too. He ordered sake and more drinks. We had a fabulous chef, so entertaining. We were all laughing at his crazy jokes. Will enjoyed the show, but was more content to play with my phone. We all enjoy the food. I have the chicken and filet, Will has chicken and I think Alan had shrimp. This ended up being our most expensive meal of the trip, well over $100 and no TIW discount. It was good, but we can do fun hibachi style dining at home, there are a ton of great places in Dallas too. So we will probably pass on this one in the future, but I am glad we tried somewhere new.

We wrap up dinner at 8:45pm. We decided to head out of the park before the fireworks start, I don’t want to mess with the crowds and we have all week ahead of us. So walk around the WS the other way, towards Mexico. It is DEAD back here. Literally no one is around. We could walk right up and get a great spot for Illuminations if we wanted, but we were pretty tired. As we got closer to mexico, there were more crowds, but still pretty dead. It’s like no one was waiting for Illuminations at all at 9pm.

We are walking out right as it starts. But we beat the crowds to the monorail, so that is good. We are back in the room by 9:30pm and in bed early tonight. Our first few days are catching up with us!

 

[tlenzendorf]

The girls love to play in those fountains. When we went in August one year I just let them get completely drenched while Brent and I had a drink and just relaxed. They were so hot it was great to cool down! I'm sure some parents loved how I showed my kids how to stop the water and get drenched in the process .

I'd like to try Teppan Edo, but Brent has a really sensitive stomach when it comes to meat tenderizers, so we try to stay away from places like that on vacations. That guy you ate with must have some serious $$ to get that happy at F&W! I wanted to try some of the drink samplings, but at $7.50 a pop I was much better to just get regular drinks from the carts instead of the small cups they gave for that. I know, I know, it's about the experience, but I like value, too!

 

[msmith1026]

When we started planning our trip, Teppan Edo was on the top of our list, we thought Zoey would love it. But, she is suck a picky eater, and she loves Fish and Chips, so we switched to Rose and Crown--which was her favorite meal of the trip. I wish Zoey was an adventurous eater like Will is, you have to really push her to try new things, and on vacation I wasn't feeling like getting into a fight at each meal with her!

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Michelle getting caught up...

I love Will's costume for CRT and that is so cute how much fun he had there and glad you all liked it too we had a nice meal there too when we dined last yr. nathan likes belle the best too because of the books!

great dole whip Dismeet, wonder we matt and i were as we were in MK at the time or maybe just arriving it was warm that day, but a good warm

I always shake my head at the people standing in line for SSE too I love the water fountains too, a great place to stop every trip

looking forward to more!


and THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for the wonderful DISgift surprise (well i knew it was coming but had no idea when or what)... I agree completely I love the DIS people...some of my very best friends are people I have met on the DIS!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

eeek!! No TIW discount!!??? We enjoy the meal as well but we have several places in Orlando and Cincinnati that we go and it's a lot cheaper so I can agree with that Saw your booking for 2012..YAY!!

 

[exwdwcm]

The girls love to play in those fountains. When we went in August one year I just let them get completely drenched while Brent and I had a drink and just relaxed. They were so hot it was great to cool down! I'm sure some parents loved how I showed my kids how to stop the water and get drenched in the process .

I'd like to try Teppan Edo, but Brent has a really sensitive stomach when it comes to meat tenderizers, so we try to stay away from places like that on vacations. That guy you ate with must have some serious $$ to get that happy at F&W! I wanted to try some of the drink samplings, but at $7.50 a pop I was much better to just get regular drinks from the carts instead of the small cups they gave for that. I know, I know, it's about the experience, but I like value, too!

We will definitely spend more time in those fountains next trip too! so fun! LOL at them getting completely drenched! Yeah, i think the guy had some $$$, but apparently not much else, since he was there with his mom only. He was at least our age (late 30s/early 40s). It was funny though. Yeah, it was pricey, I didn't keep track of my F&W spending, but I should have. I am sure I can add it up now though, i know what all I got and it was a lot! mostly food though. Yeah, i was surprised how small some of those cups were, you are right, sticking to the full size is probably better!

When we started planning our trip, Teppan Edo was on the top of our list, we thought Zoey would love it. But, she is suck a picky eater, and she loves Fish and Chips, so we switched to Rose and Crown--which was her favorite meal of the trip. I wish Zoey was an adventurous eater like Will is, you have to really push her to try new things, and on vacation I wasn't feeling like getting into a fight at each meal with her!

Well you probably made a good choice. While the food was good- it isn't something you can't get at home. and ouch on the price! I thought they would take the AP for a 10% discount, i had looked it up online, but apparently that doesn't include weekends. so we paid full price. The only meal we did. I haven't tried Rose and Crown, but I think I would like to consider it for next trip. So did you all like it? what did you get?

Hi Michelle getting caught up...

I love Will's costume for CRT and that is so cute how much fun he had there and glad you all liked it too we had a nice meal there too when we dined last yr. nathan likes belle the best too because of the books!

great dole whip Dismeet, wonder we matt and i were as we were in MK at the time or maybe just arriving it was warm that day, but a good warm

I always shake my head at the people standing in line for SSE too I love the water fountains too, a great place to stop every trip

looking forward to more!


and THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for the wonderful DISgift surprise (well i knew it was coming but had no idea when or what)... I agree completely I love the DIS people...some of my very best friends are people I have met on the DIS!

Yeah, that is strange, maybe you guys weren't there yet or something? You are so welcome on the little treat! I hope you all enjoyed it. Will loved the little bag you did for him- we still have it hanging on the door in his room!

eeek!! No TIW discount!!??? We enjoy the meal as well but we have several places in Orlando and Cincinnati that we go and it's a lot cheaper so I can agree with that Saw your booking for 2012..YAY!!

Yes, all booked for November 2012- November 9-17th!! woo hoo! Yeah, no TIW there. I knew that going in and was hoping the 10% AP discount would apply, but they said not on weekends. Guess I should read the small print! Good news is, now DVC apparently in 2012 can buy the TIW card without having to get an AP!!! I am not sure if we will do APs for 2012 or not. So that is good news. Heck, we might even consider trying the dining plan again, but using points, we would have to purchase it. I need to figure out our meals and the costs to see what makese sense.

 

[exwdwcm]

Monday, October 17th

Today we started bright and early! We had an 8:05am ressie for Tusker House at AK! This would be a first for us, we’ve never eaten here. So we were up bright and early, but once again, running late with Alan. We left BLT about 7:45am. Alan drives this time. We arrive and park in Unicorn 26, almost up front. We walk rather than wait on the tram, I mean the walk isn’t far!


I am surprised by the number of people already waiting at 8am when the park doesn’t open until 9am. One lady was confused as she saw some of us going in the early breakfast line. When they told her the park didn’t open until 9am, she seemed miffed. Check your park hours people- why would you arrive at a park and not know it isn’t open yet? We were already late and took forever for the family in front of us to pull out their ADR number in order to be allowed in early. Finally they do and we get in too. The park is empty this early obviously. We enjoy the fast walk back to Tusker House. We arrive about 8:25am by now- but they check us in just fine. There isn’t a line at the podium, but there is a line about 10 families or more deep for the photo op. So we wait and wait. Finally we get our photo

We are seated in the back of one of the rooms and settle in to wait for characters. I go and get plates for Will and I. We enjoy the usual breakfast fare, but my stomach was not agreeing with me again this morning. First up to visit was Daisy Duck- William loves both her and Donald, so if nothing else, this meal was fun for that !

We also met Goofy, Donald, Mickey and had more strange poses from William.

Breakfast was good, but because I was not feeling great, I just didn’t get that into it. It was super crowded in here too, so maybe that had something to do with it. I felt the tables were close together etc. The food was fine and we loved the characters, so we will probably go back again. We spent almost an hour here. It took forever to get our bill- and we used TIW again.
So it is like 9:15am, the park is open now. Since we are back by the safari, we hit that up first. There is actually like a 10 minute wait, so we wait and then board. We see tons of animals this trip and are sitting right behind the driver. He actually doesn’t speak great English, so it was sort of strange. I couldn’t make out where he accent was from. We even spot the lions. Always a fun trip.

We return safely and I want to head to EE to get a FP or ride quickly. Alan is going to pass and sit out with Will. He isn’t big on this coaster, the backwards thing disorients him he said. The older Alan gets, the less he wants to do the coasters/thrill rides. LOL- but I am a ride junkie! Fortunately, there is only a 10 minute wait, so I just get in the standby line and wait by myself. I’ve never actually waited long in this queue, we usually fastpass it, so it was sort of fun to get to enjoy the details of the queue.
I also took my camera on the ride and took a few pics.

After my run in with the Yeti, we decided to do It’s a Bug’s life per Will’s request. There was only a 5 minute wait. William is so funny, he put on the glasses during the show, but would take them off on the scary or 3D parts. He sat in my lap too, but had a ball. He doesn’t scared by the bugs or the dark or anything, it was just the 3D stuff popping out of him had him a little on edge, but then he would laugh it off.

Next we saw a PP spot and took a few pics.

Next up, we explore some and go do the pangani trail- which is back by the Safari. We were totally criss crossing this park, but that’s okay. It wasn’t my usual plan. Back by the safari is a snack cart where they have the jalapeno cheese pretzels- YUM! Love these, I had to stop and get one. I saved it to eat after the trail (since no food on the trail). So we do the trail and really enjoy it. We see the gorillas very active- tons of them, including a baby.

After our walk, we catch the drum show near Tusker House. I promised myself that I would stop and smell the roses this trip- and take in more things exactly like this, instead of rushing to the next attraction. So we stopped and watched the whole show and it was a lot of fun! We knew we wanted to catch the Lion King show and we knew there was an 11am show, it was like 10 til. We decided to give it a shot, so off we ran. We just made it in time- they started literally minutes after we sat down.


We were in the giraffe section. For some reason, I can’t find photos from the show, but I did take a few. I was also trying this trip to NOT make photos my priority. I mean we go every year now, so it’s not like I don’t have photos from this show. I instead focus on photos of us, not just scenery alone since I’ve been so often now.

We enjoy the show and decide to skip Camp Minnie Mickey because the crowds are just a little crazy with the show dumping out. There is this poor kid, a little boy, probably about Will’s age (4 or 5) and he is throwing the biggest fit you’ve ever seen. His mom has physically picked him up, he is fighting, scratching, snot going everywhere from his nose, screaming, kicking and she is trying to subdue him as her and the dad (who is manning the daughter) try and head to get their stroller and get out of there. I felt for them- everyone was staring at them. It was a monster fit. But you never know someone’s situation. So I just felt terrible for them. I was thankful that Will is healthy and so well-behaved the majority of the time. But at WDW, we all have our meltdowns, that is for sure. I can’t tell you how many I saw when I was a CM.

So it is super hot outside now and the crowds are really heavy now. We decide to just sit on a bench, order a frozen coke and rest and people watch for a moment. These are some of my favorite moments, much like watching the drum performance. I am so into seeing and doing everything, that I get a little commando and yet, these simple slow moments usually are my favorite ones. So I have really tried this trip (and plan to in futures ones)- to just stop, sit down and enjoy. It pays off. We really have fun just taking a little break. William and I do a little shopping too- I get Will some books, and I find the 40th anniv mousepad which I am using right now at my desk at work!

After our break, it is after 12:30 or so. We’ve done a lot already. So we h it up Dinoland. Now, my commando self is freaking a little. Usually I would have hit Dinoland much earlier in the morning to FP and avoid crowds, but this time, we sort of changed things up. So I was nervous, but as we head back, I see Dinosaur only has a 10 minute wait. Score! We weren’t sure if we wanted to take Will or not. He’s tall enough (well over 42”), but I know how scary it can be (and rough). So we explain it to him and he wants to go. The kid isn’t afraid of much, so we agree to let him. He enjoys it. I prep him for when the dino pops out and he’s fine. We just tell the mean t-rex- NO!

Next up was Tricertop Spin. We waited about 5 minutes or so. But man it was so hot! We were melting. William really wants to do the boneyard playground though and I had it on my list as a must do for him this trip. So we let him, even though we are all dying of heatstroke. Alan sits out while I go in and we let him play for almost 30 minutes. But even Will is sweating up a storm. He has a blast in there though- he’s big enough now to climb everything himself and he LOVES slides. After that, we grab some ice cold water and juice and rehydrate!

It’s now about 2pm, we decide to call it a day at AK. We saw everything we wanted pretty much for this trip here. We did the train ride to the back last year and decided to skip it this time. So we head out and man is it crowded! We actually take the tram back to the car, it’s just so hot and we are wiped out.

 

[exwdwcm]

Monday, October 17th- PART 2


We get back to BLT and I decide I better take Will to swim since it looks like rain later in the afternoon. This is another must do on my list- swim at the BLT pool. And we only got to do it this one day. The rest of the trip, we were too tired, busy or it was raining. Next trip- more swimming is definitely a priority.



Mousekeeping had come today, it was our 4th day, the one time they come to change trash and towels. For DVC, you don’t get mousekeeping everyday. They left this:

So we change clothes. I figure with the heat and humidity it is the ideal day to swim. Plus we aren’t hitting another park, instead we have the Pirates and Pals cruise tonight. So we have some time to kill. This is my first time to the pool, so I have trouble figuring out the gate to get in. LOL. I finally get us in. I brought the stroller down, since it is nice to use to put all our “crap” in. William has almost outgrown the stroller for anywhere else other than WDW, but man it is so nice to use to keep all our stuff in. So I decide I deserve a drink. We head to the bar and I get a pina colava, some apples and chips and then refill our mugs with coke and find a spot near the water splash ground area.

William immediately takes off to play in the water. He loves it. I sit and enjoy a snack! They are doing pool games, but he prefers to just play over there instead. The pool is NOT crowded at all. After like 35 minutes, I see him holding himself…..I ask him if he has to pee and he says no, but then immediately I see he is peeing in his shorts. Right there on the edge of the water playground area. Ugh! The kid hasn’t had an accident all trip and now this. So we wash off the area, luckily it was actually far away from the water area, more on the edge of the sidewalk area. So we call it a day and head up to clean him up and get him down for a nap.

We never made it in the pool itself. I really wanted him to try the slide. Maybe next trip! But the water playground alone was enough fun for him. So the pool remains on my must do list for November 2012. I get Will changed and Alan gets him down for a nap while I take the laundry downstairs. This is the one time I did laundry the whole trip. I know, it was only a few days into our trip, but it was going to be the best time I had available to do it. We had almost 4 whole days worth of stuff to wash anyways. So I head downstairs and ask the CM where the laundry is, it is on the first floor and you need your key to get in. Nice. I like the added security.



So I get two loads of wash going and then go to refill my drink at the pool again and sit out there for a while updating my TR notes and FB. I go back in, put the clothes in the dryer and head back out again. It is getting very cloudy, but never actually rains. I also head up and sit near the 12th floor elevator, where there are great views of the MK- just sitting on a bench there, watching the monorail go by. So peaceful! This was the view.

William ended up sleeping until 6pm- a full two hours. He needed it. I had taken a shower in between doing the laundry. We get Will dressed in his Peter Pan costume, because tonight, we take on the pirates! It is the Pirate and Pals Cruise! We were looking forward to this- a new experience for us and I had only read great things about it. We decide to eat dinner at the Contempo Café in the CR. We had eaten here our first night too. I had the sliced stacked sandwich and it was really good. It became my favorite there. Alan had artichoke flatbread and Will has a turkey sandwich. We enjoy a leisurely dinner. After eating, we head to find the check in for the cruise. We are 30 minutes early , it starts at 7:45pm. We check in and there are already a lot of folks here. We sit down and entertain Will while we wait. We all get our pirate bandanas and mill around a bit.

Finally at 7:45 on the dot, they let us in to the area with the food and photo opps. There is a station with prepackaged snacks- including smartfood popcorn, rice krispy treats (the kellog brand), cookies, brownies, pretzels, yogurt covered raisins, nuts, granola bars, cotton candy etc. There is a separate station for soda, water and coffee. At the back is a backdrop and Hook and Smee come out for pics.



We are about 10th in line or so. It moves fairly fast. I regret this photo op. I let Alan take the pics with my phone and they were not that great, he didn’t focus in at all. And yet, Hook and Smee are two of Will’s favorites, so I hate these pics didn’t come out great. If we do it again, you can be sure I’ll man the camera! So we enjoy our pics and then grab some snacks and find a seat.

We meet some fellow Texans, but Will is super shy. Everyone is divided into two teams- Hook or Smee. We are on Hook’s team. They select a child to hold the flag and lead the teams down (usually an older kid- 8-10). We head out to the dock area at the CR. Remember, it is still rather warm and humid. And the bugs are out in full force. It is so gross. I wish I had taken a picture. The CM tells us they are a type of mosquito, but don’t bite. They are everywhere on the dock, like you can’t put your hand on the railing even, they are covering it completely. They are flying around on us. It is so nasty! We had noticed them at BLT too- tons of them on the sidewalk and near the lights.



We get on the boat, it is much bigger than I thought. I guess I thought this was a more intimate experience than it is- there were two boats- one for Hook and one for Smee. We are in row 16, towards the back. The boat is almost completely full. The bugs are on the boat too – gross! We get our seats and are introduced to Patch, our pirate captain. He’s hilarious – children and adults alike will appreciate the humor.



We sing songs, do trivia and head out on the lake. We stop to watch the Electrical Water Parade, but we don’t have a good view from our side of the boat. Then we drive around to get our spot for WISHES. While waiting, more trivia- I win a hook for Will by answering the name of the dog on Peter Pan- Nana. Soon WISHES starts, it is the regular version, not the MNSSHP version, since it is a Monday night. I had tried to book the cruise for later in the week- on Friday, so we could do it our last night and catch Hallowishes, but they weren’t offering one and then later I think they did, but it was booked up.



We then head back to the dock and are the last ones off the boat. It is about 10:30pm or just before. Everyone is greeted by Peter Pan at the dock! Yeah. William is dressed as Peter Pan, remember- he is one of his favorites. Fortunately the last thing off worked in our favor. By the time we make it up to where the line for Peter Pan is, there are only like 5 people still in line. We get up there and he shows Peter Pan his book. Peter thinks it is so cool. I love this shot of them both kneeling down. When Peter was kneeling, Will took a knee too. So cute!

Then he posed with Peter- again, the weird leaning forward thing, but he was trying to stand like Peter. LOL! Overall it was a great night and we had a lot of fun. We would definitely recommend this cruise to anyone and we will consider doing it again, maybe even next trip. Fortunately, we just had to walk up to the CR and across the bridge and we were home at BLT and in bed by 10:45pm.

 

[mousescrapper]

sounds like a really nice AK day, getting alot doen and even some extra play and fun moments... Tusker house seems like th eplace to be...I have read other TR's recemntly too of people eating there, but also talking of long waits, and crowded rooms but that the characters were great...we have never yet...but seems you need to do pre park and be on time

sorry your stomach was bugging you still

glad you got in a pool break too, it really is a nice pool, my family really enjoys it

so much FUN w/ the Pirate cruise...I just love the end picture of the two "peters" on a knee...so precious

remember how I told you we could here the music/chatter from the boats as we stood on the GF boat dock

looks like you had a blast...maybe we'll have to consider that one time around

I have to mention how you said it was so hot on Mon...I don't recall being hot at all on Mon and we were at EP...I swear it's the AK factor

 

[khertz]

Oh my gosh HOW CUTE is Will in his Peter Pan costume?!?! The whole bug situation sounds gross, I hate bugs of any kind!! Although I've never heard of a mosquito that doesn't bite? Weird. Anyway, looks like other than the bugs, Will had a great time on his Pirates & Pals Cruise. Hopefully they will still be doing things like that when Paxton is big enough to be a swashbuckler.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in ! Going back to read now.

Needing to read TR's to get us through the "waiting" period before our trip !

 

[CandleontheWater]

The pirate and pals cruise sounds awesome! This is actually the first I've read about it, so thank you so much for sharing your experience!

I think my little man would just LOVE a pirate theme fireworks cruise, combining his two favorite things into one activity is bound to be a hit!

 

[nemofans]

I have heard about the pirates & pals cruise, but never anyone's experience. It sounds like fun. We may check it out our next trip.

 

[exwdwcm]

sounds like a really nice AK day, getting alot doen and even some extra play and fun moments... Tusker house seems like th eplace to be...I have read other TR's recemntly too of people eating there, but also talking of long waits, and crowded rooms but that the characters were great...we have never yet...but seems you need to do pre park and be on time

sorry your stomach was bugging you still

glad you got in a pool break too, it really is a nice pool, my family really enjoys it

so much FUN w/ the Pirate cruise...I just love the end picture of the two "peters" on a knee...so precious

remember how I told you we could here the music/chatter from the boats as we stood on the GF boat dock

looks like you had a blast...maybe we'll have to consider that one time around

I have to mention how you said it was so hot on Mon...I don't recall being hot at all on Mon and we were at EP...I swear it's the AK factor

yes, too funny you could hear all the chatter from the docks/boats! The cruise was a blast, we really enjoyed it and might have to try it again! AK was great too- just not sure on Tusker house again for next year, but worth trying again at some point. Yep, AK does tend to be a lot more hot!! LOL!

Oh my gosh HOW CUTE is Will in his Peter Pan costume?!?! The whole bug situation sounds gross, I hate bugs of any kind!! Although I've never heard of a mosquito that doesn't bite? Weird. Anyway, looks like other than the bugs, Will had a great time on his Pirates & Pals Cruise. Hopefully they will still be doing things like that when Paxton is big enough to be a swashbuckler.

Thank you- he loves that costume! You would have really hated these bugs, they were so yucky! Kimberly had warned me about them, but they only appeared a few days into the trip. Yes, you have to put this on the list for Paxton to try when he is a big boy! He'll love it! I would say as young as 3 would probably enjoy it and "get it"

Joining in ! Going back to read now.

Needing to read TR's to get us through the "waiting" period before our trip !

Yeah, thanks for reading!!!!

The pirate and pals cruise sounds awesome! This is actually the first I've read about it, so thank you so much for sharing your experience!

I think my little man would just LOVE a pirate theme fireworks cruise, combining his two favorite things into one activity is bound to be a hit!

It was a lot of fun. I had researched it and only heard great things on it. It is pricey, but worth doing once, especially if you have a child into pirates!

I have heard about the pirates & pals cruise, but never anyone's experience. It sounds like fun. We may check it out our next trip.

I give it high ratings. It was fun for Will, but we enjoyed it too- they had some adult humor mixed in too.

 

[exwdwcm]

Tuesday, October 18th


Woo hoo- I’d been looking forward to this day for a long time- Food & Wine! Our first one ever. We knew that hitting F&W on a weekday was the best way to go and we planned to hit it up for lunch. So we arrived early at Epcot, it was EMH morning- they opened at 8am. We arrived about 8;15am, but got a front parking spot, so I knew it was going to be pretty empty for EMH. There was a threat of rain today and I guess it scared folks off. That’s fine with me. We always carry our ponchos, and a little rain doesn’t scare us off! WE just keep on going.

So we go in about 8:30am and get a FP for Soarin. I like the The Land now makes you park strollers over in the area between Nemo and Friends and The Land. Much better than all the strollers blocking the walkway up to The Land! So we get a FP, but also ride since it is just a 5 minute wait. We get third row- bummer! Will really thought it was fun to take our shoes off. He had on his crocs today I think and I had on flip flops. After we soared over California, we head towards Test Track, the usual Commando code and plan. But on the way, we see the character connection with little line, so we stop. I did want to get more characters for Will this trip, so I figured why not. Again, trying to make myself relax more and veer away from being so commando!



So we stop, the line is only like 3 families deep and Will wishes the wait was longer because he LOVES the old cartoons they play while you wait in line. So we see Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. Pluto was out taking a break or digging up a bone or something and we even waited longer and still he never came back. So we moved on. We get through there in 10 minutes or less. Nice! So glad we stopped.

So we continue on the original plan to Test Track. We walk on, even though it says standby is 20 minutes. It is really walk on. Will for some reason is scared the first time this trip. He’s ridden Test Track before, twice, last year when he was only 3. So not sure what the deal is. The minute we sit down, he freaks out and wants out, but it’s too late. He is fine though and loves it.
Should I, or shouldn’t I Daddy!???

Get me out of here Daddy!!!!

So TALL now!
We spend some time in the store when we exit. They have the monorail track set up and he wants to watch it. We ended up buying this for him with a gift card my parents gave him for his bday! I just order it later in the trip at DTD and have it shipped home.

After some browsing in the shop and car area, we check out the F&W festival center in the old Wonders of Life pavilion. Again, it is DEAD! I swear we are the only guests in the whole center.



We walk through the whole thing- I buy a few things- including the less then $5 wine bags- one for each of my brother in laws who are both big wine drinkers. It is just a simple bag, but has 4 slots to hold 4 bottles of wine. I thought it was cute. I got myself a shirt too and a set of the F&W wine glasses- I have them sent back to our room, always love this feature of staying on site! None of the demonstrations were going, it is still too early. But I mainly had wanted to check out the merchandise. We do end up seeing two other guests in there, also from TX, but that was it.

It was like 9:45am. I want to hit mousegears too- I need to get some ornaments and stuff to ship home. I figure I should go while it isn’t crowded. So Alan and Will sit on the bench outside and play on my phone while I shop alone in peace for about 20 minutes, yeah! I get a ton of stuff and pay and have it all shipped back. They come in just as I am paying. Now, it’s 10:45am, time to hit the Food and Wine booths!
We start at the Carribean- I have the dragon colada I had read about and it is delicious, but oh so small. They don’t have straws either, so I have to hunt one down at the Mexican FF spot. Alan heads to Argentina and gets some type of fish and enjoys it.

Next we hit Mexico. Alan gets the shrimp taco and me the rib eye. I go to get a drink for Will. He saw my colada and of course wanted some. It is hard explaining to a 4yo that they can’t have that frozen pink drink that looks so good and harmless. So I try and get him a sprite at the Hacienda fast food place. They are having issues with the drink machine. I wait and wait and wait. It is ridiculous.



After three more cast members, and a manager, I am finally told they can’t get them to work. So I get a tea instead for him. I get a large, not realizing how big it is. We sit and enjoy our tacos. Will loves the rib eye too- man it is spicy, not sure how he ate it. But I guess he is like me and enjoys the spicy stuff. He does eat hot sauce when we eat Mexican food!
Now on to Scandinavia! I get an order of the meatballs and they are yummy. We all share.

Keep in mind as we are going through the booths, there is like ZERO line. Of course the WS just opened and I think this is the way to do F&W, unless you are looking for the nighttime party atmosphere, which we weren’t, since we had Will with us (and we sort of hate all the crowds anyhow). There was another family with two kids older than Will in front of us- we seemed to follow them. We stop next in China and I get potstickers and Alan has the chicken. Both were good, but not my favorite. WS is just so dead, I can’t get over how fast we are able to move and just enjoy what we want. It is cloudy, but not raining yet.

We stop off in Africa to let William play the drums. He has a great time with this. Alan gets the lettuce wraps- at South Korea, right before Africa.

See how empty!!!

to be continued.....

 

[exwdwcm]

Tuesday, October 18th- PART 2
Next up is a favorite- Germany! I first hit the cheese and fondue booth- I love me some fondue! The sourdough was so good with the cheese, I could have just drank it down. Probably should have. We feel it starting to sprinkle a bit, so we both put on our rain gear, we both have pull over rain jackets. I cover the stroller with the extra ponchos to keep Will dry. But it stops after a minute and we are so hot/humid in those jackets, we take them off again.

Alan grabs us a spot on the picnic tables near Germany. Then he gets the pretzel sausage and streudel. I go get beer flight #1 for us to share. I don’t like dark beer, so he drinks that. I do try the sausage and it is good, but he manges to down the apple streudel before I even get a bite. AT least he shared with William. William is enjoying have a taste of everything too. This is our lunch afterall!
We take our time in Germany, resting and sitting for a bit. Still pretty dead! I stop at the Italy booth next to try the ravioli and yum, I love it. Now most probably won’t, because really, it tastes like chef boy ardee! Honestly, it does, but I actually like it. I have very strange taste, I know.



We are now nearing the USA and the Fife and Drum corp comes out. William refuses to let us continue until the whole show is over. So we watch the whole thing. Very touching. A tear comes to my eye, watching all the people stop to watch and honor this great country.

By now, we are getting pretty full. So we skip the next few booths. I do get a kaki gori in Japan though- it is a must each trip! We sit near Morocco and I share it with Will. He loves it. I think this is a must on his list from now on too.



We continue walking to France and stop at the fountain to let Will play a bit.

Then we spot it, the bakery, one of our favorites. I LOVE the chocolate mousse from there. So Alan goes in to look around. He is taking a while, so we go in after him to find out he has ordered chocolate mousse and lemon tart. We find a table outside the café/bakery and enjoy. Both were so good. The weather is nice- not raining and not too hot. So we really enjoy the sun now peeking out.

We keep on walking and spot Mary Poppins in the UK, so we stop to get her autograph and pic. There is a short line, but it moves fast. Then a CM walks up and cuts a family in front of us. No biggie, I see they are a Make a Wish Family (have the backback/bag on the wheelchair). So sweet to watch the interaction with the little girl.

One thing I can’t stand is people that take pictures of characters, while other people’s children are in the pic. I saw this one guy, he didn’t speak English so maybe it was more of a cultural thing to do this, but he was taking pics of the family in front of us with Mary and then of Will too. I guess they were trying to get a pic of just Mary, I get that, but really, do you want a pic of someone else’s child? And does that family want you having their child’s pic. I mean obviously in WDW, you will turn up in other people’s pics, I don’t really care, but I just think it is odd. He was trying to really work his way in and almost cut in line to get pics. So annoying.



We make the rounds towards Canada. We had skipped most of the booth since Italy, knowing we would come back later in the week for lunch and we could do the other side of WS then. But I couldn’t skip Canada’s famous cheese soup! Suddenly, Will has to pee really bad, so we head to the bathroom, forgetting that bathroom is only a two person one. It takes forever!!! The line is so long and he is about to pee his pants. One nice lady let us go ahead of her. Thank you!



While we were gone, Alan got the greek salad at the Greece booth. I get my soup and enjoy it. By now it is 1:45pm and the crowds are picking up a lot. It is a lot later than I anticipated too. Considering we didn’t do any rides while doing F&W, Will was such a good boy! I kept him busy playing with my phone or reading a book in his stroller when he seemed bored. He didn’t complain once and tried all the foods that we did.



So now it is time to take a break! I had planned to break much earlier than this, probably by 1pm, and now it is nearly 2pm, but oh well. We get back to the hotel and try and let William sleep for a bit. We finally get him down at 2:45pm. Tonight is the Halloween party! So we really wanted him well-rested. He does great staying up late, but I don’t want him grouchy!



So it’s almost 3pm, I get a text from Julie – mousescrapper and she is at BLT too and has a treat for Will before the party. We plan to meet up at the party tonight too, but they will be in full costume! So sad that Will is asleep and can’t meet her out of costume, but I go down to the lobby and we meet, hug and sit and chat. She has the cutest little homemade decorated bag with treats for Will- colors, candy and beyond. It is so sweet and thoughtful and he loves it!! It was so nice to meet her! I head to get a drink refill at Contempo and then head back to the room. Will only gets an hour nap, as we wake him up by 4pm to get dressed and head to dinner. We have 5pm ressies for O’hana before the party!



We get him dressed in his Peter pan costume and we head out to the monorail.

It was about 4:30pm and it was taking forever to get a monorail. Once we get on, they are full. We manage to get in a car that has a group chaperoned by two kind people. It is a mix of men and women from some sort of group home for the disabled, some are in wheelchairs. There are two wheelchairs in our car and we barely fit in, with the stroller. They were kind enough to squeeze us in. When we finally stop at the Poly, I have to fold it up, take William out to get out.



The folks are right by the door blocking our exit, so it was pretty tough to get out and the female chaperone has her leg in a cast. It was fun hearing their conversations of what they did that day and what they bought and how they were heading back to a rental house to make dinner. The chaperones were talking about stopping at WalGreens for meds and also for shower assistance seats and tools. It just made me so thankful there are good people like them whether paid or volunteer that take the time to help these folks enjoy a wonderful time in WDW. I am so happy that WDW is so accommodating to those with special needs, whether it be a physical one or not. Everyone should have the opportunity to experience this magical place.



So we finally exit at the Poly and head immediately to the check in line for dinner. They have moved the check in podium though to a new location, right by the top of the stairs almost, closer to the store. There are actually two lines, one for those with ADRs and one for walk ups. Interesting new concept and I like it!



We head to the lounge area near the bar as the whole area was pretty packed with folks waiting for O’hana to open. We find a table and order drinks. I get a pina colava, my fave. We get Will a sprite. Bad mistake- it was like $3 for his sprite and of course he gets a drink included with the meal at O’hana, so we just should have waited. We were seated pretty quickly, on the far side of the restaurant near the window. We get the bread and drinks- but no butter for the bread. Our server seemed a little busy. But it was definitely much better than our server last year (she was just pathetic and I can say that, I waited tables for years!)

We pigged out on salad, bread etc. I love the potstickers. I don’t care for chicken/meat on the bone, so I only ate one wing, but love the sauce on it. Will enjoyed all too- he loved the salad. We stuffed ourselves silly on everything. It seems our waiter didn’t bring the hot towels early enough- it seems we usually got them pretty fast, but it took forever to get them. The beef was cooked just perfectly for me- not too rare. I hate when it is too rare for me. I am more of a medium/medium well kind of girl.

Finally out came the bread pudding. YUM! I was so stuffed already though, but I forced it down, almost making myself sick. LOL! They even brought Will a birthday cupcake too.

O’hana was great as usual. It has become one our must do’s each trip. I have read the stories about the bread pudding being replaced by a coconut version and different sauce. Very disappointing if that is the case. I am NOT a coconut fan. But much like the noodles, maybe the new version will be okay? I was very sad when those delicious cheesy potatoes were replaced by the noodles, but I do enjoy the noodles now too. Who knows. I will certainly miss it if it is gone.



So bellies completely full, we headed out by 6:15pm to the MK for the Halloween party! YEAH! Our first MNSSHP. We’ve done MVMCP about 3x now. Will’s done it twice. But MNSSHP was a first for us.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Great update!

Our plan was to do an afternoon in the WS snacking around the world, but we were having so much fun during our Dismeet that we just skipped out to hang out with them I definitely need to get back during that time of year again to try it out. I'm thinking maybe a womens' trip? I didn't even know that there was a F&W area with that store in it or I would have gotten something from there. Just what I needed, another souvenir. We took an empty suitcase down in a suitcase that didn't have much in it and didn't have much room to spare in any of our bags. Good thing we flew SW....

Will is so cute in his Peter Pan costume! I just love it!

I can't wait for our Ohana reservation and to have another one of those Pina Colavas. Only 45 days to wait now, woo hoo! I do have to say that I'm really disappointed about the dessert change. Brent doesn't really care since he doesn't like bread pudding, but he did like the ice cream and sauce.

I can't wait to see your party pics! I am still surprised at how much fun it was. I wish we could have gone a second time.