We love Donald Duck, oh yes we do! - Link to the PTR - COMPLETE

[brookelizabeth]

It was a really short trip, we were only there 4 days, so we didn't have much pool time, and when we did, we hit up the pool by our building instead of the walking all the way up to the main pool. If there is one drawback about OKW it's the size, we were a long way from the main pool/building. The pool we used was really nice though.

That's kinda what I felt about the biggest drawback of SSR being-the size. Beautiful, but HUGE. If/when we stay at OKW I'll have to be sure to have that mindset before leaving so I can prepare better to not have to trek to the main building very often. Glad to hear they have quiet pools too.

I honestly wouldn't know where to request. I've never stayed there before and I tried to post a thread asking for opinions on where to request, but didn't get any feedback. Would you suggest Congress Park? We would really prefer to be close to the bus line, it doesn't matter if we are near the Carriage House or not.

I had a hard time finding some good solid information on SSR and where to request as well. But, after lots of digging and searching I found a few common opinions:

-All the buildings have a bus stop, so you are always pretty close to a stop
-Grandstand is the first bus stop when leaving the resort and when arriving. So while you may have a longer bus ride to the park, you will always get a seat, and your ride from the park will be the shortest.
-Grandstand is also fairly close the main building
-Congress Park is the closest to DTD with the DTD views
-Congress Park and Grandstand both have quiet pools and kids playgrounds
-The Springs is the closest to the main building, it's "busier" and the last stop on the bus.
-Congress Park and Grandstand are the most popular choice requests-but it seems some people do like the Paddocks because it's a bit more remote feeling. I think the walk from Paddock to the main building, and from Congress Park to the main building is about the same-approx 8 minute walk.

I would probably stay in Congress Park again just because of the quick walk to DTD and the view. But, I would keep it in mind to not have to trek to the main building too often. We always got a seat on the bus and only once waited for a second bus to get a seat-the driver told us there was another one right behind him, so we didn't mind waiting. Congress Park is the 4th stop, only one more after it, the Springs.

I hope that helps a bit!

I could have sworn I replied to this but I can't find my reply.

Anyhoo! Too funny about the 3 Amigos movie. I think I would have been pretty upset!

I love the Mickey Croc flip flops but I wish they came in better colors!

I wish the flip flops came in better colors too! I don't mind green, and actually where quite a bit of it, but something more simple-BLACK!-would make me more tempted to buy 'em.

Loved the photos of this place. Now I know what to do on our “off day”.

Yeah…that’s a topic I haven’t quite figured out how to approach yet. How exactly does one go about explaining the concept of food porn to ones traveling companions?

Hey, at least you picked up on those WDW spousal vibes!

I was totally bummed when the Disney Institute went caput. I TOTALLY wanted to do the video production workshop.


If so, he must have had the SUPER-Big Gulp.

Yikes! 3 Amigos (the movie) is a riot. Oldie but a goodie.

Night well spent right there.

Holy cliffhangers!

Yes! Goofy's is an EXCELLENT place to visit on your "off day". I also recommend Earl of Sandwich right across the walkway-deeeeeeeeelish (and pretty cheap in Disney standards!). Your kids will flip with all the candy at Goofy's. (and you might too )

The food porn--on our first trip I just told DH "I have to take pictures of our food." He kinda looked at me like a nut, then I told him it was for a trip report that I want to post online, on the Disney boards to share with people. He still kinda looked at me funny, but by trip end he was reminding ME. And now, it's standard - but we both slip from time to time and start to chow before the picture. Does your DW know about the DIS? Or does she not quite understand the "sickness"?

I laughed out loud at your Super Big Gulp comment!

I don't know squat about the Disney Institute. Can you fill me in? I'm being lazy and don't want to Google!

ok so everytime i see those pretzels in your trip report(which is really only about 2 times..but still haha) i start to droooollllllll...

the pretzel pics ..really just all food pics have to stop..its embarassing for me, drooling and whatnot hahahahaha


just kidding..keep em' coming-it gives me super ideas for my trip in october

I SO understand! Do you subscribe to the Food Pictures thread? Beware!!!!! it's so wonderful!

I just read your TR today- loved it!

I love that you took pics of the SSR bathroom tilework. Wanna know why? I considered the exact same tile for my bathroom remodel at home! (the trim and shower tile) It's just Home Depot- imagine my surprise when I saw Disney liked it too!

That is so funny that it's just at Home Depot! But I love that because then we can put it in our houses easily!! It was really pretty tile, perfect with the atmosphere of the resort.

That is too cute that Henry is now saying Da Da, he will get it straight one day.
Everyone in my family is doing well. Thanks for asking. I won't go into a ton of detail but first Brooklyn had a seizure and had to stay in the hospital for a few days. She is fine now, it was determined to be a febrile seizure which are caused by a child's temp. going from normal to high very fast. They never found the cause of the fever though so that was disturbing. We just have to watch her closely with fevers from now on. She was fine when she went to bed though. So it was scary but we are so blessed as it could have been much worse. Then my mom had to have a cardiac stint put in but she is recovered fine and making some life changes. Then my older brother got Lyme disease, he is also fine and recovering. I just wanted to run away for a few days though it was all piling up at once. Ok so sorry to ramble on your thread. We are just thankfull that everyone is fine and hope everyone stays that way.

Oooooh my goodness! That is a LOT to deal with! I uunderstand you just wanted to run away. Ugh. I'm so sorry you had to deal with all that--esp your little Brooklyn! So scary! I'm very happy and thankful to hear everyone is doing well and recovering. I will pray that Brooklyn doesn't ever have to go through that again.

Great pictures of the candy. Yum, Yum! I'm sorry your last night was a bit quiet. Sounds like the next update will be full of excitement though!

Thanks! Yep, the next update is a fun one!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Hi Brook! I am caught up now... all I can say is WOW to those candy pictures! I will be taking some close up candy pics the next time we go, they are really fun!
I love Conehead Henry! Did he realize that was him in the mirror?
Can't wait to hear about your last day. AND your new TR plans!

I love the up close candy pics too-so yummy! Henry didn't really notice himself in the mirror no matter how hard I tried to get him to really look and "get it". He was too distracted with everything else in the store!

Hi Brook, I just found your TR yesterday and I finally have gotten all caught up! Love reading TR from people from Minnesota!! Henry is simply adorable! Loved seeing all the pictures of SSR, it's seems like such a beautiful place! Thanks for sharing all your pictures too! I HAVE to try the pretzel rods at Goofy's on our next trip...they look sooooooooooooo good!

Hello, welcome fellow Minnesotan!!!!! Thank you for reading!! SSR really is beautiful-lots of fountains and the views of the river are so nice. The pretzel rods are VERY yummy-the salty and sweet combo cannot be beat!

just caught up again, i love the pictures of Goofy's Candy Company, although i'm looking forward to the next installment i'm not looking forward to your trip report finishing i've really enjoyed reading it and seeing all your pictures, thansk for sharing xx

I'm a bit bummed at finishing the TR too, but excited so I can start planning our next trip! At the rate I've been going lately though it might be a while still...

Okay, I am all caught up now, too -- so bring on some more of the good stuff! No pressure, but remember that you are one of my inspirations for taking my little guy in December. Really, no pressure.

I see you already have a ticker for it!!!!
It really is a wonderful thing-to experience the wonder and magic through your little one, and then capture some moments on camera and look back through the pics...it's reallly sweet. Joe and I often go through our pics from November and January recalling all the moments. We did Photopass back in November, through a Photopass Share to save some money-it was really great to have pics of all of us together, and several of the CMs took just pictures of Henry too.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Roots photography - Lurkyloo got me hooked big time, then Heidi's and Carly's weddings made me a believer! Just have to get my better half to agree to the price...

Lurkyloo got me hooked too! Now I subscribe to their photography blog and drool over the beautiful pictures. I hope you can convince your DF to agree to the price tag! It will be WELL worth it to have those stunning and unique pictures!

It's hard to keep up with your trip report, but I'm trying. Your photos from OKW are lovely! I don't know why, but I never really thought of that as a place I'd like to stay until now. I'm looking forward to reading your next installment. It sounds exciting!

Holy cow, you leave in 4 days!!!!!!!! WHOA! I gotta get over to your TR in hopes you spilled the details on your sudden trip. How exciting! I hope you have a GREAT time!

Just followed you over from our pre-trip thread and read day one and two. Great start! I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

Thanks for reading! Next update coming tonight.

Hi Brook!
Hope you're well and hope you have a nice weekend!!!
Kristen

Thanks Kristen! Now you well know how crazy my weekend was-but it really was a good one despite the pure exhaustion.

Hi Brook, good to hear from you! I hope your daycare provider is getting better soon! Sounds like a very busy week you had, I hope all your effort with preparing the house for the showing is paying of, good luck with selling it!

Thank you! She is getting better-she deals with MS like symptoms (they haven't labeled her with having MS though), but has been symptom free for 3 years-and then suddenly it all flared up again. She is a close friend too, so when I heard I was just bawling on the phone to her husband, apologizing for not being strong for him...it was a whole mess! BUT, things are on the upswing, out of the hospital and she is up to watching Henry again this week already.

You have been busy this week! Looking forward to the update later today!

It was a nutty week. I'm glad it's over!! I forgot to mention I also had a dentist appointment in there and took Henry to the doctor. Those were cake compared to everything else though!

I'm going to work on my update right after I'm done here!

Yikes busy girl! Hang in there!

Thanks!

Wow! What a busy week!! Glad your daycare provider is on the mend and hope that the showing and garage sale went well!

The showing did go well-but they think our garage is too small. It's a standard 2 car, but we had a LOT of stuff in there for the garage sale, so it probably looked teeny. All well!

The garage sale went pretty good too-our main goal was to advertise the house and get rid of STUFF. Both were accomplished!

Hope you made lots of Disney Money!

You know, we hadn't decided what to do with the money-I'm going to suggest to Joe it go straight into the savings for Disney!

That does sound busy! Hope things calm down for you this week.

Thank you! So far today has been very chill.

I was going to say the same exact thing!
Hope you made lots of Disney bucks! LOL!

We didn't make a ton, but that's because I price things REALLY cheap. Like almost absurdly-the average price was probably 15 cents. And at the end when people were still coming, I just told them to take anything for free.

But, we did make some! And we got rid of stuff-which was my top goal!

Hi Brook! I'm back from Disney and just catching up on your trip report. I loved all those pictures from Goofy's and I love those pretzels too -- I had them last week!

Thank you so much for your post about room 1301 -- while I did not get that room, I think my view was pretty similar -- I was in the same building as you in room 1247. This was so much better than the room I had last time. The view really made all the difference!

I have to say I really enjoyed the resort more this time around -- the view was great and you can't beat the walk to downtown Disney, and I really enjoyed the counter service there and the main pool. This was definitely more of a relaxing trip for once.

I did see the reviews of Kidani on allears and now that the resort is officially open of course there's a bit more info available. My last day in Disney was the day it opened so I just could not resist going over there. It really is beautiful, although the lobby and main building are much smaller than the main lodge. But the pool area is great and Henry is just going to love the interactive water area they have -- it looks fun for kids of all ages. It was so nice to see it in person after all the hype. And the savanna is great -- there were lots of animals out. I even ate at the new restaurant and while I don't typically like Indian food, I really enjoyed my meal there and it has a view of the savanna -- that alone was worth eating there. If you have any questions about the resort just let me know. We'll be staying there in August Is that where you are staying in Dec?

WELCOME BACK! Are you doing a TR?

I'm really glad to hear you had a great view and enjoyed SSR!! And seeing Kidani!! Ooooooh! I've been watching a lot of threads for updates on it all, it seems just beautiful. I've read the lobby is small-when compared to Jambo House's. Have you ever been in the lobby of the VWL? That one is really pretty small too. Please feel free to share ANY pics, I would love to see any and ALL!

And yep, that is where we are staying in December!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

We left off with our little family falling asleep after a relaxing evening of DTD, OKW and after renting a movie that we didn’t really want.

The next morning we woke up with our H-Alarm talking from his Pack & Play and we got right into motion. This morning would not be a lazy morning around the villa; we had to be sure to be ready by check-out time at 11:00. Which, you would think would be easy, but well…it’s not for us for some reason. We are just stinkin’ slow in the morning on vacation (and often times in 'normal' life too)!

This morning we were amazingly done before 9:30 am! We had called Bell Services to come retrieve our bags and then were zipped up on the golf cart to the Carriage House. We first had to deal with checking our bags in for our flight. As we zipped up to the building I realized I didn’t look back to take in the view, or take a picture one last time.

Sigh. I will miss you Room #1301!

We were flying NWA so we had to call a phone number and pay for the 2 bags over the phone-which worked out fine, except the Disney Sky Cap wasn’t exactly sure of our flight number. So as I told NWA the flight number she “thought” it was, I also said a prayer our luggage would not be lost again. Remember the drama from November?

So after rearranging stuff, throwing out our giant shampoo and conditioner, putting jeans in Joe’s carry-on, we were finally done and off to breakfast.

I’m a BIG breakfast fan. I neeeeeed my breakfast. I was starved by this point!

Into the AP, I ended up with breakfast flatbread, which was very good-but man, I was DONE with flatbread for a while, 3 in one week is enough for this girl!

Sans cheese!

I also got a side of potatoes. Which were not so good. $1.99 for this teeny portion and they were cold.

6.5 potatoes for $1.99 means each of those potatoes are worth 30 cents EACH.

I still ate them. They cost too much to throw them away.

Joe got a bacon egg and cheese croissant, which he gobbled right up.

Along with some coffee cake which he literally moaned about-pointing his fork at it and mumbling incoherent words with a slight smile and dreamy look on his face.

I’m guessing it was good.

And, I have say, the little bite taken was for Henry who was eagerly pointing, grunting, and starting to climb out of his stroller for a bite. Joe took the liberty of helping our little man out before I snapped the pic.

There was coffee at breakfast-brewed back in our Villa and carried to AP in our refillable mugs. No Nescafe!

It was during breakfast he suggested that we….

GO TO MK!

I didn’t even pause, YES PLEASE!

After breakfast was devoured we tried to pawn off two yogurts that we had delivered at the beginning of our trip from WeGoShop, but we found no yogurt fans. So despite me hating to throw away perfectly good food-that’s where it went.

We headed out the bus stop just outside the building near the pool area, The Springs stop.

Behind the bus stop-so pretty.

View out the "front" of the bus stop

Buses came and more buses came, but none for MK.

We waited for about 20 minutes and became friends with all our other MK-Bus Waiting People. Which included a group of Red Hat Ladies.

Finally one showed up and while it loaded an ECV, another MK bus came. Most people piled onto the one without the ECV – but we just waited until the ECV had loaded.

Our method worked out. There were so many people waiting and jamming onto the non-ECV bus, our bus actually ended up leaving before it and we had seats! Score!

We arrived at MK and I was grinning, thanking my dear dear husband for “taking one for the team” today. He loves MK, so I know it wasn’t all that painful.

Where was our first stop?

No, not Casey’s.

Though, I have to say, I was tempted.

It was BUZZ OF COURSE! I was going to be able to get my pic of Henry behind bars with Zurg!

On the way to Buzz we saw this guy-which we had never noticed before

In the Stroller Parking I spotted this and still giggle when I think about it. I think I would really like the people who's stroller this was.

And bonus, we we arrived, there was no line for the ride!

It's a wee bit blurry

The day started out well (aside from the NWA "this might be your flight number" thing)

Breakfast.
Seat on the bus.
MK.
Buzz with NO line.
And...I BEAT JOE!

My 51,300

Joe's 42,600

Joe was happy the picture barely turned out-he attempted to convince me to delete it.

HA, RIGHT! I WON! I WON! The pic is good enough to prove it!

Intense concentration.

But shoot.
This picture shows Henry was on Joe's lap.
That had nothing to do with his loosing score.

NOTHING.

I have shooting skills! Really I do!
I do!

Alright.
I don't.
The blind guy beats me everytime.
I told him he HAD to have Henry on his lap this time so my score wouldn't be as pathetic as normal.

But, just ignore all that and focus on the two scores and who WON.

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

Back to the story, I was finally able to stick my little baby (with shoes this time ) behind bars with Zurg! He loved it just as much as before and it took some convincing to pull him out of there. He wouldn't look at me for the pics-he was enthralled with all the happenings around us!

Next stop, TTA! I was pumped.

I really enjoy the TTA, as does Joe, and Henry really liked it back in November.

And another bonus-NO LINE HERE EITHER! This day was so much better than both our MK days so far.

Love this one.

When we boarded our little car I said to Joe I wanted a “foot picture”.

He had no idea what I was talking about and had plunked Henry on the seat across from us, but I scooped him up, placed him on our laps, told Joe to put his feet up and got this shot:

It is one of my very favorite from the entire trip.
Henry in his car shoes. At MK. On a GOOD day.

Oh yes, we were (or at least I was) feeling that Disney Magic High.

As we were going around on the TTA

Did you notice H is in his Mickey outfit. Oh yes, milking the bucks out of that one!

THE Look, so cute!!

I noticed lights on in SM. I excitedly told Joe, “I think that lights in Space Mountain are on!” He kinda didn’t believe me, but grabbed the camera. If you recall, when I rode SM back in November it broke down and all the lights turned on, so I got to see how incredibly COOL (and slightly freaky) it was inside. Joe was nerd jealous.

Sure enough, we continued down the track and entered and the lights were on!

I was PUMPED that they were on and he would get to see it! We snapped pictures thinking there would be no way they would turn out-but lo and behold they almost did!

Eventually our ride was over; we were both laughing and smiling.

Check out H-Man's hair

We made over through Fantasyland with our minds set on one ride-BTMRR.

Joe was not feeling it, but he knew I was – so he waited with Henry as I skipped through the practically non-existent line. I was stopped at the rope right before they assign what rows you go to. I was soon directed to the 4th seat-and then they let no one else through. I was a bit puzzled by this, but ignored it and tried to ignore the “Hi, I’m on display” feeling.

Then they let the next guy through-but no one else. They put him in the front seat.

I was jealous.

Before they started letting the rest of the people through, I asked the CM, “Can I sit with him?” and quickly looked at the guy and said “I just want to ride in front!” He responded with a “Me too! My wife is outside with the baby-she doesn’t want to ride.” (or you know, it went something like that, this was 4 months ago! )

The CM let me sit with him and we became ride buddies-I told him my hubby was outside with the baby too. So naturally, we talked babies!

Eventually they let the other people into the rows. I have no idea why there was the pause, but I’m grateful for it because I got to ride in front!

I can’t say it’s really all that different than most places on that ride because there is a “train engine” in front of you. But, it was still a good experience and a fun ride with my ride buddy. We both loved it.

We walked out together, Joe was no where to be seen, so I stopped and met his wife and adorable little girl. They were a sweet family; it was fun to meet them all! I soon spotted Joe and said my good-byes to the family and caught up with Joe.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend at the park and we wanted to fit in lunch before our flight.

Where to go?

PVH for pizza?
Cosmic Ray’s because we still haven’t eaten there? (only a quick stop for a hot dog for Henry)
CHH for tuna and yummy fries?
Peco’s Bills to visit the bird that ate chicken from our honeymoon back in 2006?

Ha, right! It’s our last day! Casey’s is the winner ONCE AGAIN!

Henry fell asleep in the stroller while I was on BTMRR, so Joe and I ordered for ourselves and figured we’d pick up something quick at the resort for H.

Surprisingly I didn’t order the Corn Dog Nuggets – I just got a regular dog.

If they had CHH's fries, it would be perrrrrrrfect.

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

While it was good, it wasn’t Corn Dog Nuggets. I’m glad I tried it, so I know I’m not missing out. You will be mine again Corn Dog Nuggets. Oh yes, you will be mine again.

Joe got Cracker Jacks because back in November he ate them from Casey’s as plane food and was VERY happy he had them (Cracker Jacks and the peanut butter cookie being our dinner due to all the plane drama!). So, he wanted to do the same for this plane ride back…but ended up cracking them open. And Cracker Jacks are like Twizzlers, they are really hard to stop eating once you start! We ate them all!

And a side note: What has happened to the Cracker Jack prizes? I recall getting cool stuff like a ring with an animal picture in it, or some sort of cool plastic gizmo. This was our prize:

It’s a shark. No wait; it’s a PICTURE of a shark. You pop out certain corners and then you can make it “talk”.

Lame.

Back in November it was worse though. It was a picture of Susan B. Anthony that you made “talk”, complete with historical facts.

Cracker Jacks aren’t supposed to be educational!!

I want my green plastic zebra ring!

At least the shark picture had jokes.

And another side note: Henry is really cute when he’s sleeping. I loved his “karate chop” hand here.

He hadn’t done that in a really, really long time, so we had to take the picture. I love it when babies fall asleep with their hands and arms in karate chop positions, it’s hilarious and adorable.

After we stuffed ourselves with fries, hot dogs, and Cracker Jacks we decided we didn’t want to leave.

Duh.

Does anyone ever want to leave?

We still had a bit of time to spare, so I suggested more food.

He he.

Ice cream! Yummy.

I took mine in a dish – as I usually do. It's a weird Brook thing.

Single scoop raspberry

Joe's mint chip single scoop. Single scoop at Disney means double scoop in the real world. YAHOO!

We soaked in some more of Main Street…

And soon I was eating my cone. As I took that last bite and aimed for my mouth, I missed and dropped it.

The LAST BITE OF DISNEY ICE CREAM. On my LAST DAY! At that point we had no next trip planned. When would I be able to eat more Disney food?!

And yes, I took a picture of the sad moment.

After I got over it (it didn’t take me too long, maybe 15 minutes or so? ) we soaked in some more Main Street.

We eventually moseyed out – noting that we had enough time to have to rush to SSR.

It was a perfect afternoon.

Buzz. TTA. SM. BTMRR. Casey’s. Main Street.

All in just a couple hours.

Of course since we weren’t in a hurry the bus was waiting for us to take us back to SSR.

Up next: Meeting myself in 30 years.


***Comparing Pics***
Henry behind bars in November 2008:

Just 2 months later...Henry behind bars in January 2009:

 

[jaycns]

I love the foot picture! TOO CUTE! And his sleeping karate chop and his "look" . Henry is beyond adorable!

It's sad to drop your last bite of the cone. I feel for you.

I think I am finally caught up! Yea for me! Instead of going back and commenting on everything I spent the past few days catching up on, let me just say you did another GREAT JOB!

 

[torsie24]

Yay! Great update! But sad your MK time is over. The photos of Henry on the TTA are sooo cute! I love his little lightning McQueen shoes!

I have my ice cream in a cup too!! It takes the hurry out of it! AND you can eat the cone sooner!

 

[Flossbolna]

What a wonderful last morning at WDW! Congratulations on that great score at Buzz!!! The pictures of Henry behind bars are adorable, are you planning on getting one on every trip?

Your Main Street pictures are once again really good. I love the ones of the Confectionary window from outside and inside. You really have a talent for photgraphy!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

FANTASTIC updates! Brook I so love your TRs!! You tell such a good story and take such great pictures.

What a perfect last day in Disney. I love that you were able to soak up every last bit! You had some great ride/line mojo going!

I agree. I would be friends with the owners of the millenium falcon stroller too!

Also love the foot picture. Space Mountain looks creepy with the lights on!!

I can't get over the change in H in just a few months. You'll have to continue taking the same pictures behind the bars to mark his growth. I think that's one of my favorite tips I've picked up on the DIS- what a neat way to mark time in our favorite place. Now I just need to have kids b/c I sure don't want to mark my growth!

 

[thewesterberg]

YAY for Happy-Magical-Yummy Food-Favorite Ride-Adorable Kid Days, especially when they happen at the Magic Kingdom! (and BOO! to bad Cracker Jack prizes - what's up with that?!)

And way to beat DH!!! I don't stand a chance against mine on that ride. He figured out how to max out his score... even when he rides with Junior.

How did your sale/showing go?

 

[teruterubouzu]

Aww, as always, your Henry photos are adorable.

I'm sad that you're coming to the end of the trip report. It's so hard to leave the parks for the last time!

Holy cow, you leave in 4 days!!!!!!!! WHOA! I gotta get over to your TR in hopes you spilled the details on your sudden trip. How exciting! I hope you have a GREAT time!

That trip report was closed because I accidentally abandoned it for too long. Oh well! I'm not sure if I'll try again this time around. Perhaps if I write it ahead of time. Anyway, I'm beyond excited about my trip this Friday. It's hard to believe I'll be back in just a few days!

 

[IluvXU]

What a great husband to go back to MK for a few hours on the last day! You sure did a lot in not much time. Love the behind the bars pick.. Henry lost some of the baby look in those two months. Sad this is coming to an end!

 

[BrooklynnsMommy]

I am now drooling for a Casey's hot dog. I can't wait until July!!!!!!

Henry is super adorable with Zurg!

 

[k_reile]

a hot dog sounds good now! I'm supposed to be on a diet!! I'm sad that your report is almost over but you get to start another one soon...so hurry up and go on your next trip because that will make my next trip come so much faster! I'm dying here (metaphorically I mean)...I want to go soo bad NOW!!

 

[shebaxric]

My DH has Henry's oufit!!! Well, the top at least. They sell this in an adult size jersey! It's one of his favorite pieces of Disney clothing. He even wears it to MLB games!

Okay, I'm not a fan of hot dogs or corn dogs, but the way that you covet them makes me think I might be missing something. . . .

Favorite pics: Henry behind bars, not looking at mommy, the karate chop sleeping position, and the poor, busted up ice cream cone. I truely hope that you get to go back sometime in the near future, like within a year. Your trip report is the first one I read when I first joined the Dis, and it's encouraged me to perhaps write one after our November trip. Thanks for all the great pictures, details and Disney magic you've shared with us!

P.S. Thank you soo much for the information on SSR. I've pasted that post into a word doc and put it in my trip planning folder! That is definitely the best information I've gotten on SSR so far. You're the best, Brook!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Great pictures as always Brook!

You had me cracking up at your reaction to dropping your last bite of Disney food I really wish this report wasn't coming to an end, but I'll have your December PTR to look forward to, right????

I can't believe the change in Henry in just 2 short months, he really looks so much more like a big boy instead of a baby, they just grow and change so fast.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Awww!! Your last day. I think MK is the perfect place to be on the last day of vacation. And what great luck you had while there. I love your shoes! What kind are they? Were they comfortable for mucho walking? I love the foot picture. Cute idea.

 

[tinkerbells mum]

more lovely pictures, glad you enjoyed your last day of magic xx

 

[tiggrbaby]

LOVE the age progression pics! What a great idea!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Does your DW know about the DIS? Or does she not quite understand the "sickness"?

Know about it? Yes. Understand it? Not exactly. Tolerate it? Most of the time.

I don't know squat about the Disney Institute. Can you fill me in? I'm being lazy and don't want to Google!

That's gonna take some 'splainin Lucy!

It was basically an interactive workshop program. You picked a program you wanted to do and spent anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days going through it. The program still exists, but only for corporate conventions, and it no longer has a dedicated facility. The Treehouse villas were once a part of the institute which prompted my response to your mention of them. I always wanted to try the TV production and photography workshops.

Here is a condensed excerpt from Wikipedia:

The Disney Institute was a resort and learning center at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Opened in 1992, the center was a pet project of then Disney CEO Michael Eisner who saw it as a way for families to learn and play together, as well as a way to tap into and share Disney employees' creative talents and renowned reputation for customer service....In 2003 its main public campus closed to become Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, a Disney Vacation Club resort.

Programs included:

Celebrations - Guests are taught how to prepare and present themed buffets for a variety of occasions.

Culinary Techniques - Basic cooking principles.

From Field to Plate (6 hours) - healthy, vegetarian fare.

Healthy Cooking - menus (including desserts) featuring nutritious ingredients guests can use to make healthier meals.

Lunch and Learn - detailed introduction to a selected culinary topic ranging from garden salads, paella, and tapas to grains, cooking with flowers, or foods of Provence.

Magic Kingdom Workshop - Guests learn the techniques used in the creation of beautifully decorated bakery cakes.

Romantic Dinners (3 hours) - Meals for two including food preparation and presentation, table settings, music and wine selection.

Studio Bakery - basic concepts and techniques of baking

Taste of the World - dishes of selected countries represented in the World Showcase at EPCOT Center.

Wine, Wonders and Song - learn about wine and how to pair it with certain foods.

Disney Architecture - a 4 hour tour of Disney hotels and buildings by noted architects

Faux Finishing - a class devoted to creating faux marble and other finishes with paint

Canoeing - a water tour through the back canals of the Disney property

Imagineering - a class devoted to exploring creative solutions

Computer Interior Designing - guests used high end, yet very simple 3D modeling programs to develop living spaces

Animation - there was a whole host of various animation classes

Story Telling classes

Genealogy Classes

Television Production - Guests worked as a team to produce a news cast.

Photography - After an in-class session on using Nikon Digital SLR's, guests were taken to Epcot's World Showcase to take photos before the area opened to the public.