We love rack rate! Aug 1-17 More NEW pics 9/1!

[bear74]

Elizabeth your cake looks yummy.

Happy Birthday ​

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

I hope your birthday dinner is perfection! I look forward to your review.

As for me, I am getting better. I am trying to wean off of the painkillers, but it's hard to talk yourself into being in pain, when you know that you don't have to be in it, even if you really should start to live life without the darn things. I am doing my best to hold out until 9pm and then, I will be Loopy Lindy again, so that I can get some good rest. My follow-up at the surgeon's office is on Friday.

Corey has been spoiling me rotten, of course. She says that I am not as needy as she would be. She can't believe that I am up and about as much as I am, even though I feel like I should be progressing a bit faster than I am. I go back to work on Monday. I am hoping for a drug free weekend, so that I can go into work on Monday and clean up the disasters of not being there for 2 weeks. lol

 

[tinker1bell]

Oh, How could I forget to add some of this...

What she said!!!!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Wow! I am getting behind!

We went out for dinner last night and I am just now getting back to the trip report. I was SOOO tired when we got back last night that all I did was dump the memory cards to the laptop. This morning we were out early and just now came back.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Dinner at Citrico's.

Gateau of Crab

Seared tuna carpaccio

Sauteed shrimp

Bread

Pan-roasted halibut

Grilled swordfish with side of mashed potatoes

Kansas City strip

DS, me, and DH at dinner.

Lemon cheesecake

Special birthday menu

Fabulous tote bag of snacks!!! THANK YOU, MARCI!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Last night during dinner a huge bank of dark clouds rolled in and there was a lot of lightning. Of course I was wearing those stupid sandals again. You know, the ones that can't get wet? Well, we had a bag (we bought the monorail T-shirt for DS) so I guess I could have gone to the bus barefoot if I had to. Which would have been beyond gross, but better than sacrificing my shoes!

We decided to brave MK after dinner. No rain! Birthday magic! (Oh, and we didn't have to wait for a bus to MK on the way to dinner, either!) Spectro was delayed about 45 minutes because of the lightning, and they started Wishes 5 minutes after Spectro so we didn't have a good spot to watch fireworks. (Story of my life.) But the parade was great - we watched from Frontierland.

The SSR bus was waiting when we left (MORE borthday magic!) so that was wonderful! But I was exhausted when we got back to the room. I was shocked to find a wonderful tote bag filled with snacks waiting for us in the room! Thank you SO MUCH, Marci!!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

This morning we had an early brekafast at 1900 Park Fare, so we took a cab to GF. After breakfast we took the monorail to Epcot and stayed there the whole day.

We made sure to get to Japan about 15 minutes before Miyuki was scheduled to come out, and DS was chosen to have a candy animal. He was SO excited.

We had rice cream in Norway (of course), looked in the shops, putzed around until it was time for DVC Welcome Home Wednesday. On the way to the boat I got my first Gray Goose slushie. OMG! That was so incredibly good! That will now join the rice cream on my list of "must haves" at Epcot!!

I wasn't sure what to expect at the Welcome Home deal. It was crowded, and some of the members were kind of rude, but we'll say it was the heat. Anyway, they had a little game show (the lady beside me got to play). Then they had some prize drawings. DH won a PhotoPass resort photo session and CD! I already paid for ours, so I am hoping I can cancel it when we get home and use the one he won! On the way out we all got a nice DVC drawstring bag thing (I figured one per family, but we each got our own bag).

We went back to Epcot, rode Test Track with our FPs from earlier, then headed to dinner at Tutto Italia. It was fine, but we probably won't go there again. It was loud in there, and the food wasn't THAT spectacular. It was also super expensive. We used DxDDP to cover it, but it was quite overpriced. A kid's meal (appetizer, entree, dessert) would have cost $20.50 OOP, which is just insane.

We decided to skip Illuminations tonight because it was such a long day. We are all dragging.

Waited 16 minutes for a bus - not bad.

When we got back to the room there was a beautiful floral arrangement from Kristine & Bill! THANK YOU!! I did see it was supposed to be delivered yesterday. Not sure why that didn't happen. Anyway, they are lovely!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DS on the monorail to Epcot.

Miyuki making Godzilla.

DS and Miyuki with the finished Godzilla.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Dinner at Tutto Italia.

Bread

Tomato & mozzarella salad

Fried calamari (DH & DS both had this)

Pasta with crab meat & tomatoes

Lasagna

Vanilla ice cream

Fruit tart

Profiterolles

Floral arrangement from Kristine!

 

[tinker1bell]

ELIZABETH!
​

scraplifting

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!!!!

 

[Steamboat Marti]

I hate to admit it...and I NEVER would have thought I would agree with Marti...but renting a car last time was a dream come true. I would never not do it again....it made getting back and forth between the resorts so much easier.

I will be waiting to hear how Citricos was

Hey - I resemble that remark!


Glad to see you've had some cake Elizabeth! Hope your birthday was filled with fun - loving your trip report.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hi,

Happy Birthday.

We are at SSR too! In the Springs.... right across from High Rocks Spring for our first DVC trip "home". Went to MK early morning hours this morning. Daughter and I ran to a MK bus at the Springs stop at about 7:20. We went on Philharmagic, Small World and Haunted Mansion before our Family Magic tour at 10. We left at 12 to go to Whispering Canyon for lunch and are now back at SSR gettting ready to go to Cirque Du Soleil at 6.

Have fun, I know we are.....

You may have been on the same bus with us!

I have made a few observations over the past couple of days. First, we are getting STOMPED on that stupid DxDDP. If we ordered the exact same food with the DDE it would be cheaper. It's bad enough to try to hit $70 worth of OOP expenses per person (which is what the plan cost), but then tipping on top of it is costing us WAY more than paying OOP would have. And of course DS is fussing that he wants to order from the kid's menu at every meal, which he could do if we were paying OOP. It is unlikely that we would all order an appetizer and a dessert at every dinner, too. IF we can find some snacks close to the $4 mark we might be able to come close to breaking even, but we haven't saved a dime.

Second, we like signature dining at the resorts better than dining in the parks.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hmm. Today is off to a slow start!

I had planned to hit early entry at MK but nobody woke up early enough to get ready. So now we are just kind of languishing in the room. We have an ADR for Chef Mickey's later on, so we'll go to that and then decide what to do next.

 

[babytrees]

I am so glad your birthday seemed to go well!!

A down day sounds marvelous!!

 

[purplepeg]

Where do you find the times for the candy lady in Japan? I love all your pictures of the food. too bad about the deluxe dining plan. Live and learn I always say. Keep up the great work.

 

[laurabelle]

To a girl who knows how to celebrate her birthday right!

I agree, signature dining is the best! All the extra $$$ in tips on the DxDDP literally tipped me over to the side of DDP the last time.

You had my meal at Flying Fish too! I loved the dipping sauce with the calamari, but controlled myself and didn't slurp it out of the bowl! Anything oak fired with their risotto is great too. How do you think Citricos compared to FF? I've never tried it. Your cake looks delish!

Isn't the candy lady cute? I love trying to talk like her, "I show you, how to make...candy caramel... 200 degrees"

I'm glad you're having better luck with the buses, hope that holds up. And stop wearing those shoes!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Where do you find the times for the candy lady in Japan? I love all your pictures of the food. too bad about the deluxe dining plan. Live and learn I always say. Keep up the great work.

She is listed on the times guide, and there is also a sign in front of the pavilion that lists the times.

Laura - We liked Flying Fish better than Citrico's, which surprised me. This was our first time at Flying Fish.
Miyuki is fabulous. I love to watch her make all the different creations!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We left the room at 9:30 this morning. There was a "purple pants" guy at the bus stop. Within 3 minutes a bus for all 4 parks showed up. AK, then Epcot, then MK, and as we were pulling away the MGM bus was arriving. Interesting.

We decided to go to MK for a bit before continuing over to Chef Mickey's for an 11:20 ADR. We agreed to stay on Main Street and trade pins since we didn't have much time.

When we were in Uptown Jewelers we started chatting with a very nice CM. We have traded pins with him before. He asked us if we were planning to be at MK all day, and we said we were. He invited us to be Grand Marshals of the MK parade!! Of course we accepted! We got all the info on where we needed to go and so forth, then we went off to Chef Mickey's.

I have decided that the food at Crystal Palace is better, so we'll probably stick to that in the future. I called Janet while we were at the Contemporary to ask her which park they were in, just in case they were at MK and planned to see the parade.

After breakfast we went back to MK. We got FPs for Big Thunder because the stand-by was 75 minutes! We went to the Tiki Room, did some more pin trading, then went over to the parade meeting area. There was another family of 3 from Maryland who were also chosen so we talked with them while we waited to be taken back stage. We were given some instructions, and each of us received some embroidered mouse ears to wear. We loaded up in the car and we were on our way! It was SO much fun!! Janet and her boys were near the fire station, so we got to say hello. They were on their way out of the park, but we're meeting them for lunch tomorrow.

After the parade DS was pestering me to go to the shop by Space Mtn. to look for a toy. When he gets something in his mind he is relentless. It was SO hot and he was SO annoying that I snapped at him. But we DID go to the shop and buy the toy. From there we rode Big Thunder and Pirates, then we went to dinner at Kona. We love Kona!

After dinner we came back to SSR (waited 16 minutes for the bus). DH and DS have both showered so they will be ready for early entry at MGM in the morning. No more of these lazy mornings, although it did seem to work well for us today!

 

[PNO4TE]

We left the room at 9:30 this morning. There was a "purple pants" guy at the bus stop. Within 3 minutes a bus for all 4 parks showed up. AK, then Epcot, then MK, and as we were pulling away the MGM bus was arriving. Interesting.

We decided to go to MK for a bit before continuing over to Chef Mickey's for an 11:20 ADR. We agreed to stay on Main Street and trade pins since we didn't have much time.

When we were in Uptown Jewelers we started chatting with a very nice CM. We have traded pins with him before. He asked us if we were planning to be at MK all day, and we said we were. He invited us to be Grand Marshals of the MK parade!! Of course we accepted! We got all the info on where we needed to go and so forth, then we went off to Chef Mickey's.

I have decided that the food at Crystal Palace is better, so we'll probably stick to that in the future. I called while we were at the Contemporary to ask her which park they were in, just in case they were at MK and planned to see the parade.

After breakfast we went back to MK. We got FPs for Big Thunder because the stand-by was 75 minutes! We went to the Tiki Room, did some more pin trading, then went over to the parade meeting area. There was another family of 3 from Maryland who were also chosen so we talked with them while we waited to be taken back stage.

How exciting!!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Hi, Elin!

I have to post in chunks because this internet kicks me off if I take to long to post!