We took the kids to WDW! - All done, Now Bonus features! Festival of Holidays 2/23

Heavens I am so sorry I got behind. I had that gum graph surgery and have been in pain, more pain when I try to focus. I am bruised down the side of my face so thank goodness I have a little tan going on. :eek: I'll be back to comment.......

That sounds beyond painful, hope you're doing ok :hug:
 
Oh Allison, I love this picture. Brought a little tear to my eye. You both look happy and well. Don't see Fran smile often.
AsianDinner5.jpg
 
Loved the update. Yes, it is somewhat difficult touring with newbies. But good for you for realizing it and going at their speed. You and Fran look so happy - I love it.

Ok, even though I am at the "bottom" of the scoring, I am going to keep trying!!

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? 5:15 am
2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Alberto was scared of all the craziness and finally joined in and everybody loved him.

3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points) The napkins

4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points) scootered there

5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater? Front and center

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us? the skillet
 
Just popping on to get some answers in!

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? (10 points) 5:55am

2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Creativity points may be awarded if your story is good enough! In the excitement of all the craziness going on, Jim knocked over one of those massive jars/glasses of pop (I really hope I'm thinking of the right restaurant) as sometimes a pop in the morning just works, and a river fall of pop hit the table and partially showered you and Fran!

3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points) Leftover meat!

4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points) My lack of WDW site knowledge is hitting, however most people have answered boat- I think I saw a hint, so I am going to say walked/scootered

5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater? Centre, basically front

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us? Leftovers! Yum! Meat!
 

Thanks lady. :hug: I look like crap but feel a little better. Still swollen which stinks. How's the move process going?

I can't imagine. I'm glad you're feeling a little better. Were you able to take time off work?

Move process is going really well, I had an offer accepted on a house and getting it inspected on Friday. Lots of change happening and I think I'm dealing with it pretty well.
 
Okay, caught up again.
Your experiences when it comes to sticking to a plan REALLY reminds me of travelling with my students. There is always one who has to stop for everything. ;)

As much as I enjoyed this trip with them, I am looking forward to our October trip and a return to carefree touring.

And you still had a very busy day at Epcot. And reading along I was like ...... why didn't I think of that - just the right thing to do when thinking back to answering your questions. :rotfl:

:laughing:

I love that photo of the "fire breatheing" dragon in China. We were not allowed to take a full shot when we were on the tour as there were several CMs looking after the plants while we were there. They must not be photographed (well, at least, that is what we were told.

That's interesting. At first I was wondering why, but then I realized that World Showcase doesn't open until 11AM.

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? (10 points)

5.30


2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Creativity points may be awarded if your story is good enough!

One of the guys asked for ketchup and ended up with more than he could eat and was later chosen to ride around the restaurant on a wooden horse


3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points)

Straws?


4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points)

Boat


5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater?

Front row to the stage

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us?


Well since you said theatre, I guess you are at the dinner show, so, since you are all musical pros I say they left you a "washboard" (don't know the correct name of it) to play along! :rotfl2:

Recorded.

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? (10 points)
6:05

2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Creativity points may be awarded if your story is good enough!
Selfie Jim was taking a group photo and all the servers run over to get in it and they took the camera and took the photo as well with lots of noise & cheering and they made you wear your napkins on your heads as bandanas
3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points)
Cloth napkin

4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points)
Boat then internal bus

5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater?
Last row centre to the stage

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us?
Another cloth napkin - you want to wear them as bandana's on your heads.
Judy

Recorded.

I like how you put "most of the time" it's those other times that test a marriage, no?

Well not quite that bad.


She did tell me that she found something called "sitting yoga".

Me too. But more because I knew that if we didn't, it might be tough to get in somewhere else. Besides, I let Kay pick where to eat (with my recommendations) and she was looking forward to them.

At the bold, so was I!

That someone else? They were wrong.
Just saying.




:lmao:

Well, Andy was one of them....and several others.

He's a better man than me!
I have to take notes and photos otherwise..... poof.

I bet he's forgotten it all by now.

Thanks for going back for my answers :teeth:

What are your dates for October? I need to make sure I get over and see you and Fran.

We are there October 18-28. So far I only have plans for the night of the 19th and the 25th, plus a couple other ADRs.

Crazy busy weekend, just popping on to see if I've missed getting in on the next round of questions- will get caught up tonight :)

Nope. You're good! :thumbsup2 There are a few more people I want to give the chance to get answers in. Maybe an update on Friday.
 
We are there October 18-28. So far I only have plans for the night of the 19th and the 25th, plus a couple other ADRs.

Thanks, I've got your dates in the phone. I also have two friends coming the 23rd-28th so that will be a busy and fun couple weeks.
 
Well it's been sooooo long since I've been on the boards. Life has been crazy but I'm so glad I was able to get caught up on this TR! I love your TR's so when I logged in and saw this one and saw I wasn't too too far behind, I settled in to read! It's been a great TR too! I've never stayed at the Wilderness Lodge so that was exciting to see! I can't wait for the next update!
 
Lol. Why yes, I am familiar with this concept. ::yes::

Oops. Introduction to that concept can be stressful. Best done gradually.

Yeah, we sort of learned that....

I never would've guessed that one - I didn't even know it existed as an option!

I didn't either, until we started looking at options. It was a nice easy one that I knew Fran would come along with!

Yup. But maybe a Guinness. Because there's a sandwich in every beer, y'know. Guinness is a nice chewy beer. But strangely enough, I didn't guess that, either. You don't seem like the Guinness type, at least, not as your chosen Epcot snack.

Actually I do like Guinness, pretty much prefer a Black and Tan, but on occasion enjoy a good Guinness

1. 7:30
2. Fran gets accidentally whacked in the head with a bottle of ketchup, wielded by Jim.
3. Lots of napkins
4. Boat
5. On the stage?
6. A stuffed animal

I'll be surprised if I get *any* points out of this round!!! (Pity points, maybe?)

Recorded.

Hi, Allison!

I love your trip reports so much!

Thanks so much for sharing. It amazes me all the cool trips you two go on. I love going to Disney (duh, who in their right mind doesn't?). Never been to DL but will someday (I'm in Maryland so WDW is just so easy to get to).

:welcome: I'm glad you have been enjoying my TRs! And thank you for coming out of lurkdom!

I'm playing catch up again!

Jill in CO

I do know the feeling! Glad you are almost there!

Ahhh...I totally get the touring styles thing. We've taken friends to Disney once, but I am mostly against the idea. We have the way we like to tour, and that's the way we do it. If we ever go with friends in the future - it would be mostly a "we'll meet you here" thing.

Yeah, I have another set of friends that like WDW, we had talked about going with them, and it would be a lot like that with them since they have been 4-5 times on their own. For the most part, I see us going mostly on our own and meeting up with folks that I've met here on the DIS. At least that is how the October trip seems to be playing out.

Well, actually we've taken my mom and MIL and that has been mostly painless. (OK - MIL was NOT happy with touring style.) I've mellowed over multiple trips, but I still go pretty hard core from rope drop until around noon-time. After that I mellow a lot, though mellow is all relative. Let's just say I'm not a "meander" guy. Though food and wine is the exception to that!

We may take my parents again, but it may be a while with the Alaska trip coming up. My planning seems to boggle their minds, but hopefully they will appreciate that we're not just sitting around asking, "What do you want to do next?"

We've liked San Angel Inn when we've gone. What I like is it's not typically "dumbed down" Mexican food. However, I think a lot of people prefer their foreign food dumbed down - so it gets bad reviews. The atmosphere is top-notch too. However, I now can't go back for at least 4 years. I realized a while ago I've eaten there four times: once in the 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s. So now can't go back until the Roarin' 20s.

Yes, I think that's the problem Skipper Canteen is facing and why Morocco's restaurant is able to be done as a walk up. People are afraid of food they don't know. I wouldn't wait that long to go back. Also how do you know the 2020's will be roarin'? I'm not sure the 1990's were very "Gay", although you could argue the 20-teens were!

Caught up on your latest update from your WDW trip. I enjoyed reading your trip report at Epcot where you were able to get great photos of the Disney character topiaries. Your dark ride photos are getting better and better every time you use that lens. The meal at San Angel Inn looked appetizing. I will have to try that place one day. Nice to see that you were able to watch Illuminations that night. Very nice update.

Thank you Bret, the lens did good today, but not so much on later days. It was a fun day, glad you enjoyed the update.

Heavens I am so sorry I got behind. I had that gum graph surgery and have been in pain, more pain when I try to focus. I am bruised down the side of my face so thank goodness I have a little tan going on. :eek: I'll be back to comment.......

Sorry you had to go through that surgery and pain. Don't worry, I'm moving very slowly here.

I am such a crappy fiend for not playing but it's super fun to read along. :hug: I enjoy everyone's competition.

Don't worry about it. You can choose when to play, and don't have to do every round. You are not crappy, but let's think about how fiendish you are! :scratchin
 
She's devilish and a friend. Good to know! Rentayenta must be a whole lot of fun. Insert wink.

_______________________________________________

Catching up. Well trying to....

The best read, as usual!

:welcome: I haven't seen you around for a while. Missed you!





I can vouch for that!

Jill in CO

Me too!

Okay my answers -

1. Too early! Way too early! Note: anything before 10 while on vacation gets that vote.
2. Sorry, I got a headache just thinking about that establishment. Laughing. Loudly. No points for moi!
3. A bottle of ketchup, not because any of you are fiends or felons but because someone was hiding it and forgot?!? Trying to save it from shenanigans of the lovely establishment and actually use it. Can you tell how much I love this place? And I'm fun, I swear. Although I sound very bitter.
4. Boat.
5. Front row near the piano player. Because you are such an organized gal with bookings?! Early booking. Take off points if there is something in this TR that shows me it is not long planned.
6. Serviettes. Wink. In honour of the your questions about Winnipeg, Montreal and Vancouver of course!

Recorded.

Gasped, well swore too :laughing:, when I saw this one.

Holy crap!!!

What a flippin' gorgeous picture Alison!:flower3:

(And I tried to do the short paste with it and it just kept going to your photobucket. I gave up!)

Thanks! I didn't really even notice at the time, I was just taking a picture of my drink, but it does have some nice lighting and such.

She sure is! :teeth:

:thumbsup2

Oh Allison, I love this picture. Brought a little tear to my eye. You both look happy and well. Don't see Fran smile often.

:welcome: Thanks, she actually smiled quite a big on this trip!

Loved the update. Yes, it is somewhat difficult touring with newbies. But good for you for realizing it and going at their speed. You and Fran look so happy - I love it.

Thanks! This was a very good trip and she did have a lot of smiles on her face!

Ok, even though I am at the "bottom" of the scoring, I am going to keep trying!!

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? 5:15 am
2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Alberto was scared of all the craziness and finally joined in and everybody loved him.

3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points) The napkins

4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points) scootered there

5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater? Front and center

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us? the skillet

Recorded.
 
Just popping on to get some answers in!

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? (10 points) 5:55am

2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Creativity points may be awarded if your story is good enough! In the excitement of all the craziness going on, Jim knocked over one of those massive jars/glasses of pop (I really hope I'm thinking of the right restaurant) as sometimes a pop in the morning just works, and a river fall of pop hit the table and partially showered you and Fran!

3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points) Leftover meat!

4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points) My lack of WDW site knowledge is hitting, however most people have answered boat- I think I saw a hint, so I am going to say walked/scootered

5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater? Centre, basically front

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us? Leftovers! Yum! Meat!

Recorded.

Thanks, I've got your dates in the phone. I also have two friends coming the 23rd-28th so that will be a busy and fun couple weeks.

So far I already have three meets practically solidified, and I believe two more on the horizon, so October will be quite the meet filled trip!

Well it's been sooooo long since I've been on the boards. Life has been crazy but I'm so glad I was able to get caught up on this TR! I love your TR's so when I logged in and saw this one and saw I wasn't too too far behind, I settled in to read! It's been a great TR too! I've never stayed at the Wilderness Lodge so that was exciting to see! I can't wait for the next update!

:welcome: So glad to see you back here! Last time you dropped in I know there were lots of things going on in your life. I hope things have calmed down and you can spend some more time using up your points for trips to Disney!
 
OK folks! Here it is! Your approximately 24 hours notice before the next update! It will probably take place on Friday afternoon or evening, so if you haven't got your answers in now, get a move on!
 
Alison,

Here are my answers...
I am sure they are wrong but hey, I am here to enjoy!

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? 7:15 am
2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) both guys ordered ketchup
3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points) The napkins
4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points) Bus to Magic Kingdom, Ferry to Fort Wilderness
5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater? Front and right
6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us? the menu
 
You see he often takes neophytes to Disneyland.

I've done this once and it is very difficult trying to fit everything in! Agh, can't imagine doing this for WDW! Kudos to you. Thank God my DM is very easy going and laid back (well, as far as touring parks go) and will just follow along and do what I say.

Alberto seemed to take everything much harder than Jim!

:rotfl2::rotfl:LOL his faces! He's so animated!



These are cute little guys.


:rotfl:


I've literally NEVER seen this before and they managed to find it of course:lmao:


Love Jim's stance.

On another TR, it was put as a question for a snack, and everyone seemed to guess Margarita. But since no one on this TR guessed Margarita, I guess it’s a beverage and not a snack.

Agh! This was my next guess :headache:

Alberto took probably to 50-100 selfies every day

Just wondering, does he have Instagram or Snapchat?? He could be taking all those selfies to post to those social media sites (snapchat is used where people take LOTS of selfies.)


Oh my.

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? (10 points)


6:15am

2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) Creativity points may be awarded if your story is good enough!

Jim asked for Ketchup!

3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points)

The flip card they give you if you want to play along with the antics?

4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points)

Boat.

5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater?


The front!

6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us?

Ooh that's tough. Milkshakes??
 
When she finds "lying down yoga with a bag of chips" let me know.

I'll be sure to let you know.

Proves my point (considering the source.)

:lmao:

Forgotten what?



:rolleyes1

:confused3

Fiendish! :lmao:

You're the one who said it! :rolleyes1

Alison,

Here are my answers...
I am sure they are wrong but hey, I am here to enjoy!

That's part of the fun! Unless you were there you won't really know the answers. If I didn't have pictures of half of this I could be making it all up!

1. What time do I wake up in the morning? 7:15 am
2. Breakfast tomorrow is at Whispering Canyon Café. What do you think happened to make the meal memorable? (10 points) both guys ordered ketchup
3. What leaves the restaurant with us? (10 points) The napkins
4. Dinner takes place at Ft. Wilderness. How do we get there? (10 points) Bus to Magic Kingdom, Ferry to Fort Wilderness
5. Where are we seated in the dining room/theater? Front and right
6. In keeping with today’s themes, what leaves this restaurant with us? the menu

Recorded.

I've done this once and it is very difficult trying to fit everything in! Agh, can't imagine doing this for WDW! Kudos to you. Thank God my DM is very easy going and laid back (well, as far as touring parks go) and will just follow along and do what I say.

Well the good thing about doing it a WDW is you KNOW you will never get through everything. Disneyland is small enough to give you false hope that you might be able to do just about everything.

:rotfl2::rotfl:LOL his faces! He's so animated!

I know! Isn't it hilarious!

I've literally NEVER seen this before and they managed to find it of course:lmao:

What I thought was funny was that they each made their figment resemble what they perceive themselves to look like! :laughing:

Love Jim's stance.

He asked what to do, and the PP photographer told him that we could look smug and proud of himself.

Agh! This was my next guess :headache:

Well you know us!

Just wondering, does he have Instagram or Snapchat?? He could be taking all those selfies to post to those social media sites (snapchat is used where people take LOTS of selfies.)

I don't think so, but I think he put a lot of them up on FB.

6:15am

Jim asked for Ketchup!

The flip card they give you if you want to play along with the antics?

Boat.

The front!

Ooh that's tough. Milkshakes??

Recorded.
 
Day 4

We never laughed so much...

I was up around 5:30AM and the tub was calling so I couldn't resist.

Because it was Saturday, and that’s a pretty busy day for the parks, I had us sitting out for the day and resting. All we had to do today was breakfast and dinner, plus I had set up a long overdue DISmeet during the day. After the tub I wrote up some of the TR on my phone and finally got dressed. I unpacked the rest of the suitcases and started to wake everyone up for breakfast.

Breakfast today was at 9AM at Whispering Canyon. We were looking forward to what was to come. Now I have a question here. On the contest where I asked “What comes home with us?” Quite a few people said, “a skillet.” What is up with that? I’ve heard various stories about the antics at Whispering Canyon, but I’ve never heard of anyone leaving with a skillet. Have I missed something? Bonus points if you can explain it to me.


I had a slight inkling for a title for this TR after our first day with Jim and Alberto, but at breakfast it was totally confirmed. As soon as we checked in and they told us to have a seat, Jim and Alberto began to play with the Lincoln Logs. It was at that point I knew the title of the TR.



We were seated almost immediately and our waiter was fairly reserved but that didn't affect our experience there. Menu.







I love that at many WDW restaurants they just give you a pot of coffee so that you are not constantly hunting down your server for a refill! It also gets them a much better tip!



Fran got the Buttermilk Pancakes and we split them.



Jim got the Banana Bread French Toast with Bananas Foster sauce.



Alberto got the healthy omelet.



I ordered the Eggs Benedict.



When breakfast arrived, my heart sank. I realized that I wanted ketchup to go with my home fries. I had heard stories of what happens when you ask for ketchup and knew that I didn't want to do it. Just as I was expressing this to our party, a table in our half of the restaurant asked for ketchup. Fran saw an opportunity and told me that she would go get a bottle for me. She got up and walked over to the table and grabbed a bottle. As she was skulking away, the server yelled, "Thief!!!!"

"Thief!!!! We have a Ketchup thief!!"

Just as Fran was sitting down a CM dressed in a ketchup bottle suit was making his way to their table. Instead he turned around and came to our table with a portable jail cell, and promptly put Fran in ketchup jail. We were all laughing so hard it was difficult to stay steady enough to take clear pictures.







All the while the ketchup bottles came pouring in. Any table that had a bottle of ketchup gave it to us. There were little kids about three and four years old bringing ketchup to the table as well as the adults from the last table who were bringing them by the armload!











When all the ruckus was done our server came by and told us, "You're part of the ketchup network now. You need to give this to the next table who asks for ketchup."

It was quite a while before anyone else asked for ketchup, but we finally unloaded it on another unsuspecting table.

Later they gave all the kids Hobby Horses and they did the parade around the restaurant, it was cute.

We were stuffed and decided to head back to the room.



It was then that we found out what had left the restaurant with us.



It turns out that the ketchup followed us to our Bungalow, and then when we split up Jim and Alberto took the ketchup. Jim told me that somehow it made it into his suitcase. Fran’s birthday was the day after we returned from the trip and Jim gifted her with a pretty little gift bag, holding the ketchup.

I had planned a DISmeet for around 11AM and Fran wanted a nap. Jim and Alberto planned to go down to the pool.

After a few texts I found out my friend had overslept and was running late. Jim and Alberto decided to take a nap before going down to the pool. So I got my computer out and decided to get caught up on things. I downloaded my pictures from both cameras and checked various places online and realized there were only a handful of short responses on my last TR, so I answered those real quick and since I was already two updates ahead in writing, I posted one, and then worked on finishing that TR.

A couple hours went by and the villa was eerily quiet. Everyone laid down around 11AM and at 1PM, Dana and I started texting. They were at the TTC and had to catch a couple of boats to get to the VWL. It was close to 2PM when I went down and met them at the dock.

They came up to our room and I woke Fran up. We chatted for a couple hours and even took the obligatory photos. Dana and I have been talking on the boards since 2010, maybe 2009. I've seen her go through three jobs, possibly as many relationships, pastry school, the college program and now she is a pastry chef at BoG! It was so great to finally meet her and her fiance Matt.









Jim finally woke up and joined the conversation and at the tail end Alberto came out too.

At 4:30 we had to leave for the Hoop de doo revue. Now many of you know there are multiple ways to get from the Wilderness Lodge to Ft. Wilderness, there is the boat, and there is the bus.

Most of you guessed boat, and I am going to share a little tidbit of information that you may not know, and if you ever are traveling to WDW with folks in mobility assistance devices you will find this hint handy. Not all the boats on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon are Handicapped Accessible. We learned this the hard way in 2013 when we were staying at the VWL. We tried to catch a boat to MK so that we could ride the monorail to the GF for 1900 Park Fare. When the boat arrived, the captain informed us that his boat was not accessible and that there would not be an accessible boat until 11:40 or 12 noon. Since then, we have not bothered with the boats to the MK resorts.

So that left us two options, bus or walking. We had decided to walk over to Ft. Wilderness as I'd heard about a trail from @Pinkocto. I figured that since I was going to be pigging out on fried chicken and ribs, a little exercise wouldn't hurt. The Concierge said that it was less than 3/4 mile to get there and I could do that without wearing out my bad foot. Besides giving the kids a little exercise on the way might get them to sleep more, any parent knows that, right?







We started off playing the lizard game. I think we saw 15 on the whole trip. We spotted squirrels too!



When we were almost there we saw that someone had made (what I thought was) a heart out of pinecones on the forest floor.







Alberto saw this as a challenge to his artistic self and began to supplement it with glee.



Then he finished his masterpiece.



We also saw this on our way.




[Continued in Next Post]
 
[Continued from Previous Post]


Pretty soon we were at Ft. Wilderness and we had a couple minutes to kill before it was time to check in for dinner.













We checked out the mercantile.







Then we came back to Check in.



We got a picture and then waited quite a while to be seated.





We were seated in the front row. Directly front and center.



The cornbread and salad were waiting for us on the table when we sat down. Both were really delicious, and I don’t normally say that about green salad.



Jim and Alberto were total hams eating up the attention of the performers.





My starting plate.



We were entertained by a banjo player and ragtime pianist.



Around the time we were finishing up our salad, the performers made their way into the hall.



They came onstage and sang an introductory number, and then took a break while we were served our dinner.



First was the Fried Chicken.



Then the ribs.



Beans



Yummy corn!



Mashed Potatoes



My plate, everything was sooo good!



Once the meals were served and everyone was happily eating they resumed the show.







[Continued in Next Post]
 

















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