"We Will Not Be Braking for Pedestrians!" "Oh my God DUUUCKKKS!"-An October 2011

[bellebookworm9]

I am so jealous of all of your food and wine stops! We had planned on doing more, but then we had so much fun with the people we were hanging out with that we didn't end up doing any stops, lol.

Yay for the sun finally!

We wanted to do more than we did as well, but between the rain and our stomach limits we didn't do nearly as much as we planned! I'll make a list of what we skipped at the end.

Thanks so much for all of your great pictures of the selections at the Food & Wine booths.

Looks like you had a few F&W winners! I agree with you, the pumpkin cranberry thingy looks and sounds really good! Yum on the lobster roll.

Kimchee is probably the worst thing I have ever eaten. Now, I am a very adventurous eater, I'll try almost anything. But I was working at a restaurant with a woman from Thailand, and she made a batch of kimchee and gave some to me to try. Man, that stuff smelled bad and tasted worse!

I'm so glad the sun has finally decided to peek out. I hope it sticks around!

Most of the F&WF items were really good; the kimchi was the only really bad thing. There were a few items that we didn't care for, but nothing truly awful. The sun will stick around!

 

[bellebookworm9]

As we exited the park, I took this picture. Go back and compare it to the picture from this morning…

Blue skies! No pouring rain!

We returned to the hotel and I decided I was going to take advantage of the warm non-rainy weather and head to the pool. I forgot the noodles this time, but oh well. I just swam around; don’t think I went on the slide this time. After I was done, I wanted a snack so I stopped at the Marketplace. I was debating between a sugar cookie and a slice of cheesecake, and a CM walked by and said the cheesecake was her favorite food and she would eat it all the time if she could. Decision made!

I had said to Mom that I wanted to leave by 5pm, but she wasn’t ready by then. I said Marie was only meeting until 5:35 and she thought it was 6, and didn’t understand that I’d wanted to get back earlier than 6. So I left her to bandage up her blisters and headed out. It was about 5:15, and when I arrived I high tailed it to France, only to find that Marie was still at the Character Spot. Sad face-no Marie for this trip. I walked back to the International Gateway to wait for Mom and she showed up not long after. We had a bit of a spat about me being mean and her not remembering anything. I had pre-ordered the Photopass CD and so we were trying to take advantage, but hadn’t seen many photographers. There was one on the bridge to France, but neither of us were in the mood to get our pictures taken, so we continued on, deciding not to stop at Ireland yet again.
Our destination was Soarin’ to use our FPs. The wait was not too long, and I believe there was only one concourse open again. While in line we discussed Mom’s lack of memory, and she told me to either write down what time we needed to leave, or make her repeat it back to me. When we finally got on the ride, we were in B2. Mom sat next to a young boy, who was so nervous that when we started to “take off” he grabbed anything he could, including Mom’s shirt! His mom talked him through the ride, and I think he liked it.
Test Track was FINALLY open, so we walked over there. I think the standby was at about 75 minutes, single rider was 30, and they did have a FP return time going. We decided to ride single rider, because we did want to ride at least once. We walked through the queue, and amidst announcements that the ride could close at any moment due to incoming inclement weather, Mom took a bunch of pictures.

I knew there was a chance that we would be separated, but I was really hoping we wouldn’t be. There was a horrible moment where they sent me into the briefing room, but kept Mom at the turnstiles. They didn’t close the doors though, and they didn’t send people into the room after me. She asked the people in the FP line when they had gotten them and they said around 1-2 in the afternoon. Finally, after about 5 minutes they let Mom through too. We made it through the line pretty fast, and I don’t think it was quite 30 minutes.

We did end up in the same car, with me in the front row and her in the back. The other people were a family from the South with adorable ginger kids. I absolutely love this ride; it’s probably my second favorite after Soarin’ and Tower of Terror. I even put my hands up during the outside part! After we got off, Mom said she didn’t remember it being that intense.
We hurried to the photo area to scan our Photopass Card, and the other family in the car was already there. I hate that you’re only allowed like 12 seconds to scan it before it disappears, and even though the other family scanned first, it didn’t register on their card and they had to go see the CM in the store.

Walking through the show area, Mom thought this was a cool looking car.

We were getting hungry again, so we wandered back to World Showcase yet again. I told Mom to go to China and order from the booth, and I’d go to Kringla Bakeri to get our School Bread. The line wasn’t too bad, and got through really quickly. I debated getting one of these Berry Cream Puffs; they were GIGANTIC, but I ended up going with the School Bread.

I caught up with Mom near China. She was sitting on a bench with our food: Black Pepper Shrimp with Sichuan Noodles and Pork Pot Stickers.

There were four shrimp, but Mom had eaten some before I got there. Both dishes were very good. We preferred the shrimp and noodle dish. It wasn't too spicy despite the name; there were *a lot* of scallions-probably too many. The pork pot stickers were average, and not necessarily worth the money. I prefer the ones from Ohana.

There was a Photopass Photographer set up right next to us, but by the time we had finished-maybe 10 minutes-he had packed up and left. No problem, on to Germany! The line here was surprisingly short, and we chose two out of three options: the Nuernberger Sausage in a Pretzel Roll and the Apple Strudel with Vanilla and Werther's Caramel Sauce.

These were eaten at one of those awkward standing tables along the walkway. The sausage was really good! I still think it's the funniest looking thing ever, but it was very tasty. The pretzel roll was delicious. The apple strudel was just okay. The first bite was very sweet because there was a lot of sauce, but then it got kind of bland.

We were back to Karamell Kuche, so in we went. Mom was looking at some candies for my grandma, and we encountered a really nice couple from Boston. They were looking at the Toffifee, and the wife was encouraging the husband to sing the jingle. He had a glass of wine in his hand, and Mom encouraged him to “take a sip and sing!”- so he did. The song was something like “Toffifee’s too good for kids, it’s made for adults” or something ridiculous like that! We chatted with them for a bit, Mom decided against the candies, and we moved on to the case. After much back and forth, I decided on the Milk Chocolate Caramel Pecan Cluster and Mom the Chewy Caramel Bar. We didn’t eat them right then, for it was on to Italy! (Yes, by this point we were basically power eating).

The line here was probably the longest we encountered, but still moved very quickly. We got a bunch of stuff here: Baked Cheese Ravioli, Chocolate Cannoli, and the Primavera Smoothie.

We found a bench outside the first shop to eat on. The smoothie was the real winner here. It was in a normal sized cup for only $3.50 and was fruity and delicious. The cannoli was okay. The chocolate coating made it a little slippery to hold on to, and there didn't seem to be extra stuff in the filling (chocolate chips, candied fruit) as stated in the description. The ravioli was the loser. Although it looks cheesy and delicious from the outside, the actual ravioli tastes exactly like Chef Boyardee. I was so disappointed.

It was now about 7:45 and IllumiNations would be starting at 9, so we went to find seats. We found a bench close to France, right at the area where Belle and Beast normally meat. I took a seat and sent Mom to France to buy the Grand Marnier Slush. In the meantime, I opened our Karamell Kuche treats.

My milk chocolate pecan caramel cluster. It was soooo good. I just wanted to eat more of the caramel part. Mmmmmm now I'm daydreaming about it.

Mom’s Chewy Caramel Bar. This was also very tasty. The bottom past was like a buttery cookie foundation, but I still don't know what the white stuff on the top is. The whole thing intrigued me but it was delicious as well!

As I was munching away, Mom called to say that she had found a table in France, so I walked over there. It was right next to the Grand Marnier and Ice Cream booths. This was on the table:

Me: “Uh, that’s not the Grand Marnier Slush, that’s the Parisian Cosmo Slush…” Apparently, she didn’t realize they were too separate booths, and the girl at the France booth was really confused when Mom asked for the GM Slush. After skimming the menu, she saw that the Cosmo had Grand Marnier in it, so she assumed that was it. I tried a sip and almost spat it back out it was so strong. Mom didn't like it either and we ended up tossing it. So then she went to the correct kiosk for the Grand Marnier slush.

Honestly, this was also pretty gross. It just wasn't what I was expecting, and if I had opted for this as my first alcoholic beverage (which was my original plan) I would probably never drink anything else ever again. We made it a few more sips through this and then it went in the garbage as well.

 

[bellebookworm9]

GREAT NEWS!!! I was accepted to the Disney College Program! I'll be doing Main Entrance Operations for Spring 2012 (January-May)! Will post more details when I have them.
***********************

Mom had maybe 10 sips between the two drinks and she was buzzed. It was kind of funny. She was buzzed texting my dad (who we don’t have the best relationship with) and rubbing it in his face that we were at Disney. I actually threatened to take her phone away! Pretty soon the torches were lit, and there was one not too far away that looked like it was going to light a nearby tree on fire.

We waited and waited, and Mom took some pictures of me.

That’s my “rave dance” to “Our Life” by Uttara Kutu.

In front of us there was a light pole. There were these giant bugs crawling on them, and Mom thought they were small cockroaches. These things were pretty big and I’ve never seen a cockroach, so I was going “Oh my God!”, but another woman came up and said they Palmetto bugs, a Florida thing, and that they are much larger than cockroaches. She also advised me to zipper my backpack and put it on the table so they wouldn’t crawl in and come back to the hotel.

Finally it was time for IllumiNations to start. All the lights dimmed, except for the one we were under, of course. This was a new vantage point for us, as we’ve always watched from the plaza by Future World. This was also the first time I’d been smart enough to bring earplugs (I have very sensitive ears), and it was so nice to be able to just sit and watch the show without covering my ears.

I love IllumiNations. I really think I could watch it every night and not ever get tired of it. We stayed put and waited for the crowds to clear out, through “Promise” (which will be my wedding song) and “Celebrate You”, then started to walk when “Tapestry of Nations” began.

 

[wdwgirl03]

I saw your facebook post about being accepted for the CP...congrats! I'm sure you will love it. I think one of Emma's friends is doing main entrance operations but I don't know which park he's at.

 

[msmith1026]

Reading your posts makes me so hungry!!! We didn't even attempt any booths when we went to Epcot, going with a 5 year old doesn't really allow for that type of stopping--although i suppose one of us could have gotten the food while the other waited for characters.

Congrats on your acceptance!!! So excited for you.

 

[bellebookworm9]

I saw your facebook post about being accepted for the CP...congrats! I'm sure you will love it. I think one of Emma's friends is doing main entrance operations but I don't know which park he's at.

Thanks! I'm very excited. I have a friend who did MEO at Epcot in spring 2010 and she liked it. Apparently I could be at any park, and it's further subdivided into parking lot or turnstiles. There's also a possibility to be at the water parks, WWoS, or Cirque du Soleil as a ticket taker/seller/usherette.

Reading your posts makes me so hungry!!! We didn't even attempt any booths when we went to Epcot, going with a 5 year old doesn't really allow for that type of stopping--although i suppose one of us could have gotten the food while the other waited for characters.

Congrats on your acceptance!!! So excited for you.

That's understandable, and now that I think about it we didn't really see many kids around World Showcase that weekend.

Thanks! I started a blog about the process and will continue it while I'm down there. Link is in my sig!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Mom took these photos on the walk back to the Beach Club.

When we arrived back at the villa, we realized that we hadn’t taken pictures of our door.

Laundry needed to be done, so I volunteered to do it while Mom worked on some math homework. I took some pictures of the laundry room as well, since they seem to be in rare supply.

Since it was around 10pm when I put the laundry in, it wouldn’t be finished until midnight. I stayed up until 11 to switch it to the dryer, and in the meantime, we shared one of the school breads.

After the laundry was in the dryer, I set the alarm for 12:15 and fell asleep. Mom woke me up when it went off, and then she went to bed. I ran upstairs, put it in the suitcase, came back to the room, and just fell asleep again until the next morning.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Awesome being accepted to the CP. That's really exciting!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Just picked my dates for the college program: January 11th-May 11th! I'll be flying down on the 10th and staying one night at either Old Key West (if I can get the DVC reservation changed) or All Star Music. If you are going to be visiting during that time, let me know, I'd love to meet all of you!
**************


Monday morning I woke up around 8 or 8:30. We had debated doing room service for this morning, but after looking at the menu and the outrageous prices/taxes/fees, it was decided that I could be the room service for less than half the price. So I went down to the Marketplace-if I recall correctly, it was really pretty dead for being 8:45am-and ordered a bunch of stuff. Taking the elevator down, a big family got in on the second floor, plus there was already at least one other person in there with me. The family had matching shirts that said “Cam Fam Jam”, grandma had a literal case of water on her ECV for everyone in the parks, and when we arrived at the lobby, the youngest girl said “Well, that was a fun ride!”

After I ordered breakfast I found a teeny tiny tray to put it all on, cashed out, and headed back to the villa. A nice older man was standing outside the villas with his family and saw me walking back with all the food-plus I had our mugs but hadn’t refilled them since the tea was just water. He very nicely pushed the elevator buttons for me, but when I got back to the room I had to wrestle with opening the door myself.

The ham and cheese omelet croissant was for Mom-as it turned out, she didn’t want the one with ham, but I didn’t realize that, so she just pulled the ham off. I had a few bites of the actual croissant and it was so fluffy and awesome! The French toast was for me and that was pretty good too, just slightly crispy. I would have liked bacon or sausage with it, but alas, ham was the only option so I went with a fruit cup instead.

After Mom was showered, dressed, and ready, we walked over to the Boardwalk. Since we hadn’t gotten to ride the surrey bike on Friday night due to the weather, today was our day! Thankfully, it was beautiful out-the sun was shining, it was very warm, and it was already kind of humid. On the way over, we passed SeaBreeze Pointe, and a wedding was just about to happen! The bride and her part of the wedding party were just coming over to meet with the officiant before the ceremony, and he said “I’m going to ask who blesses the marriage, and you have several choices: My mother and I, my father and I, my family and I (or something like that), or nobody.” Of course, they all cracked up at the last option, and so did we.

Diego was the CM who helped us rent the bike and he was very nice. The cost was $20 including tax for a two seater for 30 minutes, and I think we may have kept it over a little, but they didn’t charge us extra. We decided that I would drive it-Mom’s steering wheel was just for show, and I also controlled the brakes, and the bell. The first time around, we discovered the hills by Epcot and the Swolfin. We’d get halfway up and then just get stuck, and start rolling backwards. Several people laughed at us, and one gentleman gave us a tip to zig zag up the hills so it’s not as intense.

When we got close to the bike stand again, we took a short break and some photos.

This picture captures the essence of Disney, I think. It’s just sunny and happy and innocent.

We started on our way again and Mom decided she would take some photos.

We passed the wedding again and they were on to the “Reception” included with the smaller wedding packages-basically just the ceremonial first dances, the cake cutting, and a champagne toast.

We peddled, peddled, peddled super hard and still got stuck halfway up the first hill! A couple walked by and offered to give us a push but we declined. They said they had rented the bike once too, but their two sons were in the front basket part so they were just dead weight! At the top of the hill, Mom said “We are just going to coast down for as long as possible. We will not be braking for pedestrians, they are just going to have to move.” Okay, fine.

I rang that bell like crazy and there were no people in the way, and we were coasting, coasting, picking up speed when…all of a sudden a family of freakin’ ducks walks into the road! I slam on the brakes and start yelling “Oh my God, DUUUUCCCCKKKKSSSSS!” Of course, we just start laughing and can’t stop. Mom got a picture of them-most of them crossed, but two of them had the nerve to turn around and go back the way they came!

Finally, we managed to stop laughing and continue on, with Mom taking more pictures.

(That’s looking towards the Yacht Club Gazebo-my second choice wedding location.)

The Eiffel Tower!

We took a break by the marina of the Yacht Club before attempting the second hill…and we pedaled hard and still got stuck again! Mom said, only half-jokingly, “Whose idea was it to rent this f***ing bike?!” When we returned to the bike rental area, she pretended to die.

We debated taking the boat from the Boardwalk to the Yacht Club, but decided it’s probably a longer walking distance from YC to BC then it was to BC from Boardwalk. (In reality, according to Google Earth, it’s exactly the same-.37 miles.)

Mom saw that little lizard and liked it, so she took a picture.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yay for choosing your CP dates! I think my sister is done on the 6th so maybe you'll end up moving into her apartment. haha

My dad and I will be down the week after Easter so maybe we'll see you.

 

[goofy's_gurl]

Gotta love those bikes! Did them once and had the same problems going backwards down the hills!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Yay for choosing your CP dates! I think my sister is done on the 6th so maybe you'll end up moving into her apartment. haha

My dad and I will be down the week after Easter so maybe we'll see you.

It's possible, as I want a four or six person apartment, but I think I found a group of six, so probably not. I'd love to meet up with you if you have time after Easter!

Gotta love those bikes! Did them once and had the same problems going backwards down the hills!

Oh gosh, it was awful! But at least if there is a next time, now we know what not to do!

 

[bellebookworm9]

When we entered the villas building, I decided that I would run up and change into my swim suit and Mom would wait for me; she wasn’t going to swim today, just take a nap poolside. (As a note, this makes Day 4 with Mom not using the pool, which is really the main reason we were even staying here!) I went up, and as I expected, Mousekeeping was there for our Trash and Towel service. I obviously couldn’t change in the room, so I grabbed my suit and went downstairs-and forgot the darn pool noodles AGAIN! I changed in the public restroom off the villas lobby, so nice in there. I love the Beach Club public bathrooms!
While I was changing, Mom was waiting in the Drawing Room.

As a side note, the public sitting areas all over this resort were super nice. We liked the ones at Kidani when we stayed there as well, but it seems like there were a lot more here.

We got out to the pool and Mom found a lounge chair in the sandy area between Hurricane Hanna’s and the pirate ship slide. She took some pictures of her view.

I think we were down there for 30-45 minutes, then it was time to go back upstairs to get ready for lunch and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party! I took a quick shower and put on my Minnie Mouse dress. Mom made it for me, and it’s pretty simple. Just the polka dotted fabric, and it’s sleeveless, but there’s a red string that goes through the neck, acts as the shoulder strap, and ties in the back. Before we left, I wanted to take a picture of the sofa bed made up after Mousekeeping visited.

That was one thing I really liked here. I always get the sofa bed, and this set up was much better than the one at Kidani. This sofa was all one thing, so the cushions did not come off, and the pillows and blankets were stored in the bed. The coffee table was also on wheels, so it moved easily. At Kidani, there were like 5 giant cushions that had to come off every night, and two big coffee tables that needed to be moved, plus the table and chairs were bigger there too. At Kidani, we had to fold up the bed every morning so we could move, but here we didn’t have that problem-the bed stayed unfolded the whole time.

We headed out to catch the boat to DHS around 1:00. Just as we were walking down the dock, I saw the boat coming over from the Boardwalk. Perfect timing! We got on and took a seat inside. There weren’t very many people on it, and it was a big boat, much bigger than I was expecting. We stopped at the Swolfin and then it was on to DHS! The ride did not take very long at all, maybe 15 minutes. It was nice. When it docked at DHS, we were the last ones off. We meandered over to the bus stop, taking some photos along the way.

Too bad we couldn’t stop here, just transferring to a bus! It looks like the Mater and Lightning McQueen topiaries from this year’s Flower & Garden Festival found a new home.

This is the bus we want! Of course, since the boat had such perfect timing, we waited about 15-20 minutes for the bus! Mom sat on a nearby bench while I waited. There was no one else in line. This was one of those times where literally every other bus except the one you need comes by. As we waited, a couple walked up to me. The wife said, “I saw you get off the boat. Are you familiar with the transportation system?” (Ok, a little creepy since we had gotten off the boat 10 minutes ago, but whatever). I said yes, and they told me they just got off a cruise; they had parked at the Boardwalk and had lunch there and now wanted to go to Wilderness Lodge to look around; they had to be at the airport in a few hours, and would they have time to make it there and back? I told them it might be cutting it close, and was thinking it really would have been faster to just drive to WL as opposed to making two transfers!

As we were chatting, the husband piped up and said his wife really just wanted to talk to me because she liked my dress! I explained that we were going to the Halloween party that night and they thought that was cool.

The bus finally came, and there were only a handful of people to get on. As we sat down, I immediately recognized the music: Hedwig’s Theme…from Harry Potter! What’s wrong with this picture? I was just discussing this with someone else and they had mentioned to their parents that it was HP music. Her parents told her it was Star Wars music! Apparently it is common for the DHS buses to play this?

Pretty soon we were approaching this sign:

Love the Halloween decorations on the tolls!

We made a right on Timberline Drive and were soon seeing this sight:

 

[bellebookworm9]

After getting off the bus, the signs directed us towards the lobby. Upon entering, we discovered that Whispering Canyon Café is immediately on the right. Our ADR was for 2:15 and we checked in at 2:05. It took them almost 20 minutes to seat us despite an abundance of empty tables…not off to a great start. In the meantime, the small children playing at the Lincoln Logs table kept us entertained.

Finally the buzzer went off and we were seated. Our waitress was Barbara. Much to my disappointment, I noted that each table had a bottle of ketchup already on it. We knew we wanted the Skillet, and we also ordered drinks: a Coke for Mom, and a water and chocolate shake for me.

The shake was good, but almost too chocolaty with all the syrup. Of course, when Barbara brought us our drinks she threw the straws on the table…”Here’s another…and another…and have some extra for prosperity”. Our skillet arrived fairly quickly and we dug in.

Before we started eating, Mom picked up her fork and realized it was really big…pretty much a serving fork. So she asked Barbara, “Is this an eating fork?” Barbara replied, “They’re all eating forks here!” and then went on to explain that it goes along with the theming: Back in the days of the pioneers, everyone brought whatever dishes and utensils they had, so nothing really matched or was the same size.

One thing that I thought was weird is that the cornbread and coleslaw were brought *after* we had begun eating. I don’t know, but I feel like those are kind of appetizers?

I took a picture of my plate so you could see the food separately and not piled on top of each other-love the Mickey plates!

We did not care for the pork sausage and I didn't really like the beans either. I really liked the chicken and Mom really liked the ribs. The mashed potatoes were outstanding. The corn on the cob was also very good and sweet. The skillet also comes with cornbread and coleslaw.

Mom dribbled some BBQ sauce onto her shirt…this is a regular occurrence with both her and my grandmother anytime they eat something. Barbara came over and asked if everything was alright and Mom said, “I have a complaint! You didn’t bring me a bib and now I have a stain on my shirt!” So Barbara made her a bib, even separating the napkin into one layer by peeling it apart!

They tried to bring us another skillet, but we declined: We barely made it through the first one! Dessert was also declined, as there were many treats we wanted to get at Magic Kingdom. Mom needed a new shirt-I was not going to let her get pictures taken with the BBQ sauce stain! So we stopped at the restroom (another very nice one) and then went into the Wilderness Mercantile store. While she was browsing for a shirt, a CM came up to me and asked me where my ears were. I put them on and she said it was an adorable outfit. Then she asked if I had a Mickey, and when I said no she said I needed a sweetheart. She asked who I was with, I told her my Mom, and then she asked Mom what she was dressing up as…she wasn’t dressing up as anything, unfortunately. On our way out of the store, we caught this CM again (I wish I could remember her name, but I know she was from downstate New York) and chatted with her for a bit.

Eventually Mom went to change her shirt in the bathroom and I took some pictures of the lobby.

Mom came back out and we started to head out to the boat dock. On the way we were stopped by a DVC sales rep. While he didn’t make an obvious pitch, he did start telling us about how he saw two guests fighting over a dryer and that if you stay DVC you don’t have to fight over dryers. Well, not in 1, 2, or 3 bedroom villas, but studios get the public washers and dryers. We told him we were already staying DVC at Beach Club Villas and then he left us alone, but we did talk to him for a few more minutes.

 

[wdwgirl03]

On our trip in March they played the Harry Potter music on the bus to DHS too. We thought it was awesome, even if it was sort of odd.

I can't see the pictures from your last two updates for some reason.

 

[bellebookworm9]

On our trip in March they played the Harry Potter music on the bus to DHS too. We thought it was awesome, even if it was sort of odd.

I can't see the pictures from your last two updates for some reason.

Sorry about that, I'm having some technical difficulties with Picasa, my photo hosting site of choice. I'm trying to fix it now!

ETA: Photos should be visible now!

 

[natebenma]

Woah! I was a few updates behind!

I congratulated you on the CP over on the BC thread, but just wanted to officially say over here- THAT IS SO COOL!

I will hopefully be headed to Disney a little after you finish up, first week in June, IF my son does not screw up anymore. He is on probation for his class trip for getting a 4 in effort in his Life Skills (Home Ec) class.

I'm glad that the sun is finally shining for your trip. I'm sure it made a huge difference in your enjoyment! I'm glad you finally were able to ride on Test Track.

Your snacks from Karamel Kuche look supper yummy!

I loved your viewing spot for Illuminations.

Once again, I appreciate all of your pictures, especially the ones at BC/YC and BCV. I have already used your laundry room ones, I will include your Marketplace breakfast in our Marketplace thread (I don't have any pictures of the French toast sticks) and I love your pictures of the Drawing Room, so that will make it onto the thread, too.

GREAT story leading to your trip report title. I love the fun that you and your mom have together.

I also enjoyed your pictures from the Wilderness Lodge. We have never been and we really would love to tour it sometime. It looks gorgeous!

Cute story about your shopping trip to the Mercantile. Can't wait to read about the Halloween party.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Woah! I was a few updates behind!

I congratulated you on the CP over on the BC thread, but just wanted to officially say over here- THAT IS SO COOL!

I will hopefully be headed to Disney a little after you finish up, first week in June, IF my son does not screw up anymore. He is on probation for his class trip for getting a 4 in effort in his Life Skills (Home Ec) class.

I'm glad that the sun is finally shining for your trip. I'm sure it made a huge difference in your enjoyment! I'm glad you finally were able to ride on Test Track.

Your snacks from Karamel Kuche look supper yummy!

I loved your viewing spot for Illuminations.

Once again, I appreciate all of your pictures, especially the ones at BC/YC and BCV. I have already used your laundry room ones, I will include your Marketplace breakfast in our Marketplace thread (I don't have any pictures of the French toast sticks) and I love your pictures of the Drawing Room, so that will make it onto the thread, too.

GREAT story leading to your trip report title. I love the fun that you and your mom have together.

I also enjoyed your pictures from the Wilderness Lodge. We have never been and we really would love to tour it sometime. It looks gorgeous!

Cute story about your shopping trip to the Mercantile. Can't wait to read about the Halloween party.

If possible, I may extend my program (depends on if I am asked and what I'm doing for grad school), so I might see you! I hope he is able to pull his grade up, because that would be super disappointing if he wasn't able to go.

Karamell Kuche was awesome! It's on my bucket list to try one of everything there.

The ducks were definitely the highlight of our trip! It seems any stories I've ever read involving surrey bikes have something ridiculous happen, normally people losing their shoes-something I witnessed myself with a little girl and her dad, actually!

Wilderness Lodge was really nice. If the studio villas weren't so ugly, I'd definitely stay there.

 

[bellebookworm9]

After our conversation with the DVC guy, we walked out the back doors towards the boat dock. The whole courtyard back here was beautiful!

Mom thought the pool looked kind of small, but after Stormalong Bay, what pool isn’t small? One of our favorite things about the Wilderness Lodge pool area was walking through the “cave” type things. Mom commented that the building itself looked like a log fortress castle. Walking in front of us down the wooden walkway was a family also heading to the Halloween Party. The father had on one of those Jack Sparrow hats and Mom was actually trying to figure out if it was his real hair or not!

When we arrived on the dock, the boat was there! We were able to get the last few seats, but much to my dismay, it was one of the smaller open side boats. Those make me a little nuts-I always feel like I’m going to fall out. Very soon after boarding we were on our way! The sailing was pretty uneventful, except when we got closer to the Magic Kingdom and a Bay Lake Patrol boat came flying out-Mom thought we were going to hit his wake, but our captain quickly turned our motor off. As it turned out, the big ferry was coming from the TTC, so I suppose the patrol guy was trying to get out of the ferry’s way.

I think Mom thought Space Mountain was the Wedding Chapel for a moment!
It was around this point that I noticed the battery on the camera was getting low. I hadn’t been plugging it into the computer the last two nights or so because the computer wasn’t “reading” that it was attached-I was just sticking the memory card in to import the pictures that way. So I completely forgot that the camera wasn’t charging!

At this point it was very close to 4pm, and according to widely known information, guests with MNSSHP tickets are allowed in at 4. A very large crowd was gathered at the right set of turnstiles, but not moving. We waited. And waited. Apparently there was some sort of issue with turning the admissions computer system over from normal tickets to event tickets. They finally let us in around 4:20. The evening was not off to a good start. Then of course, after we made it through the turnstiles, everyone gathered around the various CMs who were distributing wristbands. No lines, just groups of people. It was super unorganized and I was not impressed. A Photopass photographer was taking pictures in front of the train station.

We brought our own treat bag, so did not have to stop and get one on the way in, but we did grab a map.

I am so disappointed with that photo because it’s so off center and crooked.

I love all the Halloween decorations!

I had made a touring plan, and the first step was to get a FP for Splash Mountain…until I realized we couldn’t get FPs with the Halloween Party tickets. So after checking the Times Board and realizing that everything had a super long wait, we ventured towards Pirates of the Caribbean, because the wait was only 15-20 minutes. Of course, as soon as we approach the doors to the building, the ride malfunctions and everybody has to exit the area. At this moment, I was cranky. It was hot. It was crowded-definitely not the 1.2 crowd level Touring Plans had predicted. Everything had a long wait. So we sat down on a bench near the CM only backstage gate next to Pirates to regroup and so I could take some motrin.

We sat there for about 10 minutes and then decided to go check the Times Board again. Buzz Lightyear had a pretty brief wait, only 10-15 minutes, so that’s where we headed. The line was not really far outside the building when we got there and moved pretty quickly. But of course, we got behind a family whose children were climbing on EVERYTHING and the parents also stopped about every 2 feet to take pictures of the kids and things in the queue.

This picture is awful and I have no idea what our exact scores were, but Mom kicked my butt this time around-a major change from the last trip! (She does better at Toy Story Mania, and I do better at Buzz.) My biggest issue with this ride is that you really can’t tell what you’re definitely hitting.

Really bad redneck ride photo.

 

[leshunlenese]

Hey! Ive been reading your TR in silence but i have fallen behind a few days. I have never been to food and wine but i hope to one day! I wanted to ask you how much was it to wash. we r renting DVC points next month and i was just curious. In other good news Congrats on your CP. You are going to have fabulous time! One of my CP roomies did front entrance at MK and she liked it, especially she like getting ERed or early release from work and the hours were not too bad for her.