What exactly DID you do at Disney? May 2011 TR (TR link pg 44)

[Lidian]

I'm so sorry to hear that nothing is going your way.

We got separated everytime we tried to leave MK. While we had our phones on us, we also had designated meeting spots, just in case (which was good, since by the time we were leaving, I was running on less than 10% battery). I would have been ticked if my DH left me at the park. Thankfully you was able to catch up to him.

Sorry the pretzel didn't hit the spot. It looked really yummy though! Wish I had known about them, would have loved to try one.

I really hope you had an awesome day at IoA! I'm jealous that you got to venture over there! Can't wait to hear!!!

 

[basketkat]

Boo to no MSEP or Wishes...I hope you get to see them...

 

[dtr_angel]

sorry your MK night was a bummer! Hopefully your next day was better, and knowing how much you loved AKL I think it probably was.

The movie on the beach sounds like it would've been fun.

 

[Chaitali]

Sorry the evening didn't go according to plan That crowd sounds horrible. I hope things go better later in the trip!

 

[All7OfUs]

I can really sympathize with your being irritated and bordering on angry!! YOu poor thing, to not have anything really go as you had hoped this night. UGH!

YES! A plan for getting split up is so imperative. Reminds me of the good old days before cell phones, as kids. We always knew to automatically go to the benches in front of the DLR castle if there was ever a need to meet back up.

I really hope the next day goes so much better for you!!

 

[pinkxray]

I don’t like leaving off on a bad night, so let’s jump right into our next morning.
Once again I was up earlier than everyone else. Somewhere around 6am. I finished packing up everything that we wouldn’t need until that night. After showering and getting dressed I was on my way to check in at AKV. To be honest I was a bit nervous. We had rented points for our whole trip, but different ways. We rented the points at VWL through the main renter that happens to be a sponsor of this board. I wasn’t worried at all about this stay since I have heard so many good reviews. For AKV and BCV I rented points through the rent/trade site on these boards.


I wasn’t that worried since I had been checking our reservation and it existed. I was able to do the online check in. I had talked and e-mailed the DVC member and he seemed great. I refused to tell Caitlin about our stay at AKV b/c I was afraid if it fell through she would be disappointed. I had a backup plan in case I arrived and was told we didn’t exist, but luckily never needed it.


I arrived at the booth at exactly 7am. The lady working in the booth did not seem thrilled I was there. I guess it was a bit too early for her. “Are they expecting you this early?” Well, I did list 7am as my check in time on the online check in, so I hope so. She glared at me a bit and then went to find my parking pass. Would it be there? YES!!! She handed me my parking pass with a lovely picture of a zebra, gave me directions to self parking and I was off to check in. The lady was a bit nicer once she knew I was checking in, but I don’t understand what her problem was. Don’t people come at 7am to eat at Boma at 7:30? It’s not like it was 4am or something.

I was nervous walking into AKL. I had been a bit disappointed that I wasn’t totally overwhelmed when checking in at WL. Sure it was pretty, but I didn’t have that feeling. Can’t really describe it… you all know what I am talking about though. That magical I am finally here, I’m home feeling you get when you arrive at your favorite spots.


I walked through the doors and that was it. I was in love. I knew I liked AKL since we had been there last year to eat at Boma. But knowing that this time I was there to actually check in and experience the whole resort myself.
Check in went very quickly since there was no one in line ahead of me. I knew our room wouldn’t be ready but asked for a text to be sent when it was. I really wanted to check out the resort but I had to start waking everyone up for our last character meal for a few days.


I left AKL and couldn’t wait until Caitlin found out where we were staying. I was about to just go get them and head right over, but CM and IOA were calling.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures but I couldn’t get any pictures of the signs while I was driving. I tried but every time I approached a sign someone was behind me. Don’t worry, I got plenty of pictures later.


I was back to WL quickly (I don’t know why everyone say AKL is so far away, it took me about 15 minutes each way) Caitlin and John were just starting to wake up. I helped Caitlin get ready for the day and told her that I had checked us into a new, amazing hotel and I couldn’t wait for her to see it.
With everyone dressed we grabbed our luggage, gave the room a once over looking for anything we forgot and said goodbye to WL.

I admit that while I didn’t love WL when we first arrived I am glad that we got a chance to stay there. It is a very pretty place and by check out day I really did start to see why people love it so much. I wouldn’t have minded staying there the rest of the stay.


We hopped in the car and drove down the street to the Contemporary. I have never seen it this way since I have only been there coming from monorail or from the dock. The short walkway to MK looks pretty cool. It must be pretty nice when you have a stroller to just walk right over to MK. Of course it will never help us since we never seem to spend much time in MK.

We found our way to Chef Mickey’s and checked in. I think our adr time was 7:40. There was no line to check in which was much different from dinner last year. There was a huge line when checking in last year, maybe 15-20 minutes just to check in. We were given a pager and told to get in line for our photo with the plate. Yeah, I’m good with the plate picture. I don’t get the Mickey Statue at all. I’ve seen people get nice pictures but I just wouldn’t pay that much for a picture with a statue.

Our buzzer went off pretty quickly and we meet the hostess who lead us to our table. She had an accent and to be honest I couldn’t understand anything she said.

Our waitress came to take our drink order and since there were no characters in our room we were told to go get some food. We sat exactly where we sat last year, in the room right behind the check in booth. It was pretty empty when we arrived but quickly filled up.

After we got our food the characters finally started coming around.

After seeing Donald,Pluto, and Minnie they took a break to do some napkin twirling.

Our adr was for 740 and we wanted to be out of there early to make sure we got to IOA by 8:45. I know this seems quick but we can finish our breakfast in about 30-40 minutes so it seemed do able. We were ready to leave but we still had 2 characters to see. We told Caitlin we were able to go and she gave us the puppy dog eyes and said she really wanted to stay.
I told DH if we needed another IOA morning we could just head over there earlier on Friday and skip Boma. We decided to stay so that Caitlin could see the rest of the characters.

Some food

The food was okay. Much better than dinner, but no where near as good as Tuskerhouse or CP for breakfast. It was fun though so although I say we won’t go back if I have another kid who loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I will be one of those suckers booking it for breakfast on my 180 day mark. It is kind of a must do once thing. I had to try it after seeing it on Unwrapped and John and Kate plus 8. Glad we did it, glad we don’t have to do it again (hopefully)


After breakfast we made it all the way down to the parking lot when DH realized he had left his sunglasses on the table. Caitlin and I waited, not so patiently for him to return.

Caitlin kept occupied by taking pictures of stupid stuff. I know she took a bunch but she must have deleted them, b/c I can’t find them . Just imagine pictures of my various body parts(okay, I deleted those), trash cans, bugs, cracks in the pavement, etc.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I like your shirt!

 

[jenbear123]

Well breakfast at Chef Mickey's turned out much better! I must admit that I agree with you on how it's a once in a while type thing. I'll go out of my way to eat at CP every trip but not Chef Mickey's. Love your alien shirt!!! Where/when did you get it?? My sister is a huge fan of those guys so if there's something out there with them on it, I gotta get it for her

 

[caitty13]

We were at MK that night, it was packed! Too bad you didn't get to see the parade.

I was there that night also, it was a mad house.

 

[pinkxray]

I'm curious because I am never able to find them when I go but where did you get the cream cheese pretzel? Do you remember the name of the restaurant? I really want to try one next time I'm there.

That's really too bad about DH marching on through the crowd without even checking to see if you were still behind. I hope IOA and Harry Potter go much better. It's something both DH and Caitlin will like so it must be good!

I believe the name is Launching Pad. You walk by it right before you go on SM or next to the entrance to People mover I think. I think I would have liked it a bit better if I hadn't had nachos on the brain It wasn't bad, just not what I was looking for.

DH claims Caitlin was checking to see if I was close, but since the parade was passing by I am pretty sure she was watching that.

We were at MK that night, it was packed! Too bad you didn't get to see the parade.

I was surprised it was so busy that night. I really hadn't expected that at all. I thought that since I was planning on going that night no one would be there.

Somehow I got a few updates behind again.

Love the pictures of the walk on the dock to get to the boat to MK.

Your photopass pictures are really great (and it is so good to see you in somephotos, Diane). I also like the photo of you and Caitlin with the popcorn.

We are not fans of the lunch/dinner buffets at Crystal Palace, but your meal looks pretty darn good.

I'm sorry you didn't get to see the parade or Wishes. And I would have been furious too if my DH took off and didn't check to be sure I was nearby.

CP was pretty good. I didn't try anything to adventerous, but all the basics were great.

I love Photopass. Without it you wouldn't even know I was on this trip

I wouldn't have minded DH taking off if we had agreed where to meet at the end. The entrance, the bus stop, the hotel, Connecticut? If I wasn't able to see Caitlin and they actually went back to WL while I stayed at MK looking for them it would have been all over. I would have been on the next plane home.

Boo to no MSEP or Wishes...I hope you get to see them...

I'm going to give you one guess on that one.

I'm so sorry to hear that nothing is going your way.

We got separated everytime we tried to leave MK. While we had our phones on us, we also had designated meeting spots, just in case (which was good, since by the time we were leaving, I was running on less than 10% battery). I would have been ticked if my DH left me at the park. Thankfully you was able to catch up to him.

Sorry the pretzel didn't hit the spot. It looked really yummy though! Wish I had known about them, would have loved to try one.

I really hope you had an awesome day at IoA! I'm jealous that you got to venture over there! Can't wait to hear!!!

It figures that both of our phones were at the resort charging this night. I never really thought about making a plan. We always have a place to meet if we split up for a bit, but we usually call or text if needed. When I meet up with DH I was and let him know it. He didn't get why I was so mad. Caitlin was sure I was right behind them and wouldn't I just assume to go to WL?

The pretzel was okay. No comparison to nachos though. I should have just gotten some Maybe that would have cheered me up.

sorry your MK night was a bummer! Hopefully your next day was better, and knowing how much you loved AKL I think it probably was.

The movie on the beach sounds like it would've been fun.

Our AKL days were all pretty great so it gets better for a bit. I wonder is that b/c we were at AKL or b/c of the plans for those days?

I was determined to make it to a movie on the beach. No one else shared my enthusiasm though.

Sorry the evening didn't go according to plan That crowd sounds horrible. I hope things go better later in the trip!

Thankfully we had better days. I must say I certainly learned a lot for our next trip and how to improve it.

I can really sympathize with your being irritated and bordering on angry!! YOu poor thing, to not have anything really go as you had hoped this night. UGH!

YES! A plan for getting split up is so imperative. Reminds me of the good old days before cell phones, as kids. We always knew to automatically go to the benches in front of the DLR castle if there was ever a need to meet back up.

I really hope the next day goes so much better for you!!

I still have no idea what DH was thinking. His plan sounds like the most ridiculous option to this situation. I think I would have killed him if he actually left me at the park. Since I am a nice person I probably would have waited about 2 hours at MK just sitting around waiting for them to find me. All the while they would be chilling out, watching tv at WL.


Next trip we will have a plan where to meet up if we get separated.

 

[KatMark]

Yes, a much happier update.

Love the buffalo pic as you are leaving WL.

The photo of Caitlin and your DH with Mickey is one of the best I've seen.

I'm with you. We really did NOT like our dinner at CM's in 2004, and we've not done breakfast since probably 2000 (although we used to do it every trip prior to that). To me it has just gone downhill food wise, and I much prefer the Cape May breakfast and my favorite, Crystal Palace.

 

[pinkxray]

I like your shirt!

Thank you. I have no idea why I don't have my Universal shirt on. I guess I decided I couldn't wear a IOA/US shirt to CM.

Well breakfast at Chef Mickey's turned out much better! I must admit that I agree with you on how it's a once in a while type thing. I'll go out of my way to eat at CP every trip but not Chef Mickey's. Love your alien shirt!!! Where/when did you get it?? My sister is a huge fan of those guys so if there's something out there with them on it, I gotta get it for her

I got the shirt at Target. I had seen Jill on MEMOM's trip report with it on and I needed it I found it at Target and then, the next day I saw it at Bob's Stores (not sure if you have those or not) and it was the same design only the shirt itself was gray. I was a bit sad since I liked the gray better but I stuck with the green. Too much hassle to return it, plus I am sure it would have been twice the price.

I was there that night also, it was a mad house.

Glad I am not the only one. I was wondering if my crowd level preception was off b/c it seemed way too busy for me. If it was that bad in the middle of May what is it like on xmas and other peak times

 

[amandaw]

Just got done with both updates. After reading the one about the night at MK, my heart was breaking for you. But, it seems like y'all had a great start to the next day! Seems like breakfast at CM's went well. Can't wait to see what y'all did at IOA & what you thought of WWOHP. We went during our December trip.

 

[pinkxray]

Yes, a much happier update.

Love the buffalo pic as you are leaving WL.

The photo of Caitlin and your DH with Mickey is one of the best I've seen.

I'm with you. We really did NOT like our dinner at CM's in 2004, and we've not done breakfast since probably 2000 (although we used to do it every trip prior to that). To me it has just gone downhill food wise, and I much prefer the Cape May breakfast and my favorite, Crystal Palace.

I just couldn't leave off on a bad note

Yummy, Cape May and CP are so good. I just can't figure what it is about CM that makes the food worse. They have to be using the same ingredients. Do they just make more and let it sit under lamps in the back or something? How can tater tots be so much better one place? Lucky there is enough to find something decent to eat, I am pretty sure after dinner last year DH and DD had to buy something to eat afterwards.

 

[pinkxray]

Just got done with both updates. After reading the one about the night at MK, my heart was breaking for you. But, it seems like y'all had a great start to the next day! Seems like breakfast at CM's went well. Can't wait to see what y'all did at IOA & what you thought of WWOHP. We went during our December trip.

We had a few too many bad moments in this trip to match the good ones, but thankfully we did have many good ones so it could have been worse.

CM went very well. It was a lot of fun and I was happy that Caitlin was enjoying it. I wish I could have done it on a different day since I wanted to get to WWOHP early, but we added it pretty last minute and it was the only opening I could get.

 

[dizneeat]

I am all caught up again. I did not have much DIStime this week and I fell how many pages behind??????

Sorry to hear about your MK day. I hope you did make it back and had time to do all you had planned!

I love all your photos! Great shots and as I have said before, your daughter is a doll!

 

[bouncycat]

Like the updates!! I hate how crowded MK gets for an old parade and wishes. Wishes I can understand!! I dunno. Sorry that night didn't go so well. I am eager to see how you liked WWHP...can't wait for that update!!! CM looked like fun, they have the Mickey Waffles!!! I LOVE me some Mickey waffles!!!! I think they're spiked with crack along with the popcorn!! HAHAHA

 

[Queila]

I did the Chef Mickeys breakfast once (even before I met my husband) and I am trying to avoid it as much as I can. The reviews seem to be consistently on the negative side so...

I am glad you had a great start of the day and I LOVE your alien t-shirt!

Q

 

[Nermel9]

When we went to the Christmas party, I think I found our parade spot about 30 minutes before the parade started (in Fronteirland, so it wasn't crowded at all) and I thought that was SO boring...I can't imagine waiting for 2 hours!

Ugh, I tried that cream cheese pretzel too and I wasn't impressed. I feel like it would have been better with some salt on it.

I really want to stay at AKL now! I know if I switch from WL I'll regret it though. Some other time, I guess.

I don't really like Chef Mickey's, it's too loud and the food is not that great. The characters are fun, though, and you got some nice pictures!

 

[All7OfUs]

Nice meal at Cm for you! That plate of food looks truly tasty- although, I'm not a big breakfast eater, by any means. Glad he got the sunglasses then, rather than paying $50 for a pair over at IOA.

I hope that your family is totally wowed by AKL, and you get the thrill of seeing their faces light up. Time will tell....