What is Pooh like? Read this trip report if you want to find out :) Updated 9/18!
- Thread starter sand2270
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sand2270
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Thanks! I have the rest of it ready to go but I got lazy last night LOL.
What happened to your camera? Somehow I feel like I am supposed to know...
sand2270
DIS Veteran
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- Mar 5, 2008
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Day 9 continued...we were touring around in a sea raycer when I left off...
Hollywood Studios from the
We made our way over to Hollywood Studios when the people patrolling the waters…I think security…approached us and said because of the weather they wanted us to head back towards the dock. We had maybe been on the water 20-30 minutes. We were not charged anything and told if we brought our receipt back they would let us back out for the entire 90-minutes since we had to come back. We never made it back over but we had fun the short time we were out there. The weather was bumming me out, I really wanted to go swimming but we made the best of it.
Around this time my DD said she was hungry…as usual she did not eat much at breakfast. It also started raining after we got back to the hotel. We went to the Beach Club Marketplace and she used one of the adult counter service credits and got a design your own salad and a cookie. We went back to the Solarium so she could eat and we could wait out the rain. She really enjoyed that salad, it was pretty big and she ate almost the whole thing.
The rain slowed down and we decided to go to Epcot. We went on Test Track, there was not much a line. We had grabbed fastpasses before we got on. After we walked over to Mission Space, we both agreed to do the green side…I had a bad experience on the orange side. I can’t say I liked the green side any better
.
We went back to Test Track to use our fastpasses and it was closed…I believe due to the weather. We decided to head over to World Showcase and do another Kimmunicator mission. On the way we got a churro from Mexico because we love churros! This time our mission was in Norway. The Norway mission was a lot of fun…at one point we had to approach a cast member and say something secret to her to which she gave us our next clue. It's great that the cast members get involved in the missions!
I started getting hungry so after our mission we went to China. We got pot stickers, egg rolls and a strawberry slushie drink.
When did this piggy faced kid replace my daughter??
John was going to meet up with us that evening for dinner at Kona. While we were eating he got there and walked over to meet us. I wanted something with liquor
and I got a plum wine slushie from the cart in China.
Barges getting ready for Illuminations
We made our way back to Test Track, it had reopened and there was a very long line, even fastpass had a bit of a wait. We decided to do Spaceship Earth again and come back to Test Track hoping that the line would be shorter. After Spaceship Earth we did Soarin' and then walked back to Test Track. The line had gone down and we got on.
Finally it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. I believe John drove us over…some of those little details are fuzzy. We arrived at the Polynesian early, I planned it this way because I wanted to have some time to walk around. I originally did not have this dinner scheduled, I had dinner booked at Spoodles. When I was there two weeks earlier for the adult trip we had a group dinner at Kona. I wasn't really excited about it…but I ended up loving it. I wanted to return and decided to change our dinner plans to Kona so we could also watch the fireworks from the beach.
My DD was focused on the fountain when we were on the 2nd level…she really wanted to throw coins in there. We kept giving her coins but she kept missing the fountain…she wasn't throwing hard enough…she may have hit a few people…not really sure because as soon as we realized she didn’t make it we would duck
! So sorry if you got hit in the head with a flying coin. We told her to throw it like a frisbee and she got the hang of it…but it was pretty funny.
We also went into the gift shop…no really we did…I know hard to believe. I found a Peter Pan ride pin and a Mickey and Minnie pin where they are holding the Mickey ear balloons. I really liked them and bought them for my daughter's lanyard.
We checked in for our 7:50pm ADR and were given a buzzer which my DD always insisted on being in charge of. I do remember the lobby was freezing!! No lack of air conditioning in there. We were seated and had a great dinner. My DD decided she was going to test my reflexes because she kept knocking sliverware off the table and I kept catching it before it hit the floor. The clumsy apple doesn't fall far from the clumsy tree apparently.
I ordered the exact same thing I ordered two weeks ago, pan asian noodles with chicken, kilahuea torte and a fruity drink, a malibu macaw. John ordered the tuna, crème brulee and tea, my DD ordered ravioli, chicken noodle soup, and a sundae. I also had coffee with my dessert.
Mickey ravioli
Everything was good and again I was so full I could not finish dessert. However, the pan asian noodles were not quite as good as they were two weeks before…but oh well. We had another great dinner with John…the three of us always had a lot of laughs at our meals.
After dinner we made our way to the beach to watch the fireworks. We found some lounge chairs and sat down. It was so nice and relaxing to sit on the beach listening to the water. My DD loved playing in the sand and was jumping around, digging in the sand having a great time. We had been so go go go all week that I think we both needed to just decompress a little and this was a perfect place to do that. When the fireworks started my DD sat on the lounge chair between my legs…my little cuddle monkey
. What a great night!
Afterwards we got on the monorail to go back to the TTA…so we went from the Poly to the Grand Floridian to MK to Contemporary to TTA…then realized that we probably could have walked to the TTA from the Poly LOL. Oh well lesson learned.
Again another outstanding day!
Hollywood Studios from the
We made our way over to Hollywood Studios when the people patrolling the waters…I think security…approached us and said because of the weather they wanted us to head back towards the dock. We had maybe been on the water 20-30 minutes. We were not charged anything and told if we brought our receipt back they would let us back out for the entire 90-minutes since we had to come back. We never made it back over but we had fun the short time we were out there. The weather was bumming me out, I really wanted to go swimming but we made the best of it.
Around this time my DD said she was hungry…as usual she did not eat much at breakfast. It also started raining after we got back to the hotel. We went to the Beach Club Marketplace and she used one of the adult counter service credits and got a design your own salad and a cookie. We went back to the Solarium so she could eat and we could wait out the rain. She really enjoyed that salad, it was pretty big and she ate almost the whole thing.
The rain slowed down and we decided to go to Epcot. We went on Test Track, there was not much a line. We had grabbed fastpasses before we got on. After we walked over to Mission Space, we both agreed to do the green side…I had a bad experience on the orange side. I can’t say I liked the green side any better
.
We went back to Test Track to use our fastpasses and it was closed…I believe due to the weather. We decided to head over to World Showcase and do another Kimmunicator mission. On the way we got a churro from Mexico because we love churros! This time our mission was in Norway. The Norway mission was a lot of fun…at one point we had to approach a cast member and say something secret to her to which she gave us our next clue. It's great that the cast members get involved in the missions!
I started getting hungry so after our mission we went to China. We got pot stickers, egg rolls and a strawberry slushie drink.
When did this piggy faced kid replace my daughter??
John was going to meet up with us that evening for dinner at Kona. While we were eating he got there and walked over to meet us. I wanted something with liquor
and I got a plum wine slushie from the cart in China. Barges getting ready for Illuminations
We made our way back to Test Track, it had reopened and there was a very long line, even fastpass had a bit of a wait. We decided to do Spaceship Earth again and come back to Test Track hoping that the line would be shorter. After Spaceship Earth we did Soarin' and then walked back to Test Track. The line had gone down and we got on.
Finally it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. I believe John drove us over…some of those little details are fuzzy. We arrived at the Polynesian early, I planned it this way because I wanted to have some time to walk around. I originally did not have this dinner scheduled, I had dinner booked at Spoodles. When I was there two weeks earlier for the adult trip we had a group dinner at Kona. I wasn't really excited about it…but I ended up loving it. I wanted to return and decided to change our dinner plans to Kona so we could also watch the fireworks from the beach.
My DD was focused on the fountain when we were on the 2nd level…she really wanted to throw coins in there. We kept giving her coins but she kept missing the fountain…she wasn't throwing hard enough…she may have hit a few people…not really sure because as soon as we realized she didn’t make it we would duck
! So sorry if you got hit in the head with a flying coin. We told her to throw it like a frisbee and she got the hang of it…but it was pretty funny.
We also went into the gift shop…no really we did…I know hard to believe. I found a Peter Pan ride pin and a Mickey and Minnie pin where they are holding the Mickey ear balloons. I really liked them and bought them for my daughter's lanyard.
We checked in for our 7:50pm ADR and were given a buzzer which my DD always insisted on being in charge of. I do remember the lobby was freezing!! No lack of air conditioning in there. We were seated and had a great dinner. My DD decided she was going to test my reflexes because she kept knocking sliverware off the table and I kept catching it before it hit the floor. The clumsy apple doesn't fall far from the clumsy tree apparently.
I ordered the exact same thing I ordered two weeks ago, pan asian noodles with chicken, kilahuea torte and a fruity drink, a malibu macaw. John ordered the tuna, crème brulee and tea, my DD ordered ravioli, chicken noodle soup, and a sundae. I also had coffee with my dessert.
Mickey ravioli
Everything was good and again I was so full I could not finish dessert. However, the pan asian noodles were not quite as good as they were two weeks before…but oh well. We had another great dinner with John…the three of us always had a lot of laughs at our meals.
After dinner we made our way to the beach to watch the fireworks. We found some lounge chairs and sat down. It was so nice and relaxing to sit on the beach listening to the water. My DD loved playing in the sand and was jumping around, digging in the sand having a great time. We had been so go go go all week that I think we both needed to just decompress a little and this was a perfect place to do that. When the fireworks started my DD sat on the lounge chair between my legs…my little cuddle monkey
. What a great night!Afterwards we got on the monorail to go back to the TTA…so we went from the Poly to the Grand Floridian to MK to Contemporary to TTA…then realized that we probably could have walked to the TTA from the Poly LOL. Oh well lesson learned.
Again another outstanding day!
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
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- 2,976
This was our last full day and I was doing my best not to think about it too much. We didn't have much planned for the morning. I had wanted to get room service but we had eaten so much on the trip and neither of us woke up very hungry. We ate what we had in our room
cereal, donut holes and Starbuck's fraps.
The plan was to relax since we had to travel the next day. We got ready to go swimming and my DD said she wanted to go to the quiet pool first. We spent some time in the quiet pool and then headed over to Stormalong Bay. We went to the slide area for a bit and decided to try the lazy river. There were no tubes left so I bought a noodle since it was only a dollar more. We got in the water and I thought we would both be able to hang onto the noodle well that didn't work so well. So I gave my daughter the noodle and I swam and hung onto the side while we went around. Needless to say it wasn't very relaxing and we got out.
We went over to the shallow sandy bottom area and hung out in there for a bit. I was paying attention to the weather. Whenever it looked like it was going to start raining I would pay attention to the lifeguards. They kept picking up their phones, similar to what they were doing in Blizzard Beach before it started raining. It started looking really sketchy so I said it was time to leave. It never ended up raining but it looked like it was about to start for quite a while that day.
When we got back to the room housekeeping was still working on it. We waited in the hallway wet and cold the air conditioning in those hallways was always on full blast. I left a tip for housekeeping each day, when she came out of the room she thanked me for them.
Oh I forgot to give an update on the hairdryer issue. Our first day at Beach Club I couldn't get the hairdryer to work maintenance came up and told me it was plugged in wrong so of course I felt stupid. The next day it wouldn't stay on I called again and told them we were still having trouble so they brought us a new one.
I wanted to get pictures of the room before I forgot so I took a bunch after we got back
Housekeeping's handiwork...
Messy dresser
hidden Mickey
towel Mickey that was in our room the first day
I want to tell the story of the below picture. The rubics cube on the table is John's. He taught my daughter how to make the flag and left his rubics cube behind so she could play with it. She kept making it over and over again.
She bought a small rubics cube with the Hello Kitty frog on it and mixed it all up. She gave it to John when we were at Biergarten and he solved it! Needless to say myself and the people sitting with us all dropped our jaws when he was done
.
We got showered and headed to DTD.
My daughter had been saving some of her money for the Build a Dino store and she had been dying to get over there all week. If you have ever been to a Build a Bear store it is the same experience except with dinosaurs. After her dinosaur was "built" we walked around trying to pick out an outfit. The first one made him look like nerdy dino so we put that one back and picked out a different one.
I can't remember if we went to the store with kitchen stuff this day or earlier in the week, but I wanted a mickey pancake mold so at some point we were in that store where I got one. We also got a box of mickey mac and cheese that my DD wanted. It wasn't bad white cheddar instead of yellow, I thought it tasted good.
We went to the Team Mickey store as well since I wanted to get a gift for my co-worker who was covering for me while I was gone. While we were checking out the cast members asked me where I was from. When I said AZ they asked me who I was rooting for. I gave them a blank look and said "for what?"
. I guess there was some important game being played between AZ and Florida that day
I had no idea I don't follow sports. I said "Go Florida!" 
and they said "All right!". They gave my daughter a free Tinkerbell pin because as she just told me, they thought she was sweet. A nice magical moment.
A few more DTD pictures...
Continued in next post...
The plan was to relax since we had to travel the next day. We got ready to go swimming and my DD said she wanted to go to the quiet pool first. We spent some time in the quiet pool and then headed over to Stormalong Bay. We went to the slide area for a bit and decided to try the lazy river. There were no tubes left so I bought a noodle since it was only a dollar more. We got in the water and I thought we would both be able to hang onto the noodle well that didn't work so well. So I gave my daughter the noodle and I swam and hung onto the side while we went around. Needless to say it wasn't very relaxing and we got out.
We went over to the shallow sandy bottom area and hung out in there for a bit. I was paying attention to the weather. Whenever it looked like it was going to start raining I would pay attention to the lifeguards. They kept picking up their phones, similar to what they were doing in Blizzard Beach before it started raining. It started looking really sketchy so I said it was time to leave. It never ended up raining but it looked like it was about to start for quite a while that day.
When we got back to the room housekeeping was still working on it. We waited in the hallway wet and cold the air conditioning in those hallways was always on full blast. I left a tip for housekeeping each day, when she came out of the room she thanked me for them
. Oh I forgot to give an update on the hairdryer issue. Our first day at Beach Club I couldn't get the hairdryer to work maintenance came up and told me it was plugged in wrong so of course I felt stupid. The next day it wouldn't stay on I called again and told them we were still having trouble so they brought us a new one.
I wanted to get pictures of the room before I forgot so I took a bunch after we got back
Housekeeping's handiwork...
Messy dresser
hidden Mickey
towel Mickey that was in our room the first day
I want to tell the story of the below picture. The rubics cube on the table is John's. He taught my daughter how to make the flag and left his rubics cube behind so she could play with it. She kept making it over and over again.
She bought a small rubics cube with the Hello Kitty frog on it and mixed it all up. She gave it to John when we were at Biergarten and he solved it! Needless to say myself and the people sitting with us all dropped our jaws when he was done
.
We got showered and headed to DTD.
My daughter had been saving some of her money for the Build a Dino store and she had been dying to get over there all week. If you have ever been to a Build a Bear store it is the same experience except with dinosaurs. After her dinosaur was "built" we walked around trying to pick out an outfit. The first one made him look like nerdy dino so we put that one back and picked out a different one
.
I can't remember if we went to the store with kitchen stuff this day or earlier in the week, but I wanted a mickey pancake mold so at some point we were in that store where I got one. We also got a box of mickey mac and cheese that my DD wanted. It wasn't bad white cheddar instead of yellow, I thought it tasted good.
We went to the Team Mickey store as well since I wanted to get a gift for my co-worker who was covering for me while I was gone. While we were checking out the cast members asked me where I was from. When I said AZ they asked me who I was rooting for. I gave them a blank look and said "for what?"
. I guess there was some important game being played between AZ and Florida that day
I had no idea I don't follow sports. I said "Go Florida!"
and they said "All right!". They gave my daughter a free Tinkerbell pin because as she just told me, they thought she was sweet. A nice magical moment.A few more DTD pictures...
Continued in next post...
feistygalkmc
She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
- Messages
- 399
Awwww this makes me happy to read So glad you guys had a great time and that beer flight--oh yes, I WILL be having that when we do Biergarten in October!!!! 
So glad you guys had a great time and that beer flight--oh yes, I WILL be having that when we do Biergarten in October!!!!
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
Awwww this makes me happy to read
Aww! So glad you are reading!
We are definitely having beer at Biergarten...I can't wait either.
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
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- 2,976
I am in the middle of purchasing a home and work has been crazy, so I haven't had anytime to work on this. Let's see if I can get Day 10 finished up.
After we were finished at DTD we went to the buses to go to The Grand Floridian for our dinner ADR at 1900 Park Fare. We were a bit early but checked in anyway. They ended up seating us shortly afterwards. John was going to meet up with us later at Magic Kingdom. My DD wanted alone time with me for dinner so John had dinner at Crystal Palace I believe.
I had been looking forward to this dinner it sounded like so much fun with the evil stepmother and stepsisters. I ordered a Glowtini because I just had to try one.
Glowy goodness
When it showed up and my daughter saw that glowcube she was totally focused on it. "Can I have that?" "You're going to give that to me right?" "I get the glowcube when you are done with your drink remember?" "When can I have the glowcube?"
Yes! You can have it!! Eesh!
The food was good. Honestly nothing was really memorable but I don't remember being disappointed in anything and I thought the food was better than CRT. I do remember having prime rib and it was good.
The character interaction was great. Cinderella and the Prince were announced and they did a dance.
Kids were also able to go up and dance with them. The stepmother and stepsisters were a riot. The stepsisters kept yelling at each other across the room…this is not a quiet meal. When they were on our side of the room Anastasia was at our table talking to us and Drizella walked by and stuck something on the back of her dress…they kept messing with each other.
When Anastasia was at our table I forgot to turn off the flash on my camera and it went off in her eyes. I apologized and she gave me a dirty look…I honestly couldn't tell if she was acting or serious
. After she was done and we said thank you she said, The pleasure was all yours" and walked off .
Lady Tremaine was properly cold and formal. She walked by our table a little later after my daughter had her Build a Dino out, stopped and said, "I see you brought your pet" in a very droll voice .
We finished up and stopped in the bathroom before we left. It was then I realized we left our DTD bags under the table. We went back in to the table but they were already gone. I stopped someone and asked and they knew where the bags were, someone brought them out to us right away. Whew!
I called John and told him we were on our way. We hopped on the monorail and went to Magic Kingdom. I told John we were getting a locker for our purchases and he agreed to meet us there. The Glowtini gave me a slight headache and I did not have any advil with me. The cast members at the locker counter directed me to the gift shop across the way where I could get some. They keep it locked away behind the counter.
We went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. There was a joke where someone in the audience was picked as Sully…and that person was…John!! So everytime the story was about Sully the camera was on John where he pretended to scream each time. It was hysterical
! John made a great Sully! I love that attraction and wish Disneyland had it, it is so unique.
Little Green Men!
We went on Tomorrowland Speedway. My head hurt and I knew I was not up for my DD's crazy driving so John agreed to go with her. They were in the car in front of me. I was laughing so hard watching them
!! My DD was all over that road…swerving back and forth the entire time…I was cracking up!! I wished I had gotten video of it. I was still laughing when we got off.
John and DD in the car ahead of me...
My DD bought these…
Which John modeled…
My daughter wanted to go on the Teacups. I didn't feel like it because of my headache so she and John went on…
We also went on the carousel and Philharmagic. I think we also did the Haunted Mansion. I know we did Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. The thing about Splash is for some reason we always end up in the front…almost every time we went on…which means we usually got soaked. I also think this was the night my phone fell out of my pocket on Big Thunder…the person getting on the ride after me saw it, grabbed it and called me. Thank you!!
I think we went on Pirates. I wanted a Dole whip float. We used snack credits and I got one for each of us. We sat and enjoyed our pineappley treats.
On the way down Mainstreet John wanted to stop in the confectionary for an apple. While he was getting his apple made my DD and I looked around. She filled a bag with M and M's and I finally found plain Mickey rice krispie ears! I always looked for them in the bakeries and candy stores, but they always had chocolate on them and I like them plain. I used a snack credit for that. I should have bought a couple because I ended up with a few unused snack credits at the end of our trip.
We decided to head out, John took one last picture of us at Magic Kingdom...
Coming up...our departure day sadness and final thoughts.
After we were finished at DTD we went to the buses to go to The Grand Floridian for our dinner ADR at 1900 Park Fare. We were a bit early but checked in anyway. They ended up seating us shortly afterwards. John was going to meet up with us later at Magic Kingdom. My DD wanted alone time with me for dinner so John had dinner at Crystal Palace I believe.
I had been looking forward to this dinner it sounded like so much fun with the evil stepmother and stepsisters. I ordered a Glowtini because I just had to try one.
Glowy goodness
When it showed up and my daughter saw that glowcube she was totally focused on it. "Can I have that?" "You're going to give that to me right?" "I get the glowcube when you are done with your drink remember?" "When can I have the glowcube?"
Yes! You can have it!! Eesh!
The food was good. Honestly nothing was really memorable but I don't remember being disappointed in anything and I thought the food was better than CRT. I do remember having prime rib and it was good.
The character interaction was great. Cinderella and the Prince were announced and they did a dance.
Kids were also able to go up and dance with them. The stepmother and stepsisters were a riot. The stepsisters kept yelling at each other across the room…this is not a quiet meal. When they were on our side of the room Anastasia was at our table talking to us and Drizella walked by and stuck something on the back of her dress…they kept messing with each other.
When Anastasia was at our table I forgot to turn off the flash on my camera and it went off in her eyes. I apologized and she gave me a dirty look…I honestly couldn't tell if she was acting or serious
. After she was done and we said thank you she said, The pleasure was all yours" and walked off .
Lady Tremaine was properly cold and formal. She walked by our table a little later after my daughter had her Build a Dino out, stopped and said, "I see you brought your pet" in a very droll voice .
We finished up and stopped in the bathroom before we left. It was then I realized we left our DTD bags under the table. We went back in to the table but they were already gone. I stopped someone and asked and they knew where the bags were, someone brought them out to us right away. Whew!
I called John and told him we were on our way. We hopped on the monorail and went to Magic Kingdom. I told John we were getting a locker for our purchases and he agreed to meet us there. The Glowtini gave me a slight headache and I did not have any advil with me. The cast members at the locker counter directed me to the gift shop across the way where I could get some. They keep it locked away behind the counter.
We went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor. There was a joke where someone in the audience was picked as Sully…and that person was…John!! So everytime the story was about Sully the camera was on John where he pretended to scream each time. It was hysterical
! John made a great Sully! I love that attraction and wish Disneyland had it, it is so unique.Little Green Men!
We went on Tomorrowland Speedway. My head hurt and I knew I was not up for my DD's crazy driving so John agreed to go with her. They were in the car in front of me. I was laughing so hard watching them
!! My DD was all over that road…swerving back and forth the entire time…I was cracking up!! I wished I had gotten video of it. I was still laughing when we got off.
John and DD in the car ahead of me...
My DD bought these…
Which John modeled…
My daughter wanted to go on the Teacups. I didn't feel like it because of my headache so she and John went on…
We also went on the carousel and Philharmagic. I think we also did the Haunted Mansion. I know we did Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. The thing about Splash is for some reason we always end up in the front…almost every time we went on…which means we usually got soaked. I also think this was the night my phone fell out of my pocket on Big Thunder…the person getting on the ride after me saw it, grabbed it and called me. Thank you!!
I think we went on Pirates. I wanted a Dole whip float. We used snack credits and I got one for each of us. We sat and enjoyed our pineappley treats.
On the way down Mainstreet John wanted to stop in the confectionary for an apple. While he was getting his apple made my DD and I looked around. She filled a bag with M and M's and I finally found plain Mickey rice krispie ears! I always looked for them in the bakeries and candy stores, but they always had chocolate on them and I like them plain. I used a snack credit for that. I should have bought a couple because I ended up with a few unused snack credits at the end of our trip.
We decided to head out, John took one last picture of us at Magic Kingdom...
Coming up...our departure day sadness and final thoughts.
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
I forgot one very important detail about this day.
If you remember in an earlier post I mentioned that we had been on the lookout for Toulouse merchandise. Toulouse is one of the kittens from The Aristrocats and my daughter played him in her school play.
There is lots of Marie...especially in the France pavilion...but we could not find any Toulouse.
Our last night after John drove us back to our room at Beach Club, we were all hanging out in the room saying our goodbyes. John had a gift for my DD...a pin set of the kittens from The Aristocats. Not only that...correct me if I am wrong John...but I believe you found them on ebay and they shipped from Europe...I believe they originally came from the Disney in Paris.
So within the 10 days we were in WDW John found a pin set on ebay overseas and had it shipped to him so he could give it to my daughter before we left.
Wow.
I mean still all I can say is wow!
John...all I can say again is thank you so much for the very thoughtful gift for my DD...you really went above and beyond for us our entire stay!
If you remember in an earlier post I mentioned that we had been on the lookout for Toulouse merchandise. Toulouse is one of the kittens from The Aristrocats and my daughter played him in her school play.
There is lots of Marie...especially in the France pavilion...but we could not find any Toulouse.
Our last night after John drove us back to our room at Beach Club, we were all hanging out in the room saying our goodbyes. John had a gift for my DD...a pin set of the kittens from The Aristocats. Not only that...correct me if I am wrong John...but I believe you found them on ebay and they shipped from Europe...I believe they originally came from the Disney in Paris.
So within the 10 days we were in WDW John found a pin set on ebay overseas and had it shipped to him so he could give it to my daughter before we left.
Wow.
I mean still all I can say is wow!
John...all I can say again is thank you so much for the very thoughtful gift for my DD...you really went above and beyond for us our entire stay!
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
Thanks! I have been putting off writing about the last few days because we were so sad it was coming to an end
.It really was an unforgettable trip together and I can't wait to return with her next year.
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
This was the day we were dreading…the day I hoped would never come…we were going home 
.
I still could not believe after all the planning and waiting that our vacation was over. I was incredibly sad and grouchy
. It was a bit of a hectic morning, I had to get us all packed. I bought the rolling duffle bag that was one of the purchase with purchase offers. I had planned on buying it when I had seen it two weeks earlier because I knew we would need something to carry our souvenirs back in.
Let me tell you that thing was full!! I had trouble closing it. I could not believe we bought that much stuff, but a good 1/2 of it was stuffed animals. AHHH the stuffed animals…I won't buy them for my daughter anymore. Her bedroom has a plant ledge where I started throwing all of them because they were taking over her room. She also has a hanging mesh thing in her closet that was full. I swear they are multiplying.
But she saved her money for more then a year for this trip and I told her she could spend it on what she wanted. Which meant many stuffed animals. But she loves them, she always takes one to bed and cuddles with it.
We ate breakfast on the balcony trying to enjoy our last moments in the room. Maintenance was doing work on the balcony next door so it was kind of noisy, but that was ok I still did not want to leave.
We finally said goodbye to our room and made our way downstairs to check in to our flights and check in our bags. This was where I was dumb. I had my laptop and I had paid for internet the previous day. My 24-hours was not up yet, so I could have checked in. But for some reason I didn’t because I figured we would just take care of everything downstairs.
The last time I had stayed at Beach Club the check-in desk was inside and it did not take very long. Now the check in desk is outside (where it is hot and humid) and there was this large family in front of us with I swear like 20 bags!
Our plan was to get checked in and go to Hollywood Studios for a little bit. My daughter wanted to ride Star Tours and a few other rides. We decided to skip our Sci-Fi ADR, neither one of us was in the mood for trying to rush over there to make it.
We got in line…and waited…and waited…and waited…and waited…
You get the idea, we waited a long time. There were two check in kiosks and one of the families finished up. We got to the desk and it turns out that the computers were down, that is why it was taking so long. They were trying to get them back up so they were making people wait. They finally decided to just start taking peoples bag and said to check in at the airport.
I checked in all our bags except my laptop bag, told him I was going inside to the lobby to check in and I would bring it back. I was getting so annoyed because we were wasting our precious last minutes in Disney with what is supposed to be convenient and a timesaver. It didn't help that I was just grouchy to being with about leaving.
Now you may be asking yourself the same question I was asking myself. If I could go inside, get online throught the wireless internet and login…why were their systems not working?? I have no idea.
We went inside and I was cursing myself for not just checking in from the room that morning. I got us checked in, gave them my laptop bag and we headed off to the friendship boats. We were not going to have much time now, we had to be back for the bus at 2:30.
The first thing we did was stop to get our free PhotoPass pictures. After that we headed right to Star Tours and got on pretty quickly.
My DD wanted to do the Great Movie Ride again but I knew we would not have time for it. We decided to get lunch at Pizza Planet. Wow…this place was packed!!! This was just not our day!
We ordered two pizzas, cokes, a rice krispie treat and I bought this baby…
As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it!!
A few more pictures...
My daughter wanted to use her arcade card at the hotel, so we decided to leave and head back. So we accomplished one ride and lunch…a little disappointing for our last day. We walked out the entrance and I couldn't help it…I started crying
. I was so sad we were leaving…we had such an amazing vacation and I could not believe it was over. I also knew I was going to be walking back into a mess at work and was not looking forward to going back to reality.
This was when I started crying...
My daughter is so great…she saw I was crying and she gave me a hug. I could tell she was trying not to laugh, she will usually laugh nervously when I cry around her.
We got back to the Beach Club and went to the arcade. This did not go well either. I had packed the bag with the tickets my daughter got from Pop…which didn't really matter because this arcade did not have ticket games or a prize counter. So this upset her…in her defense I think she was sad about leaving as well. We were in general both grouchy and emotional this day and small things were setting both of us off. I promised her we would save the tickets and when we came back next year she could use them.
We went to the lobby and sat on one of the couches to just relax a little before we had to board the bus. Finally it was time to walk outside. We did not want to board that bus that we were so excited to board 11 days earlier. Bell services was handing out bottled water from a cooler to people waiting, it was really hot out. A
We boarded the bus…made a few evil stepsister faces to make ourselves laugh and sadly said goodbyes
The airport was uneventful. I got my daughter some Wendy's since she was hungry. She watched The Aristocats on the flight home. She also fell asleep with her head on my lap during the flight...
That was it...it was back to reality...
Coming up…some small details I forgot about and final thoughts.
.I still could not believe after all the planning and waiting that our vacation was over. I was incredibly sad and grouchy
. It was a bit of a hectic morning, I had to get us all packed. I bought the rolling duffle bag that was one of the purchase with purchase offers. I had planned on buying it when I had seen it two weeks earlier because I knew we would need something to carry our souvenirs back in.Let me tell you that thing was full!! I had trouble closing it. I could not believe we bought that much stuff, but a good 1/2 of it was stuffed animals. AHHH the stuffed animals…I won't buy them for my daughter anymore. Her bedroom has a plant ledge where I started throwing all of them because they were taking over her room. She also has a hanging mesh thing in her closet that was full. I swear they are multiplying.
But she saved her money for more then a year for this trip and I told her she could spend it on what she wanted. Which meant many stuffed animals. But she loves them, she always takes one to bed and cuddles with it.
We ate breakfast on the balcony trying to enjoy our last moments in the room. Maintenance was doing work on the balcony next door so it was kind of noisy, but that was ok I still did not want to leave.
We finally said goodbye to our room
and made our way downstairs to check in to our flights and check in our bags. This was where I was dumb. I had my laptop and I had paid for internet the previous day. My 24-hours was not up yet, so I could have checked in. But for some reason I didn’t because I figured we would just take care of everything downstairs.The last time I had stayed at Beach Club the check-in desk was inside and it did not take very long. Now the check in desk is outside (where it is hot and humid) and there was this large family in front of us with I swear like 20 bags!
Our plan was to get checked in and go to Hollywood Studios for a little bit. My daughter wanted to ride Star Tours and a few other rides. We decided to skip our Sci-Fi ADR, neither one of us was in the mood for trying to rush over there to make it.
We got in line…and waited…and waited…and waited…and waited…
You get the idea, we waited a long time. There were two check in kiosks and one of the families finished up. We got to the desk and it turns out that the computers were down, that is why it was taking so long. They were trying to get them back up so they were making people wait. They finally decided to just start taking peoples bag and said to check in at the airport.
I checked in all our bags except my laptop bag, told him I was going inside to the lobby to check in and I would bring it back. I was getting so annoyed because we were wasting our precious last minutes in Disney with what is supposed to be convenient and a timesaver. It didn't help that I was just grouchy to being with about leaving.
Now you may be asking yourself the same question I was asking myself. If I could go inside, get online throught the wireless internet and login…why were their systems not working?? I have no idea.
We went inside and I was cursing myself for not just checking in from the room that morning. I got us checked in, gave them my laptop bag and we headed off to the friendship boats. We were not going to have much time now, we had to be back for the bus at 2:30.
The first thing we did was stop to get our free PhotoPass pictures. After that we headed right to Star Tours and got on pretty quickly.
My DD wanted to do the Great Movie Ride again but I knew we would not have time for it. We decided to get lunch at Pizza Planet. Wow…this place was packed!!! This was just not our day!
We ordered two pizzas, cokes, a rice krispie treat and I bought this baby…
As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it!!
A few more pictures...
My daughter wanted to use her arcade card at the hotel, so we decided to leave and head back. So we accomplished one ride and lunch…a little disappointing for our last day. We walked out the entrance and I couldn't help it…I started crying
. I was so sad we were leaving…we had such an amazing vacation and I could not believe it was over. I also knew I was going to be walking back into a mess at work and was not looking forward to going back to reality.This was when I started crying...
My daughter is so great…she saw I was crying and she gave me a hug. I could tell she was trying not to laugh, she will usually laugh nervously when I cry around her.
We got back to the Beach Club and went to the arcade. This did not go well either. I had packed the bag with the tickets my daughter got from Pop…which didn't really matter because this arcade did not have ticket games or a prize counter. So this upset her…in her defense I think she was sad about leaving as well. We were in general both grouchy and emotional this day and small things were setting both of us off. I promised her we would save the tickets and when we came back next year she could use them.
We went to the lobby and sat on one of the couches to just relax a little before we had to board the bus. Finally it was time to walk outside. We did not want to board that bus that we were so excited to board 11 days earlier. Bell services was handing out bottled water from a cooler to people waiting, it was really hot out. A
We boarded the bus…made a few evil stepsister faces to make ourselves laugh and sadly said goodbyes
The airport was uneventful. I got my daughter some Wendy's since she was hungry. She watched The Aristocats on the flight home. She also fell asleep with her head on my lap during the flight...
That was it...it was back to reality...
Coming up…some small details I forgot about and final thoughts.
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
LOL...my daughter saved half of her allowance for over a year, which I matched. She also had another $75 in gift cards she got as birthday and xmas gifts. Needless to say she was loaded and she bought a lot! We both enjoy souvenir shopping, I always budget for it
I would do Kona Cafe again. It is not something I need to do every trip, but I would definitely eat there again.
I placed a Garden Grocer order and ordered Starbuck's bottled Frappucino drinks. I always drink iced lattes or iced coffees, so those were perfect for me to have in the mornings.
feistygalkmc
She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
- Messages
- 399
So sad its ending But I know you guys had a great time and will have many more great trips to come. Some of my fondest memories growing up were going to Disneyland with my Grandparents so it is something she will remember forever! 
& I actually want to try the Park Fair dinner myself
But I know you guys had a great time and will have many more great trips to come. Some of my fondest memories growing up were going to Disneyland with my Grandparents so it is something she will remember forever! & I actually want to try the Park Fair dinner myself
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
So sad its ending
& I actually want to try the Park Fair dinner myself
I can't wait to go back with her next year for Halloween, Harry Potter, Sea World and Discovery Cove.
The Park Fare dinner was a lot of fun, definitely worth doing at least once.
feistygalkmc
She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2008
- Messages
- 399
I bet she will love Halloween, especially the party
sand2270
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 2,976
I haven't touched this in weeks...I bought a house and have been busy moving and unpacking.
However, I compiled a list of random thoughts and things I forgot to put in the trip report that I thought I would go through.
Booking
I used Small World vacations to book my trip. I tend to like to handle these things on my own but I went this route for a few reasons. It was free. I read good things about them on the DIS. Having never planned a DisneyWorld vacation before I was concerned and wanted an expert to help me. I wanted to get the best price available to me and one of their claims is that they monitor any offers out there.
I worked with Beth and she was great! I contacted her many times with questions and she always responded quickly. She was always on top of offers that were made and my reservations changed quite a few times as it was adjusted for dates, lodging locations and offers. It was nice to know she was on top of it and I did not have to make the calls to make changes.
We finally ended up with a 3 night package at POP with dining with I believe a 10% discount (it may have been more, I would have to check). Our Beach Club package was 7 nights with dining under the 7 for 4 offer.
She would have also made my ADR's for me but that was giving up a little too much control for me. I was very stressed about getting the ADR's booked so I dragged myself out of bed in the middle of the night and handled those on my own.
ADR's
I had to make some changes to my ADR's about two weeks before the trip to add John. Anything I could not get him added to before the trip we were able to take care of at the podium of the restaurants. I also called and changed Sci-Fi the day of our reservation and I was able to get rebooked later in the week. Overall I really had no issues with the ADR process and I guess the lesson is it never hurts to ask
Hotel we stayed at in Phoenix
So I didn't say too much about this in the original posting but decided to add something about. I booked a hotel that offered airport parking as part of the package. I did pick the cheapest one available which was a Quality Inn, it only cost $72 which included 11 days of parking. The hotel did offer a free continental breakfast and free shuttle to the airport. However I would not stay here again, I'll spend a little more next time. The room was just kind of shabby, the furniture had a lot of dings in it, bathroom was kind run down, etc. In addition my car was outside in the sun the entire time. I did one of these deals with my mom and her husband one time and they had a parking garage. I got what I paid for, but in AZ you can usually get a decent budget hotel for that price so I was a little surprised.
Crowd planning
I used the Unofficial Guide crowd calendar to plan our days. The basics seem to be avoid EMH days lol. But the recommendations seemed to be right on. If we did go to a park on what was predicted as a busy night I was already prepared for it to be that way.
Things that were planned that we missed
As I said in the trip report we did not make it to Sci-Fi Diner. While I would have liked to have seen the restaurant we ate so much on this trip that I don't think either of us really missed it. Maybe next year.
I thought it would be nice to do smores and watch a movie at the Beach Club at night but we never got around to it. My DD wasn't too interested in the movies that were showing so again, maybe next time.
We had a reservation to take a horsedrawn carriage ride at Port Orleans. I really wanted to see the resort. This was the day we did Blizzard Beach where it started raining in the afternoon. The rain did not let up. I called to double check, but the carriage rides had been cancelled due to the rain. This was the night we saw Up. I was ok about this, I loved eating at Wolfgang Puck's Express and was so happy we saw Up. I am staying at Port Orleans in Oct, so I get to see the resort YAY!
Refillable Mugs
We bought the refillable mugs ok I brought the one that I bought two weeks earlier back with me but I also bought one for my daughter this trip. I like the mugs and use them at home and at work. But we hardly used them on the trip. We used them at POP when I remembered to bring them. We never used them at Beach Club. The walk to the food court in the Beach Club was just too long. In addition with the Dining Plan we always got drinks so we really didn't need to use the mugs.
Dining Plan
Which brings me to the Dining Plan. I haven't finished my calculations but based on my rough estimates I did save at least $100 if not more by using the Dining Plan. That being said, if we had not used the Dining Plan we would not have wanted dessert with every meal. We would have made a point of using our mugs more. Since it was our first trip and we wanted to try a lot of table service options this did save us money. But we were also eating all the time! I mean we were just stuffed and by the end of the trip not really that hungry.
We did end up with 1 unused counter service credit each (but I knew we probably wouldn't use all the counter service credits and still save money with the plan) and I think we had 3 unused snack credits. This was just dumb on my part we could have used them for waters, rice krispie ears, etc. But oh well.
Would I do the Dining Plan again? If I was planning a large amount of table service meals I would probably try to figure out the math (which I did this last time) and make my decision. However I think our next trip we will only go to a few table service places and try to do more park and pool time.
As far as food quality, I have been pleasantly surprised with the offerings and the quality. Really the only thing I was disappointed in was CRT and the veggie lasagna at POP. Disney really seems to have upped the quality of theme park food which is generally overpriced and bad. At least if it is overpriced it tastes good.
Garden Grocer
I will continue with the food talk. I placed a Garden Grocer order mainly to have some starbucks iced coffees, bottled waters and breakfast items in the room. You have to have a minimum so I also added some snack items for my daughter as well. I drank all the Starbucks, we had leftover waters which John took home, and any food items we didn't eat I brought home. I think this combined with the Dining Plan was too much food. So if I do one I probably won't do the other.
Collections
My daughter pressed many pennies and filled up her pin lanyard this trip. She hardly did any pin trading though. Last year when she started collecting pins in Disneyland she loved stopping to trade with the cast members. I think she only traded one pin this trip. She also added a few charms to her charm bracelet and bought a new bracelet with links you can collect.
She also got her Epcot passport and mask completed. She really enjoyed stopping at the Kidcot stations. Many of the stations had tables set up with crayons and coloring papers. We stopped at the one in American Adventure where she colored her mask.
We bought so many souvenirs t-shirts, lots of presents, lots of little trinkets at the World Showcase shops, magnets (I always buy magnets when I travel), stuffed animals. I bought a coffee mug that had a bunch of characters on it. The only thing is I couldn't find one that didn't say Mom or Dad on it, so I bought the one that said Mom and told my dd it was from her LOL. My DD bought a Tinkerbell watch which was a very mature purchase for her to make.
There were a few items I wanted but I didnt get. The Beach Club shop had a blue hoodie that I loved but it was pretty pricey so I skipped it. I also considered getting one of the watercolors of the Beach Club hotel which I may pick up when I go back. I also considered some frames and photoalbums but decided to wait.
I have a few more things that I will put in the next post...
However, I compiled a list of random thoughts and things I forgot to put in the trip report that I thought I would go through.
Booking
I used Small World vacations to book my trip. I tend to like to handle these things on my own but I went this route for a few reasons. It was free
. I read good things about them on the DIS. Having never planned a DisneyWorld vacation before I was concerned and wanted an expert to help me. I wanted to get the best price available to me and one of their claims is that they monitor any offers out there. I worked with Beth and she was great! I contacted her many times with questions and she always responded quickly. She was always on top of offers that were made and my reservations changed quite a few times as it was adjusted for dates, lodging locations and offers. It was nice to know she was on top of it and I did not have to make the calls to make changes.
We finally ended up with a 3 night package at POP with dining with I believe a 10% discount (it may have been more, I would have to check). Our Beach Club package was 7 nights with dining under the 7 for 4 offer.
She would have also made my ADR's for me but that was giving up a little too much control for me
. I was very stressed about getting the ADR's booked so I dragged myself out of bed in the middle of the night and handled those on my own.ADR's
I had to make some changes to my ADR's about two weeks before the trip to add John. Anything I could not get him added to before the trip we were able to take care of at the podium of the restaurants. I also called and changed Sci-Fi the day of our reservation and I was able to get rebooked later in the week. Overall I really had no issues with the ADR process and I guess the lesson is it never hurts to ask
Hotel we stayed at in Phoenix
So I didn't say too much about this in the original posting but decided to add something about. I booked a hotel that offered airport parking as part of the package. I did pick the cheapest one available which was a Quality Inn, it only cost $72 which included 11 days of parking. The hotel did offer a free continental breakfast and free shuttle to the airport. However I would not stay here again, I'll spend a little more next time. The room was just kind of shabby, the furniture had a lot of dings in it, bathroom was kind run down, etc. In addition my car was outside in the sun the entire time. I did one of these deals with my mom and her husband one time and they had a parking garage. I got what I paid for, but in AZ you can usually get a decent budget hotel for that price so I was a little surprised.
Crowd planning
I used the Unofficial Guide crowd calendar to plan our days. The basics seem to be avoid EMH days lol. But the recommendations seemed to be right on. If we did go to a park on what was predicted as a busy night I was already prepared for it to be that way.
Things that were planned that we missed
As I said in the trip report we did not make it to Sci-Fi Diner. While I would have liked to have seen the restaurant we ate so much on this trip that I don't think either of us really missed it. Maybe next year.
I thought it would be nice to do smores and watch a movie at the Beach Club at night but we never got around to it. My DD wasn't too interested in the movies that were showing so again, maybe next time.
We had a reservation to take a horsedrawn carriage ride at Port Orleans. I really wanted to see the resort. This was the day we did Blizzard Beach where it started raining in the afternoon. The rain did not let up. I called to double check, but the carriage rides had been cancelled due to the rain. This was the night we saw Up. I was ok about this, I loved eating at Wolfgang Puck's Express and was so happy we saw Up. I am staying at Port Orleans in Oct, so I get to see the resort YAY!
Refillable Mugs
We bought the refillable mugs ok I brought the one that I bought two weeks earlier back with me but I also bought one for my daughter this trip. I like the mugs and use them at home and at work. But we hardly used them on the trip. We used them at POP when I remembered to bring them. We never used them at Beach Club. The walk to the food court in the Beach Club was just too long. In addition with the Dining Plan we always got drinks so we really didn't need to use the mugs.
Dining Plan
Which brings me to the Dining Plan. I haven't finished my calculations but based on my rough estimates I did save at least $100 if not more by using the Dining Plan. That being said, if we had not used the Dining Plan we would not have wanted dessert with every meal. We would have made a point of using our mugs more. Since it was our first trip and we wanted to try a lot of table service options this did save us money. But we were also eating all the time! I mean we were just stuffed and by the end of the trip not really that hungry.
We did end up with 1 unused counter service credit each (but I knew we probably wouldn't use all the counter service credits and still save money with the plan) and I think we had 3 unused snack credits. This was just dumb on my part we could have used them for waters, rice krispie ears, etc. But oh well.
Would I do the Dining Plan again? If I was planning a large amount of table service meals I would probably try to figure out the math (which I did this last time) and make my decision. However I think our next trip we will only go to a few table service places and try to do more park and pool time.
As far as food quality, I have been pleasantly surprised with the offerings and the quality. Really the only thing I was disappointed in was CRT and the veggie lasagna at POP. Disney really seems to have upped the quality of theme park food which is generally overpriced and bad. At least if it is overpriced it tastes good
.Garden Grocer
I will continue with the food talk. I placed a Garden Grocer order mainly to have some starbucks iced coffees, bottled waters and breakfast items in the room. You have to have a minimum so I also added some snack items for my daughter as well. I drank all the Starbucks, we had leftover waters which John took home, and any food items we didn't eat I brought home. I think this combined with the Dining Plan was too much food. So if I do one I probably won't do the other.
Collections
My daughter pressed many pennies and filled up her pin lanyard this trip. She hardly did any pin trading though. Last year when she started collecting pins in Disneyland she loved stopping to trade with the cast members. I think she only traded one pin this trip. She also added a few charms to her charm bracelet and bought a new bracelet with links you can collect.
She also got her Epcot passport and mask completed. She really enjoyed stopping at the Kidcot stations. Many of the stations had tables set up with crayons and coloring papers. We stopped at the one in American Adventure where she colored her mask.
We bought so many souvenirs t-shirts, lots of presents, lots of little trinkets at the World Showcase shops, magnets (I always buy magnets when I travel), stuffed animals. I bought a coffee mug that had a bunch of characters on it. The only thing is I couldn't find one that didn't say Mom or Dad on it, so I bought the one that said Mom and told my dd it was from her LOL. My DD bought a Tinkerbell watch which was a very mature purchase for her to make.
There were a few items I wanted but I didnt get. The Beach Club shop had a blue hoodie that I loved but it was pretty pricey so I skipped it. I also considered getting one of the watercolors of the Beach Club hotel which I may pick up when I go back. I also considered some frames and photoalbums but decided to wait.
I have a few more things that I will put in the next post...
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