Who Says a Platypus Doesn't Do Much?

[tyandskyesmom]

So we are seated right on the other sie of the rail from the buffet...which was a really great spot...close but not too close, i could let Skye go up by herself and still see her mostly. We could see when the characters were coming. And we were not stuffed right on top of someone else's greedy kids. Sorry!

It was actually pretty empty when we were seated.



So there was food and characters and napkin waving...all fun, fun, fun!

Let's get on with it...

We ordered our drinks and headed p to the buffet...


My first trip...oatmeal, my iced tea, breakfast pizza, Mickey Waffle, cheesy potatoesl, sausage, bacon, potatoes with onion and peppers, corned beef hash, and cheesy eggs.


Skye's first trip...french toast, Mickey Waffle, plain eggs, two hashbrowns, a bowl of fruit, and her apple juice box.


Tyler's first trip...a big bowl of syrup, a hard boiled egg, two cinnamon rolls, a Mickey Waffle, a pancake under the waffle, bacon, a crossiant, and plain eggs.


Probably Tyler's next plate...glazed donut holes and brownies.


My next trip...a banana, Mickey, Waffle, Breakfast Pizz, a donut hole, and peaches.

And then napkin waving began.






And more donut holes.

Goofy was the first around...



​

 

[mousetravel]

Love the pics & updates! I agree about the bus system. I always have a car while we're there (either mine or a rental), but this past trip, we decided to try taking the bus to Downtown and it was terrible. We knew we would not be trying that again!

We've been to Chef Mickey's at dinner before and didn't care for the food that much, but loved the character interaction! The breakfast food looks pretty good, though. I'll have to try their breakfast next time.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Love the pics & updates! I agree about the bus system. I always have a car while we're there (either mine or a rental), but this past trip, we decided to try taking the bus to Downtown and it was terrible. We knew we would not be trying that again!

We've been to Chef Mickey's at dinner before and didn't care for the food that much, but loved the character interaction! The breakfast food looks pretty good, though. I'll have to try their breakfast next time.

Even th few times we've had a car (which were a long time ago), we have used the buses and generally, we love it! I dont want to drive and find my way around and all that while on vacation but this trip it was the worst over all that we've ever had. I mean Downtown Disney is notoriously the worst but this was beyond that!

We generally do not like lunch and dinner buffets as much and tend to avoid them except for Tuskerhouse and Boma (and a new one yet to come in this very trip report!) but love all of them for breakfast. They are all pretty standard with maybe an item or two unique but that works for us...breakfast is one meal I know my kids will fill up on! Now some of them we like better than others but Chef Mickey's for breakfast has always been a good one for us.​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So let's continue on with breakfast, shall we?





So somewhere in there we had another bowl of donut holes and rice krispy treats...



And then Mickey came around!!!





And Minnie!!!









She was very nice!​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

And then came THE DON!!!!















And then finally, Pluto!!!





We finished up all stuffed and happy. The receipt says we were out of there at 11:47am. I believe we waited around a little and normally would have been out of there sooner but we were still grazing and enjoying our relaxing morning so it was fine with us. Our total was $78.78 or three meal credits.

The food was all still hot and fresh. Everything was still being filled even as we were leaving close to noon. We really love Chef Mickey's for breakfast. And what could be better than waking up to breakfast with the Fab Five?!?!?​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So we finished up breakfast and headed out to the concourse.





And head downstairs to the buses...yep, deluxe bus service again! Nothing was coming from either way...





We waited about ten minutes before one came, which i guess isn't that bad but NOTHING was coming through...no bus for anywhere! Why was it that twice now, when nothing was coming through, is it that the one bus that does come finally happens to be the one we need??? But then we had to stop at the Poly too...



We had a nice ride past some pretty cool signts! Like the new kennels...





The new balloon flying above the sight of last night's frustration...







It was really neat to see and I would have liked to take a ride but it just did not work out for us this time around.

The reason for all of last night's frustration...



And finally we made it to our destination...



Typhoon Lagoon!​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So just because I love this picture I'm going to post it again...



We were in and bought our locker key at 12:50pm and we were off. It was much more crowded here than it was at Blizzard Beach when we got there on our arroval day. We found one little chair in the sun which was ok because we did not plan on being there much...only needed it to hold our towels and sun block and to return and re-slather every once in a while...which one of us forgot to do as you will see in some pictures from later tonight!









Once again, Tyler wanted to go off and ride bigger and better things. Skye is still too little and I am not fond of water slides anymore so he went to do his own thing with strict instructions to come back about every hour or so to put mor sun screen on his face and sholders mostly and to check in if we were around. You see the missing link here now, right?

Skye and I went to play in the wave pool and it is very different than the one at Blizzard Beach and we forgot. So we went out deepish, I was still standing, and when we knew the waves were starting we headed back in. Like we always do. But these waves are surfing waves and much bigger and stronger than the other ones at Blizzard Beach and they attacked us from behind!!!! Scared the @$*% out of me...Skye, well, she thought it was hilarious!!! I swear she's part fish!!! So we go under and I am making sure I am holding on to Skye at least a little and closing my eyes as tight as I can to not lose my contacts (cause that's all I'd need right?) and she is swimming!!! It was pretty funny afterwards but I was scared for a minute. Part of it was prabably not knowing what she would do but she is a really good swimmer so I shouldn't have worried. Well, after that we were more careful...even Skye. It was funny that it happened once, I guess< but she did not want to repete it. We grabbed an innertube and floated around for a while in the waves too. Then we spent a lot of time in the lazy river...gotta love a lazy river. She was planning on swimming with the sharks but the line was really long when we went over there and she did not want to wait. I don't think Tyler did it this time either (although he has done it before).

Around 4:00pm we got the munchies so we headed back to our chair to re-sunblock and see if Tyler was around. Of course, he wasn't so we kept an eye open for him and headed to Leaning Palms for a snack. I have no pictures from Leaning Palms though because my camera and phone were in the locker...sorry! We ordered an adult order of chicken nuggets, fried, chocolate cake and a bottle of water. It was all very good for what we wanted at the time. The cost was $14.73. We kept looking for Tyler to see if he came by but he never did. So we ate it all. Some birds were waiting on the ground on the side of the deck we were sitting at and we watched them as we ate.

We toured some more on the lazy river looking around for a sight of the missing brother and relaxing. Tyler likes to be the furthest one out in the wave pool on an innertube so we headed back there and were soaking around in the shallows again when he came up behind us. We all took another spin on the lazy river, got out near our chair (which was by the wave pool) and started to pack up. This is where I discovered that he had not returned to the chair to re-sunblock and his face mostly was a little red...not too bad because he did have some on but red none the less.

Here's the photopass pictures from the day and then some from Blizzard Beach from Day #1 since I did not have themm when I started...











So about 5:00pm we headed out to catch a bus back to All-Star movies to dry off and re-group for the rest of the evening.





​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So we headed back to our room at All-Star Movies to dry up and re-group for the evening.

















By 6:00pm we were back on a bus heading towards Disney Hollywood Studios...



...and began our walk towards dinner...





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[tyandskyesmom]

It was a nice walk and we were not in that muuch of a hurry so we took our time.





See that sky? That was our only pressing issue...we needed to get to the Yacht Club before it drenched us...

Ya, well...we will see if that works out for us...

Gotta load some more pictures to photobucket so be back in a while...​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So continuing on with our walk...

As we got closer it got darker...









But look...it was actually bright and blue over there!



But that was on the opposite side of the Boardwalk from where we were heading. Go figure!

And just as it was starting to drizzle, we made it here...



For dinner here...





And we relatively dry! A little bit of sweat and a little bit of rain, but we dried quickly. I was impressed that when we walked in the back door of the Yacht Club they had a basket of towels for peopel coming in out of the future rain to dry off with a little. Very nice touch...and nice that it was thought of before it actually started to rain.


​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We had 7:00pm ADRs for Captain's Grille.



We have eaten here every trip since falling in love with the Deluxe Dining Plan except for our last trip when we came with Grammy and only had the Quick Service Dining Plan. We have only ever had lunch here before though. So dinner was a new thing for us.

We were seated as soon as we walked up...which is normal for this place. But, it was a lot more crowded tonight than it usually is for lunch. I don't know if that is normal for Captain's Grille or if it was due to the storm that was brewing but just so you get an idea, usually there is maybe five tables full at lunch time and we are seated right in the middle at a table for more than four people. This time we were in the corner at a four top, and just a four top, pretty close to the table behind us...we were against a wall and nothing was directly next to us but the table behind us was close enough that we could hear what they were ordering and why. So a huge difference between lunch and dinner today!

We were given our menus...





And then our waiter, Tareque, brought our bread and took our drink orders...



As usual the bread was a big hit with the kids. Tyler has another megga-berry smoothie and a glass of water and Skye and I had our usual soft drinks and moved on to appetizers.

Tyler had the Buttermilk Fried Rock Shrimp with Chipotle Rémoulade, Citrus Cream, and Chilled Cucumber Salad ... plain.



The sauces were on the side anyway so he still got those but all the other stuff he had left off. They were very good shrimp and between us we ate them all.

I had the Lump Crab Cake with House-made Tartar Sauce ... as is!



I have gotten this from day one. It has changed a little over the years but still a really good crab cake!

Skye got the Kid's Garden Salad. She said no dressing but he brought her some on the side anyway, just in case. I guess he just couldn't believe anyone would order it dry! It was exacly like she likes her salads (her favorite being at the Brown Derby because it is all chopped little for the Cobb Salads and they just use the same stuff for the kid's salad) and she ate all the goodies on the top and most of the lettuce.



For entrees, Tyler ordered the Snow Crab Cakes New Potatoes and Corn on the Cob...but with fries instead of the potatoes.





Which I ended up cracking most of and peeling out the meat. Skye ate some of it with him and I had a few bites I could scavenge!

It was all really good and fresh and hot...that is usually the worst part is that they get cold too fast but these were sufficiently hot when delivered so they stayed warm a while. The corn was good and crisp and not too mushy like you get at alot of restaurants from sitting in water waiting for the order to come through. And the fries were good old Disney fries!

I ordered the Grilled Rib-Eye Cheddar-Bacon Mashed Potatoes, seasonal Vegetables, and Herb Butter.



The idea was for Tyler and me to share but I did not get much of the crab even though he took a chunk of ribeye! The potatoes were great! The broccoli was tender and really good in the herb butter! And the ribeye was really good...not the best we had all vacation but not the worst either! Needless to say, the plate was clean when it was picked up!

Skye ordered the kid's Hot Dog with fries...



...and did not like it too much. She does not do grilled...it's the lines that bug her...weirdo! But she ate some of it and all her fries and some crab so she was good.​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

For dessert, Tyler had the Turtle Cheesecake with Nougat Candy and House-made Caramel...



Mmmmmmmm, is all that needs to be said...it was creamy and caramelly, and chocolately...it was just a really good dessert!

I had the Hazelnut Gianduja Chocolate Cake with Toffee Sauce and Chocolate Caviar...



Mmmmmmmmm, again...another great dessert! The kids loved that they could eat the gold on the top...

And Skye had the kabob...



it had a strawberry, a yellow cupcake, a marshmallow, a piece of pineapple, a brownie, and a cup of dipping chocolate with a red Mickey Strew...and everyone knows it's always better with a Mickey straw!

We were there quite a while, at least by our standards but it was our relax day so it worked. And I think a lot of people were coming in for dinner without ADRs because of the storm. Oh, ya, the storm. Well, it had arrived durring our dinner full on! It was really crazy out there...lots of rain, lightening and thunder. We were glad we got in with just a little drizzle! We were there for about two hours. Not because service was slow though, just enjoying our food and company, and being dry!

The total for our bill was $111.36 or 3 meal credits for us. It was all really good and Captain's Grill will remain on our list of places to get to if at all possible. Now our only problem will be, should we go for lunch or dinner? Dinner is obviously a better money value on the dining plan but food and service wise, I don't know which I would prefer! but I guess that leaves us in a good position becuase whereever it fits inthe touring schedule if fine with us!​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

And so well into our last night (around 9pm) at All-Star Movies and with our happy little three some and the anticipation that tomorrow brings, we headed out of Captain's Grill in a quandry. What to do, what to do??? You see, it was still pouring outside. And guess where the ponchos were...yep, in the room! DUH!!!





So we went into the gift shop and looked around for a little bit...




(Skye liked that Mickey names his boat after Ariel!)

...hoping it would die sown when I overheard someone saying the boat to Disney Hollywood Studios was not running becasue of the lightening. I had not thought of that! Darn it!!! So now what to we do? After last night's mess, we certainly did not want to head back to Downtown Disney. And we did not want to walk to Epcot plus it closed at 9:00pm so I was not sure if we would be let in through the International Gateway or not. And Magic Kingdom would not have been a good option because it was closing at 10pm and would probably have been a mad house about when we were arriving. So we asked hte lady at the counter and she said they were running extra busses for the route that the boat would have made. I guess I did not realize that mean one bus for all five resorts! So we got a clear plastic bag for Butthead (the camera) and headed out to the bus stop. Which to get to you have to walk uncovered for a span.







So we were wet. Then we waited at the bus stop for quite a while for a bus that was already pretty full and wet and slippery for standing room only guests, which we were at that point. We stopped at Beach Club next and we were able to grab some seats from people getting off. Then we had to stop at The Boardwalk. We were packed in there! Next stop was Disney Hollywood Studios and as close as they are to eachother, it amazes me how long it takes to get there! And the bus driver had the air conditioning on full blast so we were all freezing!

Well, we're let off in the parking lot at the new All-Star Movies stop and the line is all the way back to the bus we just got off of!!! Yes, you heard me!!! And it is only covered for a very small portion of it near the actual bus stop!!!! Well, whatcha gonna do?









Drenched! We were soaking wet by the time we got on another cold bus. We arrived back at All-Star Movies after this whole ordeal around 11:00pm. Cold, wet, and tired! Not such a nice way to spend our last night as a threesome but we were in Disney and we were moving in the morning and Lou was arriving early...so we got in, dried off and hit the sack!​

 

[mom2val]

I have made it through 11 pages and now am ready for more! Great trip report!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Well, moving day had arrived...August 19, 2011. Lou was arriving late this morning and we were planning on meeting him at Caribbean Beach when he did. But before that, we had some stuff to take care of.

We had asked the night before, while soaking wet, at the front desk when we got home finally about having our luggage transferred. We were told to just pack it all up and put everything we needed transferred under the window and it would be picked up. They said no need to be present. So we did just that. It really wasn't that difficult because we had packed so that we were only working out of one bag for the past six days. All the other bags were ready to go.



I told him to open his eyes and look awake and this is what I got...





So we said our goodbyes and headed out into the morning.



That is what Butthead gave me this morning. So you can see that even at dark o'clock it was still quite humid out!



I don't know why we took the stroller with us because we were not going to need it really???

We took our last few pictures around...




"S" for Skyler!


"T" for Tyler!





And we hopped in line for an Animal Kingdom bus...as we were told to by the front desk. Had I known the trouble we were in for, I would have just taken a cab! We stood in line for the Animal Kingdom bus for about ten minutes when one came and picked us up. Then when we arrived at Animal Kingdom, we walked over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge bus stop. After waiting about 10 minutes a cast member came over and asked where we were heading. I told him Animal Kingdom Lodge (which is the stop we were standing under) and he said that no buses go from the park to the resort this early becasue generally no one is going back that early. As we were talking to him another family walked up to the stop. They were told the same thing we were. So he called and got a bus to take us to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I am still confised about that. I mean, it made sense to me that we go to Animal Kingdom to transfer to an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus. I mean, if there are people being taken to the park, isn't there always a possibility they will want or need ot leave the park at any time? And if there are busses dropping off, don't they have to go back and pick up again...thus meaning they are going back to the resort???

Anyway, we finally are on a bus heading in the right direction. Good thing we left early! We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge around 7:30am and headed down to Boma for our 8am ADR.





We love, love, love Animal Kingdom Lodge. It is the only Deluxe we have stayed at but we have been there a few times for varying lengths of time. Everything about it, we love! I wish we could stay there everytime we go but so far, that is not in the cards. However, we do visit a lot!​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We arrived at Boma about half an hour before our ADR time and we were taken right in.



We got a nice table by the window towards the center of the room.







We ordered our drinks as usual and went for food!


My first trip...oatmeal, watermelon and strawberries with yogurt on top, potatoes, Boma's eggs (I believe with some type of cheese), a cornbreadd hash thingy (technical ain't I???), asparagus, sausage, and ham.


Skye's first trip...watermelon, strawberries, and pineapple, bacon, waffle, french toast with raisins, and eggs.


Tyler's first trip...scrambled eggs, hard boiled egg, bacon, french toast with raisins, waffle, and a bowl of syrup.


Tyler's next trip up...toast, two cinnamon rolls, a crossaint, chocolate chip muffin, and a blueberry muffin (I think thsat is what it was but there was not a ton of blueberries in it).


My next trip...banana muffin, cranberry scone, and I don't know what kind of bread the other is???

Everything was really great, as usual. Fresh and plentiful. It was pretty empty in there so we could just go up and get what we needed and come back and eat...no lines.

Our total for breakfast at Boma was $52.16 or three meal credits. We think it was well worth it. I don't know if we'd make a trip over for breakfast in the future (we have only had breakfast when we were staying there before) or maybe we'd just be sure to take a cab!



We were out of there by 8:19am so getting in early, even after the morning's confusion, put us ahead of schedule for the day...will we stay that way?!?!?!​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So we headed out of our favorite place...



We took a bus back to Animal Kingdom and then walked over tot eh Caribbean Beach bus stop. No problems this time. It was close to 9am by now so buses were running both ways. We got off at the Barbados Bus Stop which is just across the street from the Customs House and went in to register. We knew there was a stop at the Customs House but we did not have much to carry and we just wanted to be able to look around a bit ou the way.


The Custom House from the Barbados Bus Stop.


Skye loved this sign!




Walking up to the Customs House. This is where the Magical Express would drop you off at or pick you up from.

There was a bit of a line.



I did not do online check in here becasue I wanted to make sure that I got a room I wanted and not be way out in nowhereville! I went and stood in line and the kids went to watch cartoons...



And it's a good thing they had something to do for kids because it did take a while for me to get through the line. When I finally did get there, I had a wonderful cast member taking care of me. He checked me in and said our room wasn't ready yet. He showed me where it was. It was in Jamiaca. Just where I had requested. I did not reserve preferred here but I did want somewhere where it was easy to get to the food court and the main pool...I don't pay the extra money to swim in a rectangle pool! So as he is looking at our info, he noticed that we were transferring from another hotel and that we had marked that Lou and I were celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary (it was in June but we were counting this as our celebration). So he gave me our pins and asked where Lou was. I told him he was not here yet but was arriving this morning. Then he said to hold on. He disappeared into the back room. He was gone quite a long time. And I was getting rather perturbed. When he did finally come back he said he tried to find us a room that was ready but there were none available. But he said he was able to upgrade us to a preferred room that should be ready soon. Cool!!! We would be in Martinique. That is the same area we were in when we stayed here when Ty was 4 and Skye was in my belly. But we did not know what room yet. He did say it would be on the ground floor which is something I also requested. He said it was a great room. I had to take his word for it! So my frustration wore off and I thinked him and went to gather the kids.

We decided to walk again rather than catch an internal bus. So we started out towards Martinique.











It was beautiful there and warm and sunny...just like you'd imagine the Caribean to be!

​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We finally came upon Olde Port Royale and entered to look around.





They must have one of the best themed food courts.



We stopped and grabbed our mugs and filled up! We grabbed all four of them...$59.60 on our new Deluxe Dining plan...but we still were not done with our old Deluxe Dining Plan! the reseipt says it was now 10:16am.

We then headed to the pool.



We looked around, found a chair and then went to change into our swim suits!







Lou's plane was supposed to have landed at 9:40am so he was in Orlando, on his way here! He finally came sneaking up on us about 10:30am. Skye was so happy to see her daddy! But her daddy does not do water so he relaxed a little on deck waiting for us to be done swimming and refilled pops.​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Around 11:30 we got out we called to see if our room (that was supposed to be ready soon) was ready. Nope. Not yet. Call back later. So we went to change back into dry clothes in the locker room. We looked around inside Olde Port Royale again with Lou this time.







And checked out the food court. The grab and go had some very good looking items!











And we grabbed an M&M sugar cookie and a Macadamia Nut White Chocolate cookie to snack on.



We used our old dining plan for two snack credits worth $4.24. They were good and fresh and we probably could have polished a few more but we knew we had a big lunch coming up!​

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So we headed out after our snack to look around some more...







We called again just to make sure we did not have a room yet...and we did not. So we decided we needed to head to luncch as is. Not the best situation...and we never had such a problem changing resorts before...but either was, we just had to deal with it. So far this day has been great but not without it's problems!

So we walked around towards the Custom House again to store or bags.






We like ducks!

We dropped off our bags and got our claim checks and headed out to the Customs House bus stop. A bus came by pretty quickly and we were on our way to The Magic kingdom!





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