Eat, Play, Cluck About This Page:

[PrincessSharon]

Eat, Play, Cluck
October 24 – 26, Beach Club

How’s that for a TR title? Since y’all probably don’t know what the heck I’m talking about (and if anyone does know, you can start my Fan Club ), I’ll explain. Well, you’ve probably figured out that the title is based on the book, Eat, Pray, Love, and unless you’re really slow, you can figure out the Eat and Play parts of the title, but Cluck? That’s just me being me.

It has to do with the Boo to You parade during MNSSHP. Here’s the explanation

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

And then, my absolute favorite…

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

If you’re reading this and scratching your head and of course you are let me explain. I love the music from this parade. I have the CD and listen to it all the time. And this is my favorite part of it. It’s Clara Cluck singing (or more accurately, clucking) Ghost Riders in the Sky. I often wonder (just like the Lollipop Guild) what was going on here. This is how I imagine it happened:

Imagineer 1: You know, we don’t use Clara Cluck very often. We should use her in something.
Imagineer 2: I know! We’ll put her in the Halloween parade! And she can sing Ghost Riders in the Sky! No, wait! She’ll cluck Ghost Riders in the Sky! It’ll be awesome!
Imagineer 1: … DUUUUUUUDE!! That rocks!!!!

I also wonder what those two were doing immediately before that conversation. But I’m glad they had it, because I love me some clucked Ghost Riders in the Sky and I found myself clucking right along! “Bawk bawk baaaaaawk, bawk bawk baaaaaawk, bawk bawk-bawk bawk bawk baw-aawk.”

Anyway, that’s why it’s called what it’s called. Because I’ve spent so much time in the parks this year, with this trip I could concentrate on the fall offerings. Namely the Food & Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I wouldn't worry about other stuff, but anything else I did manage to fit in would be considered be a nice bonus. I knew I’d be spending a lot of time at Epcot, so I wanted to stay in the Epcot resort area. Unfortunately, by the time I decided on a date, all the DVC rooms were booked, so I booked a cash reservation at the Beach Club.

I was able to get great airfare on my preferred flights (first flight out on arrival, last flight out on departure), and I bought a ticket to MNSSHP (an e-ticket, which worked very well). I figured I’d do all my eating at the F&WF, so I didn’t make a single ADR.

Molly (wvugrrrl) and I had been communicating and making plans to hang out in World Showcase, so we planned to get together for a round of Drink Around the World (of course, I’d be doing more eating than drinking, but don’t tell the other Lush Club members ). I also saw that there would be a PPer meet during the parade at MNSSHP, so I planned to attend that. I made no other plans (other than eating, playing and clucking ). With all that taken care of, it was just a matter of waiting for my ticker to hit zero.

Up Next: Grumpy in France, Grumpy in Morocco

[Big Baloo]

I'm first to reply to a P-sha TR? I'm flabbergasted!
Can't wait to hear about the double-Grumpies!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Sharon!

[Mauimouse]

Okay, I admit it when I read the title I thought Cluck, huh wonder if it has to do with Clara Cluck, and bingo I was right. I always laugh when I hear that part of the parade. I too have the music and listen to it often, but not the Clara Cluck part, I usually zoom past it. Sorry.

How nice to be able to just devote some time mainly to the Food & Wine Festival and of course MNSSHP.

[MickeyMAC]

Great start Sharon. Love the title.

[HollyH]

Great start, Sharon. And great title. I'm intrigued by Clara Cluck clucking Ghost Riders in the Sky. Off to see if I can find it on You-tube. Can't wait for more.

[wvugrrrl]

YESSSSS! I was wondering if there was going to be a F&W TR! I can't wait to read this (and I was so glad our trip coincided with yours!). I the title!

More please!

[Luvsun]

I was pretty sure I knew what the cluck was all about! I love the float with Clara Cluck on it in the Boo To You Parade!
How great that you were able to get a room at BC! I figured that during the F&WF it would be difficult to get into the BC.
Sounds like you met up with some fun PP friends!
Great start Sharon!!

[disneydani]

Yup...I remember the Clara Cluck reference...of course, Izzy and I listened to MNSSHP CD just abpout every day for the past six weeks....

Glad you have started, looking forward to reading all about it...Guess you have 37 days to put this TR all together, huh?

danielle

[PamelaK]

I first thought it was a play on words for the book "Click, Clack, Moo" LOL. But your reasoning sounds much more Disney-esque. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

[chezp]

Great start Sharon!

[amandal]

Well, I'm so glad you have another TR going. By the time I realized you wrote the "Crazy People" report it was at like a billion pages and just couldn't catch up Good thing I don't have to wait for the "Crazy Ladies" PTR for a dose of P-Sha!! Although I am quite looking forward to that one. Can't wait for more

[disneydreamer33]

Love the title. Clara Cluck in the Boo To You Parade is just adorable.
Love you thoughts on how it transpired!
More please.

[PrincessSharon]

Originally Posted by HollyH

Great start, Sharon. And great title. I'm intrigued by Clara Cluck clucking Ghost Riders in the Sky. Off to see if I can find it on You-tube. Can't wait for more.

That part of the parade (and the track on the Magic Kingdom Event Party Music CD) is actually called Halloween Hootenanny Hoedown (it just gets better and better ). I don't know if you'll find it on You Tube, but I did a Google search and you can listen to it from this link.

Originally Posted by wvugrrrl

YESSSSS! I was wondering if there was going to be a F&W TR! I can't wait to read this (and I was so glad our trip coincided with yours!). I the title!

More please!

I'm glad my trip coincided with yours, too! I had fun hanging out with y'all!

Originally Posted by Luvsun

I was pretty sure I knew what the cluck was all about! I love the float with Clara Cluck on it in the Boo To You Parade!
How great that you were able to get a room at BC! I figured that during the F&WF it would be difficult to get into the BC.
Sounds like you met up with some fun PP friends!
Great start Sharon!!

I figured it would be tough getting in (I also tried the Boardwalk Villas with no luck). It didn't help that I tried booking well past the 7-month window.

Originally Posted by disneydani

Yup...I remember the Clara Cluck reference...of course, Izzy and I listened to MNSSHP CD just abpout every day for the past six weeks....

Glad you have started, looking forward to reading all about it...Guess you have 37 days to put this TR all together, huh?

danielle

Well, since it's only a 3-day TR, I don't think I'll be rushing to get this one done!

Originally Posted by PamelaK

I first thought it was a play on words for the book "Click, Clack, Moo" LOL. But your reasoning sounds much more Disney-esque. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

And I almost left out the Eat, Pray, Love reference because I figured it was too obvious!

[PrincessSharon]

Day One – Saturday, October 24
Grumpy in France, Grumpy in Morocco

I had done my packing early, so when the morning of my flight arrived, all I had to do was shower and get dressed. As usual, DF drove me to the airport and tried to contain his jealousy as we talked about all the fun I’d be having in the coming days.

There was nobody in line at the bag check and about 5 minutes after dropping off my luggage, I was going through the security screening. For some reason they were very thorough, which is why it took 5 minutes (with only 4 people ahead of me). They even put my laptop through the x-ray screener twice, even though it was in a bin all by itself.

I grabbed a bagel and had a seat at my gate while I ate it. Once I’d finished, it was nearly time to board, so I lined up (I had A51) and before long was walking down the jetway. Even though I had A51, by the time I boarded, the exit row was still open. I decided to forego the exit row and chose a seat closer to the front of the plane (to get me to playin’ sooner ).

The flight wasn’t full (there was an empty middle seat) and it was very smooth. And the good news is we landed a full 20 minutes early. I quickly made my way to the airport monorail, and was delighted to see they’d been MNSSHP’d.





I had my DME docs, so I was able to go right to line 5, and shortly thereafter right onto a bus. It was nearly full, and was completely full about 5 minutes later. After an announcement from our driver (who was lots of fun, by the way) we were on our way! I’ve been having bad luck with the DME video lately and this time was no exception. The video came on right on schedule, but there was no sound. The closed captioning was on, but since I’ve seen the video many times, I just put on my iPod (which may or may not have been the Boo To You parade music ) and looked out the window.

The bus stopped first at POR. I heart POR. Stopping there made me realize how much I miss that resort. I need to stay there again. Our second stop was the Boardwalk, and then the Beach Club. I headed inside to check in. I’d checked in online, but there were three people waiting at the online check in and only one CM. And I hate to sound all complainy, but the one and only online check in CM was setting up DME return reservations for the guest she was helping. I guess she needed to take care of that, but I have F&W Festin’ to do! The other two CMs were checking in guests the regular way.

To their credit, the BC handled it well, and a manager type CM walked me over to the concierge desk (not club level) and had a CM check me in. The only problem was he had to reprint my key and reassemble my packet. But I wasn’t going to complain, since they obviously were trying to expedite my check in. So the online check in didn’t save me any time, but my room was ready (and I’m convinced that that was because I’d checked in online and estimated my arrival time for 11:30).

I hadn’t made any location requests (I rarely do), and since I didn’t plan to spend much time in the room, I’d booked a standard room. My room wasn’t very far from the lobby (about a 2-minute walk from the elevator), but it looked over the bus stop. I would’ve been a little happier if there were a way to just go downstairs and have an awesome shortcut to the bus stop, but you have to go all the way to the lobby to get out.

After a few quick pictures







I was on my way to Epcot! When I got on the elevator, I caught my reflection and realized that one of the lenses had fallen out of my sunglasses. I wasn’t actually wearing them, they were resting on the top of my head. So before heading out, I made a quick stop in the gift shop and bought a new pair of sunglasses. I am notoriously bad at taking care of sunglasses (when I don’t lose them), so I try not to spend more than $20 on them (and under $10 is better, but hard to find).

After procuring my new shades (and I feel like a dork for even typing that ) I strolled over to Epcot. It was hot! It was October! Late October. It shouldn’t be that hot! It was probably 90°. And to make matters worse, I had on jeans (capris, but they were pretty long, and hot). Ugh! I figured I’d make the best of it until my luggage arrived. And the only reason I checked a bag at all was because I didn’t think I’d need anything from my bag before bedtime and I’m lazy. I noticed a fun Hidden Mickey in the sand.



Once I reached the International Gateway, I made a stop in the gift shop there. Already two gift shops and I’ve been on property for all of 30 minutes. But this was an important stop! I got one of those cute little handy-dandy F&WF gift cards.



Once that was loaded up, I was truly ready for some fun. I needed to make a decision about which way to proceed, and because I’d heard such raves about the offerings in Cork, Ireland, that’s the way I proceeded. I got the lobster and scallop fisherman’s pie and the chocolate cake.


Lobster & Scallop Fisherman’s Pie, $5.50


Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Bailey’s Ganache, $2.75

I found a bench in the shade and dug in. The raves about the fisherman’s pie are well-deserved. It rocks! And the chocolate lava cake is no slouch, either! Big thumbs up for the Cork, Ireland entries.

While enjoying my food, I chatted with a couple who’d just done a Disney cruise and a local who was in Epcot for some shopping and lunch. I finished and was ready for another sample, so I continued on. I decided to head back the other way around WS, figuring that would keep me closer to the IG, and I wouldn’t have to cover too much of the same ground when I headed back to the BC to change.

Just when I was crossing the bridge to France, I came upon a couple. The man was very grouchy. He said (I kid you not) “We didn’t come here to eat!” The woman meekly agreed. He went on, “All the food is terrible anyway!” I actually felt sorry for that woman for having to put up with Grumpy (and not the Grumpy that everyone really likes).

The next item I sampled was pretzel bread with cheese dipping sauce that was available at The Brewer’s Collection.


Warm Pretzel Bread Stick with Cheese Dip, $2.50

I found a somewhat shaded spot and ate it. It was good (the cheese sauce wasn’t anything special, though). I didn’t want more to eat right then, so I did a little wandering. As I strolled through Morocco, I saw Amy (iamgrumpy) and her DM Angela! We talked for a little while. They were there hoping to see Robert Irvine, but they’d gotten their days mixed up. He was appearing the next day! They were planning on going to the meet that Sheri (skateycat) had organized earlier that week, so after a quick photo, we parted ways.



I’d had enough of the heat, so I decided to head back to the Beach Club. I hoped my luggage had been delivered to my room so I could head right back out, but if it hadn’t I decided that I’d take a little break until it was. On the way back, I stopped again in the shop at the International Gateway and made a few purchases. I wanted to get the 2010 calendar, because I get a calendar every year. Of course I picked up a couple of other things too!

When I got back to my room, I was pleased to see that my suitcase had indeed arrived, so after quickly changing into shorts and unpacking, I headed back out for a PassPorter meet!

Up Next: Get me away from these drunks!