Sun,Fun and Mickey Mouse Our 2 week vacation About This Page:

[angelina]

Around the World in Two Hours and DD speaks French
After our wonderful PSB in Norway we decided to explore WS. One of my favorite things to do in WS is shop [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I love to shop [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I managed to find things to buy in almost every country. In Germany we were annoyed to find a soccer game going on between the young girls working the kiosks. They kept kicking the ball even though people were trying to walk through their "field". They even hit a guy with the ball, but they just laughed and kept playing. My DH joked their supervisor must have the day off. While shopping in France I struck up a conversation with a CM in the perfume shop. I told her I was teaching my daughter French, to which my DD replied, "Bonjour" the CM and I just went crazy laughing, which made DD keep repeating, "Bonjour" After a nice conversation I told my daughter to say "a bientot"(see you later) which she did. Sorry, no accents, for those of you who speak French, my computer won't do them. Then as we were leaving DD said "Au revoir" it was so precious.
We headed to England and ran into the same Mary Poppins from breakfast. She remembered DD's name and asked her how she liked her breakfast. She was wearing a different outfit so we had to take another picture with her. Maybe this is how I ended taking 33 rolls of film. We made lots of purchases in Canada. They had some great Roots clothing.
I couldn't pick a favorite country. There are so many great aspects to all of them. My favorites are: dining by the river in the San Angel Inn in Mexico, taking a picture with the troll in Norway, shopping in China, having a beer and a pretzel in Norway, talking with the CM's in Italy (I'm Italian), watching the performers in the American pavillion, having sushi at Tempura Kiku in Japan, listening to Mo'Rockin' in Morcco, dining at Chefs de France in France, enjoying a pint while overlooking the lagoon in the UK, and strolling the gardens in Canada.
It was almost nap time for our DD so we headed out. We made a quick stop in Innoventions so DH could check out all the new video games.
We headed back to POFQ and stopped at our food court to have lunch. We ran into our pediatrician again and had a nice visit with her family. Our DD devoured her mini pizza (and she's a really picky eater) I had a chicken salad and DH had a turkey sandwich. The total came to $26.00.
While DD napped I headed to the GF to work out. I hadn't been there since 2000 (just a little note we got engaged there in 1999 at V&A) and I thought the new pool area was beautiful, much better than the pool they used to have. I headed back to the health club, which is attached to the spa in a seperate building, near the wedding pavillion. Once again I had a very nice CM but he knew nothing about the Silver Plan or Magical Wishes. I told him I would like to use Magical Wishes for length of stay access to the health club. He said the GF wasn't included in the plan, but every other club was. I explained that I had been told by CRO and someone at the GF yesterday that it was. He said the hotel didn't know what they were talking about, but since I was already at the club it would be fine for me to work out here. Incidentally, when I got back to POFQ I looked at my brochure about the Silver and Gold plans and there it was, the GF was one of the health clubs you could use. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The health club was very nice, they had a lot of aerobic machines and a good selection of both free weights and machines. The locker rooms were especially nice. Just like my DH had discovered at the Boardwalk, there were very few people working out at the GF. I headed back to POFQ. We had places to go...
Up next: Illuminations and Rose and Crown's

[angelina]

Illuminations and Rose and Crown's
We left POFQ and headed back to EP. It was very unusual for us to have been in Disney for two days and not gone to any of the other parks. But the short hours of operation made park hopping a little difficult. Also, we were expecting large crowds for the upcoming President's Day weekend so we wanted to see all the nighttime shows. Tonight we'd be seeing Illuminations.
We checked in for our 6:00 PS at Rose and Crown's a little early and were seated right away. We had a beautiful table on the upper patio, overlooking the water. We had a wonderful server named Kerry, who was at our table before we even settled in. She was so sweet,and attentive to my DD. We would be using Magical Wishes for this meal. When you use MW your meal includes one appetizer, entree and dessert per person, plus any non alcoholic beverages. It's a lot of food and even though we never eat it all, it's nice to have a wide variety of dishes to try and share. We had the cheese plate and smoked salmon for appetizers. I had the fish and chips and DH had the prime rib. DD had macaroni and cheese and lots of grapes, which our server very kindly brought for her after DD devoured the ones on the cheese plate. For dessert we had the sticky toffee pudding and sherry triffle. DH and I each had a pint of beer. The total for our meal(with 15% gratuity) would have been $68.00, but we used two Magical Wishes. Our DD's meal and our beers were not included, they came to $19.60, with tip $31.28. The food was very good especially the desserts. Usually I don't eat all fried food for dinner, but the fish and chips were very light, not greasy at all. Our food came so quick that we had time to see the 7:45 Tapestry of Dreams parade. DD just loved it [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The puppeteers kept reaching out their puppets and touching her. She had the hugest smile on her face, I just started to cry like a baby [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] it was so sweet. When that was over we wandered around WS and found ourselves back in the UK for a performance of British Invasion. They were awesome! My DD was dancing up a storm, especially during "Twist and Shout" they had the crowd going nuts. It was a lot of fun. While I was shopping DH and DD caught a performance of the band in Canada, Off Kilter. They wore kilts and DH said one of their songs was "I'm too Sexy for My Kilt" he enjoyed their performance and said they were quite funny.
While shopping in Japan my DD threw her first ever temper tantrum. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] She absolutely loves purses, she has a million of them at home. Well the entrance to the Mitsukoshi store was all Hello Kitty purses. My DD put 5 of them on her arm and walked around the store with me like that (why I left her stroller outside with DH I don't know) Well it was very cute to all the other shoppers, everyone stopped to say, "what a good little shopper you are" or "that's so cute." When it was time to go I told her, "okay time to put the purses back, it's time to go." Well, she wasn't interested in putting them back. So I explained to her she had already gotten a purse today and she really didn't need anymore, but she's not even two who was I kidding, she didn't understand. So I just took them away and put the back on the display table. Big mistake! She flipped out, screaming and crying, she even threw herself on the floor. I was so mortified, I thought, I'm that mom in Target that I always feel sorry for. My DD had never done anything like that before, I just picked up her flailing body and carried her out of the store. A few minutes later it had passed and she was her happy self again. But, no more purses for the rest of the trip.
As part of our package we had priority viewing for Illuminations. We were on the boat landing in Morocco. We weren't all the way to the water, but it was close. There were only about fifteen people in this area, so no one had to stand in the second row. The viewing area was free of trees hanging over, which was nice. But we couldn't see all the pavillions light up. But I have yet to find a spot where you can see all the pavillions and your view isn't blocked by trees.
We saw IL for the second night in a row, only tonight we had a much better view and were paying more attenion. DD again just loved it, she was just captivated by the globe. And me, well by the time they were singing, "we belong..." I was crying like a baby. It had gotten pretty chilly by then and our little family huddled together enjoying the incredible show. When it was over we slowly made our way to the exit. While stopping to do some more shopping on the way of course.
DD fell asleep in the car. This would become habit for her. I'm sure she was dreaming of princesses, and fireworks, and her mean mommy who wouldn't buy her a purse [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Up next: MK - Here We Come

[TINKN]

Enjoying your TR! I must say if that was your daughter's first tantrum you are doing very well. My DD is 17 months old and has a mind of her own and she throws at least 3 tantrums a week! Anyway, looking forward to more.

[tikibird]

Loved hearing about Epcot and have to admit I was ROTFL thinking about DD and the purse incident (but it's okay, I can do that, 'cause I am long past the tantrum days with my guys (but Chris sure did pull quite a few! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ).

Great installments, looking forward to the next one... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[angelina]

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[angelina]

Feb.13 : MK Here We Come
Love that Mickey Mouse wake up call [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] DH and I started our day at 5:30 am so we could take turns working out before DD woke up. When she did arise at 7:00 we headed down to the food court for breakfast. DD had a Mickey waffle, the first she'd ever eaten, and she loved it. I had eggs and potatoes and DH had a bagel with cream cheese and cottage cheese. With milk and a bottle of water breakfast came to $21.71. The food was fine, it was cooked to order which certainly makes a difference. While we ate "Toy Story 2" was playing in the food court dining area. I love that movie [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] We were very eager to get to MK for EE so we ate quickly and headed out.
At the TTC we got a great parking spot (we got good parking on the whole trip, we only took the tram once) I swear, DH would take the tram if we were parked 50 feet in front of MK, but I always want to walk, I just feel like I'm getting there faster. When we arrived at the entrance to TTC they were checking resort IDs and non resort guests weren't allowed to get in line for the ferry or monorail. A monorail was waiting by the time we reached the platform, and off we were. DD loved the monorail, everytime we got on it after that she would say, "whee" it was a ride to her.
We arrived inside the MK at about 8:15 and found the crowds to be very light. I just love that first gimpse of the castle, there's nothing like it. It always makes me feel like a kid again on my first visit to Disney World. It's just so beautiful.
We headed to Fantasyland to tackle some rides. Our first stop was Dumbo. What do you have to do to avoid a line on this ride? We waited 20 minutes. DD was so patient, but I was holding her and she kept asking me to put her down, she just wanted to run around. So this was the last line she waited in, it was just to hard for her. After Dumbo we used our walkie talkies and one person waited in line while the other ran around with DD. Then we just called when we were close to our turn. It worked really well.
After Dumbo we headed to Winnie the Pooh where we only waited 10 minutes. DD loved it, shouting out all the characters names as our honey pot passed them. Another adorable moment [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] When we got off the ride the crowds were a little heavier because the park was officially open. There were characters everywhere. A lot more than we saw less then a year ago on our last trip. We shopped in Fantasyland for about an hour and then headed over to Toontown. We explored Mickey and Minnie's Houses and then decided visit Mickey, even though by this time it was 10:45 and I was sure the line was going to be outrageous. Much to my surprise there was no line at all. We,along with about 15 other people, were lead in instantly to meet Mickey. Our family was first in line, and DD was a little apprehensive about seeing Mickey, but not scared. She was very coy with him, playing peek-a-boo, Mickey did a nice job of not pushing it with her and was playful from a distance. We got some nice pictures, thanked Mickey and went on.
We decided to try our luck with Minnie in the Toontown Hall of Fame and again there was no line. We went in with about 10 other people and met Chip and Dale and Minnie. Minnie was excellent. She had DD laughing up a storm. DD was scared when we approached Minnie, I was holding her and I thanked Minnie and started to leave. Minnie gestured for me to stop and she started plaing peek-a-boo with DD and tickling her. She soon had my DD giggling like crazy. It was definitely our magic moment of the day.
We decided to push our luck again and we lined up for Pooh and friends. Again, no wait, I don't know where everyone in MK was but they sure weren't in Toontown. The only line was to greet Ariel. For some reason the grotto was closed and she was in Toontown. We saw Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore (or as my DD calls him, Oreo) All the characters were so good with her, they got down on her level to play with her. Once again she was a little shy, but not scared.
After all our character greeting we did a little shopping in Toontown where DD got(surprise, surprise) a Minnie Mouse purse.
We moved outside, where it was absolutely beautiful. A light breeze, not a cloud in the sky and nice and warm [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] DD went crazy playing on the playground across from Mickey's house. Everything was the perfect size for her, she must have went down the slide 20 times. We explored Donald's boat and got a picture with Goofy (another DD favorite, she calls him "Goof")
We were pretty hungry by now so we headed to Liberty Square to eat in one of the best kept secrets in MK, Columbia Harbor House. I think they have the best counter service in the MK, and there's never a wait. DD had mac&cheese, I had the tuna sandwich and DH had the Garden Galley Salad. The total cost was 17.33.
It was nap time so we made our way to the exit. We stopped in Town Square Exposition Hall to take a look at our photos. DD and I bought some character crayons and coloring books so she would have something to keep her busy at dinner tonight. We ran into Belle and Snow White from our PSB the day before, they were just hanging out in the store along with Cruella de Ville and Aladin. They remembered DD's name and spent about five minutes playing with her and taking more pictures. It was very sweet.
We headed back to POFQ and put DD (and DH) down for her nap.
I decided to explore our resort. PO is always beautiful, but when all the trees are in bloom it looks even better. I walked along the river to POR, while enjoying a margarita and getting some great photos. I would definitely like to stay in POR, especially Magnolia Bend, it's just beautiful. It was nice to have some quiet time to myself and after about an hour I headed back to our room to get ready to go to MGM.
Up next: MGM and one big OOPS by me

[Diz]

Wow! Your DD has all the characters knowing her name! It is just so magical that you walk into a store and see a character from breakfast and they know who you are! That's Dmagic at its best!

Things seem to run so smoothly for you. It sounds like everything is falling into place!
Can't wait to hear more!

[tikibird]

Originally posted by angelina:
I just love that first gimpse of the castle, there's nothing like it. It always makes me feel like a kid again on my first visit to Disney World. It's just so beautiful.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Thanks for taking me away from the cold, gray Pittsburgh morning and to Orlando this morning! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I loved hearing about Mickey's Toontown Fair - we spend so little time there since we don't have little ones. Loved hearing about DD's interaction with Minnie, and glad she finally got her purse! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I am also very impressed that the princesses remembered DD's name - that is very cool! [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Great installment - next, please! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[chezp]

I'm really enjoying reading this. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who goes mad with a camera at WDW - I used up 27 films on our last vacation and most of those were 36 exposure! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

It sounds like you had a far better selection of Princesses at the PSB than we did when we ate there. We'll have to go back and see who else we can find! It's a very good meal... [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] I think, following your description of your meal at the Rose and Crown, we'll have to eat there next time. We've eaten around most of WS now, but never there.

Cheryl

[tikibird]

Sounds like you had a great dinner at Brown Derby and a wonderful time at Fantasmic (hope you are able to post some of those pictures!).

Great installment, looking forward to the next one! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[angelina]

Fantasmic and One Big Oops by Me
We had a 4:40 PS for the Fantasmic dinner package at the Brown Derby so we headed to MGM.
MGM is DH's favorite park. When we were at MGM in 3/02 he decided that while he liked the Sorcerer's Hat he was disappointed that it blocks the view of Mann's Chinese Theatre. Now that we have heard the hat is here to stay (maybe just a rumor [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] )he is really bummed out.
We always eat at the Brown Derby, we love their food. We also always do the Fantasmic dinner package, it's so nice to not have to wait an hour or more for a seat at Fantasmic.
We checked in for our PS and were again given a pager and told it wouldn't be long. A few minutes later we were buzzed and we headed back inside. The hostess was a very sweet older lady. She was very puzzled when she saw my daughter, she asked if we would be needing a high chair. I told her yes and that I told them this when I made the reservations, and again just a few minutes ago when we checked in. Well the poor woman got all flustered, telling us "I'm so sorry, I've put you at the wrong table I didn't know you needed a high chair." We assured her that it was fine, we didn't mind waiting for a few more minutes. My DH suggested we sit outside, the hostess looked so sad. "Are you sure," she wanted to know, like sitting outside was some sort of demotion from sitting inside. We said that would be fine, as it was a beautiful night. So we had a beautiful table outside. The poor hostess must have apologized 100 times, we assured her that we were fine dining outside. In fact I really liked it. We certainly can't eat outside at home right now.
I unloaded my stash of toys, brought along to keep DD entertained. DD goes everywhere with us and we go out to eat a lot, so she does too. She's very well behaved in restaurants and people almost always compliment her. But we always bring things along to keep her busy. I knew this meal would be over an hour so I had brought a lot. She had her new character crayons and three new coloring books, we brought along a couple books, and my secret weapon, stickers! DD loves stickers, she always goes to the scrapbook store with me. I give her a couple stickers, and she's content the whole time I shop. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] So before we left for Disney I loaded up on some of her favorite stickers; dogs, cats, flowers, farm animals, balloons. And we had bought a lot of stickers at various stores in Disney of Pooh, Mickey and the Princesses. We were set.
We had a wonderful server (we had such good servers this whole trip) I don't remeber her name, but she was excellent, especially to my DD. We started out our meal with some wine and appetizers, the Cobb Salad (our favorite) and french onion soup. Both were so delicious. They give you the receipe for the salad at the restaurant if anyone's interested. Also it was in the Disney magazine once several years ago. For our entrees DD had mac and cheese and some fruit, DH had the ahi tuna and I had the salmon. Both entrees had wonderful sides, but I can't remember what they were. The chef's special of the evening was a lobster tail with your entree. Since we were using our Magical Wishes it didn't even cost anything extra, so we each had a lobster tail with our meal [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] The food was so good my mouth is watering just thinking about it. If you have never been to the Brown Derby I highly recommend it, we've never had a bad meal there and we've eaten there five times. For dessert DH had the creme brulee and I had something chocolate (I think it was a torte but I can't remember) they too were excellent. I can't find the receipt for this meal, so I can't tell you how much it would have cost I do remember it was well over $100 with the gratuity. We used two Magical Wishes.
It was about 6:15 by now, so we headed over to Fantasmic. We were very surprised to find the theatre not full. The general seating still had a few rows open and the reserved seating was almost completely open. We sat down in about the fifth row. This is the closest we've ever been. I wanted to sit close for two reasons. One, DD likes sitting close at live shows. And two, I wanted to finally get some good pictures of Fantasmic for the scrapbook. I always have these pictures of a tiny Mickey Mouse surrounded by darkness. I hoped that by sitting closer, I could get some really good shots. (They turned out great and hopefully the next installment will have some pictures)
Fantasmic is our absolute favorite nighttime show. As much as we love ILL, Fantasmic still edges it out of the top spot. DD was a little scared when the theatre went dark, but as soon as she saw Mickey Mouse, she was hooked. She sat in awe of the whole show. When Belle and the Beast came out she went crazy clapping and waving and yelling, "hi Belle, hi Beast" DH videotaped the whole show. He even brought the tri-pod so it would be more steady. The show amazed us, even though this was probably our tenth time seeing it. I just love the images projected on the water screen. And every time Pocohontas comes out and they play "Colors of the Wind" I start to cry. I know, I do that a lot. Well things were going along so well, our seats were fabulous, DD was loving it, and the character boat was about to come out. I had my camera poised and ready on the boat, just waiting for the lights to come up. They did and snap I took a perfect picture, and then disaster struck! I was out of film [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I couldn't believe it, we had these perfect seats. We were even sitting in front of kids, so I wouldn't get those big heads in my pictures (you know what I'm talking about) How could I have run out of film. I was so mad at myself. But DD was having a blast! She was waving to all the characters as the boat cruised by. In the end DH reminded me to have some perspective. This was not a tragedy, we would just go to Fantasmic again, which we were planning on doing anyway.
On our way out of MGM we shopped. I just can't leave with all those people trying to get out. I would rather linger in the stores and let the crowds die down. Any excuse to shop, right [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
We returned to POFQ, only tonight DD did not fall asleep in the car. So we laid her down in the pack and play (which we brought from home and she slept in) and we moved our chairs out on our balcony and sat outside. We propped the door open so we could hear her. She was asleep in record time. DH and I enjoyed a beer on the balcony, while he helped me fill out my Pass Porter for the day.

[angelina]

Here we are at San Angel Inn. If this picture has actually come up, it's a miracle, because I have no idea what I'm doing!

[angelina]

[angelina]

Ok, after a couple of glitches, it worked. Thanks Tikibird for the instructions. More TR and pictures coming tonight.

[angelina]

Ok me again, after looking at the picture I just posted it looks like DD is trying to eat her hand, in fact she was eating her chips off a spoon. Just didn't want anyone thinking my child was so hungry she had to eat her arm. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]