A January Jaunt with Jillybean & Co. Complete!!! About This Page:

[Jillybean]

Cast of Characters:

Me (Jill)
DH (Thom)
DD (Mary Devall)

When: January 27-30
Where: BCV Studio
How: Flying Independence Air and transfers via TTC

Thursday, January 27

Today was the day!!! Our flight wasn’t leaving until early evening, so we went to work and daycare as normal. The day actually flew by and, before I knew it, the time had come to leave. I left work a little early, picked up DD from daycare and then drove to my parent’s house (they were driving us to the airport). We all loaded up in their car and picked up DH on the way to the airport (well, that part wasn’t quick because his co-workers wanted to meet our DD so we had to go inside for a bit). We made it to the airport about an hour before our flight and said our goodbyes to my parents. It’s so nice just having someone drop you off instead of worrying about parking.

Since we were only going for the weekend, we had managed to pack all of our clothes into one suitcase and small carry bag. This allowed us to use the curbside check in and forego the baggage check (this also means that I have the same jacket on in every picture! ). We had just enough time to go through security, have a bathroom break and buy DD a hotdog and a doughnut with sprinkles (you should have seen the dance of joy she did when she spotted that doughnut). By the time we made it to the gate, everyone else had boarded. Of course, when we boarded the plane we discovered that “everyone else” was about 10 people. The flight attendant even asked the two people in front of us to move to the back of the plane to “even things out.” I’m not a nervous flyer, but I just don’t like hearing those things. We actually took off about 10 minutes early and had the smoothest flight. I enjoyed a glass of wine while reading a magazine and DH and DD watched Alice in Wonderland on her DVD player (and finished that hot dog and doughnut). The flight attendant didn’t offer us any snacks, but I heard my DD asking for pretzels (her first flight was back in November and she already knows the drill). The flight attendant was super and brought her apple juice and pretzels. I even talked to the flight attendant a good bit as the flight was landing since we were at the front of the plane and she was in her jump seat. Our flight was originally supposed to get in at 7:15, but we were on the ground at 6:50 with a flight time of one hour (sooo much better than a 7-hour drive!). We picked up our luggage and headed for the tram (which we actually rode to the terminal twice because the first time the doors opened we thought we were at the wrong baggage claim area but it only took a couple of minutes more ). We assumed that our TTC driver wouldn’t be there since we were so early, but we immediately spotted him when we came down the escalator. What service! He looked a bit relieved that we didn’t have any more baggage to claim and led us out to the sidewalk where he left us to pick up the car. Thankfully, he had a booster seat because I had realized halfway during our flight that we had forgotten DD’s booster seat! He had us to BCV in no time! I Ricardo! We checked in quickly, dumped our luggage in our studio (which was right at the elevators- - yeah!!!) and headed to the International Gateway! DH checked his watch and we went through the turnstiles - - 8 p.m. on the dot! I thought we would be doing good to make it to BCV by 8 p.m.!

On everyone’s recommendations, we headed to the Tangerine Café in Morocco for a quick bite to eat. I had a chicken platter with the thinnest sliced chicken that I have ever seen, hummus, couscous and a tomato salad. DH had the meatballs and saffron rice and DD had the obligatory chicken strips and fries. It was ! Mo Rockin was just getting underway as we finished so we stopped for a minute to watch their set and my DD’s favorite - - the belly dancer. She wanted to talk to her again, but she was gone in a flash. We headed around WS to take her on the boat ride in Mexico which she loved. After that, I went on the search to find where they were handing out wrist bands for EMH (I had discovered earlier in the week that this was Epcot’s night for EMH which worked out perfectly for us). We found them quickly on the other side of Mexico. Once we were sporting our green wrist bands, we found a good spot for Illuminations. DH had DD on his shoulders and I spent more time watching her face than the fireworks. Watching her ooh and aaah is the real fun for me. After Illuminations, we went back to the boat ride and rode it twice. Then on to Norway where we had about a 15 minute wait for their boat ride. We warned DD about the “slides” (watch for this word to come back to haunt us tomorrow at AK) so she wouldn’t be scared and she did just fine. From there, it was on to Test Track so that Mommy could ride. I did the single rider and it took about 20 minutes from start to finish. I came out to find a very sad little girl because she couldn’t ride. Apparently DH had her measured and she came up 2 inches too short. The CM did give her a little card that said she was a future test tracker. I offered DH the chance to ride it, but he declined and we headed to SE. That ride never fails to captivate me. DD is now getting to the age where she asks a million questions so it’s always fun to hear what she’ll come up with next. It was about 10:30, so we decided to pack it in for the night. A lady carrying 4 ice cream sundaes from Beaches & Cream rode up in the elevator with us at BCV. DH offered her money for them , but she said she would have 3 very angry people if she came back to their room empty handed. It was about 2 minutes until 11 p.m. at that point or we would have headed back to Beaches & Cream! Instead, we fell into bed exhausted!

[Caldercup]

Oh... fantastic!! I've been hoping you'd write a trip report. I just love that picture of your daughter in her pricess costume watching her princess TV!

Can't wait for more!
Eileen

[mestitch]

Great start!! Keep it coming I wish we could take a quick weekend trip... I'm jealous

[DrDolphin]

Great start!!! Sounds like that lady was lucky to get out of the elevator with her sundaes!!!

[Tara O'Hara]

Great start Jill!! I your new sig pic too!! I love Tangerine Cafe!!

[TroianRae]

I LOVE it!!! I've been checking the boards since you said you were back, just waiting for your TR. Now it's here - YEAH!!!

More, please..................

[DopeyGirl]

Great start Jill!!! Love your sig. pic of your DD with Minnie . . . too cute!!!

Looking forward to seeing what's next!!!

[buzzspal2]

Jill,
I LOVE the new signature picture too. What a sweetpie your DD is.

[Jillybean]

Friday, January 28 Part One

I had made our PS at Cape May this morning a little later since I knew we would have a late night the night before. I woke up about 8:30 and hopped into the shower. The rest of my crew slowly got into action. The day was overcast and drizzling. No matter though - - we were at DISNEY!

While DH got ready, DD and I strolled down to the Atlantic Wear & Wardrobe Emporium to pick up some postcards for my fairy godmailer duties. They’ve moved next door to the Sandcastle Club (about a space ¼ of the size of the original) while the original location is undergoing a renovation. The CM also hooked me up with stamps, so we were good to go. I had forgotten the Sharpie pen that I brought for the characters to sign the postcards. I saw DH just as we left the store and asked him to run back to the room for it. DD and I checked in at Cape May and were seated almost immediately. As soon as DH found us, I noticed that he was missing something . . . the camera! This time I ran to the room. Thank goodness for our room being near the elevators! When I returned, they were already eating (DD had managed to find another doughnut with sprinkles), so I helped myself to a carb platter of French toast sticks and a Mickey waffle.

What I love about Cape May is the laid back atmosphere and interaction with the characters. It’s a great way to glide into the character experience. Chip, Goofy, Minnie and Dale made their way to our table throughout our meal. Goofy and Minnie were sweet and signed postcards for me (Minnie has the cutest autograph!) DD was in heaven. We were able to use our new DDE card (well, the copy of the email that would do until our card arrives) and saved a cool $8.





And who do we see in the lobby . . . but Art! I told him that I had heard so much about him and he was SO sweet and humble. I had to have a picture.



From there, DH ran back to the room to put my postcards in a safe place and grab the backpack and DD and I waited outside. She waited patiently for a couple of little boys to finish playing in the old timey car and she quickly scurried behind the wheel when they left. Let’s all be thankful that she won’t be driving anytime soon because she was steering like a crazy woman and yelling “Rock on sister baby!” A few minutes later, DH ran past us to the bus stop and I had to call him back to let him know that we hadn’t even made it down there ourselves.

We were probably at AK by 11 a.m. and we made a quick stop to meet and greet the Robin Hood characters.





Then on to the Safari - - does everyone go to the Safari first? It’s an unspoken rule with us. We walked right on and sat behind the driver. He was such a hoot. He kept cracking jokes and absolutely no one except us was laughing. People behind us kept standing up to take pictures or letting their children walk around, so the driver kept saying things like “And that’s why we stay seated on this safari.”

After that experience, I had a wild idea. We had never been on the Kali River Rapids and I was pretty sure that DD was tall enough. It had stopped drizzling at this point, but since we didn’t want to get soaked we bought ponchos (I kicked myself just a bit because I had thrown out $1 ponchos that my mom had given me several months ago ). DD just touched the 38” bar, so she got a little wrist band identifying her as “legal.” We walked and we walked and we walked until we finally reached the dock. Our raft already had several people in it, so we were the last to board. And we were off. We were facing backwards most of the time (this should have alerted me), so DD kept turning around to see what was coming. When we assumed that we were about to go down a “slide”, we warned her. Of course, she was turned around and got slapped full in the face with water. She just wailed. She finally said “I got wet!” Poor DH had a soaked backend because he sat down with the backpack still on and the poncho didn’t cover his behind. The bottom of my Capri pants were the only things wet on me. Everyone else on our ride looked pretty dry. We stopped at the first kiosk and found DH a pair of shorts. The CM then sent us to Outfitters to find toddler clothes. I should have taken a picture of poor DD, but I was too worried about keeping her warm - - her lower half was just soaked. I asked her if she like the ride and she said “Yes, but that slide was not cool.” We found her the cutest little Tinkerbell warm-up suit and a princess hat and she was happy as could be. The CM’s were especially sweet in that store. The one who checked us out even gave DD a princess pin and put it on her new hat.

DD was now dry, but DH couldn’t find a pair of boxers so he was still walking around (and walking in quite a funny way, I might add ) in wet britches. I did feel bad since I was the one who suggested riding the ride (okay, “insisted” is more like it) and I was the only one who didn’t get soaked, but DH was laughing too. Despite his discomfort, we went to FOTLK, a new favorite of ours. Once again, it did not disappoint. Afterwards, we decided that it was time to move on to MK - - we wanted to spend some time there before our 6 p.m. ‘Ohana PS and DH desperately needed to find a pair of boxers!

[mestitch]

Your poor DH I'm enjoying your report Jill! Can't wait to hear about 'Ohana!

[Caldercup]

[ QUOTE ]
...and DH desperately needed to find a pair of boxers!

[/ QUOTE ]

Nothing like having wet unmentionables -- hope he find something dry fast!! Can't wait for more.

Oh, and I like the new sig pic even more!
Eileen

[pparm]

Great start! Thanks for the pictures. Looking forward to more!

Paula

[Tara O'Hara]

[ QUOTE ]
Your poor DH

[/ QUOTE ] Great update, Jill! You guys are too cute!!

[DrDolphin]

the story of the wet boxes had me !!! more please!

[Jenny Pooh]

You do get a "tad" wet on KRR. . When we went on they had these huge heated fans at the end to dry off with, maybe they got rid of them? Loving the report! More please