How EMH saved our trip-Doing the World on West Coast Time! Completed. Stop by my PTR!

[MEK]

Holy Fast Pass Karma. You scored big time. I bet it would have been fun to do Kali in the dark. But EE in the dark - even better! You guys really did a lot thanks to the FP fairy! Although,Tink looks seriously drenched after that ride on Kali and she's the one who didn't want to go on. You, on the other hand, stayed pretty well intact! I agree - TGFP (Thank God for Ponchos). Tink must have forgotten to pull her hood up! I love all the group shots, they are really good. I can definately see the resemblance between DH and his kids!

Thanks for the daily updates! So fun to read!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by MEK

Holy Fast Pass Karma. You scored big time. I bet it would have been fun to do Kali in the dark. But EE in the dark - even better! You guys really did a lot thanks to the FP fairy! Although,Tink looks seriously drenched after that ride on Kali and she's the one who didn't want to go on. You, on the other hand, stayed pretty well intact! I agree - TGFP (Thank God for Ponchos). Tink must have forgotten to pull her hood up! I love all the group shots, they are really good. I can definately see the resemblance between DH and his kids!

Thanks for the daily updates! So fun to read!

I promise you, my pants were pretty darn wet! I think Tink forgot to tuck her hair in, that was the real problem. Hood up but it doesn't really give great coverage.

[KathyRN137]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

as we made the trek from Africa to Asia

it happened.

again

"we have some FP's we can't use, would you like them?"


this time, for Kali. I can't remember how many they had but it wasn't 6. So we hemmed a little bit and I kid you not, someone entirely different nearby said

"I have some too!"


so somehow, magically, in the span of a minute we had 6 FP's for Kali! (which was still on a 60 minute wait!)

Awesome!!

I'm a poncho-wearer, but I don't think I could do the shower cap!

Originally Posted by eandesmom

So, on Valentine's day, as we were heading over to Space Mountain we were again presented with the

We have 2 FP's for SM that we cannot use


Really? sure!
So we took them. We figured at that point we had no idea how long standby would be and that way at least 2 people could get another ride in.

The standby line was 40 minutes. We got in line and tried to determine who should go. Or if we should all stay together and then 2 go a second time.

While we debated we realized that there was a party for two seemingly very nice young women in front of us. So we did what made the most sense.

"Hi! Would you guys like these? We're going to wait it out together."


The shock and excitement on their faces was magical!


we were given them by strangers not once, not twice, but FOUR total times!

Amazing... you really were touched by the FP angels that trip!!

Oooh.. looking forward to EE in the dark!!


Kathy

[TarzansKat]

My goodness, you all have some fastpass pixie dust!

I think the look on Wall E's face when he's eating the Mickey bar can best be described by a combination of these two smilies. +

And for pete's sake, what did you need napkins for? You were all getting soaked and rinsed anyway.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by KathyRN137

Awesome!!

I'm a poncho-wearer, but I don't think I could do the shower cap!

Amazing... you really were touched by the FP angels that trip!!

Oooh.. looking forward to EE in the dark!!


Kathy

update coming soon, probably tomorrow. I have been all consumed by job hunting and 13th birthday party planning.
13!!!!!!! I have a week before updating that new siggie

Originally Posted by TarzansKat

My goodness, you all have some fastpass pixie dust!

I think the look on Wall E's face when he's eating the Mickey bar can best be described by a combination of these two smilies. +

And for pete's sake, what did you need napkins for? You were all getting soaked and rinsed anyway.

TK, Wall-E's face looks like that (the chocolate or WHATEVER) ALL the time. Seriously. We could hose him down and an hour later a ring appears around his mouth. I don't get it. It's like he still drools or something. Cute at 2. Kind of cute at 4. At 8 it verges on disgusting

[carissanboys]

Wow! FP Karma is right!! Awesome!!

Love Kali! Last year when we went we did use ponchos (it was January - and cooler than most months) and someone in line said, "Those shouldn't be allowed on here."

[Sunset Cliffs]

I am FINALLY caught up! You have great updates! The lion pictures were amazing. We have only seen the lion laying down on the Safari. He looks like a rock every time. Also, your description of the egg rolls has gotten me so hungry. Wish you had a picture (just for the torture of it!).

[Happydog]

What great luck with all those FPs!!!! SO great! Especially for those rides! I totally hear you on the getting too wet before dinner.. we had that problem, getting totally soaked before heading into the arctic cold at Sanaa an hour later!! DS's were cold. I wish I would have had a sweatshirt or something for them... We kept taking breaks during dinner to go outside to warm up!! and once they had eaten, they each sat on DH and my laps, to stay warmer! It was a little comical... Note to self about that for next summer!

Maybe I missed where dinner was? I will have to go back and check!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by carissanboys

Wow! FP Karma is right!! Awesome!!

Love Kali! Last year when we went we did use ponchos (it was January - and cooler than most months) and someone in line said, "Those shouldn't be allowed on here."

We were in Feb but tons of people had ponchos! maybe b/c it was starting to get dark!

Originally Posted by Sunset Cliffs

I am FINALLY caught up! You have great updates! The lion pictures were amazing. We have only seen the lion laying down on the Safari. He looks like a rock every time. Also, your description of the egg rolls has gotten me so hungry. Wish you had a picture (just for the torture of it!).

thanks! A picture of the egg rolls would torture me too so it's probably best I don't have one

Originally Posted by Happydog

What great luck with all those FPs!!!! SO great! Especially for those rides! I totally hear you on the getting too wet before dinner.. we had that problem, getting totally soaked before heading into the arctic cold at Sanaa an hour later!! DS's were cold. I wish I would have had a sweatshirt or something for them... We kept taking breaks during dinner to go outside to warm up!! and once they had eaten, they each sat on DH and my laps, to stay warmer! It was a little comical... Note to self about that for next summer!

Maybe I missed where dinner was? I will have to go back and check!

Oh that's funny! I didn't even think of that, just being girls and worrying about our hair lol!

Dinner was at Boma! Coming up soon.

[MEK]

What?????? No update! So disappointed! )just kidding)

[cjackearl]

Hey lady! There are a couple of replies at the bottom of page 22 that I didn't want you to miss. I would hate for you to think I didn't reply to your update.

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by cjackearl

Wow, you really were the fast pass magnets this trip! I'm glad you didn't have to wait in a long line for Kali. It's definitely worth doing, but at a 60 min. wait? Maybe not.

Somehow I knew you were going back for egg rolls! Awesome snackage. And I love the chocolate mouth ring. My pre teen is the same way.

Hmmm. Looking forward to hearing how your yeti encounter and dino meet go.

Aack! I can't believe I missed you SO hot here today my computer and fingers were sticky! 60 minutes is too long for (almost) anything!

Oh no! you mean he'll still look like that as a tween?

somehow it won't surprise me a bit. DSD12 has a friend who looks like that when she eats, it's a riot!

Originally Posted by Angies1274

Wow!!! What great fastpass karma you have!! Four times--that's awesome!!

Such a cute picture of your son!! You could tell he was really enjoying that Mickey bar!!!

Ohh....that egg roll sounds so yummy!!!

Looking forward to hearing about EE in the dark!!

He loves his food that's for sure. Often there is humming involved.

Originally Posted by MEK

What?????? No update! So disappointed! )just kidding)

Too hot to be in front of the computer today. Or go to a baseball game for that matter, I thought DS10 was going to melt on the mound! Hope to get an update up before it heats up tomorrow and I run away.

Originally Posted by cjackearl

Hey lady! There are a couple of replies at the bottom of page 22 that I didn't want you to miss. I would hate for you to think I didn't reply to your update.

lame! I am lame! I'm glad you said something! Sometimes my first unread thread is not right, which drives me nuts! So sorry!

[SunnieRN]

Originally Posted by eandesmom

The picture has MIL, her DH and BIL. I don't see BIL going but you never know. I know MIL would like him there, as would the rest of us. His GF though....sigh. It is possible, though not probable, that we might fill another treehouse with my side of the family but we will see. Of course we could end up making all these plans and then for whatever reason, DSD and/or DSS can't go but right now we plan to forge ahead with it. I foresee many a roadblock but have hopes it will actually happen. MIL and I are plotting and we usually get our way.

All kinds of conflicting ideas and priorities so we are trying to balance it out. My brother just announced he is expecting. Which could derail this trip and mandate a trip to Germany instead. Me, I'd rather wait until the baby is a year old for a couple of reasons. 1 the baby will be more fun, 2 we'd have one less kid to take to Germany and 3 this will be the last summer of "teendom" for DSS and I'd like to take him again while we can. 4, my MIL is NOT happy with us right now for lack of visits (that fit with her schedule) and this would go a LONG ways to making up for that. 5, my brother will visit here between now and then, that I can count on.

DH has decided though, in that same vein, that he wants to take all the kids to DC. Which I do as well but that's not a week trip IMHO. So either we fit that in around Presidents week or maybe tack it onto one end of the treehouse. Not sure.

MIL is the trump card though

Sorry that it took me so long to respond to this. I hope that everything works out well and that you can return! You make a lot of good points for returning next presidents day!! It's always so hard when someone else holds the trump card though, as it kind of keeps you in limbo. It does sound like you have the potential for a wonderful vacation, no matter which destination you choose!!

As for a week in Washington DC, it takes several days just to see the Smithsonian Museums from what I understand. You could also go to NYC for a couple of days if a week is too long, Have fun!!

Woo hoo for karma fast pass!! That is so awesome!! We always end up giving a lot away when the kids poop out!

Love your post Kali family picture! Great memories when you look at that one I bet!

[eandesmom]

Originally Posted by SunnieRN

Sorry that it took me so long to respond to this. I hope that everything works out well and that you can return! You make a lot of good points for returning next presidents day!! It's always so hard when someone else holds the trump card though, as it kind of keeps you in limbo. It does sound like you have the potential for a wonderful vacation, no matter which destination you choose!!

As for a week in Washington DC, it takes several days just to see the Smithsonian Museums from what I understand. You could also go to NYC for a couple of days if a week is too long, Have fun!!

Woo hoo for karma fast pass!! That is so awesome!! We always end up giving a lot away when the kids poop out!

Love your post Kali family picture! Great memories when you look at that one I bet!

Well my hope is DC for Presidents Day and then Treehouse in August. Not that August is my dream time to go but the kids breaks don't coincide well this year and Presidents is only a long weekend for the older two.

DC in August is less appealing than Florida. At least in FL we can escape back to the pool!

So we will see... I think I can safely say we've postponed Germany til 2011 since now my little sister is getting married here in late June.

[eandesmom]

When I left off we were slightly drippy, but excited to head...FINALLY...over to EE!

We had been waiting for this ride the entire trip.

Before the trip.

From FOUR years ago as we watched it being built.

The anticipation was ridiculous (and rarely do things live up when you've built it up that much!)

Of course, watching Stacey talk about it all week didn't help lower the excitement factor either!

Wall-E had been wanting to buy a pin all week but my rule was no ride pin unless you've been on the ride!

The standby line was still quite long. I can't recall what it was but think it was about 40 minutes.

It wasn't EMH yet so it was not dark but the sun was beginning to set.

I did not take any pictures. I think after Kali I'd put it into DH's backpack, "photo'd" out for the day if you will.

Tink of course was non stop with the questions as we worked our way in. And we really had NO idea what to expect, other than it was tall, there was a Yeti and well, that's about it.

So the anticipation was huge to say the least. I think however we all were thinking about the parts in the dark, the idea of going backward. What never, ever occurred to me was...

The view as you go up the mountain, at night, with the Tree of Life Illuminated has to be one of the most Spectacular things I've ever seen at WDW. It was just stunningly beautiful.

Gasp worthy.

And then

I realized

JUST HOW FLIPPING HIGH UP WE WERE!

I think, being in the dark, exaggerated it. I can't really compare, not having ridden it during the day.

Holy Moly!

And then, we were off.

The Yeti was pretty humorous I must say but I really REALLY enjoyed this ride, backwards broken track and all.



Tink however, not so much.

She did great all week on the fast and furious rides but being outside and seeing how high up we were freaked her out. Not crying, screaming freaked out but as you can see, she looks awfully pale in the pic!

Wall-E has his new "I'm holding my glasses so they don't fall off" look and Steven is raring to go. I think the pic of Scrooge and Goofy didn't turn out or they were blocked by hands or something.

For the rest however it became a great internal debate, which was the better coaster, RRC or EE.

Afterwards, once we escaped the mandatory gift shop clutches (not escaping until we'd bought the picture and a T shirt for Goofy who still had some $$ left) it was officially EMH!

The boys all wanted to do EE again and Tink and I headed back to...

you guessed it....

Dinosaur!

Which was a riot and a half I have to admit. I get suck a kick out of that ride. Afterwards we all decided to so some last minute shopping, Scrooge wanted a espresso and Steven still needed his smoothie.

I finally found myself something!

I picked up this



Which gets an awful lot of wear. I love this shirt. I've never had a princess shirt before, and likely will never again but I love this shirt.

Scrooge was less than thrilled, saying he wasn't a beast and reminding me that I wouldn't let him get the shirt that said "I'm Grumpy because I'm with Dopey". Which actually wasn't true, I'd tease him he couldn't get it and then he'd say he didn't want it b/c I'm not really dopey lol.

I reminded him that Beast turns out to be a pretty cool dude.

I also found some great pj bottoms, black with cheetah print mickey heads. Sadly they are a wee bit short, I like them long and they did shrink but that happens with most pj pants. I still wear them anyway!

Steven took FOREVER looking at more necklaces but in the end, I don't think, bought anything else.

More so than any other park, all week, probably b/c it was our last night we really meandered with the shopping on the way out. Tink had some of her own money and picked up a very cute eyeore nightshirt. Tired to get me to get the Morning Minnie one but I'm not a nightshirt fan....too much material to twist around the legs, ugh! But of course, when I was Tink's age, I lived in them.

Finally..shopping was done and it was time to say goodbye. One last think to take care of though

the Photopass guy!





See how beautiful the TOL is lit up? Now imagine, looking out at that as you ride up to the top of EE.

Spectacular!

Our PP guy was so cute. He was like "hey, you guys are smiling, that's so cool!" and I asked why, don't most people smile?

And he said....you'd be surprised!



Finally finished, a wee bit sad, we left AK and headed over to AKL for dinner at Boma.

Either I was wiped out, focused on getting a cocktail or just thinking about how dreadfully early we had to get up the next day but like a total idiot, I didn't take a single picture of our last dinner!

So...I stole some

The restaurant is GORGEOUS!





Our reservations were for 8pm. We checked in about 10 minutes early and within 5 minutes our pager was vibrating and we were escorted to our table. Boma is a BIG restaurant and very pretty. It was also pretty darn busy. Our table was right in a main traffic path but as it sat eight we simply moved one chair down so we didn't feel in the path and that worked well.

Scrooge ordered another African Amber and I went for a cocktail of some sort. Obviously nothing special as it is NOT jumping out at me, I think it was a Bahama Mama. It was ok. I was kind of bummed as there had been one cocktail at Yak and Yeti (a Yak attack I think) that I'd hoped would be on the menu, and it wasn't. Oh well.

The younger kids got the mandatory light up cars drink, not on the plan. I'd been surprised that they hadn't asked for it at Kona so I let them get one here (and pre-empted any fighting over my glow cube from PTC). Steven was able to get a different smoothie than we'd seen elsewhere as his beverage and really liked it. Some orange concoction.

Off to the buffet. Boma is in pods and you do not have to go in order but, most people do. If you don't you actually may get a look like you are cutting in line! The menu varies quite a bit. We were there on a Wednesday and the menu included the short ribs and the nut crusted salmon as well as a spice rubbed chicken.

Highlights:

1. Soups! Their soups were simply unbelievable. In particular the Coconut Curry Chicken Stew (medium in thickness with moist chicken and a wonderful base. I would have LOVED to pour this over rice and eat as an entree) and the Carrot Ginger Soup (melt in your mouth subtle flavor creamy delight). Seconds were had on both of these by several of our gang.



2. Hummus! I'm sorry, you can't go wrong with a hummus bar and flatbread! Yum yum and yum.



3. Short ribs. I am not a huge rib eater. These were amazing. They just fell off the bones so no fingers where needed. The recipe I just made for the 4th of July reminded me of these, I need to go look this one up and compare.

4. Salmon. Mnn! I have a spice rub from Tom Douglas that is very reminiscent of the seasoning the used and then coated with crusted nuts. Outstanding.

5. Spice chicken. Classically simple, nice spice, very moist.

6. Potatoes with attitude. While the name says it all these seasoned red potatoes were little gems of flavor. On a side note Steven got the last of one pan and they looked pretty pathetic. Wait for a new pan if they are running low, or ask!

7. Banana Bread Pudding. Not the best bread pudding ever but it was quite good. None of the other desserts really grabbed me and none of my gang really commented on the rest although people tried most everything. I thought the coco-misu was just ok. Fine but nothing super special.


Lowlights:

1. Prime rib. Scrooge liked it but it just wasn't anything special to me.
2. Salad offerings. Nothing was awful, but nothing really grabbed me either.
3. Desserts in general. Ok I may get flamed for this one (b/c I know a lot of people love the Boma desserts) but over half of the items had alcohol in them and while that might be great for Scrooge and I, who wants to be the mean parent at a buffet telling their child they can't have it. I did let Goofy taste one and he didn't like it but I would have expected a better non-alcoholic selection than cookies (which looked like nothing special though the kids liked them.

I would eat here again. AKL is a bit out of the way but if at AK I would go here though I'm more likely to try Sanaa next time. I'd liek to do Jiko but if I'm paying OOP for a signature there are others in front of it in my line up.

I'm just not a big buffet person so that is more likely the issue and on day 6 we were all a little burnt out from too much food. I truly can't imagine the DDP!

For Scrooge though it tied as his favorite meal!

The kids ate well, a bit more mac and cheese than usual but Wall-E downed 2 bowls of the Carrot Ginger Soup and Tink dived into the Coconut Chicken Stew which was a pleasant surprise.

Up next, how long will it take to get back to the resort? boarding passes and billing and a last minute travel change.

plus, the last towel animal. Which wasn't an animal. What was it?

and....having fun, at work, with ride pictures....