Is it a bad sign for the vacation when you faint on the plane? COMPLETED!

[Lady Lallie]

What a nice day! I love reading about what people do when they are not in the parks. I don't think a lot of us give up park days to explore what else there is to do so it's nice to read about those options.

It sounds like Pepper Market would be a great value when on the dining plan.

[Charleston Princess]

Yippie skippy -- another update!!!

We loved eating at the Pepper Market, but I thought it was rather expensive, too. Those nachos were soooo good.

I love the Pirate themed play area -- A LOT. Liam is extra cute playing in the water. I bet he took a good nap after all the fun with ponies and pools.

[TarzansKat]

I feel spoiled by multiple updates!

First of all, and I know I've said it before, but Liam is just so darn cute! I love the pictures of him in the pool. And thank you for including so many pirate pool shots! I did get to see that in September, but I never got close enough to see that Hidden Mickey. Very cool.

Sounds like you had a nice relaxing afternoon. Can't wait to hear more.

[Sarilas]

Expensive lunch indeed! YIKES!

Liam looks so cute inching his way closer to the water...

[If U Had Wings]

The pictures of Liam near the pool are just adorable! Looks like he had a ball playing there.

[LISAMWDW]

Great update! I love the FTW area! Too bad the Petting area/Pony Rides was closed. It's a great way to spend some time. I remember the Rustic areas of WDW from TV as a child and I just love going there. They have hay rides and private carriage rides in the afternoon. They are alot of fun!

Your lunch at PM does sound expensive. At least I hope you enjoyed it!

Love the pics of Liam! So cute!

Can't wait for more!

[myrsfmly]

Liam is so adorable in the pool!

I had no idea that they kept all of the Disney horses at Fort Wilderness... makes sense though... I guess I just never thought about it

The last few times I've been to WDW we've done the dining plan which has really spoiled me and when you start quoting prices it makes my brain hurt!

[tinkgurl]

Oh Liam is adorable swinging and in the pool!

[justplaingoofy]

All of your pics are great, but I LOVE the pic of him walking & following his dad!

We usually stop at Peppers Market (when we're on ddp) and yes, it is a great value. We end up splitting the fajitas or taco salad (before they just changed it, now I'm not so fond of it....used to be ground hamburg and it was Gooooood)

Lovin' hearing about your adventures. I do have a request though....
We're due for a bunch of snow tomorrow and I'll be home all day...could you please give us more installments?

[MRYPPNS]

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

What a nice day! I love reading about what people do when they are not in the parks. I don't think a lot of us give up park days to explore what else there is to do so it's nice to read about those options.

It sounds like Pepper Market would be a great value when on the dining plan.

We always have a couple park free days...it's probably helps that we are able to go on vacation for 9-10 days unlike most people.

Originally Posted by Charleston Princess

We loved eating at the Pepper Market, but I thought it was rather expensive, too. Those nachos were soooo good.

Pepper Market is good food....but I wished we would have checked out the grab and go store to see what they had.

Originally Posted by TarzansKat

First of all, and I know I've said it before, but Liam is just so darn cute! I love the pictures of him in the pool. And thank you for including so many pirate pool shots! I did get to see that in September, but I never got close enough to see that Hidden Mickey. Very cool.

Sounds like you had a nice relaxing afternoon. Can't wait to hear more.

I might have even more kiddie pool/play area pictures in a later update...

Originally Posted by Sarilas

Expensive lunch indeed! YIKES!

Liam looks so cute inching his way closer to the water...

He didn't care for the big bucket that dumps water every 10 minutes but he did get used to it by the end of our time there.

Originally Posted by If U Had Wings

The pictures of Liam near the pool are just adorable! Looks like he had a ball playing there.

If I do say so myself....he was the best dressed kid in the pool...I love those rash/UV shirts for kids.

Originally Posted by LISAMWDW

Great update! I love the FTW area! Too bad the Petting area/Pony Rides was closed. It's a great way to spend some time. I remember the Rustic areas of WDW from TV as a child and I just love going there. They have hay rides and private carriage rides in the afternoon. They are alot of fun!

Your lunch at PM does sound expensive. At least I hope you enjoyed it!

Love the pics of Liam! So cute!

Can't wait for more!

I had debated in the planning stage of going to FW at night for the campfire sing along....maybe when the kids are older.

Originally Posted by myrsfmly

The last few times I've been to WDW we've done the dining plan which has really spoiled me and when you start quoting prices it makes my brain hurt!

I think I'm going to add up at our food purchases and see how close we came to budget...and if I was right not to get the dinning plan.

Originally Posted by tinkgurl

Oh Liam is adorable swinging and in the pool!

I have video of both and he was just having a grand time!

Originally Posted by justplaingoofy

All of your pics are great, but I LOVE the pic of him walking & following his dad!

Lovin' hearing about your adventures. I do have a request though....
We're due for a bunch of snow tomorrow and I'll be home all day...could you please give us more installments?

I love that picture too.

My goal is to finish up Day Two and post it before the end of tomorrow. I need to speed up this TR so I'm done before I give birth.

[DisMomAmy]

Two updates!! The horses at FWC are beautiful! I should go back and check that place out - I'm sure it's very different from when I stayed there as a kid. I really don't remember much about it actually... just when DH and I went to see the HDDR in 1997. It would be nice to have a 2 week trip sometime to explore all of those "other" parts of Disney.

The pool pictures are adorable - I love the ones of Liam putting his face right up close to the water. So cute!

[winkers]

I love the pics of Liam in the pool! So cute!

[MRYPPNS]

Originally Posted by DisMomAmy

Two updates!! The horses at FWC are beautiful! I should go back and check that place out - I'm sure it's very different from when I stayed there as a kid. I really don't remember much about it actually... just when DH and I went to see the HDDR in 1997. It would be nice to have a 2 week trip sometime to explore all of those "other" parts of Disney.

The pool pictures are adorable - I love the ones of Liam putting his face right up close to the water. So cute!

We've done a pretty good job so far in exploring different things at Disney....one of my favorites that I hope to repeat when the kids are older is renting a boat and cruising Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon.

Liam does the same thing in the tub....I think he's going to be a little fish next summer.

Originally Posted by winkers

I love the pics of Liam in the pool! So cute!

He is quite cute isn't he!

[MRYPPNS]

I did it! I finished my update for Day 2 before the end of the Year! Hopefully it will go faster now. Mini Baby Update....I had a quick Dr.'s appointment yesterday and all is good. The results from both ultrasounds were good and showed normal growth and development. My little girl likes to give me a good kick daily to make her presence known!

Evening of Day Two:
So we just got done playing in the pool….it’s time to get ready for dinner. We had a 5:15pm ADR for Chef Mickey’s. I knew the earlier the better for Chef Mickey’s because it’s so popular and I didn’t want to have to wait too long to be seated. While planning I thought this would be the prefect way to introduce Liam to the sights and sounds of Disney….a gentle way to introduce characters and such.



Let me cut to the chase. I should have just taken $75 out of my wallet and lit it on fire….the out come of the night would have been better. Two months later I’m still upset about this dinner.

We drove to the Contemporary and valet parked. I budgeted for valet parking for all of days that we would visit the deluxe resorts. At $10 a pop plus tip it was worth it. We headed in and WOW they have really changed the lobby since we were last there….very nice! Up stairs we go….and then I see the line to check-in….wholly moley! DH and Liam hung back while I stood in line. It took about 15 minutes to check-in. I got the boys back up front with me and we took the picture in front of the plate. I liked it better years ago when the plate back drop was just there and you could have your picture taken at the end of the meal if you wanted….or not at all. You’re kind of forced to pose now.

We were taken to our table within minutes. I don’t think we could have gotten a worst table in the whole restaurant. And I’m still upset with myself for no speaking up and asking for a different table. If you are familiar with Chef Mickey’s, we were seated on the upper section, the opposite end from the dessert buffet. In that section there are 6 tables. 2 giant rounds, 3 4-person tables and then our table: a square 4-person table right at the top of the stairs, against the wall and just in front of the 2 giant tables. When we got seated there was just a nice family sitting at one of the smaller tables. We sat Liam in a high chair and stuck down his disposable place mat (those things are worth every penny when you have a kid that wouldn’t eat off a plate!)




I went up and got Liam’s food, then DH went up and got his plate while I cut up Liam’s food and got him started eating. Then I got up for my plate. Big mistake. I should have waited until the first character came thru because when I got back Goofy was there.





And this Goofy had no clue or just didn’t care when a little kid was a little scared of him. So Liam’s first character encounter was bad. First of all I wasn’t there….yes Dad was there but Liam usually turns to me for comfort. Then I realized that Liam couldn’t see any of the characters until they were right in front of him as they came up the stairs. Hello 7 foot Goofy. My whole theory about he would have time to get used to the characters and to see them work the room from a distance and see other kids with them went out the window.

At that point we decide to move Liam’s seat so he is up against the wall so there is a table between him and the characters. But there’s one problem…it’s a small table, we have it all covered with food and his placemat is already stuck down. So we move his highchair and then pick up the table and rotate it. That was a lot easier then moving everything on the table top.

So I get Liam eating again and the plan is to keep the characters from coming up to him. Then the family of the year starts to get seated in the giant rounds tables and one of the smaller tables. Something like 17 people and 2 strollers. Yes, strollers. Well there doesn’t seem to be enough room/seats for them and they are pissed. And noisy about it. And I’m totally distracted from my meal and my family and not happy about it. A manager comes up and after a few more minutes they all leave.

Then Minnie comes up. Liam doesn’t like her, but we get thru it.



Then Donald comes up. There was a good person in that Donald because he/she recognized that Liam was getting scared so he tried to show him that Mom (me) was ok with him by giving me a hug and just being low key. Liam wasn’t buying what Donald was selling. But I appreciated the effort.





Then the 2 giant round tables are filled with 2 different families. Now let me say first off that they seemed to be nice families and the kids were well behaved and didn’t try to cut in front of the other kids at the 3 other tables for their character time. The problem I had with the tables was that because we were in such a small space it prolonged the character chaos every time one came thru for the rest of our short dinner. All 8 plus kids from the 2 big groups would get up for their autographs, then have to sit back down for 4-5 different Moms to take pictures. It took a long time. And Liam lost it. At this point he stopped eating and was trying to get out of his high chair and crying. We had to take turns walking him about the restaurant dodging the characters.

At some point Liam had calmed down so DH tried to show him Mickey Mouse (as seen in the picture) it almost worked but there was just too much chaos going on.





After the characters had made their rounds and the napkin waving was done so we had a small window of calm where we got Liam back into his highchair. He wouldn’t eat but did have another juice.


We managed a bit of dessert and got the bill.



I hardly ate…I actually didn’t find much on the buffet that I cared for and didn’t take the time to try things. We didn’t buy the picture…it actually wasn’t that bad but not worth $30. And I can’t say I was overly impressed with the service either. We were out of there by 6:30pm. $75 up in flames. And the sad thing is….this wasn’t the worst restaurant experience of the trip.



We did potty breaks and got a pressed penny. I don’t know why we were in such a rush to leave the Contemporary….we never even took 10 minutes to walk around, which is what we do when we visit a resort. It was like rush, rush, rush and I don’t know why. We got the car and because we never had time to talk during dinner or took a couple minutes before we got the car, we had to pull into a parking lot to decide our next move.

I wanted to go to a Disney Outlet store. I have addresses for 3 different ones. I had no idea which was better. I took some time finding them on the GSP. I decided on the one that had 2 stores at one mall….according to the GSP it was 6 minutes further out then the others.

Here we are leaving the Contemporary Resort on our way to the Outlet….following the directions of the GSP.





We didn’t go out the way we came in. We actually took this service type road (that is not on any Disney supplied map) that took us past the employee parking lots for the Magic Kingdom area. Did you know that the employees have there own drive thru bank back there? I thought that was pretty cool. We drove thru a residential area and then back to the I Drive area. We arrived at the Outlet mall and it was packed…I would guess that it was about 7:15pm on a Monday night. We found the store without too much trouble. DH decided to walk around outside with Liam. I wasn’t that impressed. Most of what was there was small items….there were t-shirts but all in smaller sizes….there was nothing for toddlers. Most of the good stuff was available at Mickey Mart at DTD I would discover later in the week.

I spent all of $18 on stickers, an autography/photo album, twist crayons, a coloring book and a POTC notepad. Not really worth the trip all the way out there.



Back to the car we went. Since both DH and I had slept like complete carp the night before, I suggested that we take I Drive back to the resort and stop at a CVS or Walgreen’s and get some meds. And we did just that. Tylenol PM for me and Advil for him.

Liam fell asleep in the car so when we got back to the room we put him is PJ’s, took our drugs, and climbed into bed in time to hear Illumination’s fireworks.


Highlights of Day Two: Liam in the playground swing and playing in the kiddie pool at the resort.

Lowlights of Day Two: Chef Mickey’s and the Outlet Store.

[Charleston Princess]

Okay, here's my confession for the day: I was not impressed with Chef Mickey's food or atmosphere either when we ate there in June. Not one bit. It was loud, chaotic, and everything seemed rushed. I was not impressed with their food at all -- the dessert buffet was the only thing I really liked. I don't see us doing it again, but I am glad that I can say that we've done it once.

I am so sorry that your experience was so miserable. Poor Liam. I hope he gets used to the characters.