Mother In Law's Tongue - May 4-12 COMPLETE with VIDEOS & Puppy Update!!!

[budafam]

We were really excited about Downtown Disney. This was all completely new to everyone.



DH was STARVING by this time. Of course we couldn't find any pizza stands so he had to settle for a cherry slushie which seemed to keep him happy for a bit. We enjoyed the view for a bit and sat down to listen to some music while MIL used the potty.









Since everyone was pretty hungry, I doubted we would make it to our 2:30 ADR time before eating so we found T-Rex and I asked if we could get in any earlier. No problem. They took us almost immediately. The kids were SO excited about this one.





We've been to a Rainforest Cafe before (MIL hasn't) so it was pretty familiar... the kids loved it all. The dinosaurs were loud and HUGE. We were seated in the sea life area at a big round table with a booth around it. Love it!









We ordered and I got the Category 5 (my first alcoholic drink of the trip). They asked if I wanted the glass to keep and I said sure. I already had a Rainforest Cafe one from the Mall of America in Minnesota so I figured this would be a nice addition. The drink was very limey tasting. It was almost too much. The alcohol was very strong and I maybe drank half of it before taking over the kids' root beers



We had brought along the printable calendars in order to get 99 cent kids' meals BUT when we ordered, no one got an entree so the calendar coupons were no good. Luckily, I did have my AP which gave us a 10% discount. Good enough. Our food came and YUM! I ordered the Supersaurus Sampler which includes Brachiosaurus Bruschetta, T-Rexadillas, Artifact Stack & Spinach and pepper jack queso with tortilla chips. I knew I was getting this months ago when I saw pics of it on the Dis. It was awesome and I only ate about half. They brought out to-go containers so I got to eat it later on as well.



MIL ordered the Jurassic Salad with a side of shrimp. I'm not sure how much she paid for the shrimp but it was a decent amount and only received a few. She loved the salad though and said it was the perfect portion. She also got the Asteroid French Onion Soup which she loved. I had a taste & it was very yummy. I'm not much of a soup person though.





The menu did show mozzarella but it said "seared" so that threw DH off right away. He ordered a cheese pizza which came with waffle fries (which he would not eat because they were shaped "funny". Yeah, really. He liked the pizza though, ate it all and then ate some of the kids' pizzas as well.





So the kids got pepperoni pizzas and ate maybe half. MIL was feeding them off her plate ??? Why we even order the kids food, I don't know.



Our waiter was excellent. He was very friendly and loved to talk with his hands. We enjoyed the meteor shower that went on about 3 times while we were there. On our way out of the restaurant, DH passed by a waitress that was bringing out some of that seared mozzarella that he steared clear of. Yeah, it was just plain mozzarella sticks. He was kicking himself that he didn't order it. I said "next time"... lol. We stopped to hang out with the dinosaur for a pic and then headed back outside to check out the rest of DTD.

[shalom]

Originally Posted by budafam

She spent the same amount we did (our entire family of 4) on this entire trip...

My MIL is like yours in the indulging kid's food preferences thing, too -- one of the first times we were visiting, she was feeding five different grandkids five different meals -- but, although hubby had some some food quirks when I met him (he wouldn't eat tomatoes because they were "larval"), he was nowhere near as bad as your DH. However, it took me years to convince him that he's not saving money by buying the same sort of worthless junk his mom does, only at a lower price. *sigh*

Interesting to see how similar parenting practices work out differently. In your DH's defense, though, "seared" mozarella sticks does sound weird. But I think I would have asked, "are these your usual deep fried bits of deadliness, or what?"

Originally Posted by disneychic2

I just love the way you did movie night with a matching menu and all!

I meant to comment on this as well. We've done movie nights (well, movie afternoons, mostly -- hubby would rather watch anime during his limited video time ), but it never occurred to me to do a whole themed thing with food. My girls would love that!

[budafam]

After our bellies were full of the yummy goodness from T-Rex, we made our way through DTD. Our first stop was the Lego store. The creations are impressive!





The prices are heart attack worthy!



Needless to say, no, we did not buy anything there. Next up we went into the World of Disney and let the kids go wild. They each got to pick out a toy... and their minds must've changed a million times as we walked through that whole store.







DD ended up with a Tangled figurine set & DS settled on Lotso that smelled of strawberries. DH bought a Perry shirt. MIL bought out the entire store... I'm pretty sure. At least we couldn't fit all the bags in the stroller anymore. I think she bought stuff for everyone she knows.

That store is just awesome to walk around in and look at everything.





While in the store, I got a phone call from "Kirby" vacuum cleaners saying how they wanted to set up an appointment to clean my carpets and try to sell me one of their million dollar machines. I calmly explained that I was in DISNEY WORLD right now. They only called back about 5 more times during the trip *smacking head* ugh...

As we were checking out, a CM called DD over to play a few rounds of bowling.



When they were done, both of the kids got certificates that they had participated. Very neat and we didn't have to constantly say no, no, no while we were checking out and they would've been begging for more stuff.

DS loved this display on the way out.



MIL saw a sports store and we HAD to go in there for my brother in law... the first thing I saw was a football. I said she should buy that for him. I'm not a sports fan and this store was a waste of my time. She said she wanted to look around. Needless to say, 45 minutes LATER she settled on the football... the FIRST ITEM I HAD POINTED OUT! Oh man...



The only halfway cool thing in that store to me was the cars... DH & DS played with the RC cars a bit which was cool.



The kids wanted to do some major pin trading so we went to the Pin Traders store where we found NO ONE with pins. What's with that!? They did find these cool statues to take pics with though...





I had really wanted to go into Goofy's Candy Co. but we didn't see it down the way we went so it must be the other way. Unfortunately, no one else felt like walking anymore so we started heading out. On our way out we saw a music performance going on... they were singing Disney songs. Cool



We were really excited to get to Bonnet Creek which would be our home for the next 7 nights

[mnrhannah07]

I love how detailed your report is! Until I got to the end of the last post, I totally forgot you haven't even checked into your condo yet!!! Not to mention we were at DTD on the same day! I am fully examining your photos on the off chance we might have been around!!! LOL!

[budafam]

It took us awhile to get to Bonnet Creek. DH apparently REALLY likes to look at that famous welcome sign a LOT... lol... we finally found the driveway to Bonnet Creek and we went to check in.





Check in is at 4pm. We arrived in the lobby at 3:45pm.



I walked up to the desk and gave them our name. There were no records showing we were staying there for that week. They had us in the system for the FOLLOWING week! The man behind the desk was not very helpful or reassuring. I started flipping out. I thought we have nowhere to sleep tonight!?! OMG, what do we do!?

I had prepurchased this week from someone on Ebay. He was very reputable and had great feedback. Luckily, I had printed out my confirmation letter and showed it to the guy behind the desk. He took it in the back to show it to management. He came back out and said that they would take my phone number and then call us when they had something available. I asked if they would have something tonight or if we needed to start looking elsewhere. He assured me it would be tonight. I also reinstated that I had called previously to request a fireworks view room. He said they can't guarantee it but they would try. Wonderful. In the meantime he said we could go over to the parking pass desk and get our stuff over there.

Bonnet Creek is a timeshare resort. So of course, the lady behind us was trained to grill us about buying a timeshare. Luckily, we make less than the SMALLEST amount on the survey we filled out (haha!) so she didn't even question us once. We went and sat down in the lobby area and waited. And waited. And waited. They were serving snacks as well as lemonade so we filled up on that and then took a walk around to check everything out.

There was a nice bar area outside leading to the pool. They had live music going on. We walked over to the game room and sat in there for a bit.





There was a lady doing free face painting but she just took her last kid We went and sat in a living area with a tv, computer & pool tables that were occupied already. We sat there and watched a basketball game on tv for about 30 minutes. It was now 5pm and I was really beginning to get mad. DH said if they didn't call within 5 minutes, he was going back in to raise some ****.

Those were the magic words. As soon as he said that, my phone rang. We have your room ready! Hallelujah! We ran to the front desk, collected our keys and they gave us the superb news that we did indeed get a fireworks view. WHOO!!! I was still a little peeved but that made me feel better. We stopped on our way out in the general store they have in the lobby to pick up a 6 pack of beer for the night. I needed something after all that... I paid $13.64 for a 6 pack of beer. That better be the bestest stuff on the planet I tell ya!

We were in Tower 5 and on the 15th floor. Goodness! We grabbed a few bags and made our way to see where our new digs were going to be.



This place was AMAZING. I've only stayed on property before this (at Pop Century both times) so staying off property scared me a bit but seriously, how can you go wrong here? It costed LESS than a Disney value and had over 1,000 square feet MORE. They have pools, stores, music, bars, restaurants, room service, activities & shuttle service.







The master bedroom & bathroom...









MIL & the kids' bedroom & bathroom...









Not to mention... that fireworks view that we got? Yes. Truely AMAZING.













I had ordered groceries from We Go Shop. I looked into Garden Grocer but they didn't have the certain types of pizzas that DH will eat so I had to order special and We Go Shop seemed the most reasonable. I ordered him Mountain Dew & Jack's pizzas. Everything else, we really didn't care if it was off brand. We Go Shop called us at 6pm when they were supposed to deliver our groceries and said they were running late. No problem, we were going to be in our resort all night. At about 7:30pm she called again to say she was on her way. We met her downstairs and brought a luggage rack down to haul all of the groceries. As soon as we got upstairs, we realized that she had bought Publix 4 cheese pizzas. DH was livid. This was the one thing (his safety) that assured him he would eat well while in Disney and not have to suffer. It was a huge deal to him. Ugh. Never again.

I also participated in the "Pay it Forward" thread here on the Dis for Bonnet Creek. We got Bin #1 which was stuffed FULL of goodies. There were all kinds of spices, some food, alcohol, straws, napkins, pool inflatable, crockpot, etc. It was a wonderful way to stock the kitchen without having to go shopping.

We spent the first night on the balcony enjoying a few beverages and watching Illuminations & Wishes. It was awesome. I recorded both of the shows and MIL came out in the middle of me recording. She had a few too many already and was talking NONSTOP. She started to go into detail about her financial situation and pretty much laid out everything they make and what they pay out. Let's just say, it does NOT balance out. The only reason she was on this vacation was because she took a loan out from her 401K! So here we sit, our family of 4 making 1/4 of what her & her DH make and we had the whole trip prepaid before we even left. It made me feel like I was doing something right. MIL realized I was recording about halfway through her rant and then she told me to edit that all out. Yeah, I'll get right on that. lol...

I spent every single night watching the fireworks either from the balcony or our bedroom window. MIL said she got sick of watching fireworks after the first night (yeah, I know! ???)

[shalom]

I was all over the Pin Traders store last year, and I do not remember those statues. Of course hubby was all, "Can we go now?" the whole time. I am totally going without hubby next year.

Goofy's is between the Pin Traders store and Rainforest Cafe, so you were right close.

I had pretty much decided not to stay at Bonnet Creek next time -- eldest son wants me to stay at another resort that has city bus service -- but after your pictures I'm waffling again. And you haven't even gotten to the lazy rivers yet! The story about them losing your reservation is scary, but I'm glad to hear they got you a unit that fit your original request.

[Britard]

I am late to the report, but happy to be joining in.

Can I just say...how awesome was your view!!!!

[budafam]

Originally Posted by shalom

I was all over the Pin Traders store last year, and I do not remember those statues. Of course hubby was all, "Can we go now?" the whole time. I am totally going without hubby next year.

Goofy's is between the Pin Traders store and Rainforest Cafe, so you were right close.

I had pretty much decided not to stay at Bonnet Creek next time -- eldest son wants me to stay at another resort that has city bus service -- but after your pictures I'm waffling again. And you haven't even gotten to the lazy rivers yet! The story about them losing your reservation is scary, but I'm glad to hear they got you a unit that fit your original request.

I am all for trips without hubbies! lol... oh man! How did we miss Goofy's!? Ugh, oh well... we'll just HAVE to go back next time... That resort was awesome. I would stay there again if I was guaranteed the same room and same view BUT if we have 4 or less people in our party, I'll most likely stay on property.

[budafam]

Originally Posted by Britard

I am late to the report, but happy to be joining in.

Can I just say...how awesome was your view!!!!

Wasn't it!? If you look to the right of the Epcot ball, you can see the Contemporary and in between the ball and the Contemporary, there's an itty bitty spike that's the castle. It was fantastic.

[budafam]

I got to bed at about midnight, only to be awaken by my MIL at 2am!!! DD had a high fever. MIL was flipping out. She said DD was hallucinating. DD is 3. I think that's all 3 year olds do is hallucinate.. lol. I got up with her and had to pretty much yell at MIL to just go back to bed. There was no point in the two of us losing sleep. I stayed with DD on the couch and watched my first good dose of Stacy. I LOVE the must-do's. DD was on fire. Her entire body was burning up and of course, the one thing I forgot to pack was Children's Tylenol. Doh! I kept a cool washcloth on her while she napped on the couch. The couch was just small enough that I couldn't get comfortable. I tried to sleep on the chair but that was even worse. At 4:30am I crawled back into bed for an hour since DD's fever had broke. I got an hour of sleep. YES! Bring on Magic Kingdom!

DD seemed fine in the morning. She had a little fever but no other signs of sickness. We figured it was just from the heat and then being in air conditioning... she ran a fever on and off for the rest of the trip but nothing else.

When we all woke up, the kids found that Mickey had left presents for them (they know they're from me of course)... they were super excited!



We took the monorail over and as we were walking down the ramp, MIL made the comment about how Disney really likes to use "Mother In Law's Tongue" in their parks alot. I gave her a funny look and she explained that "Mother In Law's Tongue" is a plant which she pointed out to me. She said it's a really hearty plant and doesn't quit growing... kind of like how mother in law's don't ever stop talking... that's why they named it "Mother In Law's Tongue". So there's that story. I tried to keep a straight face as I kept on walking.

I really had wanted to have a good chance of getting picked for Family of the Day but no one felt like going that early and then sitting there if we weren't picked... ugh... so I obliged and we arrived at bag check around 8:15am. MIL went into the store right outside rope drop and bought DD some Children's Tylenol. I couldn't believe how cheap it was there! I was expecting her to pay about $15 for it but it was a full bottle and only $2.50! I think that's cheaper than at home! She also bought DH a gray Mickey visor. He has blue eyes and ALWAYS complains about how the sun makes his eyes water. I've only met a handful of people that have this issue. DH, MIL & DS are all victims. This condition also makes for great pictures taken in the sunlight.

We went ahead and took our place behind the rope on the left side of the train station. There was a mom with her two kids right next to us. It was their first time and they had no idea what to expect. I gave them a few tips and said make sure you're ready to go when they do the countdown! Then we talked with the people behind us and one of the girl's names was ACTUALLY Minnie. She showed me her drivers license. Unreal! So cool! We saw them later on in the park.





My plan of attack was to head straight for Dumbo. Only DS & I have been on Dumbo before and I was really excited to be able to ride the new one this time. Then we would make our way around Fantasyland and eventually make our way over to Space Mountain.

And we were off! I ran ahead of everyone to get some pics of a beautiful, empty Magic Kingdom. The last time DS and I did this, we entered onto Main Street to find the group One Republic filming their music video for the Good Life. This was bringing back memories









We headed over to the new Fantasyland...





We got to Dumbo and it was CLOSED! Ugh... they were having problems with it and were hoping to have it running later on.



Well, we came all this way so we decided to ride Barnstormer. This would be another first for everyone. DS immediately started freaking out.



I rode with DD and took video... she did not expect it to go so fast... DS was crying the entire time ??? They were happy when we got off. I took everyones' tickets and ran over to Peter Pan to get some fastpasses. The machines were down (and that's quite the walk!) I was so disappointed. Just as I was walking away a lady ran up to me with a handful of fast passes and asked me how many I needed. I thanked her over and over and ran back over to Winnie the Pooh where everyone was waiting for me. We quickly rode that.



Then we went on Snow White which I knew would be our last time ever riding it (RIP Snow White).



We made our way over to Tomorrowland and sat down for a bit to take a little break. We noticed PUSH the Talking Trash Can was out and about so we went and talked to him for awhile. The kids got such a kick out of him. I recorded the whole thing and will post that later on. We then headed over to the raceway. This was another first for us.











DH rode with DS & MIL rode with DD. I got to ride alone and by the sounds of it I had the smoothest ride ever... lol... they both let the kids drive.



After that ride we went and picked up Space Mountain fast passes just as the ride was shutting down. They were having problems with it but promised it would be back up later.



We had to go and use our Peter Pan fast passes by this time so we headed back over there. DH did a big naughty and took pics on the ride. With a flash. Ugh. I yelled at him afterwards. Here's a naughty pic:

[shalom]

Originally Posted by budafam

How did we miss Goofy's!?

I don't remember if it's kiosks in the way or what, but it's not obvious from Pin Traders, at least to me. I kind of suspect the first year we went, we walked right by it and still managed to miss it. It may be we didn't see sooner because we're just so easily distracted, and it isn't a problem for anyone else, but the only reason we found it last year is that I knew where it was on the map and just kept looking.

I am taking hubby to the parks next time -- I just won't let him come along if I'm shopping.

At the dark show at SeaWorld, right after I reminded him no flash, hubby shot off the flash (he was convinced he'd turned it off and I wanted him to check first). So I got up and sat elsewhere. My eyes do not adjust as fast as they did when I was younger. Definitely need to remind him not to be flashing people on the dark rides when we're out -- and may not ride with him on those.

[marmalade]

I always thought I was an on-site only kinda gal. After looking at the pictures from your room, especially that view, I might change my ways. Why do kids always develop fevers at WDW? My kids always have something wrong when we go. Fevers scare the bejesus out of me too, glad to hear it came down on it's own.

[budafam]

We started making our way through the rest of the park and before we knew it, we were in front of the Tiki Room. DS & I had seen this on our last trip and loved it. It was down for refurbishment on our very first trip so we all got in line to check it out this time.



Everyone enjoyed it and we were all singing it for the rest of the trip. You just can't deny that's a catchy tune It was time for us to head back to The Plaza for our lunch time ADR. I booked this reservation kind of last minute considering The Plaza is a nice place to cool off and for pretty close to the same price as a QS, we can get a nice sit down lunch served to us. I got in line to check in and waited about 15 minutes before getting up to the podium. An older man butted in front of the person in front of me to MAKE an ADR for later on in the afternoon then he tried to joke with everyone in line to smooth over his unacceptable behavior. Ugh. I just stared him down. I get that some people just don't KNOW about making ADR's ahead of time but if you don't, then GET IN LINE! I can't stand people who think they can just budge like that. Once I got the beeper, we ended up waiting another 15 minutes in the HOT, HOT sun. It seems there is always a wait here... they should be expanding this restaurant's dining room rather redoing Main Street Bakery. Everyone was crabby & complaining. I snapped a pic of them trying to look happy while cooking alive. Finally, we started buzzing.



Ahhh, coolness. We were seated right in front of the entrance doors which was alright... they kept opening and we could hear the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade going by... I was saddened that we were missing it I ordered the Plaza Club which came with Broccoli Slaw.



MIL ordered the grilled reuben. DH & I have a bit of an inside joke about my MIL & the reuben sandwich. Everytime she visits she always brings up how AWESOME the reuben sandwich is at Culver's. She goes on and on about it and then forgets the following time that she has told us this already. So we made sure to ask her if it was as good as Culver's. she said no but it was very good.



DH was in heaven. They actually had a grilled cheese here. I remember reading that before our first trip and I sent him to get one here while we were waiting for Wishes to start but since it was reservations only, he was unable to obtain one. He was so upset... today he was finally happy to get his beloved sandwich, and a double decker at that WITH fries. Heaven.



The kids split a meal of grilled chicken sticks that came with sliced green apples.



and of course, their dessert...





The waitress had them split the Mickeylodeon in half for each of them so they wouldn't have to share a cup. It still seemed pretty big to us and neither one finished it. We finished and paid our bill, then we had to go use up our fast pass for Space Mountain. I rode this with DS on our last trip but DH had never been on it so I sent him & his mom to go on it first. I waited with the kids in the gift shop... we did some more pin trading. Then they came out and we got their pic loaded on our card.



Nice face MIL!

Then it was my turn with DH (we did the rider switch)... We could not figure out when they did the picture. I know there's a part in the darkness where they have a bunch of flashes go off and that's where I figured it was. DH "claims" he knew but I know he didn't... you can tell by the pic. I was recording only through the blue lighted tunnel in the beginning.



Best. On-ride Photo. EVER. I keep telling DH I'm going to have that blown up and framed. haha... after the ride, we made our way back over to Main Street and stopped for a few Photopass pictures.





We went and found a place for the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. We took our seat right around 2:30pm. There was a Photopass photographer doing magic shots so I sent DS with the card over to her while we sat on the curb. Then I sent DD over to join them since they were putting Tinkerbell in their hands. The photographer looked so worried. She kept looking around trying to find their parents so I started waving my hands... lol... she said "I couldn't believe this little kid had a $200 Photopass card. Where did this kid get a $200 Photopass Plus!?!" lol... we had a good laugh.







The love bugs were out in full force. They were all over us. It was our first and only experience with them the entire trip. One of the CM's came over and explained to the kids that they won't hurt them, they're just annoying. Poor DD had them crawling in her hair. Finally, it was time for the parade to begin!













This was the first time I ever got to see Flynn Rider and DH was in charge of the camera. I told him to take a TON of pics and he did

Honestly, I loved where we were sitting. Since the other side of the street was covered by the Main Street Bakery facade, no one could sit over there so allll of the characters came over to our side which was extra special.

The crowd after the parade was over:

[ShesAPirate]

Really enjoying your TR (and read all your others last night haha). Looking forward to more!

[budafam]

Originally Posted by ShesAPirate

Really enjoying your TR (and read all your others last night haha). Looking forward to more!

Thank you! I just went back to check out my first one and realized that I never linked all of the "chapters"... oops! lol... I hope I keep up on this one!