*Bye Bye black out dates & HELLO summer of Disney! EPCOT CARB-A-THON! [12/8/13]

[emmebear]

hello everyone!!


a quick intro:

port orleans - riverside [april 2013]


my name is patty & this is my daughter, emme. she is 3 years old. we are both disney enthusiasts! i currently work as a school nurse & am back in school as i am on a journey to reach my goal of becoming an ARNP.

life gets so hectic during the week with work, school, & being a single mom...disney is an amazing place to spend quality time with my daughter & just get a break from reality. i love our time together (cheesy, i know).

emme celebrating her 3rd birthday on board the disney fantasy.




this weekend while at disney, i took the plunge & upgraded my seasonal pass to the ANNUAL PASS!!

which means, BYE BYE BLACK OUT DATES & HELLO SUMMER OF DISNEY!

YES! my new, shiny annual pass.



i'm going to TRY & make it down to disney once a month but that might be difficult with my schedule. we will definitely be down in july for 2 days to meet up with our disfriend rachel. also, my birthday is in august & i have a 2 week break before my new semester of school begins so we will be making the trek to disney to celebrate.


i will be posting my food pictures & reviews and random photos from our days in the parks over the course of the summer in this thread. i'm terrible at writing an actual trip review & prefer doing food reviews.


most importantly, i'm ditching my fancy camera for the summer (it's SO heavy) & will just be using my iphone & lens. i had some separation anxiety this weekend without my canon dslr but i'm not gonna lie....i felt FREE without lugging that thing around especially in the intense heat.


thanks for reading along & happy eating!!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Hi Patty - I'm in! I've always enjoyed your reviews and pics (even though over the past few months my Dis presence has decreased a lot, so I haven't had as much time to comment ).

Sounds like a good choice to leave behind the DSLR. They clearly take amazing pics, but it still feels so good to travel light. (I don't have a DSLR, and that's partially because I wouldn't want to carry around a bulky bag and heavy camera all the time. Also because of the price )

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

YOU ARE MY HERO ---Being a Mommie is such a demanding job, The health Nurse, and Going on to become a Dr.'s right hand. When ever do you sleep, let alone have time for Disney. I get a wonderful Disney fix following along on your trips. Lets see Emme is how old with how many trips under her belt. You and Rachel sure do a great job of keeping my taste buds working . No taste just the getting ready to eat effect LOL


Still hungry Patty ya but I am the older model Patty

 

[BlovesC]

YAY PATTY! The best part of the AP versus seasonal pass, for me at least, is FREE PARKING! And of course, being able to go whenever you want!

And I am so impressed with your ARNP aspirations! How far along are you in your program? I just left my position in an ICU (bless you, nursing is for a VERY special type of person which turned out NOT to be me, I wound up going back to school for social work and finally get my BSW in December!) and two of my coworkers were close to finishing their ARNP program. I helped edit their papers at work because I'm an APA nut, and I couldn't believe the workload they were dealt each semester! But their clinical hours have been SO rewarding, they practically glow when talking about their experiences. It seems to be such a fulfilling path with so many options. My good friend is working toward his CRNA, and his experience so far has been a nightmare in comparison to the ARNP program. OK enough nurse talk!

And I know this is uttered at least once every ten seconds over in Barb's thread, but it cannot be said enough....EMME IS TOO FREAKIN' CUTE! You two should seriously be in a commercial for Disney!

 

[rachel09985]

Yippee for no black out dates!!!

So excited for July and to see you two!

 

[JulieODC]

I'm excited to see this thread! I've enjoyed your previous reviews and pictures and look forward to more. I love following your adventures with your DD too - ours will be 2 yrs at our next trip, so it's fun to see how well your DD handles the parks, meals, etc.

 

[brunelldara]

I am so excited to be following you, we are coming in November/ December 2013.

 

[princess aleya]

Count me in I love reading your TR/Food Reports!!

 

[emmebear]

Hello hello!!

Thanks for joining in! . I will be updating tonight after I'm finished with my class & lab.

Hoooooray!

 

[emmebear]

updated 5/30/13



HELLO DISNEY!!


and so begins my "SUMMER OF DISNEY" food/trip report with photos taken with just my iphone. no fancy, heavy DSLR for the summer! I AM FREE!!


emme & i were in nyc together over mother's day weekend & had the most wonderful time. we returned from nyc @ 1am, i went to work at 8am & then started my first class (after working until 5pm) which was from 6pm-9:45pm. i knew my schedule would be really grueling & i hate missing out on spending time with emme. so i figured, what better than schedule a quick trip to disney over memorial day weekend.

this is one of my most favorite photos i've taken of emme. it was taken at the alexandria building which was home to tom colicchio's "riverpark". my sister treated me to brunch. you can view pics HERE .



i digress....


the trip was going to be relatively short. we would leave after work on friday & return home monday afternoon. disney hotels were outrageous. as much as i love staying on property, sometimes i can't justify the prices...especially when emme & i are in the parks all day.

i tried my luck on hotwire. i've been having some really great luck using hotwire. i booked a 3 star hotel in the downtown disney area for $42. i was holding my breath when i hit submit & then i found out that the hotel was the "best western lake buena vista resort". the room retailed for $140 so i totally lucked out. $42!! that's the price of a meal @ disney. ha ha!

we arrived to our hotel after some horrendous typical orlando traffic. the hotel was right in the heart of downtown disney. the location was absolutely perfect. we check in & our room was on the 17th floor. i was pleasantly surprised with the room. it was large, had a fridge, a great balcony & a wonderful view. i really really lucked out!

i could see epcot from our balcony.



after taking off my scrubs, we got ready to invade hollywood studios. i only had one mission at DHS & that was to ride TSM. emme loves this ride & i figure by going to the park close to park closing then we would have a better chance to ride.

after some complications with my RFID ticket & a visit to guest relations, emme & i made a mad dash to TSM.

but not before seeing this:

while i was irate & standing in line at guest services, rachel text me & let me know that the wait for TSM was really long. this added to my grumpiness. when we arrived, it said it was a 60 minute wait. since this was my only goal at DHS and it was already 925pm (the park closed at 10), i decided to wait.

after standing in the short line, there was no way that the line would take us 60 minutes. we were moving fairly quickly.

we passed mr. potatohead in less than 20 minutes.


soon we were on the stairs looking at this:

and finally, here we were:

i really love TSM. emme loves it as well. being able to ride this really made me happy & our trip was off to a great start.

emme did a fantastic job!!



we exited TSM at about 10pm. i was hoping they would let us in to get a picture with buzz & woody but alas, we ran out of disney luck for the evening. i wanted to head to MK for the 24 hour bonanza but rachel, being the great DISfriend she is, let me know that MK was a total hot mess.

emme was starting to get tired. she spent all day in school & then we had the drive to orlando. i was starving & wanted to have my first disney meal but emme fell asleep.

driving home, i was about to pass AOA so i made a pit stop to AOA. i gently awoke emme & she was so happy to see "the little mermaid new room". tha's what she calls AOA. she calls all hotels the "new room".

technically, i did bribe emme with a toy so that she would wake up. so she was happy to see the hotel but even happier that she would be getting another toy to add to her collection.

emme's new friend.



we made our way here:

after checking out the menu, i saw that there was a new indian dish of "buttered chicken" but to my dismay they weren't open at 10:45. i decided to create my own pasta.

i've been eating better & running a little in preparation for the disney princess half marathon next february. since my last disney trip in april, i've lost 10 pounds.

however, since it's vacation, i thought i would indulge myself in a big ol' bowl of pasta with alfredo sauce. this was totally the best choice at 10:45 pm.

emme also wanted the pasta. i asked if we could add broccoli to her pasta dish. when we were staying in port orleans, i asked the same question as emme loves her some broccoli. the CM replied that if i added anything to a kids pasta dish that they would charge me full price. kind of crazy in my opinion. but the CM added some broccoli to emme's dish which made her really happy.

Create your own pasta: Spaghetti with alfredo sauce, chicken, peas, broccoli, garlic & sun dried tomatoes

i added some crushed red pepper, salt & pepper to my dish. the CM also sprinkled some shredded cheese on top. the pasta was really good. i don't know if it was super delicious because i hadn't eaten since 11am or that i have depriving myself of white carbs for the last month. either way, i ate the entire thing.

until this dinner, i never knew yogurt was an option for a side when you ordered the kids menu. that's amazing as emme loves loves loves yogurt.


the best part about eating at AOA...they accept TIW! and they add no gratuity when you use it. so you save 20% off every time you use it. what a total bargain!

our meal was $14.47. we got a lot of food by disney standards for $14.47. my TIW card saved me $3.40!! i also saved even more as i purchased disney gift cards using my target red card which saved me an extra 5%!

we sat in a very quiet section. it was very relaxing.

after dinner, we headed back to our car but not before stopping by the penny machine.

i bought a penny book for emme. we collect them not when we go to the parks.

close up of our pennies using my iphone lens.



as soon as we got into the car, emme assumed this position...

i was so happy to be in disney but even happier to sleep! what a tough 2 weeks of work, school & being a mom. i couldn't wait to spend the entire weekend with just emme.

up next, 11 hours @ epcot!

 

[bluejasmine]

I always enjoy your TR and Emme is just absolutely the cutest thing ever! ( don't tell DD16!)

So you live in Orlando?

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & BWI Sept 8-15, 2013

 

[emmebear]

I always enjoy your TR and Emme is just absolutely the cutest thing ever! ( don't tell DD16!)

So you live in Orlando?

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & BWI Sept 8-15, 2013

thank you!!

i actually live in jacksonville which is between 2 & 2.5 hours away (depending on how fast you drive).

Hi Patty - I'm in! I've always enjoyed your reviews and pics (even though over the past few months my Dis presence has decreased a lot, so I haven't had as much time to comment ).

Sounds like a good choice to leave behind the DSLR. They clearly take amazing pics, but it still feels so good to travel light. (I don't have a DSLR, and that's partially because I wouldn't want to carry around a bulky bag and heavy camera all the time. Also because of the price )

thank you! loving your report as well too. what are you studying?

i love my dslr but man, that thing is so heavy. once i add my flash, it's even heavier. it kills my back as i carry it in my back pack. i felt so FREE without it! i can enjoy meals with emme & the camera doesn't take up space on the table. it was wonderful. i did have some slight separation anxiety but with the intensity of the heat, i'm glad i am leaving it at home for the summer.

YOU ARE MY HERO ---Being a Mommie is such a demanding job, The health Nurse, and Going on to become a Dr.'s right hand. When ever do you sleep, let alone have time for Disney. I get a wonderful Disney fix following along on your trips. Lets see Emme is how old with how many trips under her belt. You and Rachel sure do a great job of keeping my taste buds working . No taste just the getting ready to eat effect LOL


Still hungry Patty ya but I am the older model Patty

thank you for the nice comments!

YAY PATTY! The best part of the AP versus seasonal pass, for me at least, is FREE PARKING! And of course, being able to go whenever you want!

And I am so impressed with your ARNP aspirations! How far along are you in your program? I just left my position in an ICU (bless you, nursing is for a VERY special type of person which turned out NOT to be me, I wound up going back to school for social work and finally get my BSW in December!) and two of my coworkers were close to finishing their ARNP program. I helped edit their papers at work because I'm an APA nut, and I couldn't believe the workload they were dealt each semester! But their clinical hours have been SO rewarding, they practically glow when talking about their experiences. It seems to be such a fulfilling path with so many options. My good friend is working toward his CRNA, and his experience so far has been a nightmare in comparison to the ARNP program. OK enough nurse talk!

And I know this is uttered at least once every ten seconds over in Barb's thread, but it cannot be said enough....EMME IS TOO FREAKIN' CUTE! You two should seriously be in a commercial for Disney!

i'm not in an ARNP program yet...i'm working my way there!

ICU is tough. i work with kids & i know i will want to stay in pediatrics. when emme was hospitalized in the PICU for 8 days due to seizures (they still don't know why she had 2 of them b2b), i knew i wanted to specialize in peds. it's my calling!

CRNA is super tough. i don't envy your friends workload but i will be slightly jealous of her income!

thank you for the kind words! i hope someone at disney "discovers" emme so we can get some disney hook ups!

Yippee for no black out dates!!!

So excited for July and to see you two!

YES!! emme is so excited & so am i. let's hope corey is too.

I'm excited to see this thread! I've enjoyed your previous reviews and pictures and look forward to more. I love following your adventures with your DD too - ours will be 2 yrs at our next trip, so it's fun to see how well your DD handles the parks, meals, etc.

thank you so much! these pictures won't be as great but that's ok! emme's first trip to disney was when she was 18 months. your DD will love it!!

I am so excited to be following you, we are coming in November/ December 2013.

you are going to be having a fantastic time! let me know if i can be of any help!

Count me in I love reading your TR/Food Reports!!

THANK YOU!!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

thank you! loving your report as well too. what are you studying?

i love my dslr but man, that thing is so heavy. once i add my flash, it's even heavier. it kills my back as i carry it in my back pack. i felt so FREE without it! i can enjoy meals with emme & the camera doesn't take up space on the table. it was wonderful. i did have some slight separation anxiety but with the intensity of the heat, i'm glad i am leaving it at home for the summer.

Thanks so much! I'm actually studying marketing, but I don't know where I'm going to work full-time. (Right now I'm interning at a non-profit, and I'm hoping to find work that I truly enjoy. Your aspirations are really admirable - I'm hoping I can also find something that benefits society!)

As for the DSLR, it sounds great (and definitely adds a unique quality to the photos), but whenever I look at a DSLR on Amazon I'm overwhelmed by how bulky it looks. Extra weight from flash didn't even occur to me - it definitely sounds like a short break from your DSLR will be worthwhile.

As for your first Disney meal of the trip, LoF is a great choice - I love the tandoori offerings so it's too bad that section was closed, but the make-your-own pasta looks really tasty.

 

[rachel09985]

Thanks so much! I'm actually studying marketing, but I don't know where I'm going to work full-time. (Right now I'm interning at a non-profit, and I'm hoping to find work that I truly enjoy. Your aspirations are really admirable - I'm hoping I can also find something that benefits society!)

As for the DSLR, it sounds great (and definitely adds a unique quality to the photos), but whenever I look at a DSLR on Amazon I'm overwhelmed by how bulky it looks. Extra weight from flash didn't even occur to me - it definitely sounds like a short break from your DSLR will be worthwhile.

As for your first Disney meal of the trip, LoF is a great choice - I love the tandoori offerings so it's too bad that section was closed, but the make-your-own pasta looks really tasty.

I studied marketing too along with international business I love my profession that I chose! I do analytical work for PepsiCo in the grocery business. It is definitely the corporate vibe so I am not sure if you would like it if you enjoy your non profit internship! I really like numbers though and not the typical marketing (ads and creativity).

Sorry for hijacking your thread Patty!

 

[rachel09985]

Wow those penny pictures came out cool!

Buttered chicken....hm... I may have to try that! Do you think it is similar to that buttered chicken at Saana?

 

[MissPrice]

Hi there Patty Joining in!! I've loved your updates on the live thread. I'm impressed you have time to work, go to school, and do a dining report!! Congrats on working on you ARNP. I just got my RN and I am applying for my BSN now. Look forward to next update. -Amanda

 

[happy2012]

I'm joining in!! I'm happy to see you got a good deal @ the Best Western in DTD! I have been wondering about those DTD hotels forever, but they never go on sale. We just LOVE DTD!!!!!! Now I see, placing a bid is the way to go. What a steal!!!!!

 

[Harters2WDW]

Love your updates and your sweet DD! My youngest DD is 3 as well. Emme reminds me of my Lillian!

Looking forward to more of your adventures!!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

I studied marketing too along with international business I love my profession that I chose! I do analytical work for PepsiCo in the grocery business. It is definitely the corporate vibe so I am not sure if you would like it if you enjoy your non profit internship! I really like numbers though and not the typical marketing (ads and creativity).

Sorry for hijacking your thread Patty!

Very cool - didn't know you were in marketing! I'd definitely be open to working in a corporation if I'm a fan of the company's products. As far as what part of marketing to go in, I'm not sure - I'm pretty good with numbers, but I'm not sure if I could do that work all the time. It's impressive that you're doing analytical work, and Pepsi is so legit!

And now back to the regularly scheduled dining report

 

[emmebear]

updated 6/1/13


EPCOT day 1: Pre-Soarin'

good morning from the best western lake buena vista!

emme & i awoke about 8am & began our day. the weather was so nice in the morning. we sat on our balcony & just relaxed before we began the hustle & bustle that is disney.

i wanted to get to epcot ASAP so we could make a mad dash & get a FP for soarin'. nothing else mattered this morning but getting a FP for soarin.

my new shirt to wear @ epcot!


after getting ready & making sure i had the back pack properly packed, we were ready to begin our day.

i like driving my car to epcot. parking is always pretty easy & it's a short walk to the front. i have the new RFID pass & when i got to the parking window, they scanned my card & alas, i had to pay for parking. that made me so sad as i did not have the time to update my seasonal pass to the annual pass yet. when i had the paper ticket, more often then not, they would just give me free parking. not this time.


of course, with my luck, we parked at the faaaaaar end of the row. when i mean far end, we were literally 3 cars from the beginning of the line. so i had to give myself a pep talk, gather our things & off we went.

there were a lot of people going into epcot this morning. we made it inside & i had to get a photo of me & emme before we both started looking like total hot messes from the heat.

hello spaceship earth!


i originally had asked another photopass photog to take a picture of my iphone. but when i checked my camera roll, there was no picture. later on in the day, in one of my camera apps, i saw the picture she had taken. i have no idea how she ended up with that app but i'm glad there was a picture of an unenthusiastic emme.

so now, we are officially off towards "the land" to get our fast pass for soarin & to also eat.

we got this fast pass at 11am & it was a 3pm FP. those things go quick!! but now i could relax & just enjoy our morning at epcot since the FP was attained. YES!

emme & i were both starving and made our way to sunshine seasons.

i loved the hot air balloons. really charming!

being asian, i don't really eat much "asian" food when i go out. but after looking at the options, the only thing really appealing to me was the rice & spicy chicken. so we headed to the "asian" section of the menu after ordering emme a side of mashed potatoes from another section.

i did stop & stare at the "pork banh mi" for a few minutes & considered it. but it looked nothing like what a pork banh mi should look like. i didn't want to order the sandwich & then be upset that i ordered it & didn't like it. i love me a good pork banh mi. the baguette is such an important part of the banh mi. the bread on this particular banh mi was not a baguette & the ingredients didn't look authentic and so, rice & chicken it is.

Spicy cashew chicken w/ jasmine rice + side of mashed potatoes + side of jasmine rice + kids milk

i was really happy that they offered chopsticks here! this was a very generous serving & it cost $9.99. the chicken was pretty moist & the rice was cooked properly. there weren't many cashews in this serving to my dismay. the dish also wasn't very spicy. i did add 2 packets of hot sauce but it really didn't do much for the dish. the dish did do the job and filled my craving for rice & a protein so i was satisfied for the most part.

emme enjoyed her mashed potatoes & rice. i wish i had brought her nori with us so we could have wrapped her rice in it but i forgot it at the hotel.

emme's very inventive way on eating her lunch.



sunshine seasons does not accept TIW (boo) & here is the receipt to our meal.

after our lunch, we headed to "the seas" to get some time with emme's favorites, the manatees.

emme also requested to take pictures with her friends....yet, typical emme fashion, looks very disinterested & unhappy in her photos. ha ha.

i really love the seas. it's one of my most favorite parts about epcot. i could literally sit inside for hours. this place is really awesome.

after spending a lot of time at "the seas" we headed over to innoventions so that i could get my free chase visa photo.

but imagine walking out to this. my stroller was moved (i internally panicked) & it took me a few minutes to find the dang thing. but off to innoventions we went.

emme is obsessed with the piggy bank game inside. she loves it. i think she just loves carrying the piggy bank around & putting it inside the special doors etc.

we always save for college & we always do a lousy job at it. i pray this is no indication of emme's college fund that i've already started saving for!


we made it to the chase visa character spot. today, it was minnie & goofy.

minnie was kind of anti-social to us. maybe she was just tired. or maybe i stunk? either way, she wanted to be nowhere near us. goofy stole the show.

we spent some more time inside innoventions which i didn't mind as it was blazing hot outside.

we made our way to world showcase so i could enjoy a nice cold stella & we could go on a mission.


up next, WORLD SHOWCASE!