Compromise is a Disney word: Taking one for the team over Thanksgiving 2016* August PTR link! 5/28

[ArielSRL]

I read your update two nights ago and kept getting pulled away before I could respond. Sorry!

Yay for another meet up! I think AJ would really like (and get) the Colortopia thing. Not so sure about Will. Might should make some time for either Chad or myself to split up and let AJ have a turn at it. Hmmm...will keep that in mind for our 1.5 Epcot days.

Yay for another margarita!! Sergio looks fun!

Ok, looking forward to your actual Disney Springs night!

 

[wdwnut61]

Happy New Year!

Love the latest update and agree with Chris Test Track is awesome. DD took over making our too but it's fun to watch all the crazy things they select. I wish I had my shades for this trip. The sun was much brighter this November going to have to remember to bring them in March or maybe get new ones
I love your snow white shirt I remember when you posted a pic on your PTR. The Avocado drink looks yummy must try more on our next trip.

Took Kathy back on Saturday spent over 9 hours in the Philly airport. Our first flight was canceled and second flight was delayed due to the storms in the south. We got to St Augustine at 10 pm thankfully I was able to rebook my flight home on Sunday to a later time so I could help her move in. Flight home was delayed an hour due to mechanical issues. They tried rebooting the plane twice like a computer . Got home at 11:00 pm then up at 4:30 am the next morning because I had to select my FP's before going to work. Good news we got everything we wanted and great times.

Can't wait for the next installment

 

[ariane37]

It's A Great, Big, Beautiful Shopping Mall.....But At Least It Has BASKETBALL
​

Before I start this update I want to backtrack a little regarding Steve and Ricky. Originally when we knew they weren't coming down with us on the 19th, Steve re-booked them to fly down Tues. the 22nd, arriving at MCO about 11:30 pm. This would suck, but Ricky would be able to go to his practice Tues. Practices are usually right after school or shortly after school so beginning somewhere between 2:30 & 4:15. When the team roster was announced on the 16th they were only given their schedule through the 21st and practice ended up being 6:15-8 Fri. and Monday, so we knew if that was the case for the 22nd he'd miss it even with the late flight. Steve was like, "why are we waiting to leave until 8:30 at night if he'll miss practice anyway?" SO, in anticipation of Ricky finding out on the 21st that his practice on the 22nd was indeed not until 6:15, way back on the 19th after dropping Chris and I at the airport Steve booked an additional flight leaving at 6:30 am on the 22nd. Now we just had to wait until Ricky's practice Monday night the 21st to confirm his Tues. practice wouldn't start until 6:15 to see what time they were actually coming in. Either way, tomorrow they would be here

GOT IT?? GOOD!​

I left off as we were going back to the Beach Club to catch a bus to our evening destination, Disney Springs. And I'm definitely not wrong this time, we actually DID go to DS this night! We both wanted to grab sweatshirts from the room because again, it was getting a bit chilly. Luckily tomorrow it would warm up.
Much to Chris's dismay I begged for a selfie while waiting at the bus stop. Both boys make fun of me because they say I don't know how to take them but when my sister was down for Christmas they had no problem letting her take multiple selfies with them



Bus ride wasn't bad; of all the bus rides the one to and from DS is usually the only one I dread. Soon we pulled up to a somewhat unfamiliar bus depot. We hadn't been here since last November-Steve and I skipped it on both our Jan. and Aug. trips in 2016-and we were interested to see all the changes which I knew were going to be plentiful.
We got out and followed the masses through what I can only describe as........a mall. I didn't take pictures at first because I was dumbstruck; I know this isn't everyone's opinion and I don't totally hate the new DS, but I think for those who have been going for years it takes some getting used to:



They had a pretty tree in the square there, you can see it ahead in the picture above:



It's not NOT pretty. It is. It reminds me of other malls I've been to. And all the new stores, while good, aren't Disney stores and with a couple exceptions I don't care to do my regular shopping there while on vacation. I'm sure the locals love it because it's a very nice way to shop since you don't have to just be indoors like a regular mall and the later it got the prettier it looked all lit up, but I just don't LOVE it.



Our snacks from La Cantina had worn off so our first order of business was finding Chris's pick for dinner. At some point, and I think it was on our way to eat, we passed Homecoming. That whole area is very nicely done and I'm trying to talk Steve into eating there! However Chris had something else in mind:



I've done my review over in my dining report; Chris loved it, I was satisfied. It was crowded! I know from the pictures it doesn't look bad and it wasn't bad walking around, but we ate during prime dinner time so Blaze was pretty packed. After we ate we were ready to do some exploring! We found the new Under Armour store and Uniqlo and I dragged Chris in, but I didn't really like anything in there. Chris had one place in particular he was looking for and right by Uniqlo we found it:



Marcus Jordan's Trophy Room! I don't believe I have any big basketball fans reading except maybe @Whit64130, but you know my boys love it. So when I told them Michael Jordan's son had opened a store in Disney Springs housing some of his dad's memorabilia I knew they'd both want to go there Bear with me now guys, I have some pics:

First, some merchandise for sale:




*Spoiler Alert* these sneakers are in my house right now:


This sneaker is not in my house. This is M. Jordan's old sneaker and since he's like, a size 18 or something, it wouldn't fit either of my boys:


It doesn't look that big in the picture but believe me, it is! We've seen his old shoes in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Ct. too, HUGE. On the walls are some blown up pictures of Marcus and his siblings with Disney characters and visiting Disney when they were younger:



I think that picture is from LTT when they used to have characters. It's a neat store if you're into basketball and the staff were very enthusiastic and friendly. I did my time in there and, much like the pool the day before, dragged Chris out eventually. He really wanted those sneakers but when I told him they'd have to be an early Christmas present he waffled. And waffled. And waffled some more, hence the dragging out of the store. The prices were very comparable to Finish Line and Foot Locker but he'd just gotten new basketball sneakers before we went away, not to mention sneakers for school in Sept. and those puppies ain't cheap! So eventually we moved on. I kind of wanted to see the Disney Christmas trees even though the reviews were kind of stinky, saying they were small, but they were located at the complete opposite end from where the buses are. Even when we got over to World Of Disney we were still kind of far from the trees and it was getting cold out, so we decided to wait until Steve and Ricky came down since Ricky wanted to go to the Trophy Room anyway. I also wanted to go in my favorite store, Tren-D, but Chris was about done. We did go in World of Disney because I was on the hunt for a new sweatshirt, but the one I want wasn't in my size so we left with just a bag of cheese popcorn for Chris. But you know what's pretty much right outside WoD?



Uh-huh! We had to go in and take a look and we couldn't leave empty-handed. Chris got a chocolate mousse thing and I got this:


This is one of their Petit Cakes, an 11 layer Red Velvet and Chocolate cake with lots of good stuff in it! We took our snacks back to the room and ate parts of them. They were very rich so we put them in the fridge for another day but sadly, we never finished them.
It was about 8:15ish when we got back to Beach Club so after going down to the Marketplace to fill our mugs and eating cake, I watched the clock for fireworks time. I wanted to catch Illuminations again and see if we could see any Jingle Bell Jingle BAM fireworks. This was the first night we'd be in the room during the show, so I went outside at 9 and to my right:



Illuminations!!

And to my left..........


YES!!
I know I'm not the first person to have a fireworks view from my balcony, but let me tell you how much cooler it is to be able to see TWO shows, one on each side of you, and SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!



I didn't know where to look! While I was watching both shows Steve called and told me they'd be taking the 6:30 am flight, yay! This meant they'd be landing around 9:15 and not only that, but they'd be able to eat at Be Our Guest with us tomorrow night! If they took the original flight they'd miss dinner and that was another one they were both looking forward to. So while I was turning my head as if I were watching a tennis match Steve and I discussed plans for the next day. Eventually we hung up and I went inside where Chris was on his Ipod (of course ). Now that they'd be here for the whole day, which I was happy about, I was rethinking our plans for Tues., again. If you're keeping count I had 1. my original plans, 2. my revamped plans once I knew it might only be Chris and I, and now 3. a possible new or another revised plan so we'd be at the resort to meet them when the arrived. I contemplated this while watching TV and getting ready for whatever was happening in the morning!

UP NEXT: TWO BECOME FOUR ​

 

[ariane37]

I think AJ would really like (and get) the Colortopia thing. Not so sure about Will.

There were definitely younger kids, 2 and 3 years old, doing the mural painting in the 2nd room plus lots of kids Chris's age, so they may both like it

Sergio looks fun!

He is! I'm glad we finally caught him. Steve's never seen him so we're going to try to when we go in May. I think your boys would like him, too!

I love your snow white shirt I remember when you posted a pic on your PTR

Thanks! Macy's It was very comfortable, too.

Took Kathy back on Saturday spent over 9 hours in the Philly airport. Our first flight was canceled and second flight was delayed due to the storms in the south. We got to St Augustine at 10 pm thankfully I was able to rebook my flight home on Sunday to a later time so I could help her move in. Flight home was delayed an hour due to mechanical issues. They tried rebooting the plane twice like a computer . Got home at 11:00 pm then up at 4:30 am the next morning because I had to select my FP's before going to work. Good news we got everything we wanted and great times.

OMG I can't stand delays and I especially hate sitting around in airports, but you can't get mad when it's a safety thing I guess. Glad Kathy is back and settled. I do have to laught at "rebooting" the plane though, I've never heard that!
Glad you got all your FP's! I just checked my day for our May trip-March 19th-I really need to get to planning

 

[Raeven]

I like how DS looks, I do like malls though. Although I'm not a fan of all the stores they added since we do live close to several malls and they aren't stores I'd shop at on vacation too since I can go anytime but I guess that saves some money!

That Amorette's cake looks so good!

Viewing 2 firework shows at the same time sounds awesome too.

 

[ariane37]

I like how DS looks, I do like malls though. Although I'm not a fan of all the stores they added since we do live close to several malls and they aren't stores I'd shop at on vacation too since I can go anytime but I guess that saves some money!

Oh don't get me wrong, I love malls and I LOVE shopping. I could make a whole vacation out of shopping!! And I think they did a good job of making it look nice and, I guess, "updated", but on the other hand I think it's completely different than what it used to be. Which I suppose is the point. I also am not a fan of change so that doesn't help lol!
Most of the stores they've added are around here also and I don't see the point in buying stuff there to lug home when I can use that space for Disney souvenirs My Goddaughter would flip over that huge Sephora store though.

 

[xlsm]

I totally forgot that Colortopia thing was in the Innoventions building. Spoiler alert - that means we didn't go there, LOL!

You should definitely talk Steve into Homecoming, because it was my second favorite meal of the trip!

I agree about Disney Springs looking like a mall in the new section. I thought it was beautiful, but it definitely didn't feel like the Downtown Disney of the past. We didn't spend much time there at all. I was excited to see the Kate Spade and L'occitane store there, since we don't have either of those locally. I have a Kate Spade obsession, and all of my stuff is ordered online...I can only imagine how bad it would be if I had a brick and mortar close by to wander around in (although they carry a lot of it at Dillards now). I could do some real damage to the ol' bank account at Disney Springs.

I like that there are pics of MJ's kids on the walls of that store. It makes me miss when LTT was a character meal. I ate there on my first ever trip and it is a special memory for me.

Woohoo!! Steve and Ricky are on the way!! I'm so glad they were able to take the early flight and have the whole day!

 

[disneylove16]

Joining a little late, but I just got caught up. Love your report so far!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am exhausted just reading all of the logistics that you guys went through! Glad you will all be re-united soon!

 

[ariane37]

You should definitely talk Steve into Homecoming, because it was my second favorite meal of the trip!

I know, at first the menu didn't "wow" me but the more reviews and pictures I read/see, the more I think I'll love it! One problem also is that our May trip is so short , he's requested Citricos dinner, I really want to try the Wave breakfast and I know we'll want to eat tons at the F&G booths so I'm hesitant to make more ADR's than those 2. But in all honesty I'm majorly slacking on the May plans so once I sit down and concentrate I might just slip another meal or 2 in

I agree about Disney Springs looking like a mall in the new section. I thought it was beautiful, but it definitely didn't feel like the Downtown Disney of the past. We didn't spend much time there at all. I was excited to see the Kate Spade and L'occitane store there, since we don't have either of those locally. I have a Kate Spade obsession, and all of my stuff is ordered online...I can only imagine how bad it would be if I had a brick and mortar close by to wander around in (although they carry a lot of it at Dillards now). I could do some real damage to the ol' bank account at Disney Springs.

I hear you on the damage, that's I've been on Main St. in the store....I can never remember the name......where they have the D&B bags, Pandora charms, Alex & Ani bracelets. I always need to be stopped! I also got excited when we went back to the Trophy Room with Ricky even though I wasn't spending for myself and if we'd gone in the UA store I could have just handed over my cc and shopped for all of us endlessly. I sent a picture of the Sephora store to my 18yo Goddaughter and she flipped! We have Sephora in our mall and also at the outlet mall about 30 minutes from us but neither is as big as the DS one!

Woohoo!! Steve and Ricky are on the way!! I'm so glad they were able to take the early flight and have the whole day!

I was too! I loved my time with just Chris and I'd love to do that with just Ricky, but I did feel bad they weren't with us. And I was glad they were getting a whole "extra" day The best part was, I could hear Ricky's excitement about that when we spoke that night!

Joining a little late, but I just got caught up. Love your report so far!!!

Thank you for reading and I'm glad you're enjoying it I hope I can continue to keep you entertained lol

I am exhausted just reading all of the logistics that you guys went through! Glad you will all be re-united soon!

It was definitely exhausting! Worth it in the end though. Be glad your girls are still young enough that their schedules aren't dictated by their activities It'll come though, I'm sure.........

 

[KathyM2]

I'm in awe of all the juggling too with schedules and such. My kids are just getting to that stage where missing school and other activities is starting to matter, and ...its going to wreak havoc with my travel plans! So I feel for you, but you did an amazing job! That red velvet cake looked amazing..red velvet is my fave...have to eat it whenever I see it!

 

[Imagineer5]

Woohoo great updates!! What a fun day at EPCOT and evening at DS. First of all, sorry the GG BF got cut short, but at least you got on Soarin (Love it too!) and bf looked amazing (I'll go comment on the dining report next). That color thing at Innoventions is something Aria would enjoy, and I hadn't even heard of it before, whoops! I'll have to remember it for June, although I am surprised how long it is taking them to do something with both Innoventions.

DS, I like it, although it does seem like an outdoor mall, but we don't have many of those here and I do think DS is beautiful. Love all the new restaurants too! Blaze is delicious, so I look forward to reading your dining report on that. Awesome ending with fireworks coming from both directions!! And yay on the early flight! But I think it was neat to have that one on one time with Chris, too!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I wanted to also ask... Where did you get yoru shirt? I love it!

 

[kittylady1972]

I thought I responded...guess not. Loved the update! I'm not even sure we saw that tree at Disney Springs. We drove and parked at the parking lot and I was determined to find the smaller trees...but hadn't read the reviews...and believe me I was definitely disappointed so I don't think you missed anything there. Maybe it is cooler at night? It was snowing...and it was sunny out...which was interesting I guess.

Sounds like a great day overall and great mom for going into the shops for your kid! I'm not much of a shopper but we did go in WoD while there and spend the last of some of my Disney dollars from my Disney Visa though.

Glad the boys were able to catch an earlier flight and could join you for your other plans!

 

[cinderkelly]

Now we just had to wait until Ricky's practice Monday night the 21st to confirm his Tues. practice wouldn't start until 6:15 to see what time they were actually coming in. Either way, tomorrow they would be here

Wow, readin that made my head spin! I'm glad it all worked out for you though!

Much to Chris's dismay I begged for a selfie while waiting at the bus stop.

Cute photo!

This is one of their Petit Cakes, an 11 layer Red Velvet and Chocolate cake with lots of good stuff in it!

So pretty! I am going to have to get something there next time. I always worry that things like that look better than they taste, but their things are really beautiful.

I like the vibe of DS around where the water is, but the "mall part" is just ok for me too. I just can't spend all that $$ on a vacation and then hop into Kate Spade and drop another chunk of change on a handbag.

They were very rich so we put them in the fridge for another day but sadly, we never finished them.

I've been guilty of leaving multiple huge cupcakes from QS places in the fridge also. I have the best of intentions to eat them as a late night snack but I'm either too tired or not in the least bit hungry to ever get to them. So sad

I wanted to catch Illuminations again and see if we could see any Jingle Bell Jingle BAM fireworks.

Did you have a SV room at BCV? What an awesome view!

 

[ariane37]

I'm in awe of all the juggling too with schedules and such. My kids are just getting to that stage where missing school and other activities is starting to matter, and ...its going to wreak havoc with my travel plans! So I feel for you, but you did an amazing job!

Hi Kathy! Ugh it was so much easier when they were younger, not only could I take them out of school with no worries but all we had to do (if they were playing on any rec teams) was say "hey coach, we won't be here next week!" I miss those days!
But thank you for the compliment, I hope to never have to do that again lol.

That red velvet cake looked amazing..red velvet is my fave...have to eat it whenever I see it!

Yes on the red velvet, it's my favorite. There's a red velvet cupcake at Starring Rolls in HS that I've always wanted to try but Renee (@ArielSRL said it wasn't that good so I had to find my red velvet elsewhere

Woohoo great updates!! What a fun day at EPCOT and evening at DS. First of all, sorry the GG BF got cut short, but at least you got on Soarin (Love it too!) and bf looked amazing

In Nov. 2015 our GG breakfast was great, so that made this time even more disappointing. But if the characters weren't an issue I really don't think the dry cinnamon bun would have bothered me as much.....but getting on Soarin' and seeing how beautiful the new movie is really made up for it

That color thing at Innoventions is something Aria would enjoy, and I hadn't even heard of it before, whoops! I'll have to remember it for June, although I am surprised how long it is taking them to do something with both Innoventions.

It really was sad seeing Innoventions so empty, so I was glad Colortopia was somewhat crowded. Although I wonder if it was simply due to it being Thanksgiving week so I'd be interested to hear if it's busy during non-holiday times.....definitely take Aria in there!

DS, I like it, although it does seem like an outdoor mall, but we don't have many of those here and I do think DS is beautiful

I won't argue that it's beautiful because they did do a great job with the design. I just liked what it used to be, which to me was more Disney-ish and unique.

Love all the new restaurants too!

Yes the new restaurants are great and there are quite a few I'd like to try! I have no issue with new food!

And yay on the early flight! But I think it was neat to have that one on one time with Chris, too!

I am so thankful for my time along with Chris, as you know once a 2nd child comes along it's tough to find one on one time and it gets even harder as they get older. I'd love to do that with Ricky sometime whether at Disney or another vacation destination but I fear he's already too old to want that with mom

I wanted to also ask... Where did you get yoru shirt? I love it!

Macy's! I ordered it online though, never saw it in the Macy's by me

I'm not even sure we saw that tree at Disney Springs. We drove and parked at the parking lot and I was determined to find the smaller trees...but hadn't read the reviews...and believe me I was definitely disappointed so I don't think you missed anything there. Maybe it is cooler at night? It was snowing...and it was sunny out...which was interesting I guess.

Little spoiler alert, we never made it to those "smaller" trees and based on all the reviews, I agree with you that I don't think I missed anything. I was SO excited when the whole tree thing at DS was announced and then equally disappointed when I read all the negative reviews.

Glad the boys were able to catch an earlier flight and could join you for your other plans!

Me too!

So pretty! I am going to have to get something there next time. I always worry that things like that look better than they taste, but their things are really beautiful.

That's usually the case with "fancy" desserts. I love my desserts and I don't need fancy, but I couldn't resist Amorette's!

Wow, readin that made my head spin! I'm glad it all worked out for you though!

It made my head spin having to make all those changes! Steve suggested going for Christmas next year, which is still basketball season, and I threatened to divorce him

I like the vibe of DS around where the water is, but the "mall part" is just ok for me too. I just can't spend all that $$ on a vacation and then hop into Kate Spade and drop another chunk of change on a handbag.

The water area is so pretty, especially lit up at night. But I agree, after spending all the $$ on the vacation itself I don't need to do what I call my "regular" shopping (not that I regularly drop big bucks in Kate Spade!) down there. Pick up stuff in WoD? Sure! Buy snacks in Goofy's Candy Co.? Of course! And I'll always get my ornaments! But I'll get my makeup, sunglasses, hats etc. at home.

I've been guilty of leaving multiple huge cupcakes from QS places in the fridge also. I have the best of intentions to eat them as a late night snack but I'm either too tired or not in the least bit hungry to ever get to them. So sad

We end up throwing out so much good stuff that we intended to eat, but the real problem is there's too much good stuff to eat!

Did you have a SV room at BCV? What an awesome view!

Yes,regular standard view room!

 

[ArielSRL]

Yes on the red velvet, it's my favorite. There's a red velvet cupcake at Starring Rolls in HS that I've always wanted to try but Renee (@ArielSRL said it wasn't that good so I had to find my red velvet elsewhere

It really just wasn't very traditional red velvety...if that makes sense. And I like red velvet bc it's traditional red velvet. So yeh, the cupcake just didn't do it for me.

 

[ArielSRL]

Glad you guys enjoyed your DS time. It's good you'll have more time (or I guess did have more time...lol). I'm so afraid we won't get to do everything I want at DS and we only have the one night.

Other than the dinner and sweets, doesn't sound very fruitful of a trip though.

Yay for the fireworks view. I mentioned in the DR how much you are making me long for Beach Club! I am gonna need that room number for future requests....

Looking forward to hearing about going from two to four!

 

[ariane37]

All Together Now!​

Hi all! Any AP holders out there? Because new AP rates for May/June came out the other day, and we were able to modify our May WL reservation and save $500 We also got to go back to a standard view rather than a courtyard view, standard view being my preference. That may sound weird but we had a SV in Aug. and had a wonderful view of MK and Wishes:

So with a SV booked we have a chance of getting a MK view again, at least until all the construction is done and those rooms are no longer SV! My commission will be less but since in this case I'm paying out as well as well as collecting, I'll deal with it and take the discount

UPDATE TIME!​

As I mentioned at the end of my last update, I was very excited that Steve and Ricky were coming in on the early flight; however, I now had to rethink our plans. Well I didn't have to rethink them but because I'm a Dis'er I had to rethink them, ya' know? Here's what we had, had again, and were thinking of having:

1. original plan (waaaay back before changes were even a thought): AK morning, MK evening, BOG dinner
2. revised plan (or "basketball plan"): MK all day with a possible break in between if Chris wanted it. *this change was b/c there were quite a few newer things I wanted everyone to experience at AK, and other than this morning I'd only planned one other evening there. So by changing this I made another day a whole AK day*
3. Late night, they're-coming-in-early-plan: I asked Ricky if he wanted MK all day and he wanted to go to HS-his favorite park. So here I am around 10pm trying to switch FP's to decent HS ones for the next day(and when I switched some from plan 1 to 2 a few days before we left I did good) and there was NOTHING good left. Nothing. No TSMM at all and no RnRC or TOT until after 6pm, but our BOG dinner was 6:30 and nobody wanted to cancel that. I felt bad he couldn't go to his favorite park on his first day but he was ok with it so I stuck with our MK plan. Now I only had one change to make.

Changing colors because I'm back to the night of the trip, and guys for putting up with all my ramblings! So we were going to go at RD to see the Welcome show which I love and Chris could care less about. Park opened at 9 so that meant getting there by at least 8:30. Then instead of taking a possible mid-day break I figured we'd do a couple rides SB, then come back to the resort mid-morning to meet the guys when they came in. They were due to land in MCO 9:15 which meant they probably wouldn't be to BC until at least 10:30 if they got lucky like we did. I also figured they'd be hungry which meant they could eat there or back at MK, whichever they preferred. The times of our FP's still worked since I'd made the first one for late morning so I kept them the same.
Unfortunately Chris decided since he didn't like the Welcome show much, he'd thwart my plan by getting up in the middle of the night with an upset stomach. I immediately had horrific flashbacks to my stomach bug of Disney Thanksgiving 2015, but luckily it ended up just being from his combination of snack choices the night before. I forgot to mention that besides our Amorette's desserts he also munched on his cheddar popcorn from WoD along with some cotton candy we already had in the room from the day before And because I'm such a good mom I was ignoring all this snacking while watching fireworks and talking on the phone to Steve and Ricky. Anyway after about 2 hours he was back to sleep, but I felt bad waking him up in time to get to RD so I let him sleep in. Again, because I'm a good mom. And also to alleviate some guilt I felt over not watching the snack intake the night before
Now I'm sad we missed the Welcome show because we didn't catch it later in the trip and it's gone. Not impressed with the videos I've seen of the new stage welcome show, but I'll try seeing it in May and judge then.
Chris woke up at 8:30 and wasn't upset at all about not getting to MK early. After a bit I went down to the Marketplace and got us some breakfast, more bounty platters because they were so good the last time. Just like our plane, Steve and Ricky ended up landing almost 30 minutes early at 8:50, yay!!! Then they got lost trying to find ME because I wasn't with them obviously. I'll stop writing words and say they got to the resort at 10:37: grabbed bagels and walked around eating them
checking things out, and we were on our way to the bus stop by 11:10:

I did horrible taking pictures when they first got there but I did take this on the way to the bus stop. Pretty cool old car out front and Ricky's first official vacation picture!
We arrived at MK at 11:35. Our first FP was for Pirates 11:50 so we headed right there, just missing a Muppet show in Liberty Square which is the story of the whole trip. We got in the VERY long FP line, got almost to the 2nd tapstile that they never use-and stopped. After about 5 minutes the announcement came on that the ride was down, ugh! We waited another 10 minutes with the announcement coming on periodically and finally decided to leave, their first ride of the trip and it was a bust! Our next FP wasn't until 2 so we walked back to the HUB to catch the Move It, Shake It parade:
Steve's first vacation picture!
Um, we must have gotten slushes over at Sunshine Tree Terrace on our way.....


Whoo! Nick and Judy! I don't know why but I haven't been this excited over characters in a long time. I loved Zootopia so that's part of it, and I think these characters are different than most Disney characters but I can't explain why. I'm still so bummed they only met at MVMCP and am extremely jealous that @xlsm got to meet them in Disneyland but I was thrilled to see them in the parade since it was too hot to watch it in August.
Once the floats stopped the characters came off the floats and Nick was closer to us:

Dancing right by me! About now both boys threatened to leave the park if I started dancing, so naturally I began to shake my thang. Only for a minute though; my thang shakes a lot better after a few

See, Nick shook his thang at me, why couldn't I shake it back??
I walked over to Judy's float to try getting a little up close with her but she had quite the crowd of little ones around her:
The characters spend a long time dancing in the street; it had been a few years since we'd stopped and watched this parade. As the floats started moving out King Louie came up and played drums on the garbage can we were standing by:
Such a fun parade, I'd forgotten how cute it is and what a treat is can be for kids to be able to dance with the characters. Or stand in the background and watch their mom get all excited about the characters, whatever the case may be.
We still had an hour before our next FP, breakfast was wearing off for Chris and I and the bagels hadn't done much for Ricky and Steve so we went to one of our favorite QS restaurants, Columbia Harbor House. I don't think you can go wrong here! Except maybe with the meal Ricky got, but I'll make you read my dining report to find out about that! I will share this completely mortifying picture of myself with you though, because I love love love my shirt and I have to show it: off:
OMG I'm hysterical! This thing cracks me up and it's not even dirty or offensive lol!!! I wanted to go up to everyone while I was wearing it and scream, "LOOK AT MY SHIRT! IT SAYS HI IT'S SMEE, GET IT????? Because I'm a dork and I don't care, that's why.

I'll stop here for now, but we had lots more hours of fun in the MK before the day was over!


UP NEXT: WE RIDE THE RIDES AND YES, WE'LL BE YOUR GUESTS!​

 

[ariane37]

Glad you guys enjoyed your DS time. It's good you'll have more time (or I guess did have more time...lol). I'm so afraid we won't get to do everything I want at DS and we only have the one night.

I definitely wanted to do more but I was still on the whole trying to keep Chris happy thing, since we'd been having such a nice time so far......if all 4 of us had been down there I wouldn't have cared so much about how anyone else felt and I would have just walked away and did my own thing The best approach for DS I think is not being rushed so you can leisurely shop, but it inevitably means cutting park time.

Yay for the fireworks view. I mentioned in the DR how much you are making me long for Beach Club! I am gonna need that room number for future requests....

Room 431! I just started reading another TR and they were in room 422 and had a nice view of high Illuminations, also. I know you want BC but I'm telling you, WL is so awesome I'll be very surprised if you don't love it in June!