February 15th, 2011 * day twenty-one
Not even a week later, it was time to journey back to WDW for a little getaway. Our plans had us going to POR for the first time, but that was doomed from the day I booked it. I just couldnt get excited about it and no one else showed much interest either. When asking Andrew what he wanted to do on this trip, all he talked about was Pop Century! He wanted to play on the big keyboard. I went with it. Staying somewhere I wasnt thrilled about wasnt going to help this Disney burnout either. A short call later and we were now going back to Pop!
The morning started early, but rope drop wasnt in our plans. We were still working on the autograph book mission and would be having breakfast with some special friends! Our first stop, the TTC!
Once again, I found myself wandering around the shop with the boys. As we looked around, two things caught my eye. First, they had socks!
I was shocked and couldnt believe that Id never noticed this before. Remember my birthday visit and the Target adventure? While I like that happy memory, we couldve saved the whole thing by looking around here. We had even stopped to buy ponchos here that day! Lesson learned. If you ever need some new socks, the TTC gift shop has you covered!
Second, I kept feeling drawn to the autograph books. Why those books? I had two of them in my bag. Or did I? That odd feeling kept eating at me until I double checked. Id forgotten the books! Andrew was so upset over this, and I dont blame him for feeling that way. We had a special meal planned just for these books! I grabbed two more and a new pen before heading to the register.
Mommy lost our books!
Blake was upset, too! To be fair, I didnt really lose them. They were just on my desk at home! No one seemed to understand this point.
That awful "lost" word inspired the CM to lecture me about autograph books before I could pay! Do you know how many books are turned in that they cant return to the rightful owners? I had never even thought of this before, but it must be a lot. She was pretty upset over it! As she went on, I knew it was only a matter of time before she sent me to a time out. Much like a child, I began to tune her out and look around. Would she put me in that corner? Maybe the other? Either way there would be loads of interesting stuff to look at until my time was up! But if I get one minute for each year of my life.. Were going to miss breakfast!! This had to end!
Interrupting with the fact they werent actually lost and that it wasnt a big deal to us either way seemed to finally calm her down. Wow. She reeeally cared about those misplaced autograph books! Youd think theyd be happy for lost books. That equals new books bought and more money for Mickey, right?
Before we could leave, the CM instructed me to write to the boys names and home address on the inside cover. If I lose them again (Theyre not lost!!) someone could mail them to us. I thanked her and said we would. Maybe Im paranoid, but something about writing their address down in those silly books made me uncomfortable. I lied to the CM and never did it.
We all walked over to the resort monorail. It was breakfast time and we were going to the Grand Floridian! Ever since the day a DVC CM ran away from us for staying at a value, Ive not been a fan of this resort. I don't get the attitude, and I feel soo uncomfortable just walking inside! It doesnt help that the place reminds me of grandmas house. I half expect a lecture about not taking my shoes off to come up at any second. Its safe to say that well never be staying here!
Eating at 1900 Park Fare wasnt high on my list, but the boys were excited over seeing Alice and the Mad Hatter. Forgetting the first set of books, Pooh and Tigger were an added bonus on collecting autographs again. We checked in, skipped the picture, and went out to stroller parking.
Id hoped to catch a few pictures out here, but it was our time before Blake was even out of his seat. Breakfast!
To sum up the meal, the food was great. I like breakfast buffets, so that might not say much. I just really love all the options for my first meal of the day. The service wasnt the best, but Ive grown to expect that at Disney restaurants. She was just too overwhelmed to take care of anything. They really need more help.
The characters are what makes the experience, of course, and we had a great time meeting them all! First up was Tigger!
Pooh would follow, but none of those pictures are worth sharing. Haha.. He was the quickest of all the characters, simply signing and taking off.
The rotation was pretty fast and soon enough Mary Poppins stopped to visit. On our last visit here, shed spent a bit of time trying to convince Andrew to eat his breakfast. This time was all about Blake! My shy little guy couldnt make up his mind about this woman, but she took care of that quickly. Mary pretended to take his muffin! You cant get between a Blaker and his muffin, so this was war. He glared at her and pulled it back! Whenever we see her by the carousel at MK, he still remembers that one as the lady that tried to teal my muffin!
He was nice enough to pose for a picture, despite the muffin war. He had won afterall. Perhaps this was the happy face of his victory over the muffin theif?
Alice followed next, but I really dont recall much of her visit. It wasn't Andrews favorite Alice, so he didnt really care much. He did insist on keeping the very first page of his autograph book blank in case he ever saw her again though!
And finally, the best for last!
The Mad Hatter was excellent, as he always is! They all talked about the parks and if we were going to be riding the tea cups that day. Andrew insisted we ALWAYS ride them, which you all know just isnt true! Blake claimed he doesnt like them one bit. Do you know who else doesnt like the tea cups?
POOH!
The Mad Hatter literally yelled across the restaurant for Pooh to join our conversation! He asked how Pooh felt about those spinning cups. Silly Pooh Bear was clearly not a fan. He pretended to spin and get dizzy. It was all really cute.
Before the Mad Hatter left us, we were let in on an important secret. Which tea cup spins the fastest? He claimed its a green one, but don't tell anyone. This was presented as top secret "so don't pass it on!" kind of stuff. I'm trusting you. The boys felt so important to learn this and couldnt wait to ride that green tea cup now!
Keeping up our race tradition, we had a stairs vs elevator race on the way back to the monorail. Andrew and I joked that we couldve made it all the way to MK before Blake and John were done with that elevator ride. We found a comfy place to sit and wait, being careful not to let our shoes touch a thing.
Up Next!!
MK! Like you expected anything else from us...
Not even a week later, it was time to journey back to WDW for a little getaway. Our plans had us going to POR for the first time, but that was doomed from the day I booked it. I just couldnt get excited about it and no one else showed much interest either. When asking Andrew what he wanted to do on this trip, all he talked about was Pop Century! He wanted to play on the big keyboard. I went with it. Staying somewhere I wasnt thrilled about wasnt going to help this Disney burnout either. A short call later and we were now going back to Pop!
The morning started early, but rope drop wasnt in our plans. We were still working on the autograph book mission and would be having breakfast with some special friends! Our first stop, the TTC!
Once again, I found myself wandering around the shop with the boys. As we looked around, two things caught my eye. First, they had socks!
I was shocked and couldnt believe that Id never noticed this before. Remember my birthday visit and the Target adventure? While I like that happy memory, we couldve saved the whole thing by looking around here. We had even stopped to buy ponchos here that day! Lesson learned. If you ever need some new socks, the TTC gift shop has you covered!
Second, I kept feeling drawn to the autograph books. Why those books? I had two of them in my bag. Or did I? That odd feeling kept eating at me until I double checked. Id forgotten the books! Andrew was so upset over this, and I dont blame him for feeling that way. We had a special meal planned just for these books! I grabbed two more and a new pen before heading to the register.
Mommy lost our books!
Blake was upset, too! To be fair, I didnt really lose them. They were just on my desk at home! No one seemed to understand this point.
That awful "lost" word inspired the CM to lecture me about autograph books before I could pay! Do you know how many books are turned in that they cant return to the rightful owners? I had never even thought of this before, but it must be a lot. She was pretty upset over it! As she went on, I knew it was only a matter of time before she sent me to a time out. Much like a child, I began to tune her out and look around. Would she put me in that corner? Maybe the other? Either way there would be loads of interesting stuff to look at until my time was up! But if I get one minute for each year of my life.. Were going to miss breakfast!! This had to end!
Interrupting with the fact they werent actually lost and that it wasnt a big deal to us either way seemed to finally calm her down. Wow. She reeeally cared about those misplaced autograph books! Youd think theyd be happy for lost books. That equals new books bought and more money for Mickey, right?
Before we could leave, the CM instructed me to write to the boys names and home address on the inside cover. If I lose them again (Theyre not lost!!) someone could mail them to us. I thanked her and said we would. Maybe Im paranoid, but something about writing their address down in those silly books made me uncomfortable. I lied to the CM and never did it.
We all walked over to the resort monorail. It was breakfast time and we were going to the Grand Floridian! Ever since the day a DVC CM ran away from us for staying at a value, Ive not been a fan of this resort. I don't get the attitude, and I feel soo uncomfortable just walking inside! It doesnt help that the place reminds me of grandmas house. I half expect a lecture about not taking my shoes off to come up at any second. Its safe to say that well never be staying here!
Eating at 1900 Park Fare wasnt high on my list, but the boys were excited over seeing Alice and the Mad Hatter. Forgetting the first set of books, Pooh and Tigger were an added bonus on collecting autographs again. We checked in, skipped the picture, and went out to stroller parking.
Id hoped to catch a few pictures out here, but it was our time before Blake was even out of his seat. Breakfast!
To sum up the meal, the food was great. I like breakfast buffets, so that might not say much. I just really love all the options for my first meal of the day. The service wasnt the best, but Ive grown to expect that at Disney restaurants. She was just too overwhelmed to take care of anything. They really need more help.
The characters are what makes the experience, of course, and we had a great time meeting them all! First up was Tigger!
Pooh would follow, but none of those pictures are worth sharing. Haha.. He was the quickest of all the characters, simply signing and taking off.
The rotation was pretty fast and soon enough Mary Poppins stopped to visit. On our last visit here, shed spent a bit of time trying to convince Andrew to eat his breakfast. This time was all about Blake! My shy little guy couldnt make up his mind about this woman, but she took care of that quickly. Mary pretended to take his muffin! You cant get between a Blaker and his muffin, so this was war. He glared at her and pulled it back! Whenever we see her by the carousel at MK, he still remembers that one as the lady that tried to teal my muffin!
He was nice enough to pose for a picture, despite the muffin war. He had won afterall. Perhaps this was the happy face of his victory over the muffin theif?
Alice followed next, but I really dont recall much of her visit. It wasn't Andrews favorite Alice, so he didnt really care much. He did insist on keeping the very first page of his autograph book blank in case he ever saw her again though!
And finally, the best for last!
The Mad Hatter was excellent, as he always is! They all talked about the parks and if we were going to be riding the tea cups that day. Andrew insisted we ALWAYS ride them, which you all know just isnt true! Blake claimed he doesnt like them one bit. Do you know who else doesnt like the tea cups?
POOH!
The Mad Hatter literally yelled across the restaurant for Pooh to join our conversation! He asked how Pooh felt about those spinning cups. Silly Pooh Bear was clearly not a fan. He pretended to spin and get dizzy. It was all really cute.
Before the Mad Hatter left us, we were let in on an important secret. Which tea cup spins the fastest? He claimed its a green one, but don't tell anyone. This was presented as top secret "so don't pass it on!" kind of stuff. I'm trusting you. The boys felt so important to learn this and couldnt wait to ride that green tea cup now!
Keeping up our race tradition, we had a stairs vs elevator race on the way back to the monorail. Andrew and I joked that we couldve made it all the way to MK before Blake and John were done with that elevator ride. We found a comfy place to sit and wait, being careful not to let our shoes touch a thing.
Up Next!!
MK! Like you expected anything else from us...