Shopping and Eating Our Way Around the World. Feb 2018 Mother/Daughter TR Updated 7/10!

The breakfast sounds great! I like your character pics :)

Sounds like a great time shopping. Love the ring you picked out and the precious moment doll is SO cute!

Glad you could take your mom to one of her fave resorts to hang out for a little!
 
Hey! Don’t think I’ve commented before, but I’ve read a few of your trip reports and am following along. :teeth:

The bird at Pop looks like a turkey to me; although I could be wrong. I do see wild turkeys around here (Kansas), and it looks pretty similar.
 
IMG_6413-L.jpg
I do believe it's a turkey. We seem to see tons of them every time we stay at Pop! I can't remember who told us they were turkeys, but it was a CM!

This was of course entirely my doing because I wanted to add Prince Eric to my list of characters met.
But, of course! This is why we went too LOL :)

Next we got a choice of a Fruit Salad or a Berry, Yogurt, and Granola Parfait. Mom and I both went with the Fruit Salad which I failed to photograph. Honestly, you didn’t miss much there, it was a bowl of fruit.
We got no choice. She brought fruit after she reappeared from being missing about 15 minutes!!

SO pretty!!! I love your choice on this one!

I use these at work since I’m the only real Disney fan and no one thinks to steal them from me. And if they do, they are easy to track down!
I'd be scared to steal from you, especially if it was a Pluto pen!!
 


Yeah I think thats a wild turkey. I've seen reports from Fort
wilderness where they are all over the place.
Love your purchases for the day. That ring is beautiful. And your shirt is pretty too.
Breakfast at Trattoria looks very good, a great start to your day.
We will be in WDW for two weeks in October! making up for a VERY short trip in 2016,
which was our first. Maybe we'll spend some time in Disney Springs this time.
 
Do you have one for January?
I didn't do a full TR for January, just a mini recap in my August TR, so it'll be easy enough to catch up :laughing:

I was bummed we didn't get to meet up but I agree, someday!
Yes, we'll make it happen! :thumbsup2

So pretty!

Beautiful! :goodvibes

Love this!!!

She said she would like a break but would rather do it a particular resort that she loves to visit.
I'm going to try to do this next week. There are so many resorts I haven't visited - it's a good idea for breaks rather than going back to your own resort. Thanks for the idea ;) (or thanks to your mom for the idea :laughing:)

Awww, they look so excited!!! :goodvibes:goodvibes
 
I like this new picture size. I switched to Flickr instead from Photobucket.

I really enjoyed the Bon Voyage Breakfast as well. I had the pancakes. I think it is one of my favorite character meals on property now.

Great purchases as well!

I did look at Flickr but liked the layout of Smug Mug best. And now they've merged into one company. I ended up liking the larger size too so I'm going to stick with it.

The pancakes were high on my list but steak for breakfast just sounded really good. I definitely loved the meal and will go back again someday.


Following along!

Hi! Thanks for joining in.

The breakfast sounds great! I like your character pics :)

Sounds like a great time shopping. Love the ring you picked out and the precious moment doll is SO cute!

Glad you could take your mom to one of her fave resorts to hang out for a little!

It's definitely a great breakfast, you should check it out if you get the changes.

Mom and I always have a good time shopping. :D I have a feeling the precious moments dolls may become my next obsession. I'm already thinking about getting the Dumbo one next.

I don't think a trip to Disney would be complete for Mom without a visit to the GF.


Hey! Don’t think I’ve commented before, but I’ve read a few of your trip reports and am following along. :teeth:

The bird at Pop looks like a turkey to me; although I could be wrong. I do see wild turkeys around here (Kansas), and it looks pretty similar.

Hi thanks for reading along! I think the consensus was a turkey.

I do believe it's a turkey. We seem to see tons of them every time we stay at Pop! I can't remember who told us they were turkeys, but it was a CM!

But, of course! This is why we went too LOL :)

We got no choice. She brought fruit after she reappeared from being missing about 15 minutes!!

SO pretty!!! I love your choice on this one!

I'd be scared to steal from you, especially if it was a Pluto pen!!

I kind of thought it was a Turkey but the odd head color was throwing me off.

I honestly don't remember if we ordered the fruit or if it was just brought out.

Yay, no one messes with my pens that's for sure!


Yeah I think thats a wild turkey. I've seen reports from Fort
wilderness where they are all over the place.
Love your purchases for the day. That ring is beautiful. And your shirt is pretty too.
Breakfast at Trattoria looks very good, a great start to your day.
We will be in WDW for two weeks in October! making up for a VERY short trip in 2016,
which was our first. Maybe we'll spend some time in Disney Springs this time.

I think we have a consensus on the turkey!

Oh, what are your dates for October? We will be there the 20th - 27th,

Disney Springs has changed so much over the last few years!


I didn't do a full TR for January, just a mini recap in my August TR, so it'll be easy enough to catch up :laughing:
Yes, we'll make it happen! :thumbsup2
So pretty!
Beautiful! :goodvibes
Love this!!!
I'm going to try to do this next week. There are so many resorts I haven't visited - it's a good idea for breaks rather than going back to your own resort. Thanks for the idea ;) (or thanks to your mom for the idea :laughing:)
Awww, they look so excited!!! :goodvibes:goodvibes

Well considering I'm probably 100 pages behind on your August TR, it won't be that easy!

Thanks, I love all of my purchases, I'm planning on wearing the shirt on Friday.

I think the only Disney resort I haven't been to is Saratoga Springs. I need to get there someday!
 


Chef Mickey’s and the Big Surprise

Our reservation for Chef Mickey’s was at 5:35 pm. The Chicago gang had one at 6:35 pm. I tried for weeks to get something closer but that was the best I could do. We decided to just take our time and eat slowly in hopes of still being there when they sat down.

We checked in a little before our reservation and had our picture taken with Mickey. Mom said later she has no idea why she was holding onto Mickey. Honestly she looks more relaxed than me. I look super stiff in these pictures.






Oh and my bag and shirt in that picture were made by two different people without any knowledge of the other. I think they match pretty well, don’t you?

We were seated right on time and since we had so many bags from shopping plus we were trying to be slow, Mom said she would sit at the table while I went up and got my food, then she would go.

At this point I was fretting a bit because I hadn’t taken a whole lot of pictures. So I decided to make up for it by taking pictures of the entire buffet. You can thank me later.









A lot of my food came from this next section which was the kids of course.













And here’s my first plate. Yes I am still 2 years old.



Oh, and I didn’t mention where we were seated. When you enter the restaurant, there is a room to the left, one straight ahead and one to the right. We were lead to the right and placed at the very first table on the right. We were up against the railing by the buffet. Here’s my view.





The spot was a little awkward with everyone going to the buffet next to us but as you will see, it turned out to be the perfect spot.

And here’s Mom’s slightly more adventurous plate.




The characters came out of the back room and then immediately to our table so when Goofy showed up and took off with my Mom’s bag, I wasn’t quite ready with my camera. I did manage to get a shot of him bringing it back to her.



And then we got pictures with him.





I honestly don’t remember anything special about the rest meets so I’ll just post the pictures.











I was excited to see Pluto of course but without any Pluto gear on, it wasn’t a memorable meet.



Minnie was last but not least.





In between the meets, we both went back up for second plates. I love both the mac and cheese and the fried chicken tenders (the grilled ones are not good) so I got more of both of those.

Around the time we were thinking about dessert, it was close to the reservation time of the Chicago gang. Mom was nervous about being spotted but I managed to sneak up and grab a few Oreo Bon Bons. These things are like crack to me and I didn’t even bother with any of the other desserts.




As I was munching on my Bon Bons, I looked over and saw the Chicago gang being seated directly across the room from us! This picture is zoomed a little bit but they were right in our line of vision.



We were happy that they were so close and we were able to stealthily watch for a while. Mickey came to their table right away so we watched that and it was really cute. We thought they would spot us when they went up to the buffet but the characters started immediately so they didn't go up for food for a bit. We watched for about 10 minutes and then all of a sudden one of the kids started gesturing and pointing over at us. He told his Mom and then next thing we knew, they were all pointing and looking over at us. Then all 11 of them came running over to our little table and they were all talking and laughing at once. They were really excited and shocked to see us there.

After they headed off to get some food, Mom went up and got her dessert.




I was planning on some more Oreo Bon Bons but I had hit my food limit for the day so just sat and watched her eat.

Overall we really enjoyed our meal at Chef Mickey’s. The food was good and we had fun with the characters. I will say that I preferred the brunch there. I’ll talk about that experience in a few updates in my January TR.

Once we finished and paid our bill, we went over and visited with them for a bit. They told us that they had fun at the Magic Kingdom that day but it was very crowded. I figured that it would be since it was a Saturday. I gave my Uncle our schedule so he knew where we would be and we told them we would see them at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad the next day because we had a FP that matched theirs.

I got a picture of the whole family.




Then Mom and I headed out. We had originally planned to head to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours but we were tired so we took the Monorail around and then caught a bus back to our resort.

I took one picture as we walked the very short distance back to our room.




And thank goodness, when we got back the weird smell was gone!

Here’s my pin trades and pressed pennies for the day. I only traded for the butterfly one because the CM that had it was so excited about it that I felt bad not trading for it. She probably uses that technique often to get rid of pins she doesn’t want.






A pretty lazy day as far as walking at WDW goes.



Up Next: A Magic Kingdom Kind of Morning
 
Oh and my bag and shirt in that picture were made by two different people without any knowledge of the other. I think they match pretty well, don’t you?
I was thinking the very same thing!!!!!! I wondered if you somehow got her to make you a matching shirt with your bag actually LOL

Then all 11 of them came running over to our little table and they were all talking and laughing at once. They were really excited and shocked to see us there.
I love this!! Perfect that one of the kids spotted you :)
 
I have to say that you must have a very nice family, because I would LOSE MY MIND if I planned a trip with my family and two other family members randomly showed up to "surprise me". Not intended to be snarky at all, and obviously I do not know your family, so I am sure they were happy to have you show up. We never tell anyone when we are planning a trip unless we want to include them. There was an entire thread about this somewhere about keeping WDW trips a "secret" from other family members for precisely this reason.

Your trip looks like it was a good time for you though- glad you enjoyed it.
 
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I think we have a consensus on the turkey!

Oh, what are your dates for October? We will be there the 20th - 27th,

Disney Springs has changed so much over the last few years!
OMG we will be at The World from 6 October, leaving the 20th! Guess we won't run into each other! LOL
 
Cute character pics! I'm glad you were able to surprise your family successfully!

Thanks! I'm happy the surprise worked out so well.

I was thinking the very same thing!!!!!! I wondered if you somehow got her to make you a matching shirt with your bag actually LOL
I love this!! Perfect that one of the kids spotted you :)

Yep, I have a different suppler for my shirts. If you are interested I can send you a link to her site.

I was really surprised that he spotted us. Living so far away I didn't think the kids would recognize us although we did just visit them in October.


I have to say that you must have a very nice family, because I would LOSE MY MIND if I planned a trip with my family and two other family members randomly showed up to "surprise me". Not intended to be snarky at all, and obviously I do not know your family, so I am sure they were happy to have you show up. We never tell anyone when we are planning a trip unless we want to include them. There was an entire thread about this somewhere about keeping WDW trips a "secret" from other family members for precisely this reason.

Your trip looks like it was a good time for you though- glad you enjoyed it.

Aww, that makes me sad to think you wouldn't enjoy a surprise visit from family. My family is just very tight knit and we love spending time together. I wouldn't mind at all if they came and surprised me. We all live in different areas of the country so any time we get to spend together is nice.

We definitely had a wonderful time on this trip.


OMG we will be at The World from 6 October, leaving the 20th! Guess we won't run into each other! LOL

Bummer! So close.

I am loving your TR.

Thanks! Glad you are here and enjoying the TR.

Sounds like your trip is off to a good start!

We did have a really nice, relaxing trip this time.
 
A Magic Kingdom Kind of Morning

On Sunday, February 4th, the Chicago Gang was up and out the door early. Somehow I had managed to snag them a BOG breakfast ADR a few weeks before the trip. My Aunt had asked me to help them find one and I happily obliged because I knew it would get me access to her MDE account so I could see their plans. I had very little hope of finding them the ADR but an 8:55 am reservation popped up and I grabbed it. I told them that they could get in as early as 8:00 despite the reservation time and also made sure they pre-ordered. They stopped for a photo on the way to their breakfast.




Meanwhile, Mom and I were up and heading to breakfast at our food court. I took a few daylight pictures of the resort. You could see where trees had been cut down due to hurricane damage.







For breakfast, Mom got some kind of breakfast sandwich (once again riveting reporting there).



And I of course had to have my Mickey waffles.



Our plan was to meet the Chicago gang at Big Thunder Mountain RR. We had a FP from 9:10 – 10:10 and theirs was from 9:20 – 10:20. I had encouraged them to hit up Peter Pan as soon as they were done with breakfast so I figured they would be at BTMR around 9:30.

We headed out to the bus stop to encounter this.




Yikes! I was starting to worry that we would be late but luckily several of the double buses came one right after the other and we were on one fairly quickly. Magic Kingdom was quite crowded on this day.



Oh, and it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday. Mom and I weren’t worried about seeing the game since our Steelers were not playing.

We did stop on the way in to rent a locker. It was supposed to rain that afternoon so we brought our heavy duty Disney ponchos that we had purchased out at Disneyland. We didn’t want to carry them all day so we stowed those along with our sweatshirts. I did have some flimsy dollar store ponchos in my bag so that we would have something to put on in case we didn’t make it back to the locker before the rain started.

We made our way to BTMR and found a bench to wait. The Chicago gang didn’t get out of breakfast right at rope drop so they ended up waiting about 20 minutes for Peter Pan. I’m glad they did wait because all of the kids loved it. Mom and I discussed going on a ride while we waited but as many times as we’ve been to Disney, we didn’t feel the need to rush around and ride everything. Instead we enjoyed watching the crowds for a while.

They got to BTMR a little after the time I thought they would and we headed to the FP line.




The youngest kid, Emmett, was not big enough to ride so his Mom took him to Dumbo or maybe IASW while we rode. She was fine with that because she doesn’t ride coasters herself.

Mom and I somehow ended up right in the middle of the Chicago gang. We tried to change with my Uncle Bob who was closest to the front but he said no. There were four seated behind us and five in front. I tried to get pictures but my cousin Adam was the only one who looked when I tried to get their attention.




Oh wait, Isla did look back and you can also see my Uncle three seats ahead of us. This was Isla's very first roller coaster.



I soon figured out why my Uncle wanted the seat he was in. He ended up riding the whole time looking backwards and he was able to watch all four grandkids and see their reactions. They all loved it although Isla did cry for a few seconds when we went over one of the bumps that makes you come up off of your seat.

After the ride we visited for a few minutes and my Uncle told me that they had loved BOG breakfast. He said the food was excellent and a good value for a Counter Service and the kids loved eating in the castle. We also discussed our overlapping Mine Train FP for that afternoon. Their FP was from 2 pm to 3 pm but the closest I could get to that was 2:45 – 3:45. Unfortunately the rain was supposed to start right around 2:30. I told them not to wait for us and to go ahead and use the FP right at 2 pm. I was worried that if they waited for us, they would miss out due to the rain.

At this point we parted ways. They headed back up to Fantasyland while Mom and I headed to Adventureland. They continued to send us photos throughout the day so I know they rode IASW.




And used their second FP for Splash Mountain.



Mom and I had a different FP at the time of their Splash Mountain one for two reasons. First, neither of us are fans of water rides and second, I wanted one more ride on Pirates before they changed out the auction scene. I took one photo in line and a few on the ride itself.











And here’s our ride photo. We were actually discussing if we wanted to do something for the photo when the flash went off. I still need to figure out the timing there!



We shopped a bit in the dump store. I always think I’m going to buy a shirt or sweatshirt because I love the ride so much but I can never seem to find one I like. We moved on towards Liberty Square because the Muppet show was scheduled to start soon and I wanted Mom to see it. I had watched it in January with Jim and we saw the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. I was hoping for the Declaration of Independence one this time.

We got there about 15 minutes early and I found us a seat on the wall across from the show area. Even though we had a lunch ADR coming up in a bit, we were kind of hungry so I ran over to the fruit stand right there and grabbed myself a banana and Mom a container of pineapple. I also got us a coke to share. I failed utterly at my TR duties and didn’t get any pictures but I’m sure you’ve seen bananas and pineapple before.

We did end up getting the Declaration of Independence show and I enjoyed that one more than the Paul Revere one. The seats we had on the wall were great. They provided a good view and were in the shade. If you do want to see this show, I recommend getting there a bit early and snagging a seat there. Here’s the pictures I got from the show.














We still had some time before lunch but not really enough to catch another ride. So instead we went up to Fantasyland and looked through some stores. Then we headed back down and checked in at Liberty Tree Tavern for our lunch. We were seated fairly quickly although it took me a few moments before I realized they were calling our name. It’s kind of loud in that restaurant and I could not hear what the hostess was saying.

We both ended up ordering the pot roast. Mom got hers with green beans.




I subbed out the green beans and got mac and cheese instead.



Oh man, this was delicious! The pot roast was juicy and melt in your mouth and I loved the mac and cheese. Both of us scraped our plates clean. We opted out of dessert because nothing really appealed to us and we both wanted Mickey Ice Cream later that afternoon.

This was one meal we talked about for a while after the trip. And much to our delight, my brother and sister in law picked this one to eat at in October. We will be doing dinner instead of lunch but all of the items we ate are included in the family style platter that they serve at dinner time.

Up Next: A Soggy Afternoon and Evening
 
What a great morning! Glad you could meet up with the Chicago gang for BTMRR! And also glad that LTT was a winner!
 
Great morning! Always look at the skull and cross bones up on the left for the photo during Pirates.

Liberty Tree Tavern looks great, I have yet to eat there.
 
Yep, I have a different suppler for my shirts. If you are interested I can send you a link to her site.
Oh, sure! I'm always looking for new ways to spend money on Disney!! LOL :)

For breakfast, Mom got some kind of breakfast sandwich (once again riveting reporting there).
The dining parts of my report are right up there with yours!!! We ate...something!

Oh, and it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday. Mom and I weren’t worried about seeing the game since our Steelers were not playing.
That's exactly how I feel!! Rob does not understand that I do not care about the World Series, Stanley Cup or Super Bowl unless my team is actually playing. Once my teams are out, I'm on to the next sport :)

I soon figured out why my Uncle wanted the seat he was in. He ended up riding the whole time looking backwards and he was able to watch all four grandkids and see their reactions.
This is just awesome :) I love that your uncle was able to experience that with his grandkids!
 
What a great morning! Glad you could meet up with the Chicago gang for BTMRR! And also glad that LTT was a winner!

It was a nice morning. Much better than the afternoon as you will see. I can't wait to go back to LLT in October!

Great morning! Always look at the skull and cross bones up on the left for the photo during Pirates.

Liberty Tree Tavern looks great, I have yet to eat there.

Thanks for the tip on Pirates! I couldn't figure out what was lightning effects and what was the flash so now I'll know where to look. I'll have to try it out in August.

You should definitely try LLT if you get a chance!


Oh, sure! I'm always looking for new ways to spend money on Disney!! LOL :)
The dining parts of my report are right up there with yours!!! We ate...something!
That's exactly how I feel!! Rob does not understand that I do not care about the World Series, Stanley Cup or Super Bowl unless my team is actually playing. Once my teams are out, I'm on to the next sport :)
This is just awesome :) I love that your uncle was able to experience that with his grandkids!

I saw that you accepted the invite on Facebook for the T-shirts. I have two more on order right now. A Slinky Dog one and a Vampire Mickey.

I'm horrible about describing meals in my TRs. I just am not a foodie so for me it's either "it tasted good" or "it tasted bad".

Yeah, I'm trying to get interested in the Stanley Cup right now but I just don't care!

I think my uncle was having as much fun as the kids. He really enjoyed watching them have a good time.
 

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