Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Terrible as it is to say, I was not looking forward to waking up today. I don’t do “last days” very well. As is customary, I had to be in the Magic Kingdom one last time. Jake still wanted to do Rock n Roller so he decided to go off on his own and head to the Studios.

Before we went anywhere, Joe and I took the dogs to the dog park before the heat of the day. It wasn’t too hot yet but there was dew on the grass and I don’t think they liked running in the wet grass. They have a lot more fun when there are other dogs and I think it was too early, only being around 8:00. We walked them back a lot slower than when we were on the way over!

We all left here around 9:30 or so and headed off in different directions, Joe and I to the boat docks and Jake to the outpost depot.  We decided to take the long way to Magic Kingdom since we had absolutely no time limit or agenda.  We got one of those little tugboat type boats over to the Wilderness Lodge and then the  Contemporary and then went upstairs to catch a monorail from there.  It was a little hard finding a monorail car with enough room, we ended up way at the end.  I was surprised we did not pick up any passengers along the way except at the Polynesian, 4 monorail cast members boarded our car. Two were trainers and the other two were “earning their ears” as platform cast members.  The one trainer immediately struck up a conversation with us about where we were from, about dogs, where we were staying, etc.  We talked all the way to the Magic Kingdom stop!

We headed down the ramp and I was surprised there was no line at security at all. They barely glanced at my bag, grrrr..   We walked in on the left side this time and just took our time looking around in stores, at the windows, just taking it all in while we could.  I noticed the trolley parked over in the stable; we had not seen it operating the whole time we are here. I miss that trolley show!  There were a lot of streetmosphere characters all around Main Street, including the Mayor of Main Street!  We found a funny mouse ear hat in the hat store, it was the popcorn one. Since Joe loves the popcorn on Main Street, we wanted to take his picture wearing it.  We picked up some chocolate fudge samples in the confectionary as we made our way down through the stores on Main Street; the jewelry store had the Dapper Dans so we listened to them for a little bit.  I was surrounded by all my favorite things of Main Street; I felt like chaining myself to a light pole, lol!

Dapper Dans

We checked the tip board but were not really planning on riding anything unless we came across something with very little wait.  We walked over towards Adventureland and looked in all the little shops; passing up the temptation of a Citrus Swirl or Dole Whip since we had not eaten lunch.  Joe wanted to check out Pecos Bills to see their menu but there was nothing we really wanted there; you can only eat so many burgers!  I noticed Pecos Bills now has the automated ordering on the left side, instead of a live person.  As we made our way back through Frontierland, I saw that Diamond Horseshoe was serving lunch as well.  There was only one table in use there and they were standing around waiting for guests to come in.  It looked like people were only coming in to cool off and not really eat.  Even though we had no plans on eating there, we stopped in Liberty Tree Tavern; they had CMs outside handing out menus. There was not a single person eating in there!  Touringplans.com had Magic Kingdom as a “6” for crowds today and it definitely was accurate.  Of course, we ended up at my all time favorite Columbia Harbor House, lol.  I had my favorite tuna sandwich and also added an apple crisp this time that Joe and I shared.  We sat up in my favorite room with the windows upstairs but there were a few others there this time.  One particular family had two sons, maybe 8 and 5.  The 8 yr old was whining a lot about different things.  I really liked what the mother said to him.  She said “Do you want to stop your whining or stop coming here”.  He said “stop my whining”. She said, ok then, stop now.  I thought that was great!

After we finished eating, we noticed Haunted Mansion wait said 10 minutes but it was more like 5. Love these crowds! After Haunted Mansion we backtracked over to the Splash Mountain Area, I looked in a store there and then we caught the train back to Toon Town and got off there.   I wanted to look in County Bounty for a few minutes but there was a small child screaming so loud at the top of his lungs, that I literally could not stand the noise. It wasn’t an attention cry, it seemed more like pain; I never heard a child scream so loud. People came running over to see if the child was ok and the parent looked at them like THEY were nuts! I told Joe I would be outside.

We thought we’d ride the Wedway Peoplemover so we started walking over that way.  I noticed the crowds were a lot heavier in Tomorrowland; makes sense since most people turn right at end of Main Street; since we went left, the people had not made it over that far yet.  Anyways, around the Lunching Pad there was a girl about 13, screaming MOM! MOM! MOM!! Her mom must not have been that far, when she found her, the girl head  butted her mom in the back!  The mother turned around and grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and shook her and said “DON’T YOU EVER EVER SCREAM AT ME IN PUBLIC LIKE THAT AGAIN, I AM YOUR PARENT, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE”! Wow! We kept walking so I never really saw what happened next but, wow, you see all kinds of things at Disney! I wanted to say Good for you, mom!

We decided to make our way down Main Street, via the noodle station; it’s outdoor air conditioning there and it helps on hot days! It wasn’t even open yet so hardly anyone was there.  This time, we walked down the Emporium side of Main Street; I heard the Main Street Band start up so I went out to see them.  They had a crowd gathered in no time!

Again, a boat was pulling up as we exited Magic Kingdom.  It was nice to get back to the peacefulness of the fort.  We had about an hour before we had to turn our golf cart back in to Ken. I laid down a little bit and relaxed and about 3:30, Joe and I drove the cart back up to the overflow parking lot waiting for Ken. He called about 3:45 and was looking for our site but I told him we were up front already.  He was there in  no time and offered us a ride back to our site in the cart.  One of his workers, I think his son, took us back. Oh my, I had no idea that cart would go that fast! He pulled out so fast, I am surprised Joe stayed on the back!  You just don’t drive like that at the Fort, no one does.  He didn’t even stop at stop signs! We were coming up on some Disney carts and he passed them! On a yellow line! He kept saying the cart seemed slow, did we charge it last night.  We did not cause it had been raining and did not want the charger to get wet. We passed a total of 3 carts, on the left! I wanted to say I’m sorrrrrrrrryyyyy as we passed and I was hoping no one saw where our site was!  He took the bend so fast at 200 loop, I thought we were on two wheels, yikes!  I honestly was glad to make it back in one piece and said goodbye and thanks and ran in the RV!

After a little while, Joe came in the RV and said my friend’s husband, from the Disboards, was outside.  I could not imagine who that would be since I knew Ami’s husband was not at the fort and she was the only person I knew at the fort right now.  When I got outside, I realized Joe misunderstood. It was Donnie from the Dis camping boards and also a facebook friend.  Ami had told him our site no. and he was stopping by to say hello.  I had met him one other time on a previous trip.  So we talked awhile outside and it was so nice of Donnie to stop by.

We decided to head down to Trails End for some pizza for dinner.  Mainly cause I wanted some of that great sweet tea, lol!  I stopped in to see if they had availability and they did and I put my name on the list just in case.  I first wanted to stop over at the Tri Circle D Ranch and Farm and see the horses. I had been wanting to do this and kept putting it off.  We looked at the horses and the calliope exhibit.  There is a button you can push to hear the calliope.  There is a small corner exhibit with pictures of Walt and some horses at the various Disney parks.  Jake said he didn’t even know the stables were there! I love taking the time to see what the Fort has to offer; it is SO worth a trip over!

We walked back over to Trails End and were seated right away.  It was busy, we were the only ones NOT getting the buffet.  Our waitress did not seem to mind at all that we were there for pizza instead. She even gave me a sweet tea to go!

After we ate, we wanted to take the dogs to the dog park one last time since the sun was going down.  It was still oppressively humid though.  We walked them over and for a little bit, they were the only dogs there.  Then a lab named Molly came that wanted Cassie’s Frisbee. She was growling at Cassie and Cassie walked away, lol.  Then a black poodle came and Sandie loved running with that dog.  They were all having fun running together until another dog came that I had never seen before.  It looked to be a pit bull mix and they said it was friendly.  It really seemed like a sweet dog, but my two dogs sort of chased it and cornered it and it started growling at them.  I was afraid it was scared and may do something; even nice dogs can feel threatened and snap. We had already been there ½ an hour so we gave them a chance to let their dog have the park to themselves.

We came in early tonight but Joe wanted to start putting things away outside and I wanted to get things ready to go tomorrow, on the inside.  I will do up the dishes one last time, secure everything and we will hit the road as soon as possible, hoping to make it to the other side of Charlotte, NC before stopping.

So this is the end of the Disney portion of our two week trip! Wow, does time ever go fast here!  Everything worked out well but I think Jake would have had even more fun if he had a friend here to pal around with.  We don’t do marathon park days anymore, especially in this heat. If Jake had a friend, they could do late nights all they wanted.  We don’t like rushing from ride to ride, there is too much to see in between!

Wow, this is probably the longest trip report I ever wrote!  Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoying living it!!  I took some videos that I will be posting once I have a faster connection at home.    Thanks for reading!

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Today’s agenda called for Epcot but we were going to go to the Studios instead since we didn’t ride Rock n Roller.  I got up and got things done as usual and was ready to go around 9 or so. It is getting harder and harder to get Jake up and going.  I kept telling him to get up, let’s go, etc. but nothing was happening.   Finally at 9:30 or so and he still wasn’t up, I told Joe I had changed my mind and was not going to the Studios today; if he wanted to wait around for Jake, that was fine but I am not .  I went outside and lounged on the anti-gravity chair and really, I could do that all day and be perfectly  content! Joe came outside shortly after and said he was taking Cassie to the dog park and there was Cassie all ready with her Frisbee in her mouth, lol.  I went in and got Sandie and we took off in the golf cart to ride around a little bit.  She always jumps up on the cart when we pass it and she really loves riding in it! So we took a nice little ride around the different loops, her ears were flapping in the wind, so cute!

We cruised passed the dog park and I yelled Cassie’s name and she came running over to the fence. I parked the cart and took Sandie in to the park so she could run around.  Before too long, another dog came named Doogle, a wheaten terrier, about he same size as Cassie.  Sandie loves to run with other dogs so she really enjoyed chasing this dog.  Then two labs came and a jack Russell. Sandie was running all over the place with the dogs, chasing a ball with the Jack Russell, she had so much fun!

This dog park has a double door policy which means, you open one door, shut it…then open the next door and shut it.  This prevents a dog from getting loose and running in to the adjacent road.   The little boy that came with the wheaten apparently did not realize how this works. He opened one gate, left it open and then opened the other gate. I was on the other side of the park and saw Cassie heading straight for the road. I yelled over to him SHUT THE GATE and he said WHAT? I said THE GATE!! SHUT IT!! Then he saw Cassie, literally steps from getting loose and shut it! That was too close for comfort!

Then minutes after this happened, a family came with a boxer.  Their son ran ahead and opened the first gate, left it open and then opened the second gate!  I yelled over PLEASE SHUT THE FIRST GATE and I heard the mother say  in a normal tone of voice, not yelling, “Please do not yell at my child”. I don’t think she realized I heard her.  I said, “I just don’t want my dog to get out”.  So they came in and their boxer started running around with my dogs.  Cassie and Sandie just had a blast with him! Joe would throw the Frisbee and Cassie and the boxer would run after it. I was so mad I did not have my camera or video camera on me. I have never seen Sandie run that fast!  I hosed them both down and Joe walked back with Cassie and I took Sandie back on the cart.  She wasn’t in this RV 5 minutes before she was sound asleep.

By the time we got back, it was about 11 or so and Jake’s attitude had improved considerably. We decided to go to Downtown Disney and have lunch and shop a little bit.  I looked around in the Christmas store but I only bought a new antennae topper that I don’t have. We then went in to Earl of Sandwich to have another one of those great Italian sandwiches.  The line was really long but it does move fast; we found a seat in the same little area off to the side again.  If you see a long line here, don’t let it turn you away; it moves fast and these sandwiches are SO worth it!

We walked around a little bit after lunch and walked in to Once Upon a Toy.  Every toy known to man can be found in this store!  I had commented to an older couple that they need seating in here for parents and grandparents!

We made our way over to Team Mickey since Jake had not been with us the other night when we were there.  He wanted to see what hockey stuff they had but did not find any at all. Joe is looking for a new keychain that is golf related but they did not have any of those either.

Next up is World of Disney; they’ve set up some new check out areas which seems to make it more efficient than it has been in the past.  I had a small list of things I wanted to buy and found  them pretty fast. I’ve been watching for some nice Pooh merchandise and I have never noticed how little Pooh items there are!  I gathered up my stuff to buy and got in line which was very short.  When it was my turn, I completed my check out and then realized I could get an annual passholder discount here! I mentioned it and she said she’d have to get a supervisor to return and repurchase. I apologized, it was my fault for not remembering; I think I was standing there daydreaming, lol. She was very pleasant as was the supervisor that completed it all for me. I know it’s only 10% but still, that little bit of refund would pay for one of my items!

As we left World of Disney, we noticed it starting to drizzle, dark clouds above.  We ducked into Ghirardellis to get a chocolate sample which was caramel. Jake wanted to go to the Lego store and I wasn’t sure we’d make it before the downpour.  Just as we got in there, the skies let loose! It was raining really hard and the store got crowded as people were seeking shelter.  This is another store where there is no place to sit!  It let up a little bit so we headed over to TRex to check out the store there. We were wishing we had a lunch here, it’s a neat place!  We watched some kids do Build-a-dino which turned out cute!

Jake wanted to go the West Side and the rain had completely stopped by now.  As we passed Raglan Road, Joe couldn’t resist getting a Bailey’s Irish Crème Shake.  He went up to the bar but said no one would wait on him so I went in and came out with his shake, lol.  I think he went to the wrong bar.

We continued up the hill on Pleasure Island stopping in Curl, the store that sells Oakleys. Jake wanted new lenses, blue. Last year when he bought his Oakleys, I told him the blue lenses were nicer but he insisted on yellow since his brother already had blue. Now he wants blue but I cannot see changing lenses just for a new color; it’s not like they were broke. I still cannot believe what some of those sunglasses cost!

As we continued to West Side, it was unbelievably hot.  There was literally no shade to speak of except for the shadow from the buildings.  People were literally walking in that small sliver of shade. I hate that Starabilias is no longer there; some goofy store named Miss Matched is there now. We were all thirsty and wanted a snack.  I wanted to get ice water in the Candy Cauldron but they only had bottled water, which was fine as long as it’s cold!  I got a gingerbread man and Disani; Jake got some of those ridiculously over priced jelly beans.  I asked about DVC or AP discount and was happy there is an AP discount here of 10%.

I was ready to head back for the day and take a break.  We walked over to the bus station near Planet Hollywood and saw a Fort bus just pulling away!  I suggested just getting on the Wilderness Lodge bus and then transferring to a Fort bus there but just as we did that, another Fort bus pulled in so that worked out great!

We got back here and it didn’t even look like it rained here at all.  I laid down on the bed and then heard rain hitting the roof and did it ever rain! We had thunder and lightning and really heavy downpours for a couple hours. I love being in the RV when it rains, it is so cozy! I had my dogs laying beside me and was very comfy!  After a little while, I got up and made some dinner for us and cleaned up afterwards. Joe suggested going over to Wilderness Lodge for one of those iced brownies. Don’t have to ask me twice! Jake was playing basketball so Joe and I walked over to the bus stop and sure enough, a lodge bus pulled up and off we go for the two minute ride to the lodge.

We walked down to Roaring Forks and there was a little boy in front of me and his mom said what do you want and he reaches for the next to the last brownie! Joe and I looked at each other, we were afraid the daughter would take the last one, lol! She didn’t so I reached in and took it, lol.  We shared it this time, lol.  I got a cup of hot tea; when we finished the brownie, we went up to the lobby and sat in front of the fireplace in the wooden rockers.  We both reflected on the trip and talked about our favorite parts and things we’d do differently next time.  The barbecue smell from Whispering Canyon smelled so good! That is one thing we would do, book a meal there.

I wanted to check the store for something and found it, so I went to pay for that so we could leave. The cast member that waited on me said, Oh I need to see ID. I am used to hearing that cause I have ASK FOR ID on the back of my credit card.  I said, oh here ya go, I forgot to give it to you. She said well, you did not sign your card. I said, I know, I don’t sign them because anyone could reproduce my signature but no one can reproduce my picture ID. She said well technically, I should not accept this card; as a company, it is our policy to not accept cards not signed. I said, well, I am only trying to protect myself against identity theft and then she told me to call the CC company as she has heard nightmare stories that if you don’t sign the card, you are not covered for identity theft. HUH? I said, well that is news to me!  That conversation didn’t sit well with me at all!

We walked out to the bus stop and a fort bus pulled right up! I can’t believe our luck! We came back and another day is winding down. Another trip is winding down. Is it possible to be sad and glad at the same time?

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

The beauty of being here a long time is not every day has to be a park day. This was one of those days. Well, for the most part.  I got up around 7 or so and heard the people across the street from us getting ready to leave. I took the dogs out and said goodbye to the neighbors; they only have a 4 hour drive.  I tried to lay back down but I ended up having a cup of tea and going online. Joe finally got up around 9 and put the bacon on the grill. I was walking the dogs while we were waiting on the bacon and someone in a cart came by and told me to be careful, a few sites up, they had seen a brown and yellow snake! Of course, I had to see for myself and they showed me where it was. Of all times to not have a camera handy!

I came back in and made eggs on the stove for everyone. Joe made some toast and we  had some really good OJ that I had bought at Cast Connection.  I cleaned up the dishes and Joe took Cassie to the dog park.  Sandie got a walk around the loop instead of the dog park today.  At some point, I took the cart up to the 2000 loop to look for a DIS friend, Ami.  I saw her daughter out at their site but Ami was at the comfort station. I waited for a few minutes but didn’t want to run in and announce I was there, lol.  I was going to try again later but while we were gathering up our stuff for the pool, Ami and her daughters came by in their cart!  She is just as nice in person as she is online! It’s funny how you feel you know someone that you’ve never met.  Her daughters are so cute; they’re on a girls only trip! I was glad we were able to finally meet up.  They were on their way to meet up with another DISer for lunch.

After saying goodbye to Ami, we all hopped on our cart and drove up to the Meadows pool.  I did not see any tables available but I found some chairs in the shade and put our stuff there.  It was soooo hot and felt so good to just jump in the pool; although it felt pretty warm after a few minutes.  We all took turns on the slide, even Joe who is NOT a slide person!  After awhile, we went over to the hot tub which was 104 degrees! I could not even sit down at first. Jake said it was making him feel a little sick so we did not stay too long and jumped right back in the regular pool, which felt GOOD after that!

I went up to the snack back to get us a few things to eat and Joe refilled his mug. As we were standing there, it started drizzling. I covered our food and took it back to a table that had just opened up. It was so strange, it was literally raining on one side of the pool and not on the other. Eventually, it stopped altogether and after eating, we had dried off and jumped right back in the water.  We were at the pool a couple hours by now and thought we’d had enough sun for the day.  We could not decide on what to do for the evening but I just felt like taking a nap.

Jake wanted to go to Downtown Disney but Joe and I wanted to go over to the Magic Kingdom and get dinner at Cosmic Ray’s.  I got a shower in the comfort station today instead of in the RV.  I prefer the RV shower since it’s just my height but Joe kept saying how nice the comfort stations are so I gave that a try and it was nice.  After drying my hair, we rode down to the settlement dock and a boat was just pulling up. We have had the best luck of all with these boats!

It’s nice to arrive at the Magic Kingdom with no lines at security or turnstiles.  We walked right down the middle of Main Street USA and through  the castle and over to Cosmic Ray’s.  It did not seem too busy and Jake easily found a table for us while we got the food. Maybe it’s just me but even this food did not seem as good as usual.  I mainly go here to hear Sonny though!

After leaving Cosmic Ray’s we made a right and headed over to the Peoplemover. They already have the signs up!  After making the grand circle tour, we walked over to get fast passes for Buzz which were about 45 minutes away. The standby was 40 minutes. Why on earth would anyone NOT get a fast pass?

We hadn’t seen Laugh Floor so we walked in there with about a 10 minute wait.  This show is always different and it was hilarious tonight! The jokes are corny but still make you laugh and the audience participation was great; everyone was getting in to it which always makes it fun for everyone!

After the Laugh Floor show it was 10 minutes to Buzz so we sat on a bench and people watched. I could have contributed a lot of pics to badshoe.com, lol. High heels?

We literally walked through the fast pass line on to our Buzz cars.  We all got separate cars again.  Again, I lost, lol.  Only 3000 points this time! Why can’t I do better on this? Joe was the big winner with over 400,000 (see the picture on FB); he said he hit the big Z on the mountain a few times; that is how you do it!

After Buzz, we crossed the bridge to Tomorrowland and across the Hub over to the Sleepy Hollow refreshment stand.  Joe and I got Coke and Root Beer floats and Jake got a funnel cake.  We got a nice table there beside the castle. It was changing colors and just beautiful!  When we finished our goodies, we walked over to Hall of Presidents which is one of Jake’s favorite attractions. This time, I looked around more at the exhibits in there and then it was time to go in to the show. I even stayed awake!

We came out to a very busy parade viewing area; we crossed over and in to Ye Old Christmas Shoppe and exited out the other side and crossed the Ad-Lib Bridge.  The parade was just at the hub by now. We watched the parade from the doorway of the store for a few minutes and then walked on the sidewalk outside.  Don’t ever stop for a second out on the sidewalk, not even for a picture!  I was promptly told to keep moving “this is not a viewing area”.  We made it all the way to town square where we reached a roped off area and were told to wait. This was great as it put us in the front row to watch the rest of the parade!  Once it passed us, we exited Main Street with the hoards of guests leaving Magic Kingdom.  We got to the boat dock and were the first ones there; people were still coming over to see fireworks.

We sat outside on the boat back.  The captain came out to talk to us and said “does anyone know the name of that star above the moon?”  Joe raises his hand and waves it and says I DO I DO, like a little kid.  I was laughing so hard.  Joe said “it’s not a star, it’s a planet”, lol.  The captain said really? Which one? Joe said VENUS!  He didn’t ask any more questions after that, lol.

We got to see the Electrical Water pageant up close, we were right along side of it on the way back.  Once we got back here, we got the dogs out and walked them as the fireworks were going off. Two more days; how can I get the days to last longer?

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

I woke up at 6:30 as usual today but instead of walking the dogs, I fed them first and had a cup of tea and then laid back down.  I waited till I was showered and almost ready to go before walking them. We weren’t in a big hurry to get to Epcot; we figured we’d get a fastpass for Soarin when we got there if it wasn’t too late and also use our Test Track fastpass that we got the other night. We boated over to the Magic Kingdom and got a monorail to Transportation Ticket Center and then switched to an Epcot Monorail; we got TRON!  By the time we got there it was about 10:30; our Soarin return time was 1:12 which worked perfect for us. At the entrance, we encountered the turnstile challenged family, lol.  I always pick the furthers turnstile to the left or right since hardly anyone uses them.  There was only one family in front of us today.  For some reason, they could not understand to put the right finger on the glass. First they tried the thumb, then the middle finger; the CM kept saying try your FIRST finger, the pointer finger. Then he said, whatever finger you activated your pass with will work. Well, they could not remember, so all 5 of them had to go thru all their fingers before they would work. So needless to say, our line backed up considerably. The family was joking that they were going to get kicked out, lol.  I was trying to be patient, I really was, lol.

I wanted to see if the Disney timeline display was still up so we headed to the right after leaving Soarin and then made a left towards Club Cool.  Sure enough, the timeline is still in there on the wall and we looked at that for a little bit.  Jake had asked me if Test Track building was the same building as World of Motion and I did not think it was and these pictures proved I was wrong! I could have sworn they leveled the building but I must be thinking of Horizons. After that, we turned the corner and went in the exit of Club Cool to get some Coke from China; hey it’s free and it tastes like watermelon!  We took our time walking in to the just opening world showcase and looked around in the Port of Entry gift shop.  We are looking for something for a friend and Joe says we have to check every shop just in case it’s in there but there isn’t too much in that shop, the usual stuff.  I love world showcase when they first open; it is peaceful and uncrowded and you can easily hear the music playing in each country. We walked over to Canada to look at the lunch menu. I was pretty hungry, only having yogurt this morning.

I checked us in and we shared some benches with a family from Salt Lake City, UT.  The dad was telling me how he loved the dining plan.  I said, I guess if I was on it, I would love it too but as it is now, I do not love it at all!  He said they get it every year cause they love to eat, lol.  I said well it is definitely for you then! Within a few minutes, all the servers came out to sing Oh Canada, the Canadian National Anthem. Joe and Jake know all the words so they sang along too; comes from watching so much hockey!  We all sat down and they called US to be the first family of the day to open LeCellier! We were literally the first ones seated to walk in to the restaurant.  We were seated in the Newfoundland section.

Once I told the waiter we were not in the dining plan, he seemed a little put off.  I wonder if it’s cause we would not be tipping off of as large a bill as the DP people?  Once we were surrounded by DP people, he was constantly coming around to them, filling their drinks, clearing their plates away. We sat there with empty glasses for a little bit and then he finally came around to get us more iced tea.  We all ordered the prime rib sandwich; Joe and I also got a side salad.  I noticed right away that the bun of the sandwich was soaking wet soggy from the au juice of the meat.  We had ordered without horseradish sauce and it came with it on.  We all got fries instead of potato salad (they would not sub mashed potatoes) and the fries were too salty to eat.  I would/should have sent these back and/or reordered and got the burger but Joe and Jake said let it go and we all ate most of it; I took my bun off, it was mush. Our salads were pretty good at least.  In retrospect, I should have ordered the mac n cheese side dish; it would have been plenty for me I think.  This meal was SO not worth it and it’ll be too soon if I come back to LeCellier again. Both food and service were lacking and for $60+  for a lunch, that should NOT be the case.  We all agreed it was the worst meal of the trip; the rest were all great!

We headed to Soarin since it was close to our fast pass time.  When we got down there, we realized we still had about 20 minutes to go so decided to ride the Land boat ride which had a 5 minute wait. The line always looks long here but it takes a lot to fill the boat, so it moved fast.  We came off the boat and walked the short distance to the entrance of Soarin. As luck would have it, the time was exactly 1:12, which was our return time!  We walked the long walk thru the queu and got up to the point of handing over our fast pass but the guy in front of us had to dig in his backpack for his. Ok, so I am biting my lip but trying to be patient, lol.  He had to have shown it at the entrance but for some reason, put it away during the walk, lol.  We had wanted to get the front row but got the second one again.  I noticed if you lean forward, the sensation of flying is much more realistic!  I left my shoes on the floor since they are open back and yes, they were there when I returned to the ground, lol.

We headed over towards Test Track and directly in to the fast pass line.  We were directed straight up to room no. 1; the same room as the other night.  Once in the preview room, we walked over to the exit doors as usual. Once they opened, we walked out and through the queu but it was not moving very fast.  Then they announced that inclement weather was approaching and the ride could stop at any time.  We noticed that the vehicles coming in from the outside, the people were wet and the windshields were wet.  I imagine going 65 mph with rain pelting you in the face would hurt!  It stopped for a few minutes but started up very soon.  When we got to the outside section, it was sunny.  I videoed most of the ride and will try to get it on FB one of these days.

We headed out of the park at that point the same we got there; monorail to Transportation Ticket Center and then switched to Express Monorail. As we were approaching the Magic Kingdom, we passed over a boat that we thought we could catch if the monorail would just go a little faster.  Then it stopped to “hold” for clearance!  We finally starting moving and got in to the station; when the doors opened, Jake hurried down the ramp and over to the boat dock. Luckily, it is not far from the monorail station. The captain of the boat said he would wait. It was hot and I was tired but I tried to run and the captain said no need to run, we were 3 of a handful of people going back on the boat.

It had rained heavily over here while we were gone, the sand was soaked on the beach.  We somehow keep missing these heavy rains; even when we came out of Test Track there were puddles everywhere.  Joe and Jake decided to ride bikes over to Wilderness Lodge.  I cooled off and had a drink and relaxed a little bit, dozing off on the couch.  It started to rain again and I was glad to not be out on those bikes.  Before too long, they came back and said they were stranded in the lobby til the rain let up. There were tornado warnings for the area so we stayed in and made dinner here. We had a precooked roast and mashed potatoes and it was as good or better than any meal we have had, especially LeCellier!

I cleaned up the dishes and Joe and I took the dogs on a longer than usual walk. It was such a nice evening after the storms, not too warm but still pretty humid. Jake was playing basketball for a couple hours and we headed off with the dogs to the 700 loop area; I wanted to take some pictures of some mickey lamps that I liked.  We came back and put the dogs in their crate and left Jake still playing basketball; Joe and I caught a bus over to the Wilderness Lodge. I wanted one of those iced brownies they have at Roaring Forks.  When we got there, I saw that there was only one left that was iced and the rest were not. Joe said would I want to share that iced brownie with him. No, I would not, lol. He got an iced vanilla cupcake and refilled his mug.  I ended up giving him 1/3 of the brownie, it really was too big and very rich but very good. We sat there for a little bit, taking our time walking back through the lobby and the store and walked out to the bus area, where a Fort Wilderness bus pulled right up!  We were the only two on the bus and he took us directly to the settlement area which is a short walk back to our site.  Jake was back in the RV by now with two sleeping dogs.

I think tomorrow is a non park day!

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

We woke up to another off and on rainy day. Our original plans were to go to the Studios and have lunch at Prime Time 50s.  None of us were in the mood for that type of interaction today and we had not been to Animal Kingdom yet so we decided to head there.  There was quite a wait for the AK/Blizzard Beach bus; the other day, there were multiple buses for this park! We finally got there about 10:30 which is way later than I would have liked but the park did not seem crowded at all. One of the cast members yelled SAMUEL L. JACKSON! Sure enough, the was a guy there that either WAS him or was a dead ringer for him; even had the type of hat he wears on. I wanted to stalk him but we lost him, lol.

We first headed for the Safari ride to get fast passes, which weren’t really needed. The fast passes were only 45 minutes away.  I wanted to go walk the Pangani Trail but Jake wanted to walk through Asia. We walked over to Kali River Rapids and everyone was completely soaked! We headed over to Expedition Everest and the wait was only 30 minutes. Jake wanted to ride and I do like this ride, but not the backwards part; it gets me every time.  He does not like to ride anything single rider, so we kept going around to Dino Land and walked right on to Dinosaur.  It was fun and we had all new people in our car so they were screaming the entire time which made it more fun for everyone; plus, we got the front row!

We were all hungry so we walked back to Rainforest and had about a 5 minute wait before being seated. I had a $10 off birthday certificate as a member of the Safari Club and the waiter said I could either use that or the 10% off OR free appetizer.  I opted for the $10 off.  Ever since they took the coconut chicken off the menu, nothing really appeals to me here.  I ended up with the burger which was HUGE! Jake ate all of his pasta dish AND finished the last few bites of mine. Joe had a spicy pasta dish of some sort. When the waiter brought the check, he advised me that they DID indeed allow the $10 off AND the 10% off check!  The Safari Club membership is the best $10 non expiring membership I ever bought!

It was now (past) time for our safari so we walked back there.  Today’s weather was off and on drizzle  (never needed a poncho) and very pleasant temperatures for a change! There was no need for a fast pass, the stand by line was almost up to the boarding area. We got our front row seat in the jeep and headed out on our two week safari!  I thought since it had been drizzling, we would see lots of animals, but there really weren’t  as many as usual.  We DID see a baby elephant which was too hard to get a picture of and the baby giraffe, which I did manage to get a picture of.  Our safari driver was ok, nothing special. She did the spiel but sounded sort of bored with it all. I imagine it would get monotonous after awhile.

We really did not do too much in Animal Kingdom today but we did as much as we wanted to; I would have liked to walk through Pangani though. We walked back to the bus area and had about a 10 minute wait, not too bad.  I must have fell asleep on the way back; I woke up and we were here already.

After a little break, we took the dogs over on the cart to the dog park. It was cloudy when we got there and then the sun came out.  Cassie and Sandie just love coming here. After we unleash them, they just take off like the wind!  This time, there was another dog in the park with them who is not used to dogs. She seemed to like Sandie but when Cassie came over, she growled and they had to pull  her away. I was getting nervous cause Cassie wanted to play, she kept putting her Frisbee in the dogs face and I was afraid the other dog would get mad. I hosed them down and we came back. Our neighbor came over to let me know that she found the collar in small that I had been looking for for Sandie, since Cassie decided to chew off the end of it. So I can either get it at the Magic Kingdom or World of Disney.

We decided to cook out hamburgers tonight and of course as is the tradition with us, Joe gets the burgers on the grill and it starts to rain. Our old charcoal was not lighting so we opened a new bag that we had but then the lighter ran out! Jake and I hopped on the golf cart and went down to the Settlement store but they did not have any so we drove over to the Meadows store and found one there. Poor Joe, I think he was ready to give up by the time we got back. He said he wasn’t sure if the coals were still hot but they were and the burgers were so good.

We all wanted some type of dessert but did not want to venture too far out tonight. I was thinking the fort needs some type of ice cream place, either at Trails End or take out.  Jake wanted to watch soccer on TV so Joe and I drove down to the settlement area and parked the cart.  We found  a couple empty rockers and someone else walked up and asked if there was a place to get ice cream! I said, see, we are not the only ones that want that!  I am not even an ice cream person but I like it on vacation once in awhile.  Joe filled up his refillable mug and then bought me a mudslide at the window.  We sat on the porch and watched the goings on at the Settlement.  Hoop Dee Doo was letting out and another show was lining up; people were playing horse shoes (plastic); the hay ride horse/wagon rode by, then the horse and carriage went by.  I could sit here all night in my rocker with my mudslide!  Usually, there is a checkers game going on on the porch but not tonight.  Before we knew it, it was time for the Electrical Water Pageant, so we walked out to the dock and got a table there and watched the pageant. I love this show no matter how many times I see it.  It was only 10 minutes til the fireworks started but we wanted to walk the dogs around a little bit, so we headed out.  As we were starting out with the dogs, we could see the fireworks right from our site, just behind the RV! This evening was very pleasant, could almost use a light coat! I happened to notice the CMs checking people in at Trails End had a heater on the porch!

As is the case every time, people always stop to see the dogs so it takes awhile to get around the loops, lol.  We were heading on to our path and a cart went by and I heard a little girl yell out “hi Sandie”! Then someone else said “oh I love those dogs”, lol.

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Sleeping in is starting to get easier and easier. After I take the dogs out, I just want to lay back down. The first thing to get done today is return the rental car by 11, preferably by 10 as I wanted to get some housekeeping things done today since it was supposed to be rainy off and on. So far, it was mostly on.

Joe and I left a sleeping Jake around 9:00 and drove over towards the Dolphin.  I wanted to find Mike and give him his tip from the other day. I was hoping he would be the one to take care of us when we pulled up. He wasn’t but I did see him standing there.  We pulled up to the curb and got our receipt; I walked over to Mike and said Hi, remember us from the other day…here ya go and handed him his tip. He got this big smile on his face and said, oh yeh, I do remember! Then he said wow, I can’t believe you really did come back! I said, well I’m sure you hear that a lot from people but I didn’t forget about you. He said thank you over and over and that he did hear “I’ll be back” a lot. So with that taken care of, we could not decide if we wanted to bus to Magic Kingdom and boat to the Fort or walk through Epcot and get a direct bus.  We started to walk towards Epcot and it started to rain so we turned around and got the bus to Magic Kingdom which came right away. As we approached the dock, I saw a boat on its way over. There were 3 of us on the boat back to the fort! Everyone was going the other direction this early in the morning.

Once we got back, we took the dogs over to the dog park. We have yet to walk them that someone does not stop us and ask about them. Of course, the dogs love that attention from people, especially the kids. Once we got over there, I hosed down both of them and we let them play a little bit but not for long since it was soooo hot, even though they were hosed down. We walked them back and they both crashed in the cool RV.  Joe and Jake were taking our bikes up to the bike barn to get air in the tires. I decided to vacuum a little bit and get some laundry together.

The comfort station is very close so I was able to carry both portable hampers over at one time.  I love the laundry area in the comfort stations, it’s air conditioned and they are very nice! I loaded two washers ($2 a piece) and when I put the quarters in the second one, nothing happened.  I went outside and called engineering to let them know I lost $2.   She said to go to either the settlement store or meadows store; since I was close to the settlement, I drove over there to let them know what happened and engineering said they would reimburse me. She said she never heard of that and that I had to drive to the outpost to get my money back. The outpost is all the way in the front but since I had a cart, I did not mind too much.  So back in the cart I go, out to the outpost/check in area.  I got waited on right away and told her what happened and that the settlement store told me they would reimburse me. Yes, you guessed it, she never heard of that!  I said, well someone is wrong here, I can’t be the only one to have ever lost money in the washing machine! So she got a reimbursement slip out and apologized for the inconvenience and said she COULD do it, but settlement could also have done it. Oh well, I walked away with 8 quarters and went back to the RV.  After awhile, I put everything in to one dryer, since they are large.  I wasn’t sure how long the cycle was but I went back and took a little nap. When I woke up, Joe and I went over and the clothes were a little damp but most would be hanging up and another cycle would be too much drying time.  I came back over and put everything away. Enough of this domestic stuff!

We all wanted to go to Epcot and also World Showcase.  Since we were all hungry, we headed to Sunshine Seasons. Jake did not want this food, so he waited while Joe and I ate. He wanted a burger in America which is on the other side of a very hot park! After we ate, we stopped at Test Track for fast passes of 8:10.  We made our way over to American Pavilion, not stopping in any of the countries along the way; we’d hit them on the way out.  I swear that hot walk took forever; it seemed like I was on a conveyor belt going the wrong way.  When Jake went to order, I splashed cold water on my face and got some cold wet towels for my neck. I was not feeling well at all and knew I better get in some a/c right away.  There weren’t too many people in there, but it is always loud in there and I was hoping for some peace and quiet to help me to feel better. Joe said I was not looking too good and he went and got a frozen coke to help cool me down.  I had wanted to take the boat over, which would have kept us out of the heat but Jake thought that would take too long and he was hungry. I knew I had reached my heat limit and was a little worried there was no fast way out if I needed to get out of there. While we were in there, it started to rain really hard and I was glad to just sit there and wait it out. It was over an hour before I felt well enough to go back out.

Once we started back out again, I felt fine and it seemed cooler and was drizzling off and on, which felt great.  We made our way over to Norway and it was about a 5 minute wait for Maelstrom; we even stayed for the movie which I swear, they shortened! We walked in to Mexico and walked right on to a boat there; still not wild about the changes they made here. If there were a line, I doubt we would bother.  With the construction going on outside of Mexico, it makes for a very narrow walk way in this area and it bottle necks. This will be nice when it’s all done I bet!

We looked around in the gift shop at the front of World Showcase and then walked over to Mouse Gear to see what’s new in there.  This is Mickey heaven but I only bought a Toy Story placemat for my niece.

Jake wanted us to all ride Mission Space-orange but I wasn’t about to take chances on that. There were a few people sitting outside the gift shop that looked quite ill, I felt bad for them. We told Jake we’d see him when he came out.  When Jake came out, he said it gave him a headache, lol.

We were about 10 minutes from our fast pass time for Test Track so we sat along the wall and people watched for a little bit.  It finally said 8:10 and we walked through the line and up the steps. We were directed to room #1. It seemed like it was taking a long time for the doors to open and I noticed no doors were opening.  Then we hear an announcement “Ladies and Gentlemen, all vehicle testing has been terminated, please go out the nearest exit immediately”. Wow, I had never heard THAT before! They opened all the exit doors and everyone left and they handed out “any time” fast passes as we left. Everyone was wondering what happened but they never tell you even if they DO know.

So we decided to ride Spaceship Earth on the way out, since it would no doubt have a 0 wait.  As expected, we walked right up on to the vehicle.  We no sooner get our picture taken and the ride stops. It was only 5 minutes or so before we started up again and were on our way.  I was going to tape the ending cartoon with our pictures but all that was there were cartoon people and not us. Grrrr….nothing was working right tonight! The funny thing was, the cartoon boy did have red hair, lol.

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

We decided to go to the later mass today at Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine, so there was no rush to get up and get moving. I still do get up at the regular time, around 7 or so and got myself ready. I wanted to give us a lot of time to get there with traffic on the main highway so we left around 10:45 for the 11:30 mass.  Good thing we did, traffic was a nightmare out there.  The green arrow on to Vineland hardly lets any cars through so it took forever to cross over and then it was bumper to bumper til the shrine entrance.  Joe dropped me off since it was raining pretty good.  I got us a seat in the back off to the right; there were plenty available but it filled up fast.  Another family sat to the left of us and I glanced over and thought they looked somewhat familiar. I even said to Jake that looks like the family that sits in front of us at our regular church at home, St. Marys.  We are new to this church since ours closed a couple years ago but they definitely looked familiar. I saw the boy say something to his mom and then the mom leaned over and said “Excuse me, do you go to St. Marys in New Kensington?”  I said, we were just wondering the same thing!  Is it a small world or WHAT!  What are the chances we would be at the same church, the same mass and the same pew in the same city!  I always look forward to this mass; they have a great choir and the priest always has a great homily.  This particular homily was so good, I was wishing it wasn’t over!  He talked about how to find happiness in every day. You don’t have yesterday, you don’t know if you have tomorrow but you DO have today and you can choose to be happy or not.  I would love to have a tape of it all.

After mass, it was still drizzling.  Jake saw the McDonalds and wanted to eat lunch there. We still had two free smoothie coupons (all from buying sweet tea) so we used those up and got a little bit of lunch. I really wanted to go to the outlets right next door just to see if there were any bargains; it is always hit or miss. Well, we went in the back way where there are always parking spaces but not today.  We drove around to the front and it was completely full. In fact, there was a line of cars lined up waiting for people to leave that stretched from one end of the parking lot to the other!  There isn’t anything I need THAT bad in that store! I told Joe forget it, so we headed out. The traffic going IN to the outlets was unbelievable. It literally stretched from the outlet entrance all the way to the main highway intersection and THAT turning lane extended all the way to Disney property! I have never, in all my years going to Disney, seen it that bad.  I was glad to get out of there!

On the way back to the Fort, we decided to stop off at Old Key West and take a look around at my favorite DVC resort.  Darla’s afghan is still hanging in community hall!  Then Jake mentioned he has never seen Port Orleans Resort. We had stayed there when Justin was smaller but before Jake was born.  We first stopped at Riverside and then backtracked to French Quarter.  We stopped in the food court to have a few beignets, yum, should have got more than 3!

It rained off and on all day and I got the dogs a walk in before it rained harder.  I decided to take a nap for an hour or so.  When I got up, Jake was playing basketball with another kid so Joe and I took the dogs out for a little bit but the dog park would be too wet so we skipped that today.  It was already going on 6:00 by now and we did not eat anything and still wanted to go to Downtown Disney.  Jake wanted to stick around here so he got some chicken nuggets for himself.

Joe and I drove down to Downtown Disney and most of the lots appeared to be full.  I imagine this was going to be a zoo judging from the parking lots.  We got all the way down to Planet Hollywood before finding a space!  We parked and made our way through the extremely busy Pleasure Island area and in to the Downtown Disney area.  It was almost hard to walk at times.  Every few hundred feet, there would be a band  of some sort playing.  I only wanted to look in a few stores but we first had to eat.  I noticed Wolfgang Pucks no longer had the mashed potatoes; there was hardly anybody eating in there which was strange.  Joe wanted Earl of Sandwich and the line was very long but I know it moves fast.  There was no place inside to sit but I remembered seeing a little nook around the corner near Gourmet Pantry that no one was sitting at.  We got our order made in about 15 minutes or so and took our food back to the quiet area.  Someone even commented that we had the right idea!  I got the Italian sandwich and Joe got the original.  We both got a small dessert, chocolate pudding and strawberry shortcake. It was all very good!

After eating, we made our away in to a few stores.  I wanted to check out the Pooh store, TrenD , Team Mickey and World of Disney.  I spotted a few things to keep in mind and will be back when it is less busy, maybe when they open some morning.  We made our way back to the West Side and found our car, where there was someone already waiting to take our space! Aaagghhhh, just get me back to the RV and the peacefulness of the Fort!

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

I woke up early and got the dogs out and walked.  I happen to pull out my National Car Rental confirmation to double check the time and I saw that I was supposed to pick the car up YESTERDAY!! I have no idea why I would make it Friday, when I knew I had a lunch reservation yesterday.  I called them right away and they gave me the number to their desk at The Dolphin Hotel.  He said do not worry, they hold the cars for 24 hrs anyways.  I was so relieved!  I was supposed to have a 3 day rental with coupon for a free day but I was thinking maybe it will just be a two day w/o coupon now.

We walked over to the boat dock to get a boat, which was waiting, over to Magic Kingdom and then hop on a Dolphin bus from there.  It looked like the clouds were going to burst over the Magic Kingdom any minute.  We walked over to the buses and a man asked us where we were heading. I said Dolphin Hotel and he said “leaving already?”  I said well we are picking up a rental car there. He said let me get you a bus then. So he radioed for one for us.  We waited at the stop.  We kept seeing buses that had strange letters on the front like DHCS or DHWL. They always started with DH.  I walked over to that same man and said what does DHCS mean?  He said DH stands for DEAD HEAD and the last two letters are the abbreviation for the hotel.  He said from opening til around 11, they send empty buses to see how many people are going back at that time. So he can dispatch one of those empty buses so people are not waiting long.  Very shortly a Boardwalk bus came and he walked over to ask him to take us to Dolphin and he motioned us to come over.  So we had our own private bus, just us two, to the Dolphin!

We had a small wait at the National Counter and then they put another person on the counter and we were waited on.  They could not have been nicer here.  I told her, I will keep the 3 day rental with coupon if it’s cheaper or I can return in two days, it did not matter.  My coupon was for a free weekend day with min. 3 day stay, one day has to be a Saturday.  She told me she would waive the 3 day requirement and still give us a free day!  So I got a two day rental for $43! Sounds like  a bargain to me!

We walked out with our key to the valet area and a man came right up to go get our car. I reached in my wallet for money and realized, I brought the wrong purse and had no cash for a tip!   Joe said he did not have any either; I wanted to crawl in a hole!  Within a minute, the man came back with our car, he was so nice and fast. I asked his name and if he was working on Monday and he said he was.  I explained I did not have cash on me now but I will be back on Monday and find him.  He seemed appreciative and I promise I will not forget about him!

We drove the car back; we got a silver HHR.  As long as the car does not smell like smoke, I don’t care what kind of car it is.  I picked up my purse where I had the cash and we headed off to Publix.  I had a couple coupons for free smoothies at McDonalds so we stopped in there first and then realized we should probably eat while we were there.  What a difference in prices compared to Disney!

We then went around the corner to Publix and got the things we needed. It didn’t seem like we needed that much, but of course, we left with all kinds of junk.  As we drove back to Disney property, the clouds were getting lower and darker.  It was raining a little bit by the time we got back here and looked like it had already rained a good bit while we were away.  We put everything away  and  I decided to lay down and take a nap.  Joe took Cassie to the dog park and Sandie laid down with me.  It seemed like he was gone 5 minutes but he said it was half an hour.  I got up and took Sandie for a nice long walk so she would be tired too.

We weren’t sure what we wanted to do for dinner. I suggested Caseys for hot dogs so we put dogs away in their crate and headed over to the Magic Kingdom and headed straight for Caseys.  We got our food and ate outside to soak up the Main Street atmosphere.

After eating, we wanted to cool off and ride Pirates.  We had a rowdy boat and they were all singing the pirates YO HO song; it was funny cause they were all adults!  We then got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain and it was only 45 minutes away.  We walked over to Philharmagic via Fantasyland and walked right in to a show about to start.  There were some foreign people who sat down in the middle and a CM came over and told them to move down; they acted like they didn’t understand her until she motioned GET UP and pointed to the last chair; they finally did move.   We kept walking towards Tomorrowland and road Wedway which was pretty busy!  We picked up some Buzz fastpasses and all wanted some frozen cokes from The Lunching Pad and sat at a table for a little bit.

It was time for Big Thunder, so we rode the trail from toon town all the way back around to Frontierland.  The funniest thing happened in the Big Thunder Fast pass line.  Jake noticed a dad and two sons with Flyer shirts on. Just as he noticed them, the dad noticed Joe’s steeler shirt.  I said to the one little boy in line “hey, do you know you have a FLYERS shirt on?” He looked funny and shook his head yes.  The dad said to me DON”T EVEN START! HE said he already noticed the Steeler shirt! Joe said hey I have a couple CROSBY shirts for your kids if you want. He said he wouldn’t wear a Crosby shirt if he were DEAD! LOL! We ended up in the same train as them and when we got off the ride, he tapped Jake on the back.  Wheeewww, that was a close one. Jake was mad he had his Boston Red Sox shirt instead of his Crosby one.

We walked back to Buzz via the castle hub and through the parade crowds.  Buzz was only a 20 minute stand by but it looked longer. We walked pretty much straight through the fast pass line.  We all got our own separate car.  I had a pitiful score of 3300. I  have never scored that low. I swear my gun was broke. Jake had a high score of 276,800 HE SAID, lol.

We headed out down Main Street. Everyone was coming IN as we were going out. We walked right out to a waiting boat; what luck!  I was sitting on the boat and happened to look up and there was a HUGE spider web above me!  I moved up a row when I saw that!

It feels good to be back relaxing and cool. It amazes me how fast time goes down here.

Friday, August 6th, 2010

We had the luxury of sleeping in a little this morning; although I don’t do that too well. Around 7:30 or so I got up and got things going.  We wanted to be at World Showcase when it opened at 11 or close to it.  We bussed to Epcot and casually made our way back to the entrance near Canada.  It’s nice to not rush off to get fast passes for a change. We even stopped in Club Cool to have some Coke from China; love the watermelon flavor!

We started out in Canada walking through the shops and up the steps and down to the movie, Oh Canada.  We had just missed one and the next one is in 14 minutes; again no hurry, so we waited.  This movie has Martin Short and it’s kind of funny.  It was close to our seating time in France for lunch so we bypassed looking around in the United Kingdom for now and headed across the bridge to France. Only in Disney can you go from Canada through United Kingdom to France!  Chefs De France had just opened and we were called shortly after the doors opened.  We were seated in the room with all the windows that you see as you walk up to the bakery.  I can’t believe we have never eaten here before; I always wanted to and just never bothered.  At first we had a female waitress  but she came over and introduced us to Johann, who would be our waiter. Works for me, Johann is very cute!  I have to really listen when they talk as it is a little hard to understand with their thick French accent.  First they brought us some French baguette bread and butter and it was warm and sooo good!  Jake and I had the ham and cheese sandwich and Joe had a mahi mahi sandwich.   Ours had a small salad that came with it and it was also very good.  As we were eating, Remy came around! What a hoot this rat is! He stopped at our table second ; I taped a little bit of him, very cute and very clever how they do this.  Joe and I decided to have some crème brulee’; what better place than France! It was a large portion and unbelievably good.

We headed over to The American Adventure since it was about 1:30 and I thought there would be a show about then.  We heard Voices of Liberty finishing up as we walked in.  We walked upstairs to the theatre entrance and sat down in front.  Some little girl was sitting in our row and every time Jake moved, she moved, lol.  Finally her sister came and got her and made her stay near them.  She had the cutest little laugh, that it made me laugh.  Once the show started, you never knew she was there.  It was a great show as usual.  We looked around in the store afterwards and I bought Jake a Boston Red Sox shirt that he wanted.  As I was paying, my phone rang and it was Pat!  She was back at her room and was ready to go to the Cast Connection Store.

We all walked back over to Boardwalk and Pat was already pulling up front with the car.  Once Jake figured out how to fold the seat back up, we took Joe and Jake back to The Fort and Pat and I headed off backstage to the cast member store.  First we stopped at Disney University in the Company D store; lots of cute things in here; then we went over to Cast Connection.  First thing we noticed is, they are selling food in  here now! Apples were only .25, OJ was $2.50 (compared to $4.99 in the resorts stores) and water was only .60 !  Pat bought a few things, I only bought some OJ and pretzels.  There was really nothing there this time around.  Pat drove me back to the Fort and I showed her how to get back out again.  I know it can be confusing when you’re not used to it and this resort is literally a mile from one end to the other.

We chilled out awhile back here at the RV; some new neighbors had moved in around us and they were just loving the dogs.  I gave the one lady Kenny’s number for the carts.  They were renting two from Disney at $63 a day each!

We had no plans for dinner and Joe had been wanting to get nachos so we headed down to Crocketts Tavern.  The settlement area was just hopping with activity.  A Hoop Dee Doo show was lining up, people were playing (plastic) horseshoes, the playground was full of giggling kids, carts were whizzing by left and right and a horse was pulling a carriage. I asked about getting a table for wings and nachos and she said it would be awhile unless we could find an empty high top table, which we did.  We sat there and sat there and no one came over to us. Finally, after about 15 minutes, Joe went up to the bar and ordered some drinks and the food for us.  There was a girl named Barb working there.  I did not think she was that friendly a Cm as they usually are at the Fort.  She sort of made us feel like we were bothering her.  When she came to bring the food over to our table, she practically slammed it down; she said it was hot. Jake went to take it from her and she said “I SAID IT WAS HOT!” Yikes!  It finally slowed down in there but we never got our drinks refilled by anyone. I had to take my empty glass all the way up to the buffet area and ask for a refill at the register. He said our server would take care of us; I said, we do not have a server, lol.  Everything was really good but the service was lacking.  If it were up to me, I would not have left a tip but Joe did anyways.

We were talking about what to do for the rest of the evening and decided to take the dogs over to the dog park while it was still light and not so hot.  We walked them over there and again, the Fort was just hopping with activity everywhere you went.  You could smell food on the grills, bike riders going back and forth, people everywhere!  When we got to the dog park, a few dogs were just leaving and our dogs had a stare down with them, lol.  We stayed a little longer since the dogs had a lot of energy to burn off and it was a nice evening, not hot at all. Again, Cassie insists on carrying her Frisbee herself.  Jake had decided to play basketball for a little while while we were at the dog park.

Another fun day; I wish time would slow down!

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Well, I am waking up later and later these days! I got up at 6:00 to take the dogs out and get a drink. I really should have just stayed up but I layed back down and next thing I know, it is 7:30!  I made some tea and had a donut and started getting ready for the day.  Our only plans were to hit the Studios for Tower of Terror, maybe Rock n Roller Coaster and have lunch at Sci Fi.  I like going in to a park with a small agenda to accomplish.

We got our fast passes for 11:55 for Tower of Terror.  Rock n Roller standby was 70 minutes and Jake did not want to do single rider, if it was even open.   We headed over to Great Movie Ride and this time there was enough of a crowd that we got to see some of the movie clips.  We almost had the very last row of the vehicle to ourselves but they squeezed in a few more at the last minute.  We walked over to the Muppets Show and walked right in to the ending of the preshow.  Some of the effects were not working; the bubbles were just drips of sticky bubble stuff at first and then tons of bubbles landing on us!  We took our time going through the shops over on Sunset Blvd. towards Tower of Terror.  We had a few more minutes and then our fast pass time came up and we walked right up in to the hotel and in to the library.  There were some goofball teen girls in there, when Rod Serling is talking, cracking their gum really loud.  Not sure what they were trying to prove but they made themselves out to look really immature.  Once people ignored them, they seemed to stop.  We got on our “elevator” and got the first row!  None of us were really sure what to expect with the new drop sequences and effects.  The effects were pretty neat but the drops were not that great.  Instead of 5 or 6 drops, we dropped maybe 2 ½ times.  It is not nearly as good as before.  Maybe it is different each time, I hope so.

Now it was finally time to eat!  We got over to Sci Fi and there was a line to check in.  I had a feeling there were some in line without reservations and I knew they’d be turned away.  After a few minutes, the CM said this is a reservation only line, we are not accepting walk ins today; half the line left!  I gave my name and stood off to the side.  Then a lady and her kids came and said we have no reservations but we are on the dining plan and will sit anywhere; they took her right back! Go figure!  Even took her before us!  Every single person we encounter is on the dining plan these days.

We had a really good waitress at Sci Fi.  She was really getting in to the whole 50s theme and hitch hiker thing. I always think the food here is pretty good but they need more of a selection.  I wasn’t sure why there were so many empty cars when there were so many people waiting to get seated.

After lunch, we took our time leaving, stopping in Sid Cahuenga’s on the way out.  Lots of neat things in this store!  We had a 10 minute wait for  a bus and got back to the RV and walked the dogs a couple laps around.  We all took a small break and then walked them over to the dog park to play some Frisbee.  Cassie carries her Frisbee (not sure why wordpress capitalizes that word) the entire walk over!  This time there was a little Bichon at the park named Bella; she wanted no part of playing with other dogs.  Cassie played for about 20 minutes or so and I hosed them down and they were dry by the time we got back to the RV.

 

We wanted to walk around the world showcase for the evening so we caught a boat to Magic Kingdom and then caught a bus to Boardwalk or Beach Club, whatever came first. It was Boardwalk.  I called Pat on the way, since she was just arriving today. Just wanted her to know I was in the area in case she was too.   We walked around the Boardwalk a little bit and then headed in to World Showcase and went to the right.  It seems we all wanted different things tonight so I headed to Germany for a “frankfurter” and kraut, Joe and Jake got Chinese.  First I went over to the new, just opened today, restaurant in Italy, Via Napoli.  There was a short line and I just wanted to see what the wait was.  It was an hour and a half! No, I did not feel like eating at 9:30. Maybe another day.

After we all ate, we wanted to watch Illuminations ahead of the crowd so we watched it at the entrance to World Showcase and left just after the finale to head for a Fort Bus.  The plan was to take the Wild. Lodge/Fort bus, get off at Wilderness Lodge and get a Fort bus from there and take the back way in since our cart was at the Settlement area.  We got off at the Lodge and a Fort bus pulled right up! We decided to celebrate by buying a box of Entenmann’s Donuts, lol.  It had rained over here while we were gone so Jake dried off the cart for us and we rode back over, a short ride, to our site.

Milk and donuts and lights out! Another fun day in the world!