Two Chips and a Dip (The Appetizer Trip) Nov 30 thru Dec 5, 2007 - With Final Thoughts - COMPLETE - Updated 2/21 About This Page:

[Hugmonster]

I should be working... But I love reading your trip reports..

[Jillybean]

What a great MK night! The Plaza is one of our new fav's, so I was drooling reading about your dinner. Glad that you were able to catch Wishes and Spectro too (loved that you chimed in with the family at the Plaza on the Spectro question . I'm surprised that they didn't adopt you right then and there). And how wonderful that you could stay a little bit later and have a little Eileen time - - and then return home to a Minnie cutie!

Jill

[zacksmom_1993]

I'm going to try to only quote the very, very best parts. But, it'll be hard since it's all SPECTACULAR! Sucky-uppy enough for you, my dear?

K-dubs, this one’s just for you!

I can't even tell everyone the context of why this picture is so stinkin' funny because it'll reflect poorly on my character. Buuuttt, it's stinkin' funny enough out of context, so I'm posting it again as a service for the masses.

I wasn’t eavesdropping, I swear (really, I wasn’t!! Not *this* time ), but...

I can't even tell you how many times Eileen has started a conversation with a random stranger with the words, "I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear." I figured it was because random strangers wouldn't know that she was a serial mis-representer of eavesdropping history, but here she is, telling the tale, for all the world to hear. And, now, I HAVE to write a trip report to tell the tale of the future mis-representation of eavesdropping history. Harumph!

I was stuffed to the gills, but the boys wanted the brownie sundae the moment they saw it on the menu (it’s their second favorite dessert after pumpkin pie!) They devoured it totally and Bob even resorted to using a straw to suck up the melted goodness on the plate – to which Calder quickly joined in!

Man. Someone trained those boys right! My lick his plate clean Dad would be so proud.

Karen and Sharon later mocked me for insisting that this doll was completely ‘lost” but I’m glad to say that my TRUE friends Dawn and Tiff will stand up for me and tell you that they heard the same thing!!

As a preview of the trip report I now DEFINITELY HAVE to write... Lies and Deceit. Lies and Deceit! Don't believe her people! As we told Eileen MANY times, it was not so much on the not believing, more on the not caring.

By the time I got into the resort, the boys were completely unconscious in our terribly hot room. I jacked up the A/C and fell into the bed. As I rearranged my pillows, I felt something tip off the headboard and onto my head. It was soft and squishy and round,

uh oh, that doesn't sound good...

so I knew pretty quickly that it was one of the Cutie pillows. A quick feel of the head told me it was wearing a bow. Oh… my boys had bought me a Minnie Cutie and left it in my bed for me to find.

Oh, OK. How sweet!

And, on a slightly serious note, can't wait to hear more!

[goofysdtr]

the updates! Keep 'em comin'!

[jpod523]

the updates!!! can't wait to read more!!!

[bbelinda]

Love the report! The whole bagpipe thing reminded me of the Friends episode where Ross plays bagpipes and Phoebe "sings" along.

[clio]

Congrats to Calder. Great start Karen. The Plaza is one of my favorites, too. I thought DD was the only that takes pictures of signs.
Liz

[tndisneyfam]

Phew!! I just caught up! Excellent start! Congrats to Calder on his black belt! Love the pictures! My Dh is so white he is blue too! Except for his arms and face! Excellent TR of course! Can't wait for more!!

[WHMom]

I'm just loving your TR...but I always love your TR's, so no surprise there!

Congrats to Calder on his black belt! Way to go!!

One thing you and I have in common is that Spectromagic "loop" in our heads. It often pops into mine when I least expect it, and it always makes me happy. I'm so glad you got to see it, and from such a great vantage point. It must have been extra wonderful with the castle and its ice lights.

Looking forward to more!!

[Sue M.]

Great update! Loved the photos, I have a special fondnes for the moose pic Congrats to Calder on his black belt. My DD had gotten her brown belt when she decided to quit
More!!!
Sue

[angiek1024]

What a wonderful evening at MK. I love the way the castle is decorated, it looks beautiful! So sweet of your guys to get you a Minnie!!!

Hurry back with more!

[Caldercup]

December 2 - Day 3 / part 1

Did it matter that I got into bed after midnight the night before?

Nope, I was wide awake before 7AM. I lay there for a bit before getting up to take a shower (hoping against hope that I’d “inadvertently” make so much noise that the boys would wake up and want to go to a park. No such luck.)

When I was completely ready (and the boys were showing no signs of waking), I grabbed my notebook, my mug and my phone and headed out to the food court. The resort was very quiet on the walk past the beach and over the bridge. I stepped inside and resisted the urge to check the gift shop once again as I veered left and over to the drink station. I concocted a mix of coffee, hot chocolate, creamer and sugar and stepped back outside into the lovely sunshine. There was a big group of tables to choose from, so I happily settled in on one out near the water and opened my book.

It took me a minute of rubbing my eyes and feeling my nose begin to itch before I realized that I’d made the mistake of picking a table in the smoking section. But, before I could shift to a table that wouldn’t set off my allergies, my cellphone started dancing on the tabletop. It was Calder and he was awake and wondering where I was. We had a ridiculously aggravating conversation while I tried to figure out whether he wanted me to come back so we could go to a park or whether he wanted to come and find me and have some breakfast – are all 11 year old boys this discombobulated or did I just hit the jackpot on this one? Finally, I gave up trying to suss out what he wanted to do and just reminded him how to get over to the main building, telling him I’d be there for at least another 30 minutes. He met up with me pretty quickly and, after a stop to refill the mug with hot chocolate for him, we headed back over the bridge with the intention of going to a park while Bob slept.

While walking, we heard this crazy noise of a boat gunning its engine and kids screeching and yelling. Once we were past the visual breaks they have up while they do some work on the docks at the CBR, we saw this big, brown pontoon boat zigzagging across the water as it chased a water mouse around and around the lagoon. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was part of the “Pirate’s Adventure Cruise”… although, I could tell by the confused reaction of the other guests walking along the beach that this wasn’t something they’d heard about. When the Cast Member in the water mouse drove it up on the beach and then abandoned it to go racing off into one of the resort buildings, people were downright confused. I think the kids wearing eye patches and yelling “Aaaargh!” from the boat should’ve clued them in that this was a Disney-sanctioned event.

I put my key in the door and -- clunk -- discovered that the interior bolt had been thrown.

Good news: Bob was awake. Bad news: Bob was in the shower.

Calder and I sat down at one of the courtyard tables and chilled out for a bit. Every ten minutes or so, I gave Bob’s cell phone a ring. Calder alternated that with heading over to knock on the door. Finally, after about a half hour, he opened the door to us, all red and steamy from an extended stretch in the seemingly endlessly hot showers at the CBR. (Seriously, they have some wicked powerful hot water heaters at this resort!)

By now it was around 9:45 or so and it didn’t make sense to go to the Animal Kingdom at that point – not with our initial plans of going to Downtown Disney for lunch. <<shrug>> Well, we might as well go directly to DtD and get our shopping done. We waited a bit for a bus, but were walking through the marketplace by 10:30. Our first stop was Once Upon a Toy, as I wanted to look for Mister Potato Head parts that we didn’t have in our collection yet. Calder and I got into a little “heated discussion” (read: fight) over which parts we DID and DID NOT have. He was right on the Chef Mickey hat, but I was right on everything else. (That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.) With the help of a great CM, we managed to get the very last POTC parrot out of one of the display tubes which capped off our very full box.

Calder spent a great deal of time at the Build-A-Lightsaber display and put together a whopper!! Another guest told me that they have a complete set of all the lightsaber parts at the Tatooine Traders near Star tours at Disney Studios. After a bit of hemming and hawing, Calder decided to just get the one he’d built and another helpful CM told him to go back and make sure he had at least one of *every* part on offer – especially the crystals that make the lightsaber different colors or produce different sounds.

Then it was on to World of Disney, where I planned on doing some serious damage. Unfortunately, I was surprised at how homogenized all the merchandise was. The stuff in here was exactly the stuff we’d seen in the resort gift shop and at MouseGears the other day. There really wasn’t much that I felt I simply had to have. I did pick up another coloring book (only to come home and discover that, although the cover had changed, the interior images were the same as they’d been when I bought this coloring book years and years ago.

By the time I’d put one or two things into my basket, Bob and Calder were antsy to go to the Lego store. I sent them off while I looked and looked for something unique to purchase. I finally resorted to taking pictures of the displays because they were the only thing that really intrigued me.

Especially the ones in the “adventurers” room -



I love that the parrot was “plucked” to expose skin for the tattoo!

[KELLY CLARKSON!!! (and if you get that movie reference, you can hang with me anytime! )]

After picking up nothing more than a dog toy, some postcards (that I never sent off), a pack of fridge magnets, and the coloring book, I headed out to find something to take the edge of my gnawing hunger. A big Wetzel’s pretzel and a frozen lemonade hit the spot. I occupied myself by taking pictures with my cell phone of the Lego serpent and sending them to Karen. She was so jealous of me that she was fit to burst. (Actually… no. She was wonderfully snarky, however, and cracked me up for quite a while as we texted back and forth!)

Finally, Bob and Calder rejoined me and were as hungry as I was. We headed over to Earl of Sandwich () and I offered to be a table vulture while Bob headed into the line for our lunch. A very determined lady was also scoping out tables and gave me the most wickedly triumphant grin when she managed to snag one that we’d both been waiting on. I refrained from retaliating when a table opened up right in front of me a moment later.

Bob was in the food line long enough that Calder had his Lego racer built and stickered before he came out. Oooooh, I wish I’d thought about their “holiday turkey special” sandwich before I’d talked Calder into splitting a PB&J with me. (I had erroneously thought that my big pretzel was big enough to fill me up. WRONG!)

While Bob went off to get a brownie sundae (what else ) at Ghirardelli’s, Calder and I stepped into Goofy’s Candy Kitchen so he could make one of those disgustingly decadent chocolate-covered messes in which this place specializes. I contemplated getting a small bag of non-pareilles, but was interrupted by the entry of a mom and dad and their 2 year old boy. Without blinking, this boy walked over to one of the dispensers and cranked it so that six or seven gumballs dropped onto the floor and started rolling every which way. He stooped down, picked up the first three gumballs he saw and plopped them in his mouth before his parents had even noticed he’d crossed the threshold. Accck! Ick!! Patoooooie!!! It took every ounce of restraint I had (which, admittedly, isn’t much!) not to step forward and get those things out of his mouth. Luckily, the dad was quickly alerted to the crisis by my gasp and he clouted the kid across the shoulder blades so the gumballs popped out again before he choked on them. Phew…

Not that toddler-spitted-up gumballs on the floor is something I wanted to think about, but it was better than trying to remember the Heimlich manuever!

Bob rejoined us, happily scooping spoonfuls of chocolate decadence into his face before Calder noticed and commandeered the Ghirardelli’s cup.

Then it was out to the boat dock so we could catch a boat to Port Orleans French Quarter as a means of getting a bus to the Animal Kingdom. (We chose this so I could get a little POFQ fix in and also because we all love this boat ride – much preferable to taking a bus to a resort and then on to a park.)

We wound up in a packed boat -- the same one that we’d had back in December 2006 that listed to the side so much that the water lapped up over the edge. (A **year** later and still not fixed!) The pilot was nice and had fun comments to add to the conversation Bob and I struck up with a nice set of guests in the boat.

When we finally limped into the dock at the French Quarter, I was feeling so nostalgic for my fav resort. And… to his credit… so was Calder! We were sniffing the wonderful smells in the air, admiring the lush plantings and wrought-iron railings, oggling the serpent slide and enjoying the elegance of the buildings. Sigh.... I adore this resort and I felt my soul calling out to stay there. I was seriously ready to race over to the check-in line and beg and plead for a room...


Bob, on the other hand, was a total party pooper and felt the CBR was fine with him.

Harrumph… what does HE know!

[Up next: Closing down the joint!]

[Disney_Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Caldercup

[KELLY CLARKSON!!! (and if you get that movie reference, you can hang with me anytime! )]

I like your sweater. Does it come in a v-neck?

See, dude, I knew there was a reason why I like hangin' with you!

Love the update. Sounds like a really good time at DtD. Sorry you and Calder had a heated argument about Potato Head parts, but hey - if you're going to fight, then make sure it's over Potato Head parts.

Can't wait to hear what joint you closed down!

[JaimeandChad]

Bob a party pooper? Or one who likes the HOT showers at CBR? I never got a hot HOT one at POFQ, so I'm thinking the shower is it.

Hurry back....

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Eileen! Glad Bob enjoyed his hot shower Sorry WoD wasn't offering anything good today