Driving Karen nuts in 10 rides or less **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE About This Page:

[Caldercup]

Saturday - December 13 (con't)

I got off the boat and decided to head straight into the Yacht Club and figure things out from there. I don’t know why, but I veered off to the right, looking for any signage and managed to overhear a CM giving another guest directions to the ballrooms. I took off and was able to find it (and a rest room) without much problem.

Sara and Lesley were there to give me my assignments. I was totally impressed with Jennifer Marx’s organization – the folders for volunteers were simply amazing! I had to man the “non-registered” table, which meant that I didn’t have to do anything at all because the non-registered folks didn’t really start showing up until 11AM, well after my shift. Don (duckaddict) was kind enough to supply me with a Coke and a brownie – the breakfast of champions – and I did my best to soothe my quickly eroding voice. (I always lose my voice on vacation, but this time it was more from yapping and yapping, rather than hootin’ and hollering!)

It was fun to see so many people lining up, waiting for the doors to open.



When they opened the doors, the line just kept coming and coming, making it clear that they were wrapped waaaaaaay around the corner. (Show this to any doubting Thomases you know, just to show them that you’re not even remotely alone in your WDW obsession. Not only are these diehard fans, but they traveled to Orlando for this event, got up early to be there when it opened, and many had also gotten up before the crack of dawn to go to the Annual Passholder sale at World of Disney.) Sharon and Jill came through the line and I got to wave like the Queen from my registration table!



When my time was up, I got to head into the event itself and look around and greet people. I got to see Carol (ripkensnana) and Molly and her guys, Heather, Heidi (goofysdtr), Amy (iamgrumpy), and… oh… so many others.

Eventually, Sara and Lesley asked me to give Amy a break at manning the PassPorter table and I was glad to help.



I got to give out magnets and chat up the people approaching the table – some were long-time fans and others had yet to learn about the fabulousness that is the PassPorter guidebooks. Little did I know that Sarah (DopeyGirl) got a kick out of me showing off the features of the guidebook and directing people (with the two-fingered point!!!) to the booksellers table.

It also gave me a fun vantage point to watch the action and see the craziness of the raffles.





I think I ended up at the PassPorter table at least an hour or more, but it was a fun assignment (even though I didn’t get to circulate at the other booths at all) and the only thing that bummed me out was that I didn’t get to try one of the cream cheese pretzels everyone raved about!

When we were finally free to go as the event shut down, I was desperate for a biological break. Sharon and Jill ran out to Beaches and Cream to try and get us onto the wait list before the major crowds from the MMM showed up – Lesley and I found the nearest bathroom and were greatly “relieved.”

More in a bit...

[Caldercup]

Saturday - December 13th (con't)

We took a moment to check out the Christmas display in the Yacht Club lobby.



Then it was out to the Storm Along Bay area to find our gang at a table in the lovely, warm sun outside of Beaches and Cream. It *was* a long wait – at least an hour – but the company was fantastic. Jill had gone to Hurricane Hannahs for a FAB and came back with one so strong that I could seriously smell it from at least 5 feet away. Well, at least that distracted me from the yummy smells coming from Sharon and her “candy apple” moisturizer she was wearing. (Karen gave me some of this for Christmas and it is a fav of my boys already – DS calls it “mommy’s yummy smell.”) I was sooooo hungry waiting for B&C that I was sorely tempted to take a chunk out of Sharon’s arm.

Finally – FINALLY – we were able to squeeze in to the tables they had pulled together and we even had room for our buddy Sara, who joined us as soon as the MMM was totally over for her. Several of us split meals (since we had a grand “experience” planned for that night and didn’t want to ruin our appetites) and I lucked out to find that Lesley and I like the same kind of burger and onion ring combos. I added a chocolate shake to that and had perfection on a table!

The only thing that made it more perfect was that seven of us were going to share a No Way Jose. Yum, yum, yum!

<-- the timestamp said 2:53PM

<-- the timestamp said 3:01PM

That poor No Way Jose only got to “live” for 8 minutes! But, boy was it divine while it lasted.

The funny thing was that we were all so voracious about diving into it that the greedy guts on my side of the table kept pushing the sundae glass closer and closer to Larry’s side of the table. Inch by inch the sundae was in constant danger of landing in his lap – to which I felt required to inform our dear friend that, if the glass fell, it wouldn’t stop us from continuing to consume it. He blushed and quickly put a restraining hand on the glass’s base to keep it on the table top. (Remember this story for later!)

When it was over, Larry was glad to relinquish his firm grip, but he was sad to see the No Way Jose totally scraped clean.



We settled up the bill and said our various goodbyes to the gang before heading inside for the most delightful conversation with Art the Greeter at the front doors of the Beach Club. I gotta say, this is one fellow who really understand that we all need to embrace our joy in life.

He told us how he frequently sees very uptight guests who just can’t seem to accept that joy is all around them, the way children are able to. One of his favorite memories was of a smiling conventioneer who was standing with a bunch of other conventioneers, all buttoned-up and uptight, angrily waiting for a rainstorm to end. The woman just refused to keep her happiness contained, despite the sour looks from her colleagues. Eventually, she kicked off her shoes and raced out into the rain, dancing with joy in rain puddle.

He was so charmed by that sight that he applauded her joy. Art advised us all to “find our puddle.”

We made him a solemn vow that we’d do that whenever possible – not hard when you’re surrounded by such wonderful, fun, fun-loving people in the Happiest Place on Earth, huh?!



We made our way up to the room and Sharon and Jill showed me the fun “towel Christmas tree” our Mousekeeper had left us. We contemplated adding it to Karen’s box, but it would’ve taken up almost all the available room, so we decided against it.

We did get a couple of cute towel creatures around the room and I especially liked this precious one, posed beside Sharon’s princess pillows.



We spent some quality time at the Concierge lounge and then hung out a bit before I started feeling sleepy and Jill wanted to head out for some pictures and a little shopping.

My memory is fuzzy, but this might have been the time that I tried to catch a snooze on my bed while Sharon logged in and saw the uproar on the blog about our total and complete lack of rides on this day. The absolute horror of our non-travel-mates had Sharon giggling so much that I simply couldn’t sleep ‘cause I was constantly asking her what was so funny – once can’t *ignore* that much laughter! We got a good giggle reading the comments flying between Karen, Bob and Thom. What a hoot! (Although, I will add here that it seemed there was quite a bit of jealousy from Thom that was especially ironic, seeing as how this is a man who likes to sleep in, have his sit-down meals and generally enjoy himself while on vacation. I think Karen has had some serious influence on Thom’s internal WDW schedule. )

When Jill came back, we gathered ourselves together and got all gussied up for our “event dinner” that night.

Up next: The Bob and Larry Dining Experience!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update! Glad you had a great time at the meet!! And at lunch!! Love the pictures!! Can't wait to hear about dinnner!!

[PrincessSharon]

Sigh... we had fun, didn't we? I certainly had fun reliving those moments! I do have a few minor corrections ahem but I'll save those for my own TR. And I have to say that picture Lesley posted of the two of us is like my favorite evah!! Ready for more!

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

I do have a few minor corrections ahem

Why am I not surprised...

Looking forward to what I messed up!
E

[mcc0313]

I am just having so much fun reading everyone's versions of the great adventures at Mousefest. Just finished reading Jill's....and glad we got to see a picture in yours of Jill's famous drop on ToT.

Looks like loads of fun over at B&C....looking forward to hearing all about dinner.

[Belle*]

Great update! I can't wait to hear about the Bob & Larry Dinner Experience - Lesley told me all about it but something tells me your take is going to be worth waiting for!

[disney_duke]

It amazes me how you remember such detail. I'm glad you had a good time at the MMM. Definitely something to attend some day for all of us on this board! Even though there weren't many rides so far, you still did enough! Just getting into B&C makes it a great day!

[Caldercup]

Saturday - December 13th (con't)

We were ready to head out by about 6:15 for our ADR at Artist’s Point at 6:40. Since this was cutting it a bit close for Disney transportation, we decided to take a taxi and were driving up to the WL in good time – with a fun view of wild deer munching on some grass by the main entrance!

We’d arrived so early that we were the first of our party there, so we took our time getting pics of the beautiful lobby. The WL didn’t seem to have cut back on their decoration budget (each resort gets to set their budget and some had cut back while others hadn’t.) It was as lovely and impressive as always!





Bob and Larry texted that they were coming up from the dock and Joan and her gang were catching a cab (I think it was a cab -- I *hope* it was a cab. There was a good bit of drinking done at this meal!)

We got the word that we’d lucked out in getting one big table (which wasn’t guaranteed for the group), but couldn’t snag Bob and Larry’s favorite server, Sandrine. <<sigh>> I was looking forward to meeting her.

Eventually, we were all together and were escorted in to our table in the middle of the room. I looked all around me, drinking in the details. There were beautiful murals and paintings on the wall and the joinery and woodwork were just delightful (although the blonde wood was a little disconcerting to this Arts & Crafts movement junkie.)

The table was still set for 10 and we asked them not to clear Karen’s unused setting at the head of the table. In fact, to enhance the feeling of her being with us, we even dressed her wine glass with one of the fabu princess tiaras that Joan had brought for all of us!



Funny story – the manager of the restaurant came over to us at one point because we were having so much fun (we were irresistible to the entire staff!) He had heard me mentioning that we needed the “Elijah” setting for Karen and he was charmed that I knew what that was. (Good little Episcopalian that I am. ) He took such a shine to us that he ended up brining over Tinker Bell pins for each member of our group.

Bob and Larry made the astounding (but most welcome) announcement that they wanted to take care of all the wine for our group – both the choosing and purchasing. Wowzers… that was amazingly generous and they did an excellent, excellent, excellent job. I loved the Riesling they selected for my sweet palate and the ice wine at dessert was just divine!

The sommelier came over with one of the bottles and showed us all the label. Bob immediately started describing the “bright flavors and crisp finish of the wine” in such loving detail that the sommelier eventually handed Bob his ring of keys and asked him to make sure to lock up that evening when he was done.



Then we settled in to selecting our meals. I was tempted by the buffalo, but my undergrad alma mater’s mascot was a bison and I just couldn’t do that to Bucky. Plus, I’d been hearing about the salmon at AP for years and knew that there really wasn’t another choice I could make without kicking myself later.

Lesley, my perfect “sharing" dinner partner offered to split her mushroom soup with me if I did the same with my cheese sampler.



Oh. My. Goodness…. Was this just the best combo. The soup was incredible and had the most creamy, light texture and taste. I seriously wanted to bathe in this stuff – it was just divine. And the cheese and the pairings – well, they were unbelievable. I love me a strong, stinky blue cheese. Yum, yum, yum!

This pic of the cheese sampler was the last one I’d taken during the meal because I just was having the bestest best meal evah! Joan was on my left and she had me smiling and sipping and laughing the whole time.

Then the meal was incredible – the salmon was everything I’d heard it was and I adored the browned butter sauce and the Brussels sprout/potato side was perfection itself. I dripped a little sauce on my “shelf” of course! (As I was getting ready for bed night, I had to restrain myself from licking my shirt to recapture that lovely taste!)

Okay... so... I guess I have to relate my most embarrassing moment of the evening -- one that makes me blush just thinking about it. See, I may be known as being wild and slightly outrageous, but I'm also always very careful about how and what I say. I work hard on my word choices to make sure that, while it may be "racy," it's also Fantasyland-appropriate ... unless I've been drinking.

Um... yeah... so I *was* drinking. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.)

Joan asked me to relate the events of our Beaches and Cream meal and Lesley prompted me to tell the story of Larry having to hold onto the sundae glass or risk having a sundae in his lap and a gaggle of frenzied ice cream afficianados diving after it. But... when I went to tell of the slightly racy comment I said to Larry at the time, it came out ALL wrong and was suddenly the baudiest, raciest, raunchiest thing I could imagine ever coming out of my mouth at that moment. The group exploded with laughter and I immediately flushed pink (and, I think, Larry flushed a similar color.) I got so embarrassed that I ended up throwing my napkin over my head and howled with strangled laughter and shame.

Zoiks... that was both HI-larious and dreadful. I'll never live it down. (And, for those in attendance, the use of "down" here was intentional. )

Once the laughter subsided, we settled into more appropriate conversation. I was so stuffed and mellow and in such a state of complete contentment that I was reluctant to ever let this evening end. I was happy that, despite what the big @$% spreadsheet said about this being my only shot at seeing Wishes and Spectro, the whole gang seemed perfectly content to allow the meal to float along for hours and hours.

I didn’t think I could eat another bite, so initially refused the dessert. I’m not much of a hot fruit gal anyway, so the cobbler had never appealed. (Little did I know that it’s surrounded by fresh fruit!) The server, who was no Sandrine although did alright with this big group and the entire senior staff’s involvement in our happiness, suggested that I try the sorbet with fruit. Sure… okay.

Oh man! Was *that* good! Especially with the ice wine Bob and Larry had supplied. Yum, yum, yum!!

But, the single best thing about the whole night was what Bob and Larry did for us all next. They told us that they’d worked and worried and slaved over an idea they’d had. Charmed by the special event pins that they’d gotten from Disney for all the special tours and events they’d done over the years, they wanted to have something like that for our event – the first ever Bob and Larry Dining Experience.

Look – just LOOOOOOK – at what they came up with!



I can’t even tell you how blown away I was by this – and it was not only beautiful, thoughtful and touching, but it took a lot of advanced planning and painstaking attention to detail. Simply, simply amazing.

Bob and Larry, you two are some of the nicest, most sincere, most delightful people I’ve ever met. You totally knocked my socks off and I’m still floating on a lovely memory of “good friends, good food” that will stick with me for the rest of my days. Seriously – that was a highlight of my whole life!

To quote Buddy the elf – “I know I sound like a broken record but we are buddies. You’re my best friend, that’s it.”

We settled up the bill, which took some time, but we didn’t mind – it gave us more time to gush about the pins and the whole experience.

Then it was out to the dock around 11:30 – many hours after we’d arrived at the hotel. Lary entertained us by checking the blog on his iPhone – we howled with laughter over the fact that Karen, Thom and Bob (and Calder) were appalled with how slooooooow we were being with dinner and how few updates I’d made to the blog, which they’d been obsessively checking for some time now. After hours of seeing nothing but my cheese plate, Calder announced that he was no longer jealous of my going to Disney without him if *this* was how I was spending my time. Heeee!



The boat finally came and we bundled up against the cool air – although the amount of al-keee-hol pumping through my veins probably counteracted it nicely enough.



We got on the MK bus back to the YC/BC and said our effusive good nights for a fantabulous, amazing evening.

Up next: we do our touring commando proud!

[JoanW]

I forgot my camera and did not take one photo. I left it in the car (we drove the rental over, which took all of 5 minutes).

Sigh. Best.Night.Of.My.Trip.

[mousestruck]

Wow, what an incredible evening! I'm not sure which I enjoyed hearing about more... the racy ice cream story or the dinner of all dinners! How sweet of Larry and Bob to have those pins made and pick up the refreshments. (Obviously, they know the way to your hearts!!!) They are so adorable and completely enchanting. I'm so glad I had the chance to spend some time with them. What a special evening... sounds like a tradition in the making. Can't wait to read more!

[Belle*]

What a wonderful evening!!!!! Those pins are absolutely amazing. Sign me up for next year!!!

[MMMD]

Thanks for the update.

There are no words for those pins. What an amazing souvenier of your trip. Amazing.

[disney_duke]

Outstanding! What a fantabulous evening. One amazing thing after another. Larry and Bob have sure set up a night that'll be hard to beat next year!! So very glad to see the setting for Karen. You guys are so thoughtful!

[rlb38]

Fantastic Evening ! Did you put a pin in Karen's box ??