The Lessons Learned Trip Report Oct 4-9, 2009 About This Page:

[jagmom08]

After throwing all my pre-trip plans out the window and jettisoning any plans of seeing any of the must-dos, we decided to do things a little different on day 3 and I was okay with that. I had planned on Epcot today, but after yesterday it didn’t seem like a good idea. So we though, let’s get away from the parks for the morning and see how things go.

We had breakfast at the Food Court again. I thought the breakfast were very good. Instead of getting a child’s meal, we just got big breakfast platters and then shared with the kids. I made my own breakfast sandwich from the biscuit, bacon and meat that came with the platter and the kids shared the pancakes.

Today was the day I got to try the famous beignets. All in all, I would say they didn’t live up to the hype. Its not that they tasted bad or anything, but they just didn’t have that “Wow” factor that I was expecting. It just tasted liked fried dough. Dh wasn’t even interested in trying them, but he’s kind of like that about food. Lol They were also quite messy.

After breakfast, we headed off in search of a Barnes and Noble so the kids could play with trains in the children’s section. Using our trusty GPS, we drove down to International Drive. After finding the address and getting parked and getting out of the car, we discovered that the Barnes and Noble had moved. Ack! Basically have to force the children back in the car as they were happy to get out and not thrilled about getting back in the car. Using the not-so-trusty GPS, we track down another Barnes and Noble. Having smartened up, we called this one and made sure it was open.

Barnes and Noble was pretty busy, I guess we weren’t the only people with the bright idea of taking the kids to play with trains. We didn’t stay very long because of that, but it was a nice change of pace for a bit.

Our next stop was Target. We needed more juice, pull-ups and something to help dd sleep. Her cough was keeping her and us up at night and we had to try something.

After Target, it was nearing lunch time. When canceling our Epcot ADR’s, I couldn’t really get anything else, but I remembered that Beaches and Cream is a Table Service but doesn’t really do ADR’s. I really liked the sound of it when I was researching, but didn’t think it would work with our schedule. In this case, our best laid plans going awry worked in our favor.

We had one small bump in the road. I had my Passporter with but decided I didn’t need to check exactly where the restaurant was. I thought I knew. I was wrong. Lol That never happens. Hee hee I thought it was at the Boardwalk but it was at the Beach Club. So we parked at the wrong end of the lagoon. Whoops. We were going to take one the boats over to the other side, but they didn’t come and they didn’t come, so we ended up walking around.

Beaches and Cream was awesome! I have it triple starred in my Passporter, so you know it had to be good. Lol Ds really liked it to since he got to have lemonade instead of milk for lunch and ice cream for dessert. A win-win in his book. J

We spent a little time in the lobby of the Beach Club after our lunch, just cooling off and watching some cartoons. Ds colored a little and that was fine until he decided to color places other than on paper. So we left. I have always wanted to stay at the Beach Club and after actually viewing it in person, I am doubly determined to make that happen someday.

This time there was a boat so we rode over to the Boardwalk to retrieve our car. We headed back to POFQ to take our afternoon nap.

After our nap, we decided to give the Parks another try, with a visit to MK again. We decided to be adventurous and take the bus this time. This was another highlight for the kids. Dd would point and excitedly yell, “Bus!” every time one pulled up.


Somewhere during the week, dd got attached to ds’ Woody toy. She wanted to carry it and take it everywhere. Ds was less than thrilled about this. So, we promised him we would get him another one and maybe even one that talked. So, when we got to the park, we set off on a mission to find a talking Woody toy. We checked the gift shops along Main Street and then headed to Tomorrow Land to see if there was anything by Buzz Lightyear. A one of the kiosks outside the ride, we asked a CM if they had one. He ran off to check somewhere, but no luck. So, we headed off with hopes of finding one in Toon Town. Ds kept saying, “Let’s go to Pooh’s house,” so we stopped and played at Pooh’s. This time, ds was stripped down to his pullup and ran around. He also decided that he wanted his picture taken by nearly everything at Pooh’s.

After prying ds away from Pooh’s, we headed over to Toon Town to track down the elusive Woody toy. We did find one at the big gift shop, but alas is does not talk and its about 2 feet tall. We also determined that it was nice to sit by the exit of the character meet n greets and cool off in the store. Also a good place to change our dd, since again, no diaper changing stations in the bathrooms.

After relaxing in the A/C, we were ready to experience more of the park. We toured the Mickey and Minnie houses, but declined to meet the big man himself. As we exited Mickey’s house, we walked by Goofy’s Barnstormer. Now, I knew dd wasn’t going on this ride, but I was pretty sure ds would love it. He can be a daredevil. I can’ t remember what the wait time said, but the line didn’t look too long, so I figured ds and I would try it. Well, word to the wise, the line snakes around quite a bit behind the barn, so don’t be fooled by a seemingly short line.

After working our way through the queue and telling ds about a 1000 times that we had to wait, we made on the ride. I was right, ds thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to go again. However, I couldn’t take another wait, so we had to go.

While ds and I rode Barmstormer, dh had to go back in Minnie’s house. He told me later that while we were in Mickey’s he thought he remembered that Minnie’s didn’t have a bedroom and he had to go back and check. LOL
Sometime during the early evening, we had supper at Columbia Harbour House and that’s all I have to say about that. Lol-Only because I don’t remember much about it, not because it wasn’t good or anything. J

After Goofy’s Barnstormer, we made our way to the front of the park. I wanted to try and catch Spectromagic but I knew the kids wouldn’t want to sit and wait at the curb so we could have a good viewing spot. So, we got ice cream and went and sat in the Bakery. As the parade started, I took dd and tried to catch a glimpse of the parade. Sure enough, she did not want to sit there for even 5 minutes and just as I was resigned to leave, the parade started and I got to see about 2 minutes of it. I think ds and dd would have liked to sit and watch it once it got started, but the waiting part just wasn’t happening.

Also, I figured if we waited until the end of the parade to leave, the buses would be mobbed, so reluctantly we headed back. We waited a few minutes for a bus and off we went to the room for our nightly swim.

Lessons Learned: Don’t be fooled by a short looking line at Goofy’s Barnstormer!