It's Five O'Clock Somewhere--Mother/Daughter Trip #3--UPDATED 5/14/09 - Page 14 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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That was great that you were able to snag the rockers to wait for the parade to start! Your meal looked absolutely delicious! I'll have to check out that restaurant on my next trip.
Day 3, Part 1: Only 3 Characters and Fullllly AWESOME!!!
Only 3 Characters and Fullllly AWESOME!!!
The wake-up call came around 8:00am and we got up and moving. I asked mom how she wanted to get to the Beach Club for breakfast. We had two options: 1) taking the bus to DHS and then the boat over to the Beach Club; or 2) taking a cab. She wasn’t sure but was taking her time getting ready so I had a feeling the choice that was going to be made. Once we were both beautified, we headed over to the GCH. Based on the time, we had 20 minutes to get to the BC and the bus/boat route wasn’t going to do it. I went over to Valet which hailed a cab for us. 10 minutes and $15 dollars later, we were making our way through the doors of the Beach Club and checking in for the breakfast buffet at Cape May Café. We were given our buzzer and headed out to the lobby. Mom went to look through the gift shop, and I took point in the oversized orange chairs. When mom returned, she took a seat in another oversized orange chair and informed me that there was nothing of interest in the gift shop.
We ended up waiting about 15 minutes before being buzzed. We wasted the time away people watching and making some snarky comments at a particular dad who made sure everyone in the lobby knew that he was displeased about something. Once we were buzzed, we headed up and were taken to our table for two. The server came almost immediately to pour some OJ and take our additional drink orders of a caffeinated/ carbonated kind. She told us to go ahead up to the buffet as the characters were on the other side of the restaurant. So…off we went to fill our plates with breakfast goodies. I kept with my typical choices of a Mickey waffle, some biscuits and gravy, bacon, and some fruit. Oh, and a croissant. Lots of carbs! We made it back to the table, and Minnie arrived within about 5 minutes. She went over to sit by mom since she was on the booth side.
Here is where I realized that there were only three characters out and about in the restaurant. Don’t’ get me wrong, I love Minnie, Donald, and Goofy but you usually get 4-5 at a character meal. I know Donald made his appearance in 2008 but I was sad to see Chip and Dale gone. But I digress. About 10 minutes later, Donald arrived to get some attention from us. He wiggled his duck behind into the booth somehow to get next to mom.
Mom and I finished up our breakfast. Goofy was taking his own sweet time to get to our table but he was really interacting with the guests so I sure didn’t mind. It was a joy to watch. Mom and I just sipped on our drinks and waited for him to arrive. I got up and gave him a hug while mom tried to get a picture but he kept moving trying to get her to join us. He finally took the camera and handed it to the mother at the table next to us and then took mom’s hand and helped her up. I asked the mother that was given our camera if she minded and she said it wasn’t a problem.
I thanked the mother again as she returned our camera and asked if she wanted me to get one of her and her daughter. She took me up on my offer, so I was able to return the favor. Since Goofy was the last character, mom and I settled up the bill and headed for a quick biological break before heading to DHS. As we were walking down the hallway to the exit, she saw some sandcastle “paintings” that she really liked and asked for a picture in front of each one. I can never say no to my mom so I did exactly that.
We headed out to the boat dock to catch a friendship boat over to DHS. While we were waiting, I told her the basic plan for today. She said she didn’t care as long as she got to ride RnRC and ToT. We made it to DHS, through the turnstiles with ease, grabbed a couple of Photopass shots, and then straight to Pixar Place to grab a FP for TSMM via the walkway by One Man’s Dream.
We were able to grab a FP with a return time at 3:05pm (at 10:30am), which would have made it our last ride of the day. Since we were in the area, the “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” character greeting area was calling our name. The line was practically non-existent so we got through to see Woody and Buzz within about 10 minutes.
We had a lot to accomplish so off we went. We made our way back to Sunset to go see what the outlook was for waiting for RnRC and ToT. ToT was showing a 13 minute wait, so I ran over to see how long RnRC was, and it was showing a 40 minute wait. Mom said we should do ToT and then get something to drink for the line at RnRC. So that is what we did. We were in the library immediately and after the pre-show, everyone walked to the first entrance to an elevator. Mom was headed that way when I grabbed her hand and took her down to the next entrance. We were in our elevator immediately. We had a great sequence and I accomplished my goal of grabbing a picture as we were getting ready to make the first drop. So, you have an idea what the ride photo looked liked. I tried to get a ghetto shot of it but it came out bad.
When we came out, the wait time was still showing 13 minutes so we took another turn on ToT, which really surprised me with mom. Another great time, but it was time to get to a concert. The wait time was still showing 40 minutes, so we went and grabbed a frozen beverage of the non-adult kind. Mom went with a frozen lemonade, while I went with the strawberry-banana. We headed up to the stand-by line and the CM there told us it was more like a 20 minute wait but they hadn’t updated the board yet. I suggested that we just chill for a bit and enjoy our drinks so we wouldn’t have to toss them before the ride, and mom was for certain that she could finish hers before we had to board the vehicle. I know I gave her one of those looks like she was nuts but she insisted. I predicted brain freezes for both of us.
We definitely moved fast and were in the pre-show within 10 minutes. We both kept sucking our straws trying to get the frozen goodness down. I suffered two minor and one major brain freeze. Mom never admitted any brain freezes but I saw the look once or twice. We successfully finished our beverages and had a few minutes for them to settle before jumping in our limo for the cross city ride to the concert. Another great ride and mom got a kick out of our hair all whooshed back in our ride photo. We took another bio break and then headed to the Disney Animation building for some characters and some drawing.
Once we entered the building via the back way, we went directly to the line for the Bolt characters. They had just gone in for a break so we waited about 10 minutes. I figured we would get Bolt and Mittens like we did in November, but when I peeked around the corner, I saw Bolt and Rhino. I reported back to mom and she just started laughing. She said I sounded like I was 7 or 8 when I told her we had Rhino to meet. I let mom go first, and then I had a good 3 minute “conversation” with Bolt and Rhino telling them both how fully awesome they were. Rhino just made my day.
After Bolt and Rhino, we headed up the stairs to get in line for the next Animation class. We asked the CM how long and he said about 5 minutes. We took a seat on the bench and mom started to get sweaty palms again. If you remember on our last trip, she only gets sweaty palms right before a test. I had to giggle and tell she wasn’t going to get graded and that it was all in fun. She just shook her head as she walked through the doors and found us some seats. The CM was one of the better ones that I have had and always cracking some jokes. He told us we would be drawing bashful Donald. Mom and I picked up our pencils and put our paper on the pegs. He told us to draw a circle in the middle of the page about the size of a softball. That’s exactly what I did. Mom looked over at my circle and then back at hers and asked why hers was so small. I giggled yet again and whispered that hers was the size of a tennis ball and that it would still work. The CM heard us giggling and laughing and called us out. Mom being the diplomatic person she is told the CM that I was making fun of her drawing. Thanks mom! Get me in trouble with the instructor. We eventually got back to drawing and they turned out pretty well. (sorry no pictures). At the end of the class, the CM said that he would give his drawing to the person who could answer a trivia question. Well, some smarty girl in the front of the class blurted out The Wise Little Hen, his first cartoon, before the CM could even ask a question. Well, for some reason this just fired up my competitive gene. He asked what his Donald’s middle name and I was able to answer Fauntleroy before the other chick. He said the troublemaker in the middle was first and asked my name. He signed the picture and brought it over to me. Have to admit, I was pretty darn happy and mom thought it was really cool. I plan on framing it.
When we came out, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were meeting and greeting, so we grabbed a picture with them. The CM took one with my camera and it came out pretty fuzzy but it was always good to say hi to my “man”.
I wanted to buy something so I could send back the drawings to the resort and not worry about ruining them. (Don’t you love the excuse to buy something?) Mom actually found a Jim Shore figurine of Eeyore that she offered to get for me. At $18.00, it was a good deal and I thanked her and gave her a big hug. We made the purchase and added the drawings to the bag. The CM checking us out actually got a folder to put them in to protect them even further. Mom gave him a CM Appreciation card since he went out of his way to help us. With that task taken care of, we headed out to the park. I told mom I wanted to look at the pins under the Hat to see if there were any limited edition Stitch ones for Chuck. Here is where mom decided that pin collecting is something she wanted to get involved in. I had brought my lanyard but hadn’t worn it yet. I did find a couple of pins for Chuck and bought him a new lanyard. Mom bought a lanyard and about five “jeweled” princess pins. Once that purchase was made, we sat down and got her lanyard all set up so she could wear it. I had bought one pack of pins that were surprise hidden mickey pins that she could use to trade if she wanted. Those will come into play later. We then decided that we were hungry so we stopped and got a couple of drinks and a pretzel with our snack credits. We sat and enjoyed those while making plans for the rest of the afternoon.
Coming Up: Working Those Arm Muscles, A Pretty Good Meal, and I Get a Little Toasty Again.
What a great day at DHS. I didn't know about the animation class. How fun. I will definetly have to try this next time.
Love the pics of you guys.
Can't wait for more.
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Love your updates, Dawn. You and your Mom are having a fantastic time.
You know how to stop a brain freeze? (This is no joke- it really works!)
Next time you start to get a brain freeze, press your thumb onto the roof of your mouth. Just press long enough for the pain to ease. Try it - it always works for me.
Can't wait to read more!!
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Once we were buzzed, we headed up and were taken to our table for two. The server came almost immediately to pour some OJ and take our additional drink orders of a caffeinated/ carbonated kind. She told us to go ahead up to the buffet as the characters were on the other side of the restaurant. So…off we went to fill our plates with breakfast goodies. I kept with my typical choices of a Mickey waffle, some biscuits and gravy, bacon, and some fruit. Oh, and a croissant. Lots of carbs! 
We made it back to the table, and Minnie arrived within about 5 minutes. She went over to sit by mom since she was on the booth side.
Liz 
The pics are great. I love reading your updates.
You two are brave women. 
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