Is It Time Already?! OKW and POR, November 2013 - Page 14 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
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Glad you got the ponchos and made the best of the rain. I hadn't thought of the shopping aspect of the magicbands. I can really see how, especially in the rain, it would make a big difference not having to dig around for money or your room key. It's funny how you never know what's going to grab kids' interest. Evan liking the Mexican boat ride and quoting Stacey all week-- so cute! Sophia cracks me up, though, with her aversion to learning on vacation!
I wasn't sure I'd like the Magic Bands since I usually don't wear a watch or bracelet. It never bothered me at all, and the convenience of it really made me a believer!
Right before the trip, Sophia told me she had to learn about Andrew Jackson in her history class. I told her we might be able to learn something during the American Adventure. That of course already turned her off...but, since it was raining, she couldn't argue a comfortable and dry seat for half an hour! I chuckled out loud when they actually had a little segment on Andrew Jackson during the show!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
I am so sorry about the noise at night, I do not sleep very heavily as well so it probably would have woken me up as well.
So glad the bus driver had your phone and that you got it back quickly. RAIN....I usually say the WS is a great place when it rains as you can just wander through the stores and pavilions but it does get crowded. Glad you got to see the American Adventure, one of our favorites.
So glad that BOMA was able to get you in early for dinner.
The timing on this trip was great...we never really had to wait much for anything!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
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2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
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Back on our first trip, we really enjoyed our dinner at Boma, so we were really looking forward to this meal. Our server was great, and we were seated by a window. Too bad it was pitch black outside, and we couldn't see a thing!
I'm almost positive the kids buffet had chicken nuggets and tater tots when we were here in 2009, so that's what I was expecting. Imagine my surprise when neither one was on the buffet! Uh oh, with Evan's specific diet, we might be in trouble. His other staples are pepperoni pizza, cheese quesadilla, and steak (a huge improvement over his 2009 diet of only round chicken nuggets and french fries!). Luckily, there was a roast beef and some chicken legs (Durban spiced, so I wasn't sure he'd like it). Luckily, he enjoyed both! Crisis averted! I'm so thankful that Evan is a very laid back young man. His meltdowns have decreased every year, and he's able to handle most disappointments much better now.
Here's my humongous plate of food that I brought back for me and Evan!
Seafood Gumbo on the left, and cream of mushroom on the right:
Of course I had to leave room for a Zebra Dome!
Then our server surprised us with a birthday treat for the kids!
We all enjoyed our meal. There were things that we liked last time that weren't on the menu this time, but I can't remember what they were. I felt like there was more to my liking last time. Sophia felt the same way, too, but we still really enjoyed our time here.
After dinner, we browsed the gift shop. Who doesn't like this gift shop?! Unfortunately, after a few minutes of browsing, I started to feel icky...I couldn't place it, but I knew I didn't feel right. I told the kids we'd need to cut our shopping short tonight because I really wanted to get back to the room. As we walked toward the bus stop, I decided I couldn't wait for a bus. I made an executive decision and went for a taxi.
The ride felt like it took forever, but of course it wasn't that bad. About $20 later, we made it to our building. As we walked quickly to our room, a family walking behind us wondered out loud where we were coming from. I turned around and told them Boma, but I really didn't want to have to take two buses to get back to the resort. The dad asked how much we paid, and when I told him, he said "Best $20 you spent." I agreed, said goodnight, and practically ran to our room. (By the way, there was just a light drizzle by now.)
Don't know what it was that didn't agree with me, but thankfully the feeling passed quickly, and as became our nightly routine, we watched more of Stacy that night until we fell asleep at some point after midnight (we had returned to the room around 10).
Next: We're heading to Hollywood!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Wow you got a lot of updates in! As far as rainy days go, I think Epcot is my favorite park to spend them in. So many indoor places to duck into, and sounds like you still managed to get a lot in! Boma is our favorite, and they do rotate out some of the menu items (the soups and salads at least) so it's not always the same each visit. Which is nice for people who might eat there more than once per trip, but definitely a disappointment when you really wanted something you had last time (for me it was carrot salad, ohh that stuff is good!) Great call on the taxi though, at night and in the rain all that bus riding would be the last thing I'd want to do too!
Glad you braved the rain and did the stuff you wanted to and some that just kept you out of the rain.
Boma looked delicious! I hope it wasn't some of the food that made your stomach upset. Glad it didn't turn into anything major.
Sorry Boma wasn't as fabulous as you remembered and VERY sorry you didn't feel well after the meal! One of my favorite things at Boma is the smoked tomato soup, but it's often not on the menu-- always disappoints me, but I never leave hungry. Very wise decision to take the cab home that night.
What a great day you had - you certainly packed a lot in around World Showcase.
Thanks for the news about macaroons - I know where I'm going to be heading on our next trip, as I absolutely those things!
I don't know what macaroons are "supposed" to taste like, but the ones I've had before weren't very memorable. The ones I got at Les Halles were yummy! The filling was good, and the "cookie" part was light and airy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Wow you got a lot of updates in! As far as rainy days go, I think Epcot is my favorite park to spend them in. So many indoor places to duck into, and sounds like you still managed to get a lot in! Boma is our favorite, and they do rotate out some of the menu items (the soups and salads at least) so it's not always the same each visit. Which is nice for people who might eat there more than once per trip, but definitely a disappointment when you really wanted something you had last time (for me it was carrot salad, ohh that stuff is good!) Great call on the taxi though, at night and in the rain all that bus riding would be the last thing I'd want to do too!
Life has been busy for me, so I'm trying to punch out the updates in little spurts when I can!
I'm glad we went to Boma, and we all left very full. I can't remember what we had in 2009 that wasn't there. I'm glad they change it up, but for Evan I was a little worried because he's so "set" in his food selections.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Glad you braved the rain and did the stuff you wanted to and some that just kept you out of the rain.
Boma looked delicious! I hope it wasn't some of the food that made your stomach upset. Glad it didn't turn into anything major.
I have no idea what made my stomach so upset. From beginning to end, it lasted maybe an hour, so thankfully it was nothing long-term!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Sorry Boma wasn't as fabulous as you remembered and VERY sorry you didn't feel well after the meal! One of my favorite things at Boma is the smoked tomato soup, but it's often not on the menu-- always disappoints me, but I never leave hungry. Very wise decision to take the cab home that night.
Smoked tomato soup wasn't there...I'm sure I would've tried it if it were. Mulligatawny (sp?) was there, but I don't think I tried it. I know I had butternut squash soup last time, and that wasn't there either (I've made it using the "official" recipe, but it wasn't as good as the real thing!).
I didn't leave hungry by any stretch. We all had a great meal. Our server told us we should stay longer until we got hungry again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Bummer that the rain moved into stay, but it sounds like you all managed some fun anyway. Sorry Boma wasn't as good as you remember.
Boma was still great...I don't think I could ever be unhappy with Boma!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Guess what! I finally got a decent night's sleep this night! I do remember hearing some carts buzzing by, but it was nowhere near as bad as the first two nights. Thank goodness!
Today was going to be DHS day, and we were happy to look outside and see no rain! These guys had been hanging up to dry through the night:
I folded them up and put them in my backpack figuring if I brought them along, it wouldn't rain...but if I left them in the room, it would definitely rain! I think we left the room around 10:15, which was our earliest start yet!
So, let's see...this is our 4th Day at WDW and our 3rd Day in the parks. At this point in the trip, it felt like we still had so much time on our vacation!
We caught the bus to DHS and took our obligatory giant hat picture!
Our first order of business today was shopping. We had received a 20% off offer when we ate at Sunshine Seasons, so we wanted to take advantage of that and buy some gifts to take back to family and friends. The funny thing is, I think we ended up shopping for ourselves! I got a red long sleeve WDW/Mickey holiday t-shirt, Sophia purchased a gray WDW/Mickey sweatshirt, I got my dad a WDW t-shirt, and I decided to splurge on a WDW holiday edition phone case for myself. We were still browsing when a lady walked up to us and asked if we wanted to use her 20% off discount because they were heading home that day. I told her we had one, but she insisted I take hers and save mine to use another day. Well who was I to argue with her?
As we walked up to the register, I saw 4 different gift cards with pins attached to them. The CM said they were limited edition items, so if we wanted some "free" pins, we should purchase the gift cards for a minimum of $75 each. It was early in our trip, and I knew we would be spending at least $300 on food and souvenirs during the trip, so I went ahead and purchased those as well. Then when the CM rang us up, I tried to use the Disney gift cards I had purchased at Target before the trip (love saving 5%), but this is where the CM ran into trouble. After about 10 minutes of trying and then finding a manager, we discovered I couldn't use my gift cards to pay for the transaction since I was buying gift cards in the transaction! Made sense, and I was going to have the CM split the transaction so that the gift cards I could pay for with my credit card, and the other things I could pay for using my Target cards. Well, she seemed a bit frazzled, so I told her to go ahead and charge the whole thing. Crisis averted, lol! We had th
Our first ride was The Great Movie Ride. I just love this ride!
It's fun to see how they depict Hollywood since we live about an hour and a half from the real thing!
We got the gangster, and she was so quiet that I really couldn't hear what she was saying half the time! Still, I loved it.
Next, I believe we went to watch Beauty and the Beast. I had missed this one in 2009, but Sophia had seen it. This was a cute show, and Gaston's singing voice was great! Sorry, the pics will show up in the pictorial later!
Then it was time for 50s Prime Time Diner for lunch. This was a must-do for Sophia. Our reservation was for 1:30pm since I was still trying to get our tummies acclimated to the time difference! We sat in the living room to wait for our turn. Sophia was worried we wouldn't have a fun server. There were a few CMs checking-in and leading guests to their table who seemed to be...how shall I put it...not in the spirit of the theme? Sophia kept commenting she really hoped none of them were going to be our server!
When we were called, we were told our server would be Cooper. We sat down and then held our breaths waiting for Cooper to show up. We saw a server walk up to the table next to ours, and he was hilarious! We were SO hoping that was Cooper! Turns out it was, and Sophia was ecstatic!
Sophia and I both ordered the sampler, and Evan had chicken nuggets.
I ate every last bit of my lunch. Sophia did a great job as well, but she wasn't crazy about the taste of the veggies, so she scooped up a bunch of her veggies onto my plate. I asked Cooper if he had witnessed some veggies moving from plate to plate, and he insisted I was tattling! Luckily, he didn't punish me!
Both kids ended up with the light up cubes in their drinks...at first only Sophia's drink came with it, and I could see Evan's eyes open wide when he saw it so I whispered to Cooper asking him if he could change Evan's apple juice order to one of the ones with the souvenir cup and cube. He told me he would just put the apple juice in one of those cups...awesome guy!
I don't remember how this started, but Evan started having fun with a penny (you can see his drink behind him):
Even though we were all stuffed already, Sophia insisted on having some S'mores!
Continued in next post (before I delete this one by accident!)
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Last edited by Dlandmom2; 12-12-2013 at 07:02 PM..
At some point during our meal, there was a birthday celebration in the next room. When we checked in for lunch, it indicated only Sophia as celebrating a birthday, so I told Cooper that both kids were celebrating. After the S'mores, Cooper brought out two birthday cupcakes for the kids.
Our bellies were bursting after that!
Before we left, Sophia asked if she could get a picture of Cooper. Of course that got him started on more fun! Cooper grabbed my phone and went to town!
He started taking pictures everywhere!
This was such a highlight of our trip! Sophia wanted to make sure Cooper knew what a great experience we had, so she left him a note!
Tummies full, we ventured forth to see what else we could discover in Hollywood!
__________________
Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
Love the photos of the Prime Time meal. Cooper sounds like the perfect server. Glad Sophia got the real experience! I always enjoy shopping at DHS. Nice to put the 20% coupon to good use!
You certainly made the best of the rain in Epcot! Sorry Boma wasn't as you remembered but glad everyone fiund something they liked! And great day at DHS and a great eat! Love the pictures!
Love the photos of the Prime Time meal. Cooper sounds like the perfect server. Glad Sophia got the real experience! I always enjoy shopping at DHS. Nice to put the 20% coupon to good use!
I hadn't had much of an interest to try this restaurant...it sounded like fun, but I also wasn't sure if it was going to be over the top. This was Sophia's first request when I asked here a few months ago where she wanted to eat. Now I'm glad she suggested it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
You certainly made the best of the rain in Epcot! Sorry Boma wasn't as you remembered but glad everyone fiund something they liked! And great day at DHS and a great eat! Love the pictures!
We really have been lucky with the rain. On our first trip, we only had bad rain on one evening. This time, the only rain we got was that one time! I credit myself for that one because once we bought the ponchos, I knew it wouldn't rain again!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I love shopping at WDW! Sounds like you all made out quite well. Lunch at Prime Time was perfect. , Cooper! Your meal is one of my favorites there.
Cooper was really awesome! He just made the meal for us. It was so entertaining to watch him interact with all the tables. I'm pretty sure he figured out pretty quickly that Evan wasn't quite into his act, but he never broke character. I think if we ever go back and not have Cooper be our server, we'll be very disappointed!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
After lunch, we had a little bit of time to kill until our FP+ were ripe. We walked to parts of the park I never even saw back in 2009 (long story...suffice it to say, I was with people who weren't as enthusiastic about Disney as I was!). We decided we wanted to do Star Tours, so we went and got a return time on Evan's DAS.
Then we continued on and saw where the Osborne Lights would be and looked forward to seeing them lit up.
Then we saw Santa Goofy heading our way!
I wanted to see Lights, Motors, Action but there were CMs standing at the entrance, and it didn't look like the show was on. Oh well, maybe it would be showing later in the trip. So, we kept walking.
It was finally time for Star Tours. We were standing in line waiting for our turn in the last row. Sophia and I were bummed because we figured one of the people who were going to be placed in line behind us was going to be the Rebel Spy. Oh well, one of these days we'd get chosen!
The doors opened and we walked all the way through the row and sat down in our seats. We put our things away, buckled up and got ready for our tour! The ride began, and there was Darth Vader, stopping us because he was looking for the Rebel Spy! Hey! That's Evan!!! He's the Rebel Spy!!! We were SO excited! I don't even remember which version of the ride we got because we couldn't believe Evan was the Rebel Spy! Both Sophia and I had been convinced it was the second seat in the upper left corner. Well, it turned out it was the second seat in the upper right corner (as you look at the screen).
We practically skipped off the vehicle when the ride was done. I knew I had to get Evan an "I Am the Rebel Spy" t-shirt! And, Evan really wanted to build his own light saber, so I told him he could do that (why I let him do it in Florida and have to pack it in a suitcase when I could've done it in California and thrown it in the back seat of my car...I'll never know!). He was really excited about it!
We had it sent back to our resort and then continued on our merry way!
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Huge Disney Fan...Always Have Been...Always Will Be!
Disneyland 60th Anniversary Celebration TR here!
2013 WDW trip here!
2011 trip to Hawaii here!
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those things! 
Boma is our favorite, and they do rotate out some of the menu items (the soups and salads at least) so it's not always the same each visit. Which is nice for people who might eat there more than once per trip, but definitely a disappointment when you really wanted something you had last time (for me it was carrot salad, ohh that stuff is good!) Great call on the taxi though, at night and in the rain all that bus riding would be the last thing I'd want to do too!
Liz 
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