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[KandJluvdisney]

what a great non park day
dinner sounds great as well
glad the girls had such a good time on the cruise
what a find vonnie is and how sweet she was to do the for the girls
hurry back with more please

[disney_duke]

That sounded like a little piece of paradise. Totally worth it!! I'm glad Chris was looking out for you guys with the weather. Vonnie is just too much! What a wonderful day.

[Jesser Girl]

Can't wait for more.

How about a TR from HH?

[mousestruck]

What a perfect day! Wish they had some cabanas... and cabana boys... over at AKV!

[MontiMouse]

Sounds like it was a fabulous pool day and I really like the pictures of the cabana. Glad the girls are liking the slide. Macy is a natural born slider - she loves all the pool slides at Disney and for a while a picture of the slide was necessary in picking where she wanted to stay on any of our trips. I think Kim and Michelle tried the Poolside Lemonade at BLT on their pool day and really liked it.

I that picture of Maddie asleep during dinner - so sweet. I couldn't believe she slept so soundly considering everything going on around us in the restaurant. Dinner was really great as well as the Island Sunset's - my favorite drink at the Poly.

Glad you guys had a good time at Hilton Head. Macy keeps saying we need to try it one day and I know Charlie would love it with all the fishing around there.

[PrincessSharon]

That sounds like a fantastic day, Jill! And Chris for waiting to charge for the second half of the day! How sweet of Vonnie to create such a special surprise for the girls! And dinner at Kona, yummy!

[KMB733]

What a wonderful relaxing day!

[dsteiny23]

I'm such a 'gotta go to the parks' girl. But, your day in the cabanas has made me re-think that. Maybe a day around SAB on our next trip just hangin' and enjoyin'.

[bonphil]

Great update! I'm looking forward to staying at the GF next May when we visit. Though we will only be staying for one day!

[RodandMel]

Jill, you are a girl after my own heart - I've found many FAB's from reading your trip reports. And the cabana at the pool!!! We always make time to hang at the pools when we are at Disney. We love the parks but I also love to sit by the pool, relax and have a drink. And your daughters are adorable. I have an 8 year old princess so I can identify with the stages your daughters reach ;-) Maybe one of these days will get to meet all you famous PPer's (Monica,Elaine, Karen, Sharon. Bob and Larry. Your reports are wonderful and I think it so cool that you all are such great friends. We love Disney and have too many friends who "just don't get it"! I love to read about the adventures of those that really do get it

[Jillybean]

Sunday, June 6

Today was the day that we had to say to friends - - from morning until night. Not fun, I tell ya, not fun.

We started out our morning with a late breakfast with Monica, Kim and Macy at the Grand Floridian Café. We had never eaten here for breakfast, so it was a real treat.

Monica, Kim and I started out the day right with some adult beverages (reminds me of my book club book this month . . . You Can’t Drink All Day If you Don’t Start in the Morning ) - - Grand Mimosa for me (champagne, a splash of Grand Marnier, and orange juice) and Florida Sunshine for Monica and Kim (Peach Schnapps, Chambord, Skyy Vodka, and a splash of orange and cranberry juices.)

I do love sweets for breakfast, so I ordered the Citrus Pancakes (roasted pecan and sun-dried cranberry pancakes served with house-made orange butter with choice of bacon or sausage). Talk about good! We had the best time sitting around this big round table with the sun streaming in and laughter in the air. Despite the fact that our time together was drawing to an end, it’s hard to stay sad around their sweet family too long.

Karen, Zack and Sharon were checking out that morning, but they were even able to stop by and say their goodbyes to Monica, Kim and Macy also on their way to DHS. After our breakfast, we exchanged big goodbyes and promises to see each other as soon as possible. Thom and I have talked so much about Monica’s tight knit family - - they each other to pieces, but they’ve also never met a stranger. We so enjoyed every single moment that we shared with them.

On our way back to the room, I stopped back by the concierge desk to book our plans for our last day tomorrow. After the fun we had yesterday, we gave the girls a choice of spending our last day in the parks or at the pool. They didn’t hesitate when they answered the pool. Despite the fact that Maddie had called the Wonderland Tea Party that I had previously suggested “boring,” she also now was asking about it. Luck was on our side again because I was able to book the tea party for them and a full day at a cabana for all of us.

With that task done, we got ready and headed out to DHS to meet Karen, Zack and Sharon. The funny thing was that our AP’s had expired on Friday, so I was renewing them today and only using them for one day on this trip. There was no way that I was going to miss out on the 3 free extra months though!

While Thom stood in the shade with the girls, I stopped by guest services to get new passes. As I left them, Thom suggested that I ask if the girls could pick what character they wanted on their AP. I quickly shot him the stink eye because I was 99.9% sure that you couldn’t nor did I even want to go there. They all gave me their preferences anyway.

I told the CM what I needed and he did confirm to me that you pretty much got what you got when the AP was generated. As he worked on our tickets, I told him that I also had four 1-day tickets from the Buy 4/Get 3 promotion last summer and was told that I could apply those tickets to the next AP’s that I bought. At first, he told me that there was no way that he could do that. Then he asked someone else and told me I would have to go to guest assistance inside the park. A little extra trouble for me, but as long as I could get the credit, I was fine.

That’s when things turned ugly. So I had two little hopeful faces looking at me and I had to tell them that you can’t choose what characters you want. I was trying to laugh off the situation when I told them “Oddly enough Daddy and I got the characters that you wanted.” Well, apparently the younger set doesn't get into irony because Maddie started and Mary Devall started protesting as if we had traumatized her .

I was hot and not up for the drama, so I gave the three of them their tickets and told them I would see them inside. Once I got through the gate, my disposition did not improve when I saw a line going out the door at guest assistance. That little chore would have to wait.

I spotted two CM’s standing with the Thom and the girls who still hadn’t moved from their spots, so I figured that must have seen (and heard ) the emotional scene (and probably felt bad for them because their mother/wife had abandoned them ). Miraculously, they were able to calm them down with two Celebration buttons.

When Thom and the girls finally made it through the gate, I walked over to them only to have a young perky CM ask me if we had a moment. I said in a very tired voice “We just got here” hoping that it would keep her from asking me to participate in yet another survey.

She took my answer as a “Yes, I have a moment” and then asked the girls if they would like to meet some ducks, an alien and a mouse. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but the girls were wide eyed as they nodded their heads . We followed the CM to a private area adjacent to guest assistance and turned the corner to see Donald, Daisy, Minnie and Stitch just standing there waiting for us .

I swear I was two seconds away from crying. Sometimes when you just can’t take any more, something like this happens. The girls ran for the characters and then Thom and I joined in when the CM asked us if we wanted her to take some pictures with our camera. I handed over the camera and she clicked away.

[Jillybean]

The problem was now that we couldn’t figure out what to do - - whatever one person wanted to do, no one else wanted to do. We stood at the tip board without a clue. We had officially hit park overload.

We finally decided on Star Tours, but when we got there the wait was 40 minutes. I told Thom to go ahead and take the girls and I would go back to guest assistance and figure out our AP situation (I think this bit of housekeeping was bugging me and I couldn’t have fun until I straightened it out).

The line was still long, but it moved fairly quickly and I was actually enjoying hearing everyone’s issues (I’m odd that way ). When it was my turn, I explained my issue. The CM took the room key cards with the credit on them from last year and disappeared in the back.

He was probably gone about five minutes (which gave me more time to eavesdrop ) before he returned with another CM in tow. He asked to see the receipt from the AP purchase and the other man wrote down a code from it and left. The CM looked a little sheepish when he said “That was our ticket manager and he has a little re-educating to do.” Aha! (so I had been right!)

With the run around, I was a little afraid that I was going to be out the $300 or so that I spent last year for these 1-day tickets, but that statement proved to me that everything was going to be okay. The CM had the credit issued back to my credit card in no time and I was out of there.

Thom had sent me a text in the mean time to let me know that their wait had actually been less than 10 minutes, so I met up with them when my chore was finished. In the meantime, Mary Devall had decided that she did want to ride ToT so off we went while I do believe that Thom and Maddie stopped to watch HSM 3 . . . again. We were going to meet them at Sci Fi afterwards.

The ToT line was backed up but it moved fairly quickly. The odd thing was that our elevator was only half full. Much to Mary Devall’s chagrin, we were assigned the first row again. She immediately lost interest in being in the front row when she saw the new summer effects. That girl loves anything “new” and couldn’t wait to share it with Sha.

We skedaddled over to Sci Fi after our ride and were soon seated. I had my normal Space Invaders margarita along with my favorite hot weather treat, chili. Thom and I also shared a spinach dip. I do enjoy the food (and the massive margarita ) here, but more than anything, I love the atmosphere. The girls are always so well behaved because the trailers just entrance them. And any day you can see a man impaled with a giant syringe is a good day.

After our yummy lunch, we headed off to ride TSMM and I finally managed to break the beaver spell and get the cat. I was also able to straighten out something that had been puzzling me. Mary Devall had insisted that she was getting the beaver, so I was finally able to see that the beaver was actually a woodchuck. I knew she was getting better, but wondered how she had progressed that far!

[Jillybean]

Next we went for our final ride with Sha – appropriately ToT. Thom and Maddie said their goodbye to Sha before the rest of us headed off to ride and they went to find some characters.



Looks like Maddie's giving her man a little kiss.

[Jillybean]

Mary Devall was so thrilled to be able to show Sha the new effects and we had a great last ride. The time had come to say to Sha and you can believe that it was a tearful goodbye. The only thing (and I mean the only thing) that helped was knowing that I would be seeing her again in about a month and a half.

After watching Sha walk down Sunset Blvd., the rest of us made a stop of the Toilet of Terror (Larry, Eileen and Lesley) and then met up with Thom and Maddie to go to Indiana Jones. Thom and Mary Devall took off on a frozen lemonade run before the show which was much appreciated when they returned. We avoided this show for years because first Mary Devall didn’t like fire and then Maddie didn’t like fire, but they both enjoy it now. Maddie rarely even covers her ears anymore.

Karen and Zack had to leave a little early to get a Star Wars autograph, but we easily found them as soon as the show was over. When we exited, Zack was just getting his autograph, so it was perfect timing. We headed out to the bus stop where Karen took the AKL bus to check them in (they were leaving very early the next morning, so Karen used some DVC points for their last night) and Zack went with us back to the GF.

We arrived at the hotel with about ten minutes to spare before the appetizers were put away. At GF, we've noticed that they aim to have everything put away by 7 p.m. instead of just starting the process at 7 p.m. (on that little subject, the Yacht Club could teach them a thing or two ). I was able to get the rest of the chicken nuggets and brownies for the girls and Thom and Zack snagged a little food. I was still full from lunch and only wanted a glass of wine. The chardonnay was gone, but Thom asked for some for me and they brought out a full bottle. I so enjoyed that cold glass of wine.

About 20 minutes later, a CM was about to put away the wine and asked if anyone else wanted any. I hopped up with my glass and was by her side within seconds. She asked if Thom wanted any and I told her that he really didn’t drink that much (didn’t mention those Malibu rums and OJ’s ). She then told me how lucky a woman I was and that her husband was the same way. Apparently, she’s seen more than one husband overindulging in her lifetime. I told her that I knew that I was a very lucky woman.

We headed back to the room where the girls forced Zack to watch some of their Disney Channel shows. He was a good sport and I think he may have secretly enjoyed one of the episodes. Just about the time that we headed back out of the room to check out the dessert offerings, I heard Karen calling Zack’s name from the second floor (he actually heard her as soon as we opened our door). I went down to get her and we met the group in the lounge where we enjoyed some sweets and another glass of wine.

We finally decided to head for our last few hours at MK. We headed right for Barnstormer where we all rode once and then Zack and Maddie rode about 3 more times. While Zack and Maddie rode, the rest of us sat near a speaker and watched the new Wishes.

When Zack and Maddie had their fill of Barnstormer, we moved on to Country Bear Jamboree which Thom had never seen. Afterwards, Karen wanted to grab a spot for the parade, so she and Maddie found a seat on a porch while the rest of us rode HM. The parade still hadn’t started when we got back to Karen, so we waited with her and Maddie who had fallen . My lack of dinner was catching up to me, so I grabbed a bucket of while we waited (and I did share ).

We don’t slow down to watch the parades much, but we all enjoyed this one. Mary Devall must have for 20 minutes straight. We were all winding down after the parade but Zack and Mary Devall wanted to ride Space Mountain one more time. Thom went with them while Karen and I sat with a still sleeping Maddie in Tomorrow Land. I grabbed one of my other MK favorites, a frozen cherry slushie, and we chatted – a little sadly knowing that we were about to say goodbye. They returned after about 10 minutes because SM had chosen a bad time to be down.

We walked down Main Street where Karen bought a few last things at the candy store and Mary Devall wanted a picture with Roy and Minnie. Sharon had told her the story about the partners statue connection with that statue and she holds it sacred now. She actually gets a little peeved when she sees people hanging all over it.



We headed to the gates and said our final to Karen and Zack who were headed to AKL for a short night of sleep. After being with them almost every day for the past ten days, I had almost managed to convince myself that it would always be this way so . . . saying goodbye was a big shock to my system. We managed to exchange and goodbyes without breaking down entirely . . . but it wasn’t easy. With one last wave goodbye, we headed back on the monorail and were quickly back to our room and in bed.

Up next . . . our final day arrives

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by Jillybean

The line was still long, but it moved fairly quickly and I was actually enjoying hearing everyone’s issues (I’m odd that way ).

Um... eavesdropping AND giving advice are my two favorite passtimes!

Originally Posted by Jillybean

After our yummy lunch, we headed off to ride TSMM and I finally managed to break the beaver spell and get the cat.

Yes... yes, I *am* giggling like a schoolboy over that turn of phrase!

And the goodbyes are almost as difficult to read about as they are to survive in person. WAAAAAH!