Day 4: Ohhh, Ahhh, Shiny! About This Page:

[lablady]

More, more, more! I'm lovin your TR! Makes me want to give DL a try. Hope the rest of your trip was this great!

[PrincessSharon]

Just got caught up again with your report. It's terrific. You did a lot of the same things DM and I did on our trip. We had trouble picking up our Fantasmic Dessert Buffet tickets, too, but not half as bad as your adventure! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] Hurry back with more, please!

[lauren-roxy]

I just got all caught up with your report, please don't leave me hanging!!!! Sounds like a really fun time so far!!!!!

[dsnytina]

[ QUOTE ]
please don't leave me hanging!!!! Sounds like a really fun time so far!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too, me too!

[Diz]

DAY 3
9/12
Can we start late again? Why not. It’s a slow-moving day today! We’re not rushing this morning…at least the rest of my Dfamily isn’t. I’m up and about – showered and ready before everyone even blinks an eye. I let them sleep. I look out our window and enjoy the CA view. But soon, enough is enough. Time to wake up the sleepyheads! Everyone showers and gets ready. And we’re off.

It’s brunch time again. We have no plans for lunch so we decide to wing it. We head to CA’s gate and DD uses her magic pass to get 4 of us in. DS#1 heads off to DL again so he can use one of his free magic cm passes. Boy, I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] this free entrance thing! I’m so glad my Dkids love Disney as much as me and decided to work there!

We cut through CA and head off to DL. Before you know it, we’re all together again. We think about stopping on Main Street for a quick snack, but decided food is what we need. We take a stroll up to the Plaza Inn menu. Penne Pasta, Fried Chicken, Pot Roast. We decide let’s give it a try. We really miss having a cafeteria style lunch at the Crystal Palace. My Dkids aren’t into Winnie the Pooh and gang. This means we haven’t eaten there since the changeover! So we decide to give the PI a try. We enter and it’s not busy at all. It’s lunch time, about 3 other families are gathered around the tables. A few cm managers are in line in front of us. First the hot food. I choose the Broasted (it's not called fried) Chicken. It looked delicious! Then I headed right over to the desserts. Everything looked yummy. I choose the 50th dessert which was basically chocolate mousse with rasperry filling. Next I found the drinks and silverware and then waited for the rest of the gang. DD was going to pay. She used her cm discount. Boy, I really do love this cm thing! 3 broasted chickens, 2 penne and 4 - 50th anniversary desserts and $82 later, we’re off. We find a beautiful round table at the right side – all glass area. The CA sun is shining in. The only other table full was a table to our right – filled with cm managers having lunch and blowing the breeze. Not that I was listening [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img], but their conversation was not business. We’re eating lunch, having a great time in conversation. We decide that this was the best meal we had so far. Just a hint, this was to be our 2nd best meal all week. We’re laughing and carrying on when all of a sudden DD’s phone rang. She joked that if it was work, she wouldn’t be able to go in. It was DD’s friend, J. He had some great news! All I hear is DD’s scream of excitement. I’m like – what’s going on?!

She tells us that J. has arranged something really special for us later in the week. I’m like, what?! A personal tour of Club 33! Screams come from me now! Yesterday I had innocently mentioned to J. that I tried looking on Ebay for entrance to Club 33 for lunch or dinner. I really wanted to eat there for our anniversary. It was just a what can we talk about now subject. And what does that wonderful man do?! He knows the head mgr at Club 33 personally. He arranges for him to give us a tour! We can’t have lunch, but this is so much cooler! I just can’t believe it. There are smiles all around the table. It was a great start to our day! And in two days, I'd be strolling through Club 33.

After coming down from cloud 9, we decide to head off towards Tomorrowland. I absolutely [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] DL’s Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain! Can you say heaven?! Buzz’s gun is not attached to the ride. That alone is wonderful! But the greatest thing happens while you’re playing. You can play along with someone online. Yup. The targets will light up and when they do, you and the online player will get extra points. It’s so much fun watching for the light up ones. DH and I would race to see who how would hit one first. It’s funny because on our last WDW trip, I forgot where I was and started looking for the light up ones! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] What can I say?! That’s how much I enjoyed it!

And Space Mountain! Oh, when are they going to fix ours?! The ride is a double seater, not single. But the best difference? Jerks? Nope, maybe some people, but not the ride. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] The ride is so smooth – it felt like you were actually in space! Smooth sailing all the way! DH decided right there and then that he doesn’t want to ride SM at WDW ever again. Yup, it’s that [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]!

While in Tomorrowland, my Dteens saw the VMK stand. That was it. They wanted to do the tour. But all of you vmk fans know, to do a vmk tour you have to answer all the park trivia cards. So what do we do? Yup, we grab some cards so we can begin the quest! My Dteens also wanted to buy real merchandise so they could get virtual merchandise. So one of the locations was Star Traders for a shirt. DS#1 bought a Star Wars shirt he wanted. The cm at the register told him she was out of the cards. He came to me and told me this story. I grab his bag, go to another line and ask for a card. Presto. Problem solved.

This was about the time I really began to miss the charging privileges for my Dteens on the hotel key so we decided to buy DL gift cards instead. Since we were at Star Traders, I sent DH with his credit card to purchase a gift card. Here’s one more something bad into something good experiences! To go where no man has gone before experience.

Apparently the cm first swipes his credit card for 1000 then decides to tell him she has never done a gift card before. He thought – what could be so hard. Don’t ever think that! She took the $1000 off the credit card, but couldn’t get it on the gift card. About 30 minutes later and the manager called out of her back room hiding spot – it still wasn’t solved. It just so happened that the computer that handled the gift cards was in LA and there was a black out. Oh please! How lucky we are!

The manager takes all the information and gives us a fastpass to basically get rid of us at this point. She promises to keep trying to fix it. She takes our cell phone number and gives us hers. When it’s solved she’ll call.

I stayed out of all of this. DH handled it all. I was standing in the warm CA sun – having a ball just watching through the door!

The fastpass can’t be used at SM – of course not! So we think. BTMMR. We haven’t tried it yet so why not. Off we go to Frontierland. When we arrive, the faspass line is closed and we look ahead and the regular line isn’t too busy. This is the crowd level we had most of our trip. Just a touch of a wait for rides. So we decide to save the fastpass and we get in line. There are a lot of interesting sights around the queue line. I love the old town atmosphere that is on the hill above us. There is a water…what would you call it? I’ll say pump for lack of a better word while you’re in line. DS#2 tries to through coins in it’s bucket. It’s off the ground so he has a fun time doing this. The line wait wasn’t that long and before we know it – we’re riding! After the ride, DS#2 asks for French Fries. Can you guess what stand is right outside? Yup, Micky Ds. He had a nice batch of hot fries from the Conestoga Fry Wagon. DH sees them and tries stealing them. Forget it! He had to buy his own.

We head off to New Orleans square to look around. DS#2 disappears in Crystal Arts by Arribas brothers. He ends up buying me a surprise for my anniversary/birthday - I can’t wait! I try to sneak the bag away from him, but he had a death grip! We just spend some time walking around New Orleans Square. It really is a very [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] place.

The vmk quests are burning my Dteens hands so off we go to Frontierland for some trivia answers. We have a fun time looking for answers. It was time for a show at the Golden Horseshoe Stage. It gave DH and I an opportunity to reminisce about seeing shows at WDW before they ruined, I mean changed things around. We go inside and get a table near the back. There is a line for food and drinks. The Dteens are so surprised there even is food inside! They get in line and decide to share some mozarella sticks and chicken fingers and some cokes. They had just received the order when the show began. Perfect timing. We settle in and have a blast! This was one of the original shows from the very beginning of DL. It was so cool to see it. Billy Hill and the Hillbillies were on stage. Trouble is – all of them were named Billy! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] After the great music and corny jokes, we head out for more trivia. As usual with our family, we start talking about the show. DD wonders why they don’t still have this at WDW. All of us loved it. We’d like to do it again.

It’s getting late and according to DD, it is getting colder. She is an icecube. She wants coffee. We go to Main Street and get some hot cocoa and coffee. DS#1 and #2 stop in the Magic Shop – if you buy an item you get a vmk card. So of course, we buy something. DS#2, DH and DD end up going ahead,somehow DS#1 and I were lagging behind. We were on our way out when a cm yelled, last show of the night. Come on in. So we just had to listen to him!

DS#1 and I had a blast! There was so much memorabilia about the 50 years – very nicely displayed in the lobby before you entered for the movie. And the movie was really cute! Steve Martin and Donald Duck led the way to a look at DL History. It was wonderful!

As we were leaving the theatre, DD calls on the cell. Where are we? Ummmm...

On the way back to GCH, we decide to look in WOD. My first real stop here. I love all the DL merchandise and could buy the world! But I wait. We meet up with DS#2 and DD. They are starved. I don’t know why?! DS#1 and DH decide to stay at the resort. The rest of us head off towards DD to see where we can eat. We end up at RFC. It looks very familiar – like we’re home at WDW. We had a very energetic waiter and he took good care of us. When all was said and done, we had spent $53.21.

We think for a few minutes about doing some shopping, but we’re all exhausted! We walk through DD enjoying once again all of the things that were happening! Music. Dance. It’s such a ball to walk through here at night! We get to our room and the guys are sleeping. We decide to join them!

Next Up:
We’re late, we’re late for a very important date!

[DawnDenise]

YAY!!! Another great update!!!

[lauren-roxy]

Great update!!! I am so excited to hear all about Club 33-you are so lucky!!!!!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Dorie [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[My My oh My! Mickey Rocks!]

Just catching up on your report!

It's nice to see things written about DL from a first timer! Let me get it out in the open: yes - the Florida queues are much better....more land over there!!!

I love both coasts; WDW is more of a vacation for me though!

More please!! You're making me remember why I love DL so much!

Thanks!

[Diz]

DAY 4
09/13

Happy Anniversary! DH and I are celebrating too many years together.

We’re up early today.
We have a PS (and they’re still called PSs at DL) at PCH Grill for Lilo & Stitch Breakfast. When deciding on our anniversary meals – I choose this one because DD made this trip possible (all of her discounts!). And her favorite character? Stitch.

We dressed and walked to breakfast! This is so cool! We walked through a quiet DD to the PCH Grill. It was quiet in the hallway – only one other family besides us. Looked into the restaurant and it was busy – but not stuffed. We were still given a “wait for this to buzz” speech. Okay. Down the hall was a great Goofy statue with a surfboard. It was life-size and so very cool. Of course a picture spot. DS#2 isn’t quite awake yet – he didn’t want a pic with his favorite dude! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] He really must be tired!

About ten minutes later, we are seated at a table for 8. I thought that was strange, but soon I’ll be happy for this! Our table is dirty! Sticky! So I move over to a cleaner, but still not clean spot. The waitress takes another 5 minutes to come and get our drink order. We sit soaking up the atmosphere. PCH Grill is really a cutely decorated place. It screams – have fun. Finally our drink orders are taken and off we go for food.

Sorry DL fans – but the food was absolutely terrible. I’ve read other TRs where the food’s been good. But none of us ate more than a couple of bites all morning. We figured we came to see the characters – so we’ll live through the bad food. While we were sitting talking, DD noticed the managers. This is a cm thing. She was upset because there was a “college-age” type female manager who was named by us “the valley girl”. She was not in appropriate manager wear. DD had fun saying – if I'd known I could go shopping anywhere for my mgr clothes, I could have saved a ton of money. She really was funny. She went on and on and on. She even took out her camera and took a pic of the mgrs. That’s the last we saw of them. They saw her take a picture and they disappeared, never to be seen again until a couple of tables started complaining about 1. the food and 2. the slow waitstaff.

We finally got to see Stitch. He came in – music playing – dancing began. It was very cool. Lilo didn’t show up. Not all morning. Guess she was sick from the bad food. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] Sorry. We were having a fun time until Stitch came to a small stage right behind our table. And bam! Every child and mother in the place came over – and didn’t care that we were sitting at the table. They pushed – they evil eyed us – they were very rude. I ended up moving from my spot over to the dirty spot because it was farthest away from the stage. Note to self: Don’t sit by any stages at PCH Grill. Ask for a new table!

Overall, we had fun talking together. I don’t think this breakfast will be at the top of our to do list when we come back to DL. Only seeing Stitch wasn’t quite worth the $108 for breakfast. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] And that’s with DD’s discount! The waitress had to show the mgrs DD’s mgr id to get the discount – so that brought them out of hiding and they watched us as we left.

Right down the hall was a great thing – a gift shop! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] Some shopping and mood adjustment from breakfast was in order. First stop - Mickey in Paradise. It’s a cute little store. We naturally found things to buy – like that’s ever a problem! I saw a sign for the Ddollars and it said they had the $50 one! $50 Disney Dollars! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] Christmas gifts for my Dkids! When DD was finished, I sent her away. I purchased three $50 DD and will stuff those stockings come Christmas!

We left PP and headed off to DD. It’s now open and active! All of us pretty much went our separate ways for about 20 minutes. My next stop, WOD. DS#2 goes to GCH - White Water Snacks and gets a Mpretzel and cheese. He didn’t like L&S either! Well Stitch since Lilo never did show up. DH and DS#1 stop at the bookstore – DD stops in some clothes shops. I have fun looking at the DL exclusive merchandise. Before this trip, I would always see DL stuff on Disneydeals.com. I wouldn’t buy it because I had never been there. Now I’m here! I can wear anything DL! By the end of shopping, I had some more Christmas gifts and a great mood adjustment!

After a stop in the room, we head off for DL again. DD uses her maingate pass to get four of us in. DS#1 uses his pass for his entrance. I really do love this cm thing! We stop at the 50th flower display in front of the train station hoping to get a picture, but it was pretty busy. We decided to head inside.

Some dilly-dallying up Main Street was in order. I wish I was a millionaire, I’d buy one of everything! I still can’t get over the window saying watches – and there’s really watches inside. Seem silly, yes – but I just [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] that.

We head off towards Frontierland. We stop and do the shooting gallery. I’m terrible at this. DH is perfect. Once in WDW, he showed me how to point and that time I was perfect too. I’m just going to have to get him to put the gun in my hand every time!

There was a show in front of the Golden Horseshoe, so we stopped for awhile. The Dteens shared Mozzarella Sticks/Fries from the Stage Door Café in Frontierland and Beef Stew from the French Market in New Orleans Square. When all was fed and happy, we went shopping some more at Adventureland Bazaar - South Sea Traders.

We shopped some more – what can I say?! This time it was for pins at the Pioneer/Bonanza.

It was about time now for me to exit. This is our anniversary after all. I head off back to the resort. DH follows suit a few minutes later. What can I say?! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img] Afternoon delight. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img] We finally opened the envelope we received from Guest Services. Inside was a card. There was a signed photo of Mickey and the gang in front of SB’s castle - signatures and all! I promptly leaned up against the mirror.

It was now time to head back and gather up the gang for dinner. DH and I stop by the castle for an anniversary picture. Will we remember to buy it?

I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] cellphones. We call to find everyone. They are at Pooh Corner for candy. Why? VMK. If you buy real candy, you will get a virtual candy press for the online game! This would be a reoccuring event! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

We did Toontown and had a ball. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin is a hoot! "Take a cartoon taxi on a tour of the back alleys of Toontown. Spin as fast or slow as you like - but watch out for weasels!" I rode alone and DS#2 tried sneaking in my car. I sent him to ride with his sister. They said - you better spin! Now I am a thrill-rider and spinning was not going to be a problem for me. As a matter of fact, I started at the beginning and didn't stop to the end. I really loved this ride!

It was hot (even though DD said she was freezing![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]) so I wanted a frozen coke. The cms were just standing at the shop so I should have known something was up - yup, the machines were broken. Oh well. Got a coke. DH and I sat on the benches leading out of Toontown and waited for the kids to finish looking around/shopping.

We’ve taken it slow today – enjoying the sites and all, but now we’re late. “We’re late. We’re late for a very important date.”

We arrive at the Blue Bayou. They are closing up shop! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] What? It’s only 7:00 pm! DH goes to the hostess and says – I know we’re a little late, but we have a priority seating for 6:50. She hmmms…and hmmmms and says – you are late and I’m not sure we can seat you. DH says, it’s our anniversary and we’re only 10 minutes late. She huffs off. They close completely up – move the podium and all. We wait about 5 minutes and they do seat us.

Heartbreak. Not how I wanted my anniversary dinner to start. We were seated in the second row next to the water, down by the kitchen. Very nice view. Okay – things are looking up. The waiter doesn’t come for another 5 minutes. When he does – he is very hurried. I look around and every table in the restaurant is full. At least 2 other tables next to us had not received their drinks yet – so we’re not that late!

I do my usual – let’s talk to the cm and try to slow him down – in this case actually calm him down. It worked. He was much more relaxed and talked to us. He had been working for over 17 years. He was very friendly after all.

I wanted the Blue Bayou for our anniversary. It sounded so romantic. And it was! We decided on 5 prime ribs all around. Four of us medium-rare and DD medium (she’s a traitor). We enjoyed the view – laughing how it was strange to be inside the PoC ride for dinner! We had a ball! Dinner was perfect. Absolutely delicious – cooked just as we asked. By now, tables were emptying out very quickly. There were 2 others left beside us. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert. It’s my anniversary, of course I do! We had crème brulee and some 50th annivesary desserts. DS#2 asked if he could have the Blue Bayou Chocolate Mint Doubloons. I thought he was kidding, but nope that’s what he wanted so I said yes. Everything was delicious. DS#2’s candy wasn’t only a couple of pieces – it was a nice little box of about 12. He took them back to the resort with him. Very romantic dinner. At a $139, it was hands-down our best meal! #1 Dinner all week!

We ended up closing the place. With dessert, we were the last out. That was very cool too! Our waiter never seemed to mind. If he did, he hid it well.

We walked slowly out of the park. It was closing and so we were able to enjoy a stroll down Main Street. I’d love to see this place all decked out for the holidays – halloween and christmas!

Some of the shops still had their door opened, so we decided to have cocoa on way out. While we waited for the drinks, the guys went to look at the Magic Shop again.

We head back to the resort - walking through DD. Oh it's full of life! Music everywhere. People hustling and bustling in and out of shops. Lots of people sitting around, drinking coffee and listening to a band...a guitar...whatever music was near them. We spent some time walking around DD. It is so much fun! We finally call it a night and head into the GCH. The gift shop is closed. Oh well. No more shopping tonight.

Next up:
Just where will I spend my birthday?

[DawnDenise]

Another wonderful update!!! Sounds like a very eventful day! Sorry the Stitch Breakfast didn't turn out to be expected. We are going there in February. Looking forward to more!

[Fantasmic! kid]

Just caught up reading! Great updates! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]