The Great Dessert Hunt: Sep 4, 2010 – Sep 10, 2010
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**Cam22** · 09-23-2010, 10:26 PM

Incredible day! Luke and I would love to do the Segway tour one of these days. By the way, we have done several of the tours and gotten a pin each time. My favorite pin is from the The Magic of WDW Steam Trains tour. How neat to ride Star Tours with stormtroopers!

ilovedisney247 · 09-23-2010, 11:49 PM

What a great day and how wonderful that you were able to score such inexpensive tickets for the event that evening! It looks like you had a great time!

bfth · 09-24-2010, 04:21 PM

Wow! What a great sounding day!

puzzlewoman · 10-10-2010, 09:36 PM

So sorry I haven't updated this TR! I've got to be honest - it's because it's really taken an emotional toll on me to retell this day. Most of it was good, but not all of it. Ah well, I need to tell the whole story. Update in next post!

puzzlewoman · 10-10-2010, 09:54 PM

Day 5: Wednesday, Sep 8, 2010:
Today we planned to head to Animal Kingdom for the morning and then head over to Magic Kingdom for the evening. We decided not to rush over to AK and met our friends at the entrance. John and I got a new magic shot (new to us), Stitch on a box , outside the park. We met them inside and away we went. First Dwayne, John and I rode Expedition Everest. Dwayne had never had a chance to ride it before, and we love it, or we might not have even gone to AK this trip. J We all loved it, of course. We got to the park so late that is was now time for lunch. We decided to try Yak & Yeti CS, as Flame Tree was closed for refurb. I got the Asian chicken sandwich, and John got the orange beef. Lunch was pretty good, but there were ducks everywhere!

We decided to head over to the Wildlife Express Train, and on the way over there, we saw DeVine appear. This was the second time we had seen her, and she is still really cool. If you’ve never seen her, make a point to try! We rode the train back to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I was on a mission to collect more characters. I had never seen Pocahontas, but heard she was over here. We had seen Jiminy Cricket, but we weren’t collecting autographs then. We hung out in the Conservation Station and waited on the characters to come out on their schedule. I was able to get Pocahontas and Jiminy Circket – yes! While we were there we ran into another group collecting autographs on a qulit – that was really cool. We were then comparing characters we had collected. J
On the train ride back I said I wanted to ride Primeval Whirl (I love that thing – it’s a little roller coaster than spins – oooh!!) – but John said his neck was hurting, so he didn’t think that would be a good idea. I guess it wouldn’t. Aww.

Cherese doesn’t ride those things, I already knew that. But Dwayne said he would ride with me – OK! We waited in line behind a couple with 4 kids, all boys. We learned this was their first day here, the very first thing they were doing, in fact. The lady said her kids were all excited about this ride, she wasn’t so sure. Since the cars seat 4 people, they asked if we would ride with them so their 4 kids could ride together. Well, sure. On the way out the lady we rode with said, “I think once was enough for that.” LOL!
We had gotten fastpasses for Dinosaur earlier, so we headed back that way. It wasn’t time yet, so we decided to sit and wait. There’s this little path in that area that goes nowhere, and I lost track of how many people we saw walk by that didn’t realize it this, and were a little lost. I was really hot at this point and needed something – maybe some ice cream. Jonh said he would get me some – the cart had Mickey bars with cookies & cream ice cream. OK, that’s my favorite! Unfortunately………. at this point, the exhaustion and walking around had caught up to me, and I had hurt my feet. Ugh. I could barely walk. I didn’t know if I was going to make it to the rest of our plans for the day and just wanted to go back to the room. I made it through Dinosaur (why do I ride that thing, those stupid loud dinosaurs always make me cringe?!), and walking out and resting on benches while the others shopped.
As we left, I told John I just wanted to go back to the room, but he convinced me I really didn’t want to miss the Wishes Dessert Party. I really didn’t. I was going to try, but I was walking really, really, slowly. We took the bus to the TTC and the monorail to MK. At the entrance he asked me to wait while he went to Guest Relations. By this point, Cherese had hurt her knee (she has knee issues) and went to get an ECV. I told him he had better not get me one of those, I would be scared to death I would run over everyone! He got me a wheelchair though. Really? I can walk, just not very well. He said he could push me around faster than I was walking. Well, that just made me feel miserable. But I was in a lot of pain, so oh well.
We had made a dinner ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:30pm. This was back at our 180 day mark before they released the official Halloween party dates and we were hoping this would be one of the days. No such luck. Later we heard about the Wishes Dessert Party and just added that at 8pm, so that worked out at least. We got to MK early enough we decided to use the time before our ADR to do a few things we hadn’t done yet. We headed over to Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor first. We found if you are in a wheelchair you sit up front, as that is where those spaces are. Wow, that is really close! Next we did Buzz Lightyear. I kept hitting bonus targets without even trying and had this huge score by the end. Yes, one of the few times I’ve ever beaten John on one of those kinds of rides!
Now it was time to head over to dinner. John and I had never eaten dinner at Liberty Tree before. Our friends said it was like Thanksgiving dinner, and that sounded good to us! When we checked in, they asked us if we could walk short distances, and we said yes. Then they sat us, I believe, at the farthest table from the entrance they could get. Really? It took us forever to walk back there! Ah, but dinner was great! All you can eat too. We ate a lot of food. The only thing I didn’t like was dessert. It was an apple crumb cake like thing, and I’m not a fan of those. Good thing I had a dessert party soon. J
After dinner and before the party, we dragged our friends over to Pixie Hollow to meet the fairies. We really wanted them to experience this. The line did take quite a while (the longest line we waited in our whole trip, I think), but we love it. The first time we went we had met Fawn, Tinkerbell, and Terence. This time we met Iridessa, Tinkerbell, and Vidia. I think Tinkerbell is always there. So I have collected autographs from five fairies now – yes! And now I have watched the movie with Vidia in it, Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, as John rented it from Redbox. I can tell you that those fairies are very good at being in character. Tinkerbell told us that Iridessa is a “light” fairy. Iridessa decided to call us by the words we had printed on our shirts. So I was Blue Blob. She asked if that was OK, and I said as long as she called my husband Mr. Blue Blob. But she didn’t. I guess she needed things labeled?!
By the time we left there, it was time to head over to the Dessert Party. This started at 8pm, and the Wishes fireworks were scheduled for 9pm. It was threatening to storm, so we were just hoping they would still have the fireworks. The party is at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station. We checked in and they gave us wristbands to wear so we could leave to go to the restroom and get back in. They had assigned tables for each party, and showed us to ours. They had our name on a card and some pixie dust. I kept these for a souvenir, of course. The party was AWESOME! I know some people have mentioned they thought the cost was expensive, but I didn’t think so. I loved that we got a dessert buffet and a nice, not-crowded view of the fireworks. I really don’t ever want to stand on Main Street and watch those fireworks ever again. This was the best time I have ever had watching them. I decided to try one of everything they had, unless there was something I didn’t want. I didn’t try the watermelon (don’t really like it), red grapes (OK, but I prefer green), and glazed donut holes (didn’t sound that exciting). I tried everything else. My favorite was the chocolate mousse with Oreo cookie crumbles at the bottom – this was the only one I got seconds of. There were a couple of things that I didn’t like, but most of it was just so, so good! And there was so much of it. The picture below is of my second plate. I was so busy enjoying my desserts that I forgot to take a picture of my first plate. J
Also a second plate of our friends’.

They also had a Photophass photographer there, which was a really neat idea. After I had eaten for a while and needed a break (although I told my friends please don’t let them take my plate away – I wasn’t done yet!), I decided I could walk the short distance to where he was set up. John had set his camera up in the same area and was trying to take pictures himself. The Photopass guy was not busy, so I asked if he could take some pictures of me. After a couple John came over and we got a LOT of pictures of us in front of the fireworks. I missed the whole end of it as I wasn’t looking at them! That’s OK, I’ve seen it many times. J
They didn’t rush us out at all, they told us when last call was to see if we wanted anything else (we were stuffed), and the whole event was run very smoothly. By the time we left, the crush had filtered out of Main Street and there was just the shopping crowd left. We decided to join them so we could find souvenirs for our family. We got Alice in Wonderland English breakfast tea for my mom, pens for Mike, Mickey ears earrings for John’s mom, and a key chain for John’s sister (I think it says “Favorite Sister”). We already had Silly Bandz for John’s nephew. I wanted to get my dad a hat, but I couldn’t find one I liked. So we got everything but that by the time we left MK.
All of my favorite desserts were compacted into the end of they day at the Wishes Dessert Party, but I still call that a good day for dessert.

**Colexis Mom** · 10-10-2010, 10:31 PM

Great dessert day! Sorry about your feet hurting.!

**chezp** · 10-11-2010, 02:34 AM

Glad you made it to the dessert party in the end!

ilovedisney247 · 10-11-2010, 02:44 AM

Glad you got to go to the dessert party it looks like a wonderful time!

**Cam22** · 10-11-2010, 12:15 PM

Excellent dessert day!

So sorry about your aching feet!

isabelalvarez · 10-11-2010, 12:30 PM

All I can say is EVERYTHING LOOK YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

puzzlewoman · 10-31-2010, 08:22 PM

I keep forgetting to finish this TR - I am so sorry! I got sucked back into real life really quickly after the trip was over.

This is the final post:

Day 6: Thursday, Sep 9, 2010:
Our friends were leaving on a flight back home today, but we weren’t leaving until tomorrow. We decided to head over to MK early as they had morning EMH. I still wasn’t feeling up to walking too much, so John was pushing me around in a wheelchair again. We went to MK by the walking path. Our friends took the bus from WL, and said it was the shortest travel time to a park they had the whole trip. Our first stop at MK was the Main Street Bakery. We needed more cinnamon rolls and chocolate croissants. (Because we hadn’t had nearly enough!) Then on to some rides we hadn’t done yet. They all went on Stitch’s Great Escape. I did this once, and said I was never going back. Then we rode the People Mover (TTA) and Space Mountain. John was still pushing me around in a wheelchair, as I could still barely walk. We looked for the wheelchair entrance but they hadn’t opened it yet. She said we could come back around 11. Well, our friends had to leave, so we said OK, we’ll just go ride something else. We weren’t upset, but the lady opened up the entrance for us – we didn’t even ask! After that we saw Chip and Dale in space suit outfits outside the ride. We already had their autographs (of course), but we didn’t have pictures of them in space suits! We had to stop. Our friends patiently waited for us to get even more pictures. J
Next we went back over to Adventureland. The Aloha Isle (where you get the Dole Whips) is right next to the veranda where Ariel and Eric were scheduled to appear. Our friends needed Dole Whips (hadn’t had enough this trip), and I was dying for an Eric autograph (I’ve never seen him before!). As John and I waited in line we noticed the CM handling the line was the same CM we had seen the night before with the Fairies. We asked if she was having a better day (this poor woman was just abused by the people in front of us). She said yes – you know you’re in for it when you work that location. We were quite amused. Then we rode Pirates of the Caribbean again. For this line I had to get out of my wheelchair and walk. I didn’t realize how long it would be – I barely made it. People were going around us in line. We just waved them on. Then we rode Haunted Mansion again. I really like the wheelchair entrance to this ride as I don’t have to stand in that spooky shrinking room!
It was time for lunch. We had counter service credits left, and one of our favorite CS places is Columbia Harbor House. And oh look, here we are right by it. John spent like 10 minutes looking for the hidden mickey on the pavement (we found out they moved it!), and in to lunch we went. Everything there is yummy, and they have several different choices. We sat upstairs and prepared to say good-bye to our friends. They really didn’t want to go, and if it didn’t cost so much to change plane tickets, I think they would have stayed!
After they left, John and I rode Big Thunder Mountain, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and wondered around a bit. Watching Dumbo was fun as we could see over the construction fence. J
We left MK and took the monorails to Epcot. John did NOT enjoy the fact that the TTC monorail elevator was not working since he had to push me up that big hill… We rode Living with the Land and got a Kim Possible pass. I said I wanted any country except Norway, as that is the only mission we had done before. We got…Norway. The CM put in for another, and we got…Italy. We lugged over to Italy at our appointed time…and received another country. I did not realize Italy wasn’t one of the countries. The CM called it a “neutral” location. Sigh. We lugged over to our actual country. I think it was China. I love the Kim Possible games, they are so much fun. Hopefully we will be able to do more of them on another trip.
We wondered around the shops of World Showcase for awhile and watched the juggler in Italy. We had made dinner reservations for the two of us at Tutto Italia at 6:55pm. We had never eaten here before, but had heard it was good. We arrived early, as we were tired of wandering around. They were able to seat us pretty quickly. Honestly, this was my least favorite meal of the whole trip. It was OK, but not my style (very limited menu) and not very much what I was in the mood for. We ordered a large appetizer sampler to share just for the fun of it, and some of this was OK. I ordered the Petto di Pollo for my entree. It wasn’t that good. It wasn’t what I wanted to order, but everything I wanted to order already had mushrooms cooked into it, and well, you know… John ordered the Costata Di Maiale Alla Valdostana. His wasn’t that great either. We both hoped dessert would be OK. It comes with the table service meal, so we had to get it anyway, right? We saw waiters go by with dessert sampler trays and decided that’s what we should try. They were good, but the tiramisu part of the sampler was really good, so I regretted not just getting a whole tiramisu…oh well, the dessert was still good. Thank goodness!

We were exhausted by this point. We thought about staying for Illuminations, but we didn’t feel like waiting. We ended up going back to the resort and relaxing some more in the pool. We knew we were leaving tomorrow. L

Day 7: Friday, Sep 10, 2010:
Today is our last day and we fly back home. I think I can walk more normally now, so we pack up, take the wheelchair back, and drop our suitcases off with the DME staff, and our carry-ons to hold for us while we go off to MK for just a little more fun. We of course have to stop at Main Street Bakery for breakfast. We had one counter service and one snack credit left, and then we would have used them all up. We were able to use those to get a cinnamon roll, two drinks, and a chocolate croissant. Because, we obviously have not had enough cinnamon rolls and chocolate croissants this trip. J

Perfect, no unused credits on our Dining Plan! Lots of yummy desserts all trip!! We just wandered around for a little while soaking some more MK in. We rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin (I don’t think I had ever ridden that before). After the ride, John noticed some characters in Frontierland. We rushed over and they were doing pictures and autographs. I was able to get Wendell Bear. They also had Clarabelle Cow, Brer Rabbit, and I think Horace Horsecollar. We only got to see them for a little bit before they went on their break, so I wasn’t too sure. The CM’s told us they normally only come out for the Hoedown show, not for autographs, but when they had come out now, no one was standing around, so they didn’t do the show (there’s a lot of audience participation in the show). I had never heard of this show; it’s not listed on their published entertainment. It’s yet another Disney treasure that you just have to stumble across – one of the things I love about Disney World, yet also drives this organized plan person crazy. J We waited around for the next show to start and watched it. We hoped the characters would stay for pictures and autographs, but they high-tailed it out of there after the show was over. Oh well.
It was soon time to head back to our hotel so we could go to the airport and fly home. This was the WORST part of the trip, and I don’t just mean because we were leaving. John had downloaded the Delta app to his IPhone and checked us into our flight 24 hours ahead of time. When we tried to check into the DME, they said they had a message from the airport that they could not check us in, and could not take our luggage. They printed us a receipt so the bus driver would take us to the airport, but that’s all they could do. Their message said we personally had to check our bags in at the airport. I was incensed – what???!!! It was ridiculous. So we lugged our own luggage onto the DME bus (thank goodness at least they would give us a ride!) and checked our own luggage and our own selves into the airport. When we got to the self check-in kiosk, we noticed it said that we had told them at our 24-hour check in that we had gate check-in items (like a wheelchair, stroller, etc). We made sure to unclick that, and John is pretty sure the Delta app did not say this and defaulted to check this. We wonder if this was why DME was not allowed to take our bags, but we weren’t sure. Our friends apparently had problems with their Delta app check-in the day before, and were overcharged by one checked bag, and have been fighting for their refund ever since. They noticed before their flight, and tried to take care of it then, but the customer service rep they spoke to said they had to wait until after their flight to take care of it. They called when they got home and that customer service rep told them they had to do this before their flight, there was nothing they could do about it now. Uh-huh. My conclusion: don’t get the Delta IPhone app!!
I had woken up with cold symptoms. John said I hadn’t slept too well. Then the flight home killed my ears. They were in so much pain that I ended up at urgent care Saturday morning. Yep, fun ending to a trip!
However, the important thing is: the Great Dessert Hunt mission was quite well-accomplished (at least, I think so).