Tea, Mouse and House - THREAD 3 COMPLETE About This Page:

[Tara O'Hara]

Oh my gosh!! I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] those photos of the Savannah at night Cheryl!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

P.S. I just sent Mark a special card with the innards to that present! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[zacksmom_1993]

[ QUOTE ]
P.S. I just sent Mark a special card with the innards to that present! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

OK. Now I'm not so sure I want to know what Celery's special present was! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] Cheryl, your night shots of the savannah are amazing! It's just like looking through the night vision goggles there, only clearer. Can't wait for more!

Karen

[chezp]

Wednesday 30 November – part nine: a special present from Celery [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

While taking photos, I heard someone say that our table was ready. I thought they must be talking to someone else, as it was no more than 20 minutes since I’d made the booking. It was us being called and it ended up just being five of us – Angie, Bill, Jan and the two of us. We were seated right by the buffet and got stuck straight in.



My first target, as always, was the carrot and ginger soup, as I love their soups and then the seafood stew. The first one was lovely, but the second was a bit too hot for me. That’s the first time I’ve ever said that about anything I’ve eaten there.

Other things I tried included the cous cous, various salads, my favourite the fou fou and the nut crusted salmon, all of it wonderful. I passed on dessert, as I don’t actually enjoy it that much here, I prefer the main course. The only thing which let this meal down was the service. The guy was just not quick off the mark at all with drink refills or with clearing our bills and when it came to paying, it seemed like applying the DDE discount was a real problem for it. I got the impression from him that he really didn’t want to be there. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

The company though more than made up for it – we had such a laugh with Angie, Bill and Jan and it was so good to be able to spend the meal chatting to the three of them, especially Angie, as we’d only just met her. I’d said to Mark before the holiday that I knew all three of them would get on a treat and I was right – we did. I think it was sometime during this meal that the idea of doing it all again in 2006 and seeing them again first started to be discussed and I so hope that happens, as all three of them are wonderful company and so much fun. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img] We still didn’t get very far with Bill smiling, as you can see from these photos during the meal:


All girls together with our cocktails! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

Do you think Bill doesn't want his photo taken? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img]

At one point, Tara popped down to give Mark a present, a cat frame that was meant to have a photo of his beloved Celery in it [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img] Unfortunately, Celery had obviously been so busy out biting people that Tara hadn’t yet been able to get the photo, so the frame was a good start! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I also got my Christmas present from Mark – three Sizzlits alphabet sets [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] All the scrapbookers will know what a big deal those are! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] We had asked Tara to buy them for us, as they were on a very good offer and way cheaper than at home, although I have to say when she presented them to us, I did worry about how we’d get them home – they weren’t exactly light! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img]




The bill came to something like $25 each (with Bill and Angie’s DDE discount), but Bill picked it up, so sweet of him. Thank you very much Bill! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] You are a star and you didn’t have to do that for us. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img]

Boma

Appetiser 9 8½
Entrée 9½ 9
Service 6 5
Atmosphere 10 10

Average score: 8.38

We finished our meal at around 9.20 and we were starting to feel beat, so we decided to head back to the Beach Club, taking Sheila with us, who was also staying at the Beach Club Villas, and Bill and Jan, who were at Pop Century. We said our goodbyes to the others, who were all in the Victoria Falls Lounge, enjoying that bottle of wine – because we went for dinner, we never saw the bottle of wine, Tara and Donna’s room or their view, which I am genuinely sorry about. It’s a shame we missed that. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/pout.gif[/img]

We got Bill and Jan to Pop Century fine, the problem was getting back to the Beach Club Villas from there. We must have missed a sign somewhere after we left them, as suddenly we were almost back at Animal Kingdom Lodge! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img] We had to do a U turn to get back home – I hope Sheila appreciated our little night time tour of Disney! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blushing.gif[/img]

We got back just after 10.00 and headed for the room going up in the lift with Sheila, after we both took different routes to get there! A quick (yeah right, the amount of photos I took! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] ) upload of tonight’s photos and then it was time for bed.

Today we walked 7.7 miles
The weather today was sunny with temperatures in the high 60’s.
The best thing today was the Osborne Lights meet and seeing everyone.
The worst thing today was Mark not feeling well in the morning and not going on the rides.
The funniest thing today was Sue and the wasabi! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]
Today we tried Soarin’
And the result was we really enjoyed it. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]
The most magical moment today was seeing everyone for the first time at the Osborne lights meet. It was totally mad, but so much fun. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]

Next: PassPorters take over Main Street!

[chezp]

Thursday 1 December – part one: PassPorters take over Main Street!

Our original plans:
8.20 Breakfast @ Crystal Palace for breakfast with Tara (Tara O’Hara), her daughter Katie, Donna (GoofyMom), her daughter Paige, Robin (RobinKay6753) and Angie (poohsgirl)
Enjoy a few rides at Magic Kingdom
Head back to the Beach Club Villas for a break and a swim, if it's warm enough
Head back to the Magic Kingdom for 12.30 / 1.00 for the PassPorter guides meet. We don’t know a lot about what’s going to be happening, except that it’s for the afternoon. I can’t wait to find out! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]
5.10 Dinner @ Liberty Tree Tavern with Melissa (mestitch) and her DH Andy on our table – and lots of other PassPorter friends in the restaurant at that time!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party for the evening:
7.15 First smaller PassPorter meet @ Liberty Bell
Enjoy some rides
8.45 Second big PassPorter meet @ tipboard to watch Wishes – there’s going to be so many of us! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img]
See second parade of the night
Stay as late as we can stay awake and then crash!


We had set a wake up call for 6.00, but we were awake a little before that, so I was alert enough to put the wake up call on speakerphone. Mark really did not thank me for that one! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

We were soon ready to head our and wandered through to the lobby and then out to the front of the resort, so I could grab a few photos on the way:



We picked up our car from valet and were just driving out when we saw someone who looked familiar, so we wound down the window to see if it was her. “Sheila” we yelled and, sure enough, it was her, so we gave her a lift over to the Magic Kingdom.


The magic sign! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

We obviously got there at the right time, as we were in the second row of the parking lot at the Ticketing and Transportation Center. We instantly resolved not to move the car until we headed back from Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party this evening. I think we must’ve caught the first monorail of the day, as when we got to the Magic Kingdom, there were literally about half a dozen people waiting at the gates. I had never seen it so quiet. It was just before 8.00, but that didn’t seem to matter. We quickly cleared security and then they let us in through the gates. Before we knew it, we were walking down Main Street:





A temporary addition to Main Street – the stage for the Christmas show that they’d be recording over the next few days



As we walked along, we saw Marie (CRCrazy) and Sarah and so we started with the PassPorter group photos for the day – and there would be a lot of those during the rest of the day – trust me! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]




As you can see, as we snapped away, more PassPorters turned up. Next there were Robin (RobinKay6573) and Angie (poohsgirl).





Angie presented me with an Eeyore beanie for my collection and some World of Disney New York City stickers as well as a journal. Thank you so much for those – they’re great! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img] Then Terri (DrDolphin) and Cheryl (Phoebe Cates) arrived as well:



We had a ball, it was as if we owned Main Street. We even managed to get a couple of Cast Members to take some of these photos for us, although I think one took one photo and the other dealt with the other cameras – probably about five in total! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Next: where’s Bill? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/pout.gif[/img]

[chezp]

Thursday 1 December – part two: where’s Bill? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/pout.gif[/img]

There was no sign of the rest of the party, so we walked over to the Crystal Palace to see if they had already checked in, but no, so I headed off to get some more photos while the park was quiet:




Finally, four of our missing PassPorters made it:



… but there was still no sign of Bill (LizardCop) and Jan, so Tara called them to find out how long they would be. Well, we knew it would be bad news when we heard her saying “you’re where?” It turns out that they thought the Priority Seating (oh, alright then ADR! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) was for 9.30 and they were making great time for that, they had just left Pop Century. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Tragically, we were booked in for 8.20 and it was now 8.20, so there would be no photos of Bill dancing with Tigger today. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zcry.gif[/img]

We told them that all of our party was now present, with Terri and Cheryl taking Bill and Jan’s place and we were called after only a few minutes. I think that’s the quickest that I’ve ever gone in there. Before we got in, we were all given stickers by someone. They were meant to be for children, but apparently we fitted the bill. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img] That was fine with us, I think we were all enjoying the kid inside of us at that point.

We went in with little idea of the fun that lay ahead of us. We had a quick explanation of where all the characters were and which way they would come round and with none in sight, we all headed for the buffet. I’ve never seen such a long wait for the food here, it was about five minutes before we got near to it, but during that time, we had fun, especially when Pooh walked straight past Angie:


This is one of my favourite photos – the look on Angie’s face is pure magic! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

… and the others seemed to be enjoying themselves when they got to the buffet – this could be a shock for them, as I don’t think they ever knew that I’d taken some of these shots! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img]



All loaded up - me with two plates, so I could enjoy lots of fruit, some pastries and some cheesy potatoes and French toast [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] We headed back to the table and tried to tuck in before the characters came around. Before I talk about what happened with the characters, a word about the food. It was very good as always, but the French toast was particularly poor, very dry and that was with lots of syrup. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Needless to say, that got left on my plate.

As for the characters, well, we’ll take them in the order that they came around. I think with Pooh, everyone just wanted to see Angie’s reaction to her favourite and it was lovely:






Tigger decided to use Sheila’s head as a table:



… and was very particular about which pen he wanted to use. We didn’t really bounce with him. I guess it didn’t seem right with Bill not there. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/pout.gif[/img]



Next: my husband manages to make Piglet “cry” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[PrincessSharon]

Terrific updates, Cheryl! I can't wait to hear about Mark and Piglet!

[DrDolphin]

Terrific updates Cheryl!!! I can't wait to relive "the piglet incident"!!

[DopeyGirl]

Oh no! Time for the bacon attack!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

That Mark . . . he's such a troublemaker!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great updates Cheryl and wonderful pictures!!!! Sounds like you are really having an awesome time!! Can't wait to read about Mark and poor Piglet!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates Cheryl [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Love all the pictures! The sky was such a beautiful blue that morning [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[disneyfan4994]

Great update! I can't wait for more. Please hurry back. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ariel14]

Oh, more pls!!!!

Cindy

[2princessmom]

Wonderful updates! I can't wait to hear about the piglet incident!

[GoofyMom]

Oh my goodness - what was I saying to Marie and Sarah in the buffet line?!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] You're right, I had no clue that you were taking a picture just then! You must not have had your target turned on! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Cheryl, I'm really enjoying reading this report - especially the parts I was there for because I had forgotten so many things that happened! Sue and the wasabi incident was one of them! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img]

[karmic]

Wondrful as usual! Looking forward to the next installment- hurry back with more! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thanx.gif[/img]