Pop and Legos on Our Annual Feb. Trip! - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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I hope to get the pics resized and saved for the rest of the TR this weekend. But DS needs to work on a science project and I need to "supervise" and on Sunday, besides church, we are going to see Spamalot in the evening , so not sure I will have time to do the pics, but I will try!
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Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
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Sorry about the rough start to your trip!! I don't understand why security had a problem with the expired ID. It shouldn't matter as long as the name and the face on the ID match the name on the boarding pass and the person standing in front of the agent.
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The weather was cloudy and in the low 70s. Not really warm enough to swim, but you know some crazy Northerners were in the pool anyway! My sister and her husband had arrived on Friday, so they were just hanging out when we arrived. We hadn’t seen them since Christmas so we had a lot of catching up to do.
We got settled in to our room #4251 in the 60s section. We had asked for the 50s or 90s to be near the quiet pool, but we were on the backside of the 60s building so it was nice and quiet there. My parents and sister’s rooms were connected and we were right next door. So it was all very convenient!
I think we checked out the gift shop and arcade with DS. Then we spent some time at a table by the pool bar catching up. By 4pm we decided to get ready to go to the Boardwalk. We had dinner reservations at the Captain’s Grille at the Yacht Club.
My parents decided to drive over to the Boardwalk so my Mom didn’t have to walk so much. The rest of us took the bus to DHS and walked to the Boardwalk on the nice little path by the water. When we got to the Boardwalk we went right and took the long way around to the Yacht Club. We stopped in the shops at the Boardwalk and looked around in the ESPN Club gift shop.
When we approached the Yacht Club there were lots of people with nametags hanging out at a very nice looking reception on the boardwalk. When we walked into the Yacht Club I immediately noticed the tacky signs hanging in the Lobby advertising the NBA All Star game. We decided to go over to the Ale and Compass lounge right off the Lobby to get a drink. I called my parents to tell them where to meet us.
I looked in the drink list for Conundrum, the white wine I’ve read so much about here, but I didn’t see it, so ordered some other pinto grigio. I decided to walk out to the lobby and take pics of the tacky banners and in walks a very tall, very thin, African-American man, who was immediately swamped by the nametag people. I can’t believe I didn’t snap a picture, I had no idea who he was, but he was obviously a famous basketball player! DH didn’t even know who he was, we only watch college basketball.
Anyway, I asked the nice bartender woman who the nametag people were; she thought they were ESPN media types. I asked her if she had met any players, and she said yes, but didn’t know who they were either, but she said they were really tall, they had to duck to get into the bar area, and had really big hands!
My parents found us eventually and we continued chatting and catching up and looking at pics of recent events on our digital cameras. At some point I looked at the drink list again and I saw Conundrum listed! It was $13.00; all the other whites were $9.00. But I decided to try it at dinner later anyway. I’d read so much about it I just had to try it!
It still wasn’t close to our ADR time, but I figured they would seat us early, so Mom checked and it was no problem. We were seated at a nice out of the way table right near the buffet area that I guess they use for breakfast? Everyone but my Dad decided to go with the Captain’s Grille Experience where you get a choice of several appetizers, main courses and desserts for $27.99.
DS had the chicken noodle soup and hot dog.
Dad had the Rock shrimp appetizer and crab cake entrée.
I went with the Green Goddess Salad and crab cakes.
DH had the chowder and crab cakes.
Mom and Amanda had the crab cake app and pork chop entrée.
Steve had the crab cake app and the fish of the day (can’t remember what it was).
Everything was absolutely delicious!
For dessert DS had the ice cream sundae, Mom and DH had the chocolate cake, Steve had the gelato, Amanda and I had the turtle cheesecake. Yummy, yummy, yummy is all I can say. We all cleaned our plates! And getting a 30% discount was nice too!
Oh, the Conundrum, it was as delicious as everyone says! If you like white wine, you should definitely try it. I’m not a chardonnay drinker, but I like other white wines, and since this is a blend, it is perfect! I still think 13.00 is a little steep, but hey, it’s not like I’m drinking it every night! I checked out my local Kroger the other day, and they sell it! It is 28.00, not what I usually pay for a bottle, but for a special occasion . . .
After eating, my parents drove and the rest of us walked back to DHS and took the bus back to Pop. I think we all went to bed at that point. We were tired from travelling, but it had been a great first day!
Oh, before dinner we realized that none of us had packed toothpaste or DS’s toothbrush, so we picked those up at the Pop gift shop before bed.
Up Next: A relaxing Sunday
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Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
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Today dawned cloudy and cool, in the low 70s, with sprinkles. We got ready, ate breakfast in our rooms and were on our way by 10am or so. Dad wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed in the room. Mom, Amanda and Steve went to Cast Connections, the CM outlet store and my family took the bus to DTD.
We browsed through all the shops; mainly looking for something for our new dog and souvenirs for DS. We could not find pet stuff anywhere! I know we have bought treats and scarves and things like that for other people’s pets, but in one store we only found one bandana and a three pack of small balls. Not what we wanted for Ryder.
At the Lego store DS put together a set of 3 minifigs for $9.99 (It was better to do it there than to waste the time at LegoLand doing it. I can’t remember if there was a price difference?) He also picked up a small Ninjago set and I got 2 little loch ness monster sets, which I have never seen online or anywhere else. I wonder if they have them there because they have the big one outside in the lake? They also make engraveable bricks too. Which I think is new, or maybe I just never noticed. It was $3.00 per side; you get to pick the color of the brick and the engraving color. We ordered 2 of those, which would be ready in 20 minutes. It was time for lunch so we decided to just pick them up after we ate.
We met up with the rest of the family, who was now at DTD shopping, and took the boat over to Saratoga Springs for lunch at the Turf Glub Grill. (First DH and I walked to the boat dock at the Rainforest Café, just to make sure that the boat to SS didn’t leave from there. It said on the map that the only place to catch the boat was at the Pleasure Island dock, which just didn’t make sense to me!) But the map was right, and we all walked over to the Pleasure Island dock for the short boat ride to SS. It had stopped raining at this point but was still cloudy. But the boat ride was pleasant.
We didn’t make an ADR figuring it wouldn’t be too busy at lunch, but we got one of the last empty tables inside. There was plenty of seating outside, but it was just a bit too chilly for that. There seemed to be a lot of people there that had run the Princess half-marathon that morning.
The food was pretty good, I liked the atmosphere and the staff was all very pleasant.
I had the Crispy Chicken Breast Sandwich, which I somehow failed to realize was going to be breaded, but it was good anyway, with vegetable slaw on the side, which wasn’t my favorite, but others ate it for me.
DH had the reuben. DS had the kid’s pizza. Mom had the fish and chips. Amanda had a burger and shared the calamari appetizer with us. I can’t remember what Steve had, but we all thought everything was pretty good. They have sweet potato fries too, which were yummy. DS got an ice cream sundae for dessert.
Just a side note, DS is not a big eater, and although he is 11, he still just wanted to eat off the kids menu. No one questioned us about it, I’m sure it is not uncommon. I felt a little guilty about it, but it worked for us this time. I think the age limit is up to 9, so I guess we cheated the system last year too. Ooops!
After picking up DS’s engraved Legos, we decided to just go back to Pop; to read, relax, nap, and do homework. After a couple hours of that, we regrouped for cocktails in my parent’s room.
No one was motivated to go back out for my plan of seeing the MK fireworks from the Poly or to go to the campground for dinner and the campfire/movie. Geez! We are at Disney World people!
Eventually we got up the energy to move down to the pool bar. DS wanted dinner, but then just ended up with an apple from the food court. I got a fruit bowl and a Margarita. Amanda and Steve had some of the stir-fry. No one else was hungry for dinner.
I took DS to the arcade to load up a card and he played several games. He decided he wanted to get enough points to get a rubber ducky. (Geez, a $10.00 game card for a rubber ducky! But it was his own money!)
It was really nice this year, that I felt perfectly safe letting DS run up to the room by himself or to the arcade. He did great and didn’t get lost once! He is growing up too fast!
I think we were probably in bed before 10pm.
Up Next: LegoLand!
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
Sounds like a nice leisurely day shopping at DTD. Sorry you didn't find any pet things - I thought there was a whole store of that kind of thing Obviously, I was wrong! Looking forward to hearing about Legoland.
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Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
Sounds like a nice leisurely day shopping at DTD. Sorry you didn't find any pet things - I thought there was a whole store of that kind of thing Obviously, I was wrong! Looking forward to hearing about Legoland.
There used to be a pet store in DTD, but they closed it. How could they not have sold enough pet stuff to keep it open? We were really disappointed. But we found a semi-good option on Tuesday.
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
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, so not sure I will have time to do the pics, but I will try!
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My sister and her husband had arrived on Friday, so they were just hanging out when we arrived. We hadn’t seen them since Christmas so we had a lot of catching up to do. 
I had no idea who he was, but he was obviously a famous basketball player! DH didn’t even know who he was, we only watch college basketball.
We got ready, ate breakfast in our rooms and were on our way by 10am or so. Dad wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed in the room. Mom, Amanda and Steve went to Cast Connections, the CM outlet store and my family took the bus to DTD.
It was $3.00 per side; you get to pick the color of the brick and the engraving color. We ordered 2 of those, which would be ready in 20 minutes. It was time for lunch so we decided to just pick them up after we ate. 
Obviously, I was wrong! Looking forward to hearing about Legoland.
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