Holiday Hootennanies with Scarlett and the Fam Damily! Day Two, Part 4, Updated 4/25 About This Page:

[zacksmom_1993]

Brilliant Eileen and Scarlett! I feel like the proud hoochie mama since I enabled all of the drinking and debauchery that led to these funny, funny stories. I do have to say, Scarlett, that I wonder what your mom thinks of me, especially now that I've learned of her penchant for etiquette school. Does she just say, "What do you expect, she's from CALIFORNIA after all?"

I could look at that picture of the five of you at the end of the journey forever and I'd still laugh. Dawn's trying to figure out how to gulp down margarita while laughing without having liquid fly out her nose. Tiff's going, going, gone as she falls right into her drink. Sharon, and her "Crap, there's al-kee-hall in this drink?" face. Eileen and her smirkalicious look of supreme triumph. And, sweet little Scarlett completely debauched by an afteroon with the CLT.

I also just wanted to send a quick shout out to the two Passporters who really are the charter members of the Epcot lush club. Thanks for the drinking inspiration Joan and Rachel. Your glasses are in the mail! (Seriously)

Can't wait for more Scarlett!

[goofysdtr]

Oh my gosh, you guys are the best! Absolutely hi-lar-ee-ous!

Great idea, Karen. Thanks for having them do it--what great reading!

[KandJluvdisney]

great update scarlett
that guy in italy was hot
glad you had such a good time with the clt
can't wait to hear how u got back to the hotel in 1 piece
hurry back with more

[mcc0313]

What an afternoon...drinking, eating and kissing hot guys all with $55 in your pocket...

Glad you had such a great time...so how exactly did you make it back to the resort

[mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince]

Found my way over here from Sharon's TR - I can't believe I missed this update and the chiming in of the CLT! It made me so hard, my DDs kept coming over to ask what was so darn funny!

Scarlett, I absolutely must know how you made it back from Epcot AND what your mother had to say!

Please hurry back!

[DoraDoug]

What a great trip report! I followed the link over from Sharon's report and I can't believe I never saw it before. You are just hysterical!

[DrDolphin]

WONDERFUL updates Scarlett!!! You did well through the al ke hol induced haze, added to the vicodin induced haze. I must say that I was laughing SO hard, it made me cough - which at the moment is a painful undertaking -- but WOW!! What an afternoon!!!

[Disney_Scarlett]

Oops! Update coming soon.

[DELG8TOR]

Originally Posted by Disney_Scarlett

Oops! Update coming soon.

We certainly hope so... It has been excruciatingly painful waiting on your humorous updates.




JK

Hurry back soon!

[Disney_Scarlett]

First, here are some pictures of Krista’s from their afternoon sans me. The parentals ate at Olivia’s for a late lunch (burger and sandwich for Mama and Dad), where they bought the girls some of those drinks with the light up Tinkerbells, which you’ll see throughout this trip report – Mackenzie in particular enjoyed wearing hers in her hair (the Tink, not the drink ). Then they took the boat to DTD where they did some shopping.



This is kind of a bad picture, but I wanted y'all to see some of the cool decorations we saw at OKW - a lot of people really went all out on decorating their villas!





Now that my fellow ELC charter members had gone their respective ways, I had to make my own way out of Epcot and to Downtown Disney to meet up with the fam damily. Easier said than done. I was still working on what was left of my share of the margarita in my customized ELC glass, so I slooowly walked and slurped my way to the front of the park. Emphasis on the slooowly. I was most definitely in an alcohol-induced daze as I weaved my way around the World Showcase Lagoon, taking in all the gorgeous decorations in the twilighty-dusky light. Feeling the way I was (drunk), most sensible people would have politely disposed of the remaining margarita (as in, “No, I couldn’t possibly finish this, I’ve certainly had more than my fair share for the evening”)…but I’m not a quitter (or a sensible person). : The damage had already been done, might as well finish the job. I paused near the Fountain of Nations and practically stuck my entire head in the bowl of the margarita glass trying to get the last bit of deliciousness out of the bottom before sticking the glass back in its bag. I could almost hear the voices of small children saying, “Mom, look at that girl!” See, this is why I shouldn’t have hard liquor.

I debated on stopping at a stand and grabbing a pretzel or some popcorn to offset the al-kee-hol, but vetoed the idea – I’d be at DTD soon, and the fam damily and I were eating at Wolfgang Puck Express, so I could hold out.


A slightly unsteady Spaceship Earth as I was heading out.

I finally made my way out of the park, and then I realized I had accidently abandoned my original plan – to go through the International Gateway over to one of the resorts and catch a bus to DTD. Oops. Oh well, I’d catch another resort bus here. Then I realized that my zip up hoodie that I had carefully tied around the strap of my purse was gone. After a few choice words, I started to backtrack my steps – I knew I had it when I had left the World Showcase, so it must have fallen off somewhere in between. I figured I would at least check the ground up to the park’s entrance – if it had fallen off in the last few minutes, maybe it would still be there. Of course, this meant having to go back through bag check before I could look any further than the bus stop area. To be a fairly short line, it moved incredibly slowly, and I was muttering more choice words under my breath (and my choice of words weren’t family-friendly). Finally, I was through and scanned the area for a wayward sweatshirt, but no luck. I was disappointed, as it was one of my favorite hoodies (gray with a black WDW logo embroidered on the right), but I figured this gave me a good reason to buy another one on this trip. More than anything, I was annoyed with myself for losing it. I purposefully didn’t tie it around my waist as I hate the “(even) wide(er) load” look it gives me, so that’s what I get for trying to engineer another method of storing my jacket. Next time I’ll just get over myself and tie the dang thing around my waist. Also, losing stuff is a total buzzkill.

Back to the buses, I decided to jump on the OKW bus to catch a ride to DTD…the OKW stop is near the exit, and the line was pretty short. In hindsight, I should have just caught a cab, but I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. Soon I was back to OKW and I parked myself on a bench to wait for a DTD bus to come along. At this point I was in the “done drinking, sleepy time now” stage, and I could have just curled up on that bench and took a nap, but I resisted – no one wants to look like a homeless drunk at Disney World. : I waited for a DTD bus about fifteen minutes before a nearly empty one arrived. Yay! I was finally on my way to where I needed to be.

Once at DTD, I called my mom and she directed me to where they were – outside Once Upon A Toy. I hurried over there, noticing all the decorations at DTD on the way. I spotted Mama, Dad and the two girlies sitting on the edge of a plant container outside the store. Krista and Jeff were somewhere looking for Jeff a pair of shorts – you’ll have to recall that he did his own packing for this trip (as all his stuff and his clothes are in NC with him), and apparently he failed to make sure that his outfit for Photopass Photoshoot Day actually matched. Whoops! While we waited, I recounted a carefully edited version of the afternoon’s happenin’s to the parentals (i.e. no mention of eggrolls or Italians ). Mama was particularly impressed with Karen’s creativeness of our mission and most especially her generosity of releasing the funds for said mission and also our margarita glasses gifts. It totally made up for the fact that Karen is from CALIFORNIA and all. Mama also shared with me a couple of purchases she had made – a Tink journal and something else I can’t remember. I was a little distracted by some kind of performance going on in front of us -- there were a lot of dancing and singing children and lights and whatnot, and Mackenzie and Maeve seemed to be interested, but I can't remember if I ever figured out what exactly it was - if I did, I didn't write it down and I can't remember.

Once Krista and Jeff rejoined us (they didn’t have any luck on the shorts), we made our way over to Wolfgang Puck Express. I was starving, and also desperately needed non-alcoholic liquids. We studied the menu outside first, so we didn’t have to be Those People holding up the line while contemplating their choices.

After everyone had settled on something, Dad, Jeff and I went through the line while Krista, Mama and the girls staked out a table. The line wasn’t too bad, but the dining area was crowded, and they had to stalk some folks who appeared to be leaving in order to secure a table big enough for all of us.

Soon the “fetchers” (i.e. me, Dad and Jeff) were bringing trays of drinks, napkins and condiments back to the table where we awaited our food (servers bring it to you at this counter service restaurant). I immediately took some Aleve once I was settled in with my drink. I jokingly said, “I need some candy” when I was getting the bottle out, as I probably take too much over-the-counter medication for chronic headaches, and my family jokingly calls it my candy (this is relevant later in the trip, promise). Anyway, this headache was totally justified – I was coming down off a drinking binge.


Maeve and Kenz wait patiently for their food...notice the Tink in Kenz's hair.

It wasn’t too long before our food arrived – Mama, Dad and Jeff had the Rosemary Rotisserie Chicken - Juicy and crispy-skinned half chicken, served with garlic butter sauce and garlic mashed potatoes or ceasar salad. I had the Pepperoni Pizza - Mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, tomato, roasted garlic, fresh basil, and tomato-basil-garlic sauce. Looking at the menu now on allearsnet, I see so many other things that I am surprised I passed up for pizza. The pizza was very good, but some of the sandwiches and salads really stand out to me on the menu. However, pizza is the best stuff ever to stave off a hangover, so maybe that was my logic. Anyway, Krista had rigatoni, which is not listed on the allearsnet menu, but I’m certain that’s what she had, and it’s also in my notes. The girls had pizza (Maeve) and the four cheese macaroni and cheese (Mackenzie).



We had the best time just sitting around talking and catching up. I retold the afternoon’s adventures to Krista and Jeff and showed off my ELC glass (I realized that Krista was on to me when she whispered, “You’re totally wasted aren’t you?” to which I just rolled my eyes at her – the only defense I could come up with at the moment ). The food here is fantastic – definitely one of the best counter service restaurants, taste and value-wise (especially on the DDP) on property. I tasted Mama’s chicken and it was delicious as well. We definitely took dinner at a slower pace, probably much to the annoyance of other table-stalkers – the joint was getting more crowded by the minute and the line longer.

For dessert, several of us had the crème brulee (also not listed on the allearsnet menu, but I have the pictures to prove it). It was yummy as well, although I could only manage a couple of bites. The kids and Dad had an assortment of brownies and cookies for their dessert.



While we were sitting there eating, I spotted my seat-partner from DME – the guy from Louisville, KY. He was sitting at an outdoor table, enjoying a beer. I didn’t see his wife or grandson, but I hoped he was having a good time so far and would continue to the following week (and I assume by now he had figured out there were no trams at his resort, or elsewhere ).


Mama and Maeve are gettin' tired...

Once we had finally finished dinner, we cleaned up our table and made our way towards the boat launch to go back to OKW. I realized as we were leaving that I had not even set foot inside a store at DTD. My Epcot-to-DTD transportation and sweatshirt fiasco had put me a bit behind schedule and I hadn’t had time to shop, but I wasn’t too concerned – I’m sure there would be other opportunities to spend money later in the week.

We walked up to the boat launch at the perfect time, as they were just beginning to load an empty boat. We were practically the only people on the boat, and Mama and Dad took a seat near the back while Jeff and Maeve sat near the middle and Krista, Mackenzie and I sat at the front. Our driver was kind of punchy – as we prepared to leave DTD, he announced over the speaker, “We’ll be underwater, er, underway in just a few moments.” Must have visions of being a Jungle Cruise captain someday. Actually, Krista told me that he was their boat captain earlier on the OKW-to-DTD trip, and she had learned that he is also a server at Tony’s Town Square, and his wife is a Photopass photographer. Neato.

The boat ride to OKW takes a little while, but is much more relaxing and scenic than taking the bus. I also got to see SSR for the first time as we passed by it and made a stop – man, that’s one big resort! It’s beautiful, too.

Krista and I spent a lot of time on the ride back comparing cameras – she got a new one for Mother’s Day the year before and I definitely have camera envy. Her nighttime photos usually turned out much better than mine. Lucky for y’all, she share all her pictures with me, so you don’t have sit through: “Here’s a blurry picture of something, and another blurry picture of something else.”



It wasn’t too long before we were approaching OKW. Talk about beautiful! At night, the whole place looks extra magical. I was definitely falling fast for OKW. After we unloaded and bid goodnight to our boat captain, we browsed around for a bit – I had not had much of a chance to see the resort, so we checked out the Gurgling Suitcase (OKW’s little bar area; very cute), Good’s To Go (counter service – one of my only complaints at OKW is the size of their CS restaurant – it’s literally a counter, period), and the gift shop.



I couldn’t resist picking up some candy in the gift shop – some gummi Mickey heads and some chocolate covered raisins. Krista purchased up a box of donuts for their breakfast the next morning, and while we were checking out, she told me about being in the store earlier that day. The girls trade pins, and there is a lady there that has a big pin board behind the counter that she uses to trade with. She brought it out for the girls to peruse and trade with her, but as soon as it appeared, there was this giant man that practically knocked the kids out of the way to get to the pin board. Krista said he was at least 6’5”, and the lady had to tell him to please step back and wait while the girls finished their pin transaction. He still hovered around and peered over their little shoulders until they finally were done. Krista said the girls didn’t really notice him, but that she was a little afraid that he would hurt someone, or himself, trying to get to those pins!

The men-folk and the kids had already made their way back to the rooms, so us ladies meandered across the street to our little courtyard (which I loved as well - it was also the designated smoking area, but there was hardly ever a smoker there, so we used it to gather together in the mornings and such). Once we reached that point, Krista went to the right and Mama and I went to the left, but not before solidifying our plans for the next morning – meet in the courtyard around 8:00 am.

Back in the room, we all busied ourselves with unpacking (DME had safely delivered our luggage while we were gone for the afternoon). There is a lot of storage space in these rooms, and we actually had drawers and closet space left over. You can also store suitcases and such under the beds, which helps with clutter control. Dad caught up on a little TV watching while Mama and I did most of the unpacking . One of the differences that I noticed on this trip was because of Dad, we watched a lot more news that I am used to on a Disney vacay (you have to remember, I haven’t done Disney with Dad since about 2002, and then I didn’t share a room with him). I prefer to mostly ignore the outside world on vacation, but Dad likes to keep in touch --- so watching the morning and evening news was a ritual for us. While he was catching up, I sent out a “great day, thanks for letting me hang with the CLT!” text to Sharon, Karen and Eileen.

Mama had decided to use her new Tink journal to record memories of our trip in, so she settled in at the table and starting writing. After changing into my PJs and washing my face, etc., I propped up in bed and began to update my notes, but found myself dozing off after a few minutes. Around 11:00 pm, I gave up the fight, set the wake up call for 6:30 am (we had worked out a system where Mama would get up at 6:30 and shower, Dad would get up at 6:45 and shower, and I would shower at 7:00 – as you can see, this system worked out to my benefit the most, beauty sleep wise ), and totally passed out. What a fantastic day!

The weather today was cool and cloudy at home, and warm and sunny (‘70’s) in WDW.
The best thing today was completing the mission with the CLT. Whooo!
The worst thing today was losing my hoodie.
The funniest thing today was I have to pick just one? Nooo! I guess the whole kissing-the-Italian thing tops the list, along with Eileen’s encounter with That Guy in Morocco.
Today we tried Wolfgang Puck Express
And the result was it’s one of the best counter service restaurants in WDW!
The most magical moment today was seeing The Millers when we arrived at OKW – knowing we were getting ready to start a fantastic eight days together!

Up Next: Morning in the Magic Kingdom!

[Colexis Mom]

Wow, I can't believe this was still the first day!! Sorry you lost your sweatshirt Sounds like a great time with the CLT thought! I agree with you on WPC!! YUM-O Love the pics!! More please

[BelmontBelle]

I feel like I hit the jackpot this afternoon, so many people have new updates.....I'm glad your's was among them!
I'm happy that you made it out of Epcot and to DTD safely, BTW your SE pictures looks great for someone who'd had just a little to drink! Sorry about the sweatshirt, I hope you replace it with a great new one. Dinner at WPE looked fantastic, I agree that it is the best CS, we love it! Please hurry back with more!

[DyanKJ130]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Wow, I can't believe this was still the first day!!

I was just thinking the same exact thing! You sure packed a lot into one day! to hear you lost your sweatshirt, but glad you were able to make it to DTD in one piece. WPE sounds like a wonderful place to have a CS meal. Can't wait to hear more

[DawnDenise]

Sorry about the buzzkill of losing the sweatshirt after such a spectacular afternoon!! Glad you made it safely to meet up with the fam! Wolfgang's looks incredibly good and now I have added that to my list of must-trys. Looking forward to more!!

[PrincessSharon]

My evil plot worked! You updated! I'm going to start posting links to your TR in everything I post if I have to! Glad you made it to DTD without too much trouble. Sorry about your sweatshirt. Did you ever check with lost and found?

Hope we see the next update before April!