Adventure #9: Firsts, a Dream, an Anniversary, & Three Destinations...

...I need another drink! :hammer:

I know I've neglected a whoooole lotta TRs out there for a long time. There's a reason for that. I vowed to myself to stop reading and start writing. I also vowed not to even begin posting until the report was completely written and assembled so posting would literally be cut & paste. This puppy was quite the monster to tackle but I did it! Enjoy.



Greetings to my dedicated readers, friends, family, and noobs alike! Boy, do I have a story to tell you so let’s get this thing rolling...

First, the basics:

Who? The usual suspects, of course. That would be me (The SweetPee), the old man (Tracey), the 15 year old all-knowing son (Chandler), and the 13 year old not-so-baby-of-the-family son (Brian). Later in the trip you’ll see a character from my very first trip report return for more fun. Yep, you guessed it! My big brother, the uncle extraordinare, Jerry!

What? Duh. Vacation. Anywhere but home fits the bill. Thankfully, we had 3 awesome destinations to hit. And celebrating. Can’t forget that we celebrated our 18th anniversary in style!

When? September 9 - 24, 2011.

Where? September 9: on the road & Hampton Inn, Clermont
September 10 - 15: Wilderness Lodge
September 15 - 18: Disney Cruise Line’s Dream
September 18 - 24: Yacht Club

If this is your first time reading a SweetPee report, feel free to peruse my previous reports down there in my signature. There’s better intros with pics there.

Like most folks, it’s amazing how much life you can live in less than a year. When I last left y’all at the end of our 8th adventure in November 2010 I wasn’t 100% sure where or when we’d be back. I wasn’t even sure WDW would be our destination of choice. I managed to find us some new Disney experiences to try...one of which has taken over our souls! You won’t believe it! We sure don’t!

Life has a way of keeping the adventure alive. Towards the end of January this year Tracey got sent on a project in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Don’t know where that is? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. LOL! It’s about halfway in between Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The good part was all the moolah all that overtime brings + paid expenses. The bad part was ice, snow, and working 7 days a week for months on end. We got to see a different part of the country, experience real snow & ice (which completely blows), see the Oklahoma City National Memorial, meet new people, and learn new things. After Tracey finished up in Oklahoma he came back to an assignment on a project that was plagued with deadline challenges. Again, great to have all that income from the overtime but bad because he never had any days off. Literally. The only days I think Tracey had off this year were when the snow & ice were dangerous enough for the project to shut down, Easter, and a couple sick days. That’s it. Not even July 4th or Labor Day. And so, that’s how we funded our adventure and were able to shoot for the stars. Tracey worked so hard for so long. If he said “upgrade us to club level” or “add another day to the front of the trip” I didn’t argue. He earned it.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We hurried to change and went to the Walt Disney Theater to wait for tonight’s show, Believe, to start. While we sat there Tracey & I started discussing all the stuff we still had yet to do. We knew when the show let out Shutters (where you buy the pictures they take of you onboard) was going to be a mad house. We weren’t sure how long the shops would be open and we still needed to make our final purchases. We needed to be packing. The boys were off doing their thing and we promised Chandler we’d meet him for a round of putt-putt on the sports deck before the night was over. The putt-putt with Chandler was a huuuge priority since he was still sorta bummed about missing out on Castaway Cay. Sometimes your kids just need a little extra Mom & Dad so you gotta make sure to fill the need. Even tho this was the show we had most been anticipating we hopped up and headed out to have some fun.

First we went to Shutters to buy some pictures. We looked through everything and picked out $90-worth of different 6x8’s. When we asked we were told they couldn’t print 2 different 6x8’s on each photo sheet. If we wanted 6x8’s we had to purchase 2 of each that are printed on the same sheet for $20 per sheet. Or we could get an 8x10 for $20 each. How annoying! It’s not like we were asking them to do some special trick. I can manage to print 2 different pictures per sheet of photo paper at home without a problem. Whatever. They shot themselves in the foot with me. I narrowed it down to just 3 8x10s that I felt we couldn’t leave behind and spent only $60. Take that, Shutters! You can take all those prints we left behind and stick ‘em!

We went to the shops to make our last purchases. We had to get a Christmas ornament for us and one for Tracey’s mom. The ones on the shelf were all wonky with the details. Like on one ornament the logo that was supposed to be centered wasn’t fully painted. The logo was translucent. On the others it wasn’t centered. All of them were off. We asked if they had anymore of 2 different ornaments and they brought out a full tray of each for us to choose from. We made our selections, paid, and got out of there. It was kinda crazy in the shops! It’d sure be nice if they kept ‘em open more. Sheesh! Tip for the future: do NOT wait until the last night to buy our souvenirs.

We took our treasures to our room, grabbed what little laundry we had, and got it started. Stop laughing at our crazy laundry compulsion. We didn’t want to haul a pile of dirty stuff back to WDW with us! We’d end up having to wash there. The facilities are nicer on the ship!

I think we went to Guest Services to wrap up what was left on our ship board account. Not much, really. We did pretty good aside from the stupid spa crap.

Waiting for an elevator we tried to do a mirror shot but that didn’t work so swooft.

The outside of the Walt Disney Theater.

I made Tracey pass back through the one shop that had all the Disney Cruise Line clothes and stuff one more time since we were right there and the shops had cleared out quite a bit. Guess what they sell???? The Animator’s Palette dinner plates! See?!

What a bargain, huh??? Yes, that price would be PER PLATE!

I need new dishes in the worst way. These would be the dishes of my choosing. Even with the prices THAT jacked I would have gladly let my savings account suffer a hit to have 10 place settings of this stuff. I want dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, and mugs or cups w/saucers. The problem is they only sell the dinner plates. That’s it. Just the stinkin’ dinner plates. Tracey tried to talk me into buying 10 of the dinner plates then finding solids in black, white, & red for the other pieces once we got home but there’s just no way. If I can’t have it right then I’ll skip it. Again, Disney! Throw me a bone here! You’re sooooo missing a golden opportunity to cash in! SELL ME THE DISHES!!!!

We switched the laundry then ran up to meet Chandler. But not before we mixed another drinky-drink! We came up the aft elevators to deck 11 to hit the drink station. Cabanas was closed so there was nobody in there (the aft elevators take you into Cabanas so to get to the drink station you have to walk thru). This place is loaded with the details so I’m all about pictures!

I love the use of the kites for lights on the painted ceiling sky then the tiki umbrellas here and there. Details that make the space!

Not sure what the heck was showing on the funnelvision. I’m sure I could consult my Navigator to find out if I reeeaaally wanted to know:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Nemo’s Reef, where the littlest cruisers go for fun! What I love about this space is that it’s tucked in the shade. You don’t have to worry about the delicate baby skin burning!

The Mickey cespool...er...pool is closed.

I do believe the Aqua Duck was still running, though. There wasn’t much wait but I wasn’t too anxious to have wet bathing suits to cart back to WDW with us.

As promised, it was Goofy Golf time! The sports deck was Chandler’s favorite spot on the ship. He didn’t spend much time in Vibe. Brian did. Chandler was all about the golfin’ and what he calls Ninja Ping-Pong. Don’t know what Ninja Ping-Pong is? Imagine a flamin’ white boy making every ping-pong shot like it’s a full-on Ninja-style karate chop. Each movement is accompanied by the appropriate sound: “Whaaa!” It’s the full package with sound and everything. A few more drinky-drinks and I prob’ly woulda been playin’ Ninja ping-pong, too. I think I would’ve adopted the redneck ninja, Diemon Dave’s personna for my game. Not familiar with Diemon Dave??? Go to YouTube and search the key words: redneck ninja. Oh yessss... ...ya got yer Ninjey chop...then ya got yer Judy chop...don’t go tryin’ this stuff on yer kids or yer dawgs......

So, yeah, Goofy Golf! Here’s a scan of the scorecard:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

This was an interesting round of putt-putt. I was a wee bit tipsy. I guess maybe we ought not to have dared each other to mix doubles. I was trying to hang onto my drink, my putter, my ball, the score card, the pencil, and my camera. We had people behind us so I didn’t want to be too slow. And, my goodness, the wind was blowing gail force up there on the sports deck. ((That’s why no Ninjy-pong for Ma tonight. The ball woulda disappeared.)) Note that you could use the Goofy tees or the Max tees. Max’s tees were the easier ones. Chandler told us from the start not to trust which way the lines were tellin’ ya to go because they weren’t always the best way. Okee dokee. Here’s my crappy pics of Goofy Golf.

And the final scorecard. Chandler pretty well wiped the deck with us but then he was pretty much the course pro by the time we played him:

We took Chandler’s Wave phone (the rental one) back to Guest Relations. We grabbed the rest of our laundry and headed back to the room to finish packing. Chandler, Tracey, & I were in bed by 1 a.m. Brian, however, was not done. Oh no. I fell asleep just after 1 but woke up every 20 minutes after that. I checked on him a few times. Finally around 2:30 I told him he needed to come back, we have an early morning. Those of you with teens and have cruised Disney know the teen clubs close at 1. So where was he during that extra time??? Well, apparently the kids shut down Vibe but weren’t ready to say goodbye so they all went to D-Lounge. D-Lounge closed at 2 so they got shoo’d out of there. Still not wanting to throw in the towel a group of the kids went up to deck 11 where they were hanging out when I called Brian to let him know I wanted him to come back. He said he was ready to come in anyway. Crazy. My 14 year old was out partying until 2:45 a.m.! I always had a feelin’ he’d be the one I had to worry about..... Hahahaha!!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Sunday, 9/18: When some Dreams end new ones begin!

Happy Anniversary to us! Yes sir, 18 years ago today Tracey & I said our ‘I dos’ in his family’s living room in front of a small group of our family and friends. I was just 19 years old and Tracey was 21. I remember when I told my mother I was getting married the first thing out of her mouth was, “Why? Are you pregnant?” Noooooo! The 2nd thing made no sense to me then but makes perfect sense now: “You’re 19, Kelly. How can you know what you want for the rest of your life when you don’t even have a clue who you are yet? Wait another 10 years.” Obviously I didn’t listen. This, however, would be my exact words of advice for other 19 year olds who want to get married. It worked out okay for me but it’s not been a cake walk getting here. I think we’re probably more the exception than the rule. There were plenty of days where the only thing carrying me through was my hard-headed refusal to give up or give in. Tracey and I have run the gammut...been as blissfully high as a married couple can be and in the lowest depths imaginable that other couples rarely survive. Through it all, the good and the bad, we held on and managed to not forget what we love most in each other. For all the struggles we’re stronger. He’s my very bestest friend, the man who gave me the courage to dream the impossible then made those dreams come true. There aren’t enough thank yous sometimes. I’m glad I didn’t listen to my folks and followed my heart. For once, I was right.

Enough of the ooey-gooey!

The alarm was set to go off at 5:30 but we woke up when we felt the motion of the ship subside. All night the ship was rocking enough that we could feel it pretty good and it was soooo wonderful. Around 5:00 we the lack of motion made us stir so we got on out of bed. We were pulling back into Port Canaveral. **sniffle sniffle**

We were supposed to have breakfast at Animator’s Palette at 6:45. On the last morning you have breakfast at the restaurant where you ate dinner the night before. Or you can go up to Cabanas and have the buffet. As much as I wanted to see Animators one last time we all wanted to get this depressing morning over with. We were all dressed and ready to go by 6:15. We headed up to Cabanas to eat and kill time before we could get off the ship. No, we did not put any bags out to be checked and taken to the terminal for us.

We left our bags in the room while we ran up to Cabanas. We had a nice breakfast. Kelly & Cam from our cruise group ended up sitting at the table next to us so Kelly & I were able to talk about sewing and embroidery machines and stuff. I’m so glad we met them. Such nice people!

We finished breakfast, went back to get our bags, then headed down to the atrium to line up for debarkation. We got in line at 7:20. We walked off our ship of Dreams at 7:30, cleared customs, and were in the car by 7:45. Very painless.

Goodbye Dream. We’ll see you again!

When waiting to pay for our parking we were behind this car. I didn’t get a good look but if my tag said that I know I’d be wearing a paper bag over my head.

On the way to WDW we had some rain. It sure added to the dark cloud hanging over us this morning....

Hi guys. Are we there yet?

The closer we got the cloud seemed to be lifting. That’s a good thing. We talked to Jerry on the phone and he said he was pretty close. It looked like he’d be arriving just after us. It wasn’t long before we were passing this and suddenly it seemed we would survive leaving our newfound love:

We stopped to top off the tank again at the Hess station on-property. Tracey was in rare form by now. His silliness was off the hook. I went inside to get a case of Dasani for the room. When I came out Tracey hollered for the whole world to hear, “I have Disney gas in my car!” What a nut!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

It was about 9 a.m. yet it felt like the day should be half over. Very strange, these early mornings are.

Just a quick little hop and we arrived!

The only words I can think of say it all: Arriving ROCKS!

We pulled up under the port cochere to unload the car. As soon as the door was opened for me and I stepped out a lovely CM stepped forward and addressed me, “Mrs. Sutton! Happy Anniversary!” It was our anniversary. You didn’t think Tracey wouldn’t ‘treat’ me, did ya???

**cue the theme song for ‘The Jeffersons’** LOL! That’s tacky, I know. I’d apologize but I’m not sorry. Does that make it worse? Hahaha!!!

So our lovely CM explained that we’d be able to check-in upstairs in the Regatta Club but our room wasn’t likely to be ready while Tracey, the boys, and bell services quickly unloaded the car. As we approached the door another CM was there to meet us from up in the Regatta Club who took the cart with all our stuff and said, “I’ll be taking you to your room, Mr. & Mrs. Sutton. It’s ready for you. You can check-in when you’re settled.” BAM! Awesome!

The CM gentleman with the cart stayed a step ahead making chit chat as Tracey & I followed along behind. We went up the elevator then zig’d & zag’d a few times to our Yacht Club home: room #5221.

**confession time**
Okay. We’ve dreamed of staying at the Yacht Club for a long time. It always seemed so nice, quiet, and serene. We love the theming and find it very calming. When waiting for the elevators at the lobby level I couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast from being on the Dream to where we were at that moment. The surface around the elevator buttons was a little dingy. When you looked up to the floor indicator arrows above the elevators they were broken and not working. When we got upstairs and were walking down the hall I was strangely aware of how worn things around me were. The carpet was fine and the walls clean and everything. There wasn’t anything that looked ill-kept. But, ya know, when a surface is painted over and over and over dozens of times the paint builds up so you notice on the mouldings and painted surfaces the loss of the original detail. I’ve noticed this before in other areas of the parks but it never bothered me as much as it did in this moment following our cart o’stuff on our way to our room. At one point I leaned into Tracey and quietly whispered, “Is it me or is this place kinda dumpy compared to where we just were?” I know it’s not a fair comparison: a brand spankin’ new beautiful ship like the Dream to a hotel that opened over 20 years ago. I’ve not been on the other Disney ships so I don’t know if the painted-over 8k times surfaces happen there, too, but today the stark contrast really stood out to me. As we approached our room door I thought to myself, “I sure wish we were back on the ship.....”

But then we opened the door and that thought was gone. I wasn’t as thorough with my pics this time. Sorry! Here’s the basics of our room:

Sink & vanity area.

Potty & shower room. (complete with cracked marble tile on the floor...see? I noticed this stuff more!)

The tv with dresser & fridge beneath. The cabinet front didn’t close properly and the finish on parts of the cabinet inards were bubbled and damaged. (drives me nuts that this stuff now bugged me)

The daybed for Brian:

Tracey’s & my bed:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Both beds. They were oh-so comfy, too!

Looking back to the front door:

The Goofy we got my mom on CC made himself right at home, too!

After a quick look around we knew Jerry would be arriving momentarily so we wanted to get all checked-in and meet him downstairs. He couldn’t just hop in an elevator and come up to the 5th floor. You have to have the authorized key cards to get access. No sooner did we sit down at one of the concierge desks did Jerry call to let me know he was in the lobby. Another concierge and I ran down to get him while Tracey continued to check us in. Noooo problem!

By 10:00 we were all in the room settling in and visiting. My mom had sent an anniversary card for us with Jerry and, of course, he had one for us, too. Oh! And then we noticed we had a message on our room phone! Check it out! ((that means click the picture))




After we were all settled we ran down to the Fittings & Fairings shop to have a peak around. Gotta scope out the merch! This is when Brian discovered he didn’t have his gift card or the $15 or so he had in cash. He was convinced he left them in the safe in the room on the ship but both Tracey & I checked the safe before we left the room. No, we’re sure he left them on the desk area. We called the cruise terminal but they were all super-busy (as expected) with all the new passengers boarding. No luck there. I dug out the receipt for when we bought the gift card at The Mercantile at the Wilderness Lodge and decided to go see if the club concierge staff knew of any way to use the info on the receipts to get the card info. It took some doing but they were able to contact The Mercantile and Merchandising and piece together everything. They were even able to call and have the gift card “frozen” so nobody could spend any money off of it. All we had to do was get him a new blank card, call, and the balance would be applied to a new card for us. Talk about a lifesaver! Going thru all that was pretty annoying because, ya know, he’s a 13 year old. He should be more responsible. Believe me, there was a conversation between Tracey & I before we pursued fixing the situation as to whether or not to let him suffer the consequences of his irresponsibility. In the end, he was outta luck on the cash and that was dollars he earned prior to the trip working at his Mimi’s house. We also made him very aware of all the people who went out of their way to help him & made sure he showed those people appreciation for their efforts. Let’s all cross our fingers for a little parental success! LOL!

Jerry had been awake for some stupid length of time at this point. I think he said like 30-something hours. We were pretty dang beat, too. You read my mind! Nap time! Sweet, glorious nap time! WooHOOO!!!

We had a refreshing nap. Very nice. I caught up my notes and sorted some pics before we had to be getting ready for dinner. Oh yes. Anniversary dinner! Woot!

And...the fabulosity of our gorgeous balcony view pre-dinner:

Anniversary dinner was at the Yachtsman at 5:00. We had to dress pretty! The dress I chose for tonight was one that I’ve had for a couple years and Tracey absolutely loooooves but I never wear it. I don’t know why. I think it’s one that you love so much you save it for special occassions only except we never really go anywhere to dress up so I never end up wearing it. Stupid. And the dress totally frickin’ rocks! It’s a strapless maxi red/burgandy/deep chocolate watercolor-ish, dip-dyed jersey. When I tried it on in the little boutique I found it in I squealed! It’s one of those dresses that magically come with the bod, too. Talk about total and complete dress looooove! Ugh!

So why am I boring you with the dumb dress details? It’s pertinent to the story. Here’s how:

First, I have to explain that I am NOT a snob. I am not a person who thinks they are better than anyone else. I honestly do not see myself the way other people do. I never have. I don’t ever notice if people look at me (or as the boys say “Dudes are checking you out, Mom!). I don’t see this stuff because it’s not something I would ever anticipate. Why would anyone want to look at me? Or strange people I don’t know speak to me?

We were all gussied-up and headed down to the Yachtsman, me in my dress that I promise you came with a really tall, curvy bod to go with it because nothing else makes me look that way. When we got down to the lobby there was a ton of hustle-n-bustle. There was obviously a big convention. There were oodles of nice but casually dressed people, more older-ish men than anything, standing around chit-chatting wearing name badges. Whatever. It struck me as odd that Tracey hung back as we rounded the corner into the lobby. I thought he was just talking with Jerry about something so I continued on with my boys close to my right side. No big deal. A few steps into the lobby I felt sorta weird but how often do I wear my kick-butt dress. I was just being self-conscious, right? By the time I got to the other side of the lobby near the Captain’s Grille I was aware of a gentleman somewhat near me speaking but I thought he was speaking to some of his colleagues. I mean, why would anyone speak to me, right? I think I may have caught a word or two but I wasn’t paying attention at all because in my little world there was absolutely no reason for anyone to speak to me. I rounded the corner continuing on towards the Yachtsman when Tracey & Jerry caught up with me both of them roaring with laughter. I was so clueless.

“What? What’s so funny?”

Tracey: “I knew that’s what was going to happen! Me & Jerry hung back to watch what happened when you walked across the lobby! Every **blankity-blank** (this is a family site but he didn’t refer to the men in the lobby with a nice choice of words) there turned to watch you! That one guy followed you like a friggin’ puppy talking to you and you totally ignored him like he didn’t exist!”

Jerry: “Did you do that on purpose?! That was hilarious! He finally turned to his friends and said you must be a foreigner!”

And I was utterly clueless. This, of course, had Tracey & Jerry set off into another round of laughter. I felt sorta bad about ignoring someone even if it was a...uh...-toad of sorts...but still....I’m not a snot. I don’t ignore people on purpose. I honest to goodness just do NOT see myself the way other people do. I thought that guy was talking to his friends, not me. It’s creepy in a way but then it also makes me feel really bad because I totally didn’t do that on purpose. **sigh**

All the big guys kept saying between gasps and laughs was, “Priceless!”

The other reason I had to mention my dress is because Chandler gets a little freaked-out about some stuff. I asked him to take a nice pic of Tracey & me while we waited for dinner. We were early. This is what we got:

I asked why he chopped me at the neck. Chandler’s response: “I do NOT want anyone looking at you in that dress, Mom, not even in pictures.” OMG. A little more prodding and we got this much:

Nice.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Jerry & Tracey went into the Crew’s Cub bar that adjoins the Yachtsman to grab us a round of drinky-drinks to kick off the evening while we waited for the restaurant to start seating. There were several other guests at the bar so I figured the long time they spent fetching drinks was because they were busy. Not sure of the particulars (I’m sure Jerry could give you the details) but no drinks for us. Basically the one bartender who acknowledged the guys standing there by addressing them with “be right with you” turned and promptly announced he was going on break. He disappeared. Nobody else was interested in serving drinks. Nice.

Mucho beefo.

Mucho cute-o. See? I don’t need no espanol!

Thirsty and in need a drink-o.

Eventually we were seated when the restaurant was officially opened. We didn’t have too long of a wait. Tracey & I had special anniversary menus waiting for us.

I had a white sangria to drink. Oh so stinkin’ yummy! I could drink these for daaaaays!

Cute pic of the old married farts.

Love the ceiling in here. So pretty!

We noticed not many people dressed for dinner. Odd. Not that it really matters in the long-run but it does sorta detract from the overall setting when people show up to a nice restaurant in shorts & tshirts. It was noticeable. Not sure if that’s still us withdrawing from the cruise experience or what but it really stood out. Weird. Stuff I’ve never noticed before now matters. Hhmmm...

The wait for our food wasn’t exceptionally bad or anything. I wish I could say it was worth the wait, tho. The food looked yummy enough. I forget the names but I do have pics of mine & Tracey’s:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The steaks were okay in flavor. Not great or fabulous or anything. We do better at home with cheaper cuts. The bad part was how tough the meat was. Not very tender at all. At least one of us had grissle in there. Good marbling is fantastic but 1/2 the steak being fat is not. Tracey & Jerry ordered their steaks medium-rare. Both had cold, blue areas in the middle. Not warm. Not room-temp. Cold as in refridgerator cold. I’ll be honest, I’ve had better cuts of meat cooked better at the local Outback. Especially after reading so many rave reviews, the fact that the Yachtsman is a signature restaurant, and the crazy-expensive prices of the steaks I really, really expected better. The steaks were a huuuuge let-down.

There was good stuff, tho! The side item we both had was the sweet potato beignets. Those were unusual and fantastic. Loved those!

Even with the oh-so disappointing steaks that not one of us really pointed out yet I was excited for dessert. Before we left home I had contacted the private dining folks at the Yacht & Beach Club to arrange a custom cake be delivered to us at our anniversary dinner. After the custom cake flop from our last trip I was really going out on a limb hoping for better this go around. Thankfully, the cake went much better this time!

Tracey is a very strange person and isn’t really wild about sweets. He actually prefers cake fresh from the oven without icing at all. Weird! I tried to keep the cake flavors very basic with yellow cake & buttercream frosting. The decorations I was very specific about this time. I found an inspiration pic on Flickr then tweeked it. If you look closely at the scroll work on top of the cake there are hearts, and the letters T, K, & S for our initials worked into the design. The single long-stem rose was the key element referencing the enchanted rose from ‘Beauty & the Beast’. It was made of gum paste and was beautiful. I thought the rose petal on the side of the cake was the perfect touch, too. And what’s a cake without a little wish? That’s a white chocolate scroll on top announcing our 18 years together. For taste I think we got better this time around, too. The cake was moist but not too sweet. The flavor was pretty good, not great, but good. The buttercream frosting wasn’t what I make at home but I didn’t expect it to be. This was clarified for me several months previous. Disney does traditional buttercream which is different from the super-sweet American-ized version we get from our Wilton books. Pastry chefs know the difference. The frosting is less over-powering that way. I was very pleased with our cake this time around. And Tracey “got” the theme without me saying a word. We love our ‘lame rose’....long story for another day.... LOL! I was surprised at the price of the cake when the check came. I was sure my email quote for the 10” cake was $65 or $85 but we were only charged $45. We also used our TiW card so $36 was pretty shocking. Unfortunately, the rest of the dinner wasn’t such a great deal for what we got. Our check for the 5 of us AFTER our 20% off food & beverages was still well over $300. The cake was worth what we paid as were the drinks. The rest? Not-so-much. In my notes I took a survey of the 4 guys asking them for a number on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being extremely bad and 10 being extremely good. I took ratings for food & service:

Tracey.....food = 3.....service = 8
Jerry.....food = 5.....service = 9
Chandler.....food = 4.....service = 9
Brian.....food = -7.....service = 10 (he’s not extreme, LOL!)

A few more pics from dinner:

Awwww....

After dinner we returned to the room to change back into our tees and shorts. Thank goodness the lobby was empty when we crossed back through. I was practically sprinting to the elevators hoping nobody wanted to talk to me. LOL!

Juuuust in case you’re wondering, I did get an anniversary present before the trip. For my birthday in June Tracey surprised me with diamond earrings. I suspected he was going to buy more jewelry for our anniversary so I threatened to kill him if he did. The earrings were a huge jewelry present already this year and the trip was what I considered my present. So what did he get me??? Another doll for my collection, of course! LOL!

Actually, this is a very special doll that really meant a lot for me to get. My dad custom ordered this baby for my birthday 11 years ago. The dress & bonnet she’s wearing I bought when my dad took me to Babyland General Hospital in Georgia (the birthplace of the Cabbage Patch Kids) for the very first time in the spring of 2000. Her name is the name I gave her: Kaleigh Anne (Anne is my mother’s middle name). Her birthday is the same as mine. The little bracelet she’s wearing is one I made her 11 years ago. When times got tough for us back in 2001 or so I sold all my dolls so we’d have the money we needed for the family. Since 2006 I’ve been piecing key dolls I had previously sold back into my collection as I found them available for sale from current owners. I thought Kaileigh was lost forever because I lost track of her as did my closest cabbage friends. Then, in August, she appeared! A dear friend found her but didn’t put the pieces together. When I saw her in some pictures I emailed my friend about her and sure enough, it was my birthday baby! I cried! My friend is quite an amazing lady. She wouldn’t tell me what she paid for the doll so I could at least pay her that much. She literally told me, “Send what you want and I’ll mail her to you.” I have no idea if what I paid was enough but she refused to tell me either way. She insisted this doll come back to me. So now little Kaileigh is more than a birthday dolly, she represents the heart of what these dolls mean to collectors, great friends, and my Sweetness who never fails to make all my bestest dreams come true. I couldn’t be more thrilled with my present. Thank you, Baby. Also, some of my cabbage friends read my TRs also so just in case Lisa is reading this, you’re the bestest and I’m forever in your debt.

As the sun was setting we were on our way towards the International Gateway. Pretty pictures on the way:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The Yacht Club was quickly gaining on our ladder o’favorite resorts!

We headed straight to Test Track, not sure why. Took these on the way:

We all hopped into the single-rider line which was walk-on. Brian’s ride pic is quite possibly the funniest I have ever seen:

The boys went on M:S while us old farts opted to shop Mousegear. Feelin’ our age, y’all. M:S and the promise of the ‘woozies’ just doesn’t beat out looking at merch we see in every other shop on WDW property.

No idea why other than it being evening EMH night, we decided to hop a monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. So on the way out Brian humored me with a LaL pic:

I caught up on my notes on the monorail over to the MK. A special thank you shout-out here to Brian for holding the cell phone light light source for me to write in the dark. I love you, Brian! ***smooch***

We arrived at MK just before Wishes.

Family photopass shot!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We made our way through the throngs of people on Main Street to Tomorrowland. We hit up Buzz with a walk-on.

Next we wanted to ride Space Mountain but it was down so we got some ice cream from Auntie Gravities (helloooooo mocha float w/chocolate ice cream) and walked over to Fantasyland. Stopped in to see Donald at the Philharmagic which is always a huge favorite. Next we hit Haunted Mansion then made our way towards Frontierland.

Along the way I took a few pics to entertain myself as we walked.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

The photo app on my iPhone entertains me. I got into taking night time pics then playing with the editing functions to see what I could produce. Often a totally black picture could turn into something interesting with discernible images which, of course, made me all proud of my iPhone craftiness.

OMG! I can’t forget to include this because it totally became an ongoing joke for the rest of the trip!!!! When EMHs started you have to show your room key at the entry to each ride. Brian felt extra special with his gold key card (your room keys are gold when you stay on the club level at the deluxe resorts). So the first time he presented his room key, not sure where exactly now that I think about it, I heard him say something when he showed the card but didn’t hear it. The second time I caught it and nearly died! He would show his gold key card and sing, “I’ve got the Golden Ticket....” like from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie with Gene Wilder in it. Um, noooooo! That sounds so bratty! But it was hilarious at the same time. The 3 of us adults quietly explained why it was not cool to do that which he got and didn’t deliver again at the wrong time. However, for the rest of our vacation anytime we needed a reason to do something the fact that we had ‘The Golden Ticket’ was reason enough and so it was done. Gotta love it!

Next up, Big Thunder fun!

Tracey was in rare form on BTMRR! Oh my! He was screaming like a woman with full-on terror-death screams and holding his arms fully upright with fingers pointed perfectly straight like a board. It was so silly and entertaining. LOL!

Next we moved along to Pirates for some funage. More fun for me with my iPhone pics:

Nope, I didn’t take on-ride pics because the light from my iPhone screen would be disruptive and, after all, we are asked to refrain from taking pics. I’d love to quote you what I wrote in my notes about the other less-considerate people who ride dark rides and feel they are entitled to all the flash photography their little hearts care to take because they spent a lot on their vacations (and, of course, the rest of us haven’t). I can’t quote my notes, though. I might be stricken from WDWMagic’s boards forever for my choice of words.

Next we headed over to the Dole Whip spot. I can never remember the name. It’s right on the tip of my tongue but escapes me every.single.time I try to remember it. It’s the Dole Whip stand. There’s only 1. You know it. Tracey got an orange ice cream and Jerry got a true Dole Whip. I got a pineapple spear because I really love to eat fresh pineapple. It’s one of my favorite treats, actually, especially when it’s sweet and juicy and yummy. So I was handed my lovely pineapple spear but it still had the rind attached to it. It’s like someone whacked up the pineapple into spears, eliminated the core (as they should) but didn’t bother carving the meat from the rind. I’m not picky but there’s a big margin of ease when eating pineapple if you have to press your face in with juice going everywhere to strip it from the rind and if you simply have to bite it on the end. It’s not like I could carry my pairing knife into the park with me and I certainly wasn’t supplied one. So my yummy pineapple spear snack was seriously downgraded by the mess it made trying to eat the thing. Disney, I understand cutting corners and all, but can you please, pleeeeaaase trim the rind from the pineapple spear for me? Please? Okay, done whining about the sticky pineapple experience.

 

[gwhb75]

Saturday 9/10: The next Wilderness Family arrives!

I think I just totally dated myself with that title. I wonder if anyone else will catch the ‘70s nod...

I didn't think anyone else even knew about that movie. I remember watching it when I was a lot younger. Brings back memories.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

It was about 11:15 or so and the bigger boys had an early wake-up for their guided fishing excursion the next morning so Tracey & Jerry headed on back to the resort. On their way out they were stricken with the idea to stop for some Photopass shots. Good thinking! However, you’d have to know the silliness that ensues with my husband and my brother when they’re together. I’ll just let you enjoy these without further explanation.

The boys and I continued on across the hub back to Tomorrowland.

We hit Space Mountain again twice with about a 15-20 minute wait each time. When approaching the split in the queue by the switchbacks there’s the left side and the right side (usually where the fastpass people go). The left side is definitely smoother a ride. The right side will beat you to death. Our two rides were left then right. I have no intention of ever riding that right side again. Ever.

After our 2 SM rides we had a potty break and I got Brian a soda to take some ibuprofen with. His knees were really hurting him after the run on the island the day before and all the walking. He was trying to press on and be a trooper without complaining but I could tell he was seriously hurting.

We walked back to BTMRR and had another ride with just a 10-15 minute wait. Here’s a pic I took along the way of the Liberty Tree lights.

After BTMRR we crossed back over to HM for the last ride of the night. We knew we were in the last stretching room through so we hung back a little so we’d be the last people to ride for the evening. It’s silly and trivial but it’s fun to know nobody else is riding after you that night. We were the last 3 doom buggies. Why we all climbed into our own doom buggies I’ll never know. We just did.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I didn't think anyone else even knew about that movie. I remember watching it when I was a lot younger. Brings back memories.

Oh yes! And we'd go outside and play Wilderness Family all the time! LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We slowly made our way back out of the park and I took pics along the way.

Brian doing his Coke commercial shot for us:

I took these pics of the boys with a clock on Main Street just because us being in the park so late was pretty much a novelty.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Main Street shop windows are so cool!

I’m not sure exactly when in the evening this was taken. It was after the big guys left. I wanted a pic of me and my boys on our late night out together. I love my boys! They’re the bestest!

The wait for the bus ride back to the resort was all of about 10 minutes. Back at the resort with everyone tucked into their beds snoozing away I wrote the last of my notes and and fell off to sleep at about 2:25 a.m. Now THAT is what I call an anniversary to remember!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Monday, 9/19: Fishies! Food! Friends! And hot dates with NO kids!

I set my alarm on my phone for 8:30....aaaaaand woke up at 9:20. LOL! It was a late night for an old bag like me!

Jerry & Tracey had successfully made it to their guided fishing excursion at the Contemporary at 6:55 a.m. God bless ‘em. The entire premise for this excursion for the two of them without the boys was Tracey’s way of righting a wrong he felt he had done with my brother a few years ago. I guess fishing trips are the way boys kiss and make up or something. Boys are so weird. So that purpose was fulfilled and that was a good thing. However, Tracey said compared to the guided fishing excursions he’d been on at WDW in years previous this one was quite slow. The guys only caught 5 fish each. They weren’t too thrilled with their guide, either. For us girls or for guys who don’t bass fish regularly the guide probably would’ve been just ducky. Tracey has his own bass boat. Here, I’ll show off for him:

See? Tracey and my brother aren’t occasional fishermen. They love to fish together because, as Tracey puts it, their styles mesh and they fish well together. Their rhythm, how they approach things, their way of doing things...it all meshes. I can understand this on a girl-level because there are some people I shop well with and others that annoy the crap out of me because they’re either too slow or I feel rushed when shopping with them. This guide annoyed Tracey & Jerry because their rhythm didn’t mesh with the guide’s. I don’t want others to be put off to Disney’s guided excursions because they’re really great. Experienced or particular fisherman might find things that aren’t to their liking so if there’s a particular way those guys like to fish I suppose it’d be helpful to have notes made about that when booking. I’m hoping Jerry will come along and insert his comments on this for y’all. He could probably put it all to words better than me. I don’t do the fishing. It’s not my thing. The guys ended up cancelling the 2nd excursion they had booked for later in the week....something I think, in the end, they both sorta wish they hadn’t done. There’s no such thing as bad fishing for them. Put them in a boat on the water and they’re happy.

Here’s their fishing pics for you courtesy of Tracey’s iPhone:

The big fishy guys returned, the boys got dressed (because apparently they weren’t already), and we headed to our 10:45 a.m. breakfast ADR at Whispering Canyon. We valeted the car (of course) then headed in. I was furiously scrawling out the fishing commentary in my notebook when we got out of the car and one of the rangers outside the front doors saw my little notebook. I guess he thought it was an autograph book because he got excited at the thought of autographing my book. I explained it wasn’t an autograph book but told him he was certainly welcome to scratch his name in it if he wanted to. So here’s Ranger Jack with Brian as he wrote a nice little “Welcome Home” in my notebook.

Our wait after checking-in was very short. Thankfully, I had time to take this super-sweet shot:

Whispering Canyon is so good. I almost hate that it’s becoming so much more well-known. It’s a fun place to go with consistantly good grub. Our waiter insisted Brian participate in the kids horseriding parade around the joint. Brian wasn’t so thrilled and didn’t play along. Booooooo!!!! He ended up pretty much dragging the horsey behind him and sulking around....

I had my usual favorite, the cinnamon raisin french toast. All the guys had the skillet. Tracey and I got an anniversary cupcake! Awwwww....

After breakfast / brunch we went back to the Yacht Club for yet another nap. Yes, I know it’s like we juuuuust got up but the old guys had been up since early and the boys and I were out late then up before we wanted to get up. The nap was nice and needed if we were going to stay the distance tonight. There were hot dates on the agenda. Old people must plan for this! LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We woke up at about 2:30 p.m. and headed to Downtown Disney. We hit up the Christmas shop for our usual personalized ornaments. We did some other shopping including a visit to the Lego store. We love Legos. Tracey has a couple big-boy sets of his own that he’s enjoyed puting together with the boys: he Wright Flyer and the Boeing 777 Dreamliner. He showed me some ideas for Christmas. No comment on what I was able to get him because when this report goes up he’ll likely read it but there’s something in these pictures that will be under the Christmas tree for him!

Did you know that the Maersk blue bricks in the Maersk sets was a special color that Lego made and only sells as part of the Maersk sets? Cool stuff!

Here’s some neato Star Wars sets we wanted Tracey’s baby brother, the biggest Star Wars geek of the family, to see.

I know, I’m like a Lego commercial. Sorry. I loved my Legos as a child and so have my boys. We all carry that love with us. And I love toys. Period. See? Lovin’ the toooooys:

The guys debate the cool factor of different sets:

After the Lego store we split up. Jerry made a special ADR for him and the boys while Tracey & I had our own special dinner ADR to get to. We were meeting WDWMagic’s very own Newfiefan & her hubby for dinner at Raglan Road. We’d never eaten there before and Newfie and I have become pretty good off-board friends. Soooo, Tracey & I got over to RR a little early. At first we were going to wait outside....

...but it was hot and I was meeeeeelting because I’m sweet and made of sugar. LOL! Okay, not really, but it sounded good. It was really hot outside so we opted to go meander the shop a bit. As if you can’t tell, I’m of Irish decent. On my dad’s paternal side I’m only 2nd generation American-born. I have red hair, freckles, paper-white skin (when I don’t tan regularly at the tanning bed), and my maiden name is O’Brien. Yeah, a tad Irish. In the shop Tracey bought me a sweet silver cladaugh ring which the shop girl who took it out of the case instructed me to wear facing towards my hand and not away facing out towards my finger tips to signify that I am a spoken-for woman. Cool! We also bought a family crest and name history thing for my dad’s Christmas gift that I still need to go grab a frame for. He’ll love it.

Newfie & her hubby arrived just after we were done making our purchases so it all worked out great. I know it’s weird not to just type their names but I never like to assume that other people are ducky with their names printed with their faces on the internet so we’ll just have Newfie & Mr. Newfie.

When we first planned the dinner with another couple Tracey was full of questions like “What does her husband do?” and the like because, get this!, he was sorta concerned that it’d be awkward or we wouldn’t have anything in common. That’s funny! Tracey doesn’t meet strangers! He’s so outgoing and friendly. I’ve never seen him not be able to find conversation with anybody. Newfie and her mister are fellow Disney-geeks. We have tons to talk about if nothing else plays out. Duh! When I told Tracey Mr. Newfie is a physician he was like, “Oooooh”, and his concern deepened because we aren’t exactly highly ed-yoo-mah-cated folks on paper. Intelligent? Sure. Fun? I think so. Did we finish college? Nope. It’s a little bit scary to think you’re going to have to carry on conversation with a better-than-average educated person you don’t know for a minimum of an hour. Mr. Newfie wasn’t the first physician we had met outside of our experience as patients and those experiences were a little on the not-good side because those people weren’t so interested in conversing with sub-educational-completion subjects such as ourselves. Still, I had high hopes. Newfie and I were great friends. She’s never come across as the snooty sort to me and I couldn’t picture her tolerating anyone who was much less marrying that type of person. Right? So Tracey was nervous and I was nervous a little for him but excited to hang out with my friend after the years of message and email swapping. ((I bet Newfie & Mr. Newfie are totally reading this right now just roaring with laughter!))

We sat down, ordered drinks, and one of the highlights of our entire trip unfolded before us. Conversation started a little slow just because we were all sorta new to each other but that lasted all of about a minute. The rest of the night was awesome! We talked a little about Disney and Disney-freak subject matter but the majority of our conversation was life, kids, a little politics, etc. etc. It’s quite apparent that if we lived closer to one another we’d all be the best of friends. Seriously. These are our kind of people! Down to earth and fun! You just can’t ask for any better. For us it was like finding old friends we’d always had. As if the conversation and new friendships forged weren’t enough, Raglan Road’s food is stinkin’ awesome! **sigh** How refreshing an experience for me! I’m finding myself more and more aggravated at overpriced plated “meh” at WDW’s restaurants. Bring me something that makes me want to pay you those prices. Please! The food was fantastic! I had a burger...a BURGER....and it knocked my socks off!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I had a beer flight, too. I love beer. I won’t say I’m the most experienced beer connoiseur by a long shot but I love beer. When looking at the overwhelming list of brews to choose from I was a bit clueless. When ordering I just gave a brief explanation of what I generally like in my favorite beers and went with the recommendations of the server. Good thinking. Each brew I sampled was totally fantastic for different reasons and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Of course, when planning an ADR with a fellow WDWMagicer we both had grand plans of taking pictures for posterity for both our trip reports. Well, that didn’t exactly happen. We were enjoying the conversation entirely too much to interrupt with pictures. Here’s our only people shot of the 4 or us. Not the best picture by a long shot but who cares? The sad part is if it wasn’t for Newfie I wouldn’t even have this picture! The only one I took was my burger. LOL!

At some point early in our dinner Newfie &/or Mr. Newfie asked what the boys were off doing while we were escaping their presence. Knucle Jerry was handling that. Not that my boys aren’t old enough to go do their own thing sans adults. They know their way around and can handle themselves just fine. But they had Knucle Jerry to go run and be a kid with them so it was extra special for them. The plan was for all of us to have our separate dinners then meet back up at DHS for night time EMH. So here’s the pics I found on Chandler’s camera to sorta tell you some of what they did when not with us.

They passed by T-Rex. Jerry had seriously debated between T-Rex and the ADR he ended up making. I recommended T-Rex over the other place because it would cost him a lot less in the end. I know my kids. Chandler has expensive taste. Here’s T-Rex but they didn’t eat here:

Nope. My brother chose to take the boys here instead:

I’ve got a quote for this pic:

“Uncle Jerry, you really should let me go ahead and order 2 more clusters of crab because I’m a growing boy and need my nourishment. Is the money not worth seeing me grow big and strong??? Like you???”

LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Okay, so I will admit when I saw these next couple pics I had the same first reaction I’m sure the rest of you will:

?!?!?!!!!!!! He gave a kid a beer?!?! But then I caught myself. No, Uncle Jerry is not a complete schmuck who contributes to the delinquency of minors, particularly someone else’s kids. I trust my brother and I trust my kids. If I didn’t my boys wouldn’t be off in the woods with him as I type this shooting guns for fun. Also, if you look in the 2nd picture you’ll see Chandler’s cherry Coke parked on the table in front of him. That’s Uncle Jerry’s beverage that Chandler used to “toast” his brother with. Brian is an IBC soda fan. LOL! I told Jerry he’d come out spending less if he took them to T-Rex. You don’t get refills on IBC!

The food looked pretty good:

My bet is this is Brian’s plate because: A.) he loves ribs, and B.) Jerry & Chandler love seafood waaaaaay too much to go to Fultons and order ribs. The IBC bottle placement is only further proof.

And that’s all the pics for tonight. Feel free to skip forward if you want to. LOL!

Newfie, Mr. Newfie, Tracey, & I ended up stretching after-dinner drinks out a little. Well, for more 5 hours until after 11:00. LOL! I’m tellin’ ya, it was great grown-up fun! It was late and they needed to get back to their resort. I totally wouldn’t dream of our new friends waiting for bus back to Kidani. We’ve stayed over at AKL before and our car was right there at Downtown Disney. We gave them a ride right to their front door which was the very least we could do after Mr. Newfie so generously settled the check at Raglan Road before we could get so much as peek at it. Thanks, Mr. Newfie and Newfie! Y’all are too dang sweet! And an extra-special thanks for one of the highlights of our trip! Good food & excellent company is bliss for us. We thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait until we can meet up again!

Obviously after dropping off our new friends at Kidani there wasn’t any time to go to evening EMHs at DHS. We headed back to the Yacht Club to get ready for bed. We hadn’t heard much of anything from the boys. I think I might’ve gotten a text from Brian just making sure we were okay (that’s funny!) but they all made it a point to let us have a date night. Jerry or one of the boys can come fill you in on what all they did. They told me but I didn’t write it down and don’t remember so it’d have to come from one of them. LOL!

Tracey & I were in bed and going to sleep at about 1 a.m. I barely heard Jerry & the boys come in. I have no idea what time they got back. I slept like a rock!

And, can you believe it, Tracey and I never set foot in a park all day and still had the best time ever!