Trip Report It's Not 'Whoop-de-do", it's "Whoop-de WHOOO"! October 2013 Disneymoon

myhappyplace · Nov 10, 2013

Thursday, October 24th--My Birthday!!
I originally planned on being in the Magic Kingdom on my birthday (and we did get there), but we decided another partial day at DHS would be in order.

Sun coming up picture, again! Man I didn't realize how many of these I apparently took, but I must've been inspired each morning when I went out on the balcony to spray on my sunscreen. But you can't get tired of seeing that view!

I had meant to take this picture earlier-but I apparently remembered this morning...it's Thumper on the pillows!:

I went down as DH was getting ready to get my birthday button! I also took some more pictures of the lobby, cause who can resist the WL lobby?!

I was trying out various settings on my camera

Then DH met me in the lobby and we headed to the bus, next stop DHS!! (well honestly we probably had to pick up at GF first). We had planned the previous day to meet inside the gates right at park opening, and we made it! Bobbie, Ryan, Bennett and Aunt Sal had headed right back toward TSM as they entered, as I told them too, and DH and I passed Mom and Dad as we were doing the same...she said that they were going to take their time getting back there, and we would all convene outside the ride.

So DH and I got in line for TSM. The scoring wasn't working for a portion, so we're not sure how accurate the final scores were, but I won. DH insists his machine wasn't working right

I always enjoy TSM.

I felt compelled to do my best "I'm packing your scary eyes" imitation ala Mrs. Potato Head

Look, all smiles!!
Bobbie and DH in the foreground, Mom followed by Dad in their scooters behind)

myhappyplace · Nov 10, 2013

Ryan and Aunt Sal had gone on ahead to RnRC when they got off TSM, so the rest of us headed in that direction, DH and I wanting to ride Tower of Terror (which had a 20 minute wait, but was really only 10).

Awesome ride as always! As we were exiting through the gift shop, I remembered that once upon a time, they had LOST stuff in this shop...I knew they wouldn't still have it, but DH and I actually met on a LOST forum, so it was worth a chance. No luck.

So, all reunited again, we headed over toward Star Tours-Ryan and Bobbie had not ridden it yet.
DH and Ryan:

When we got in the area, I could hear that Jedi Training Academy was starting, and Ryan got uber excited. So he, Bennett and Zac watched for a bit

DH decided to sit it out...or rather, he decided that he wanted to try some food that we passed on the walk over from Sunset Blvd. So the riders were Bobbie, Ryan, Zac, me and Bennett. They measured Bennett and he was so proud to be tall enough! While in line, I texted DH and mentioned that I had forgotten that one of my goals today was to get a Butterfinger cupcake at the Writer's Stop. Well, my sweet husband offered to go get it for me and have it waiting! I married a winner folks!!

Bobbie is prone to migraines and can't handle certain motion such as going backwards. I tried to warn her of the simulation motion of the ride, but she thought she'd be fine. Yeah, well for the first time in 3 rides on Star Tours, we got a sequence where we go backwards, right off the bat (Darth Vader). So immediately she had to shut her eyes and do her breathing...she was not good. I felt so bad! Bennett on the other hand, sat there like he had ridden it a dozen times, like a pro! Ryan absolutely LOVED it. He is a HUGE Star Wars fan, so he was in heaven. I kept hearing him exclaim things like "whoa!" and "Awesome!", etc.

Afterwards, I rushed Bobbie straight out to where my parents were sitting; she was already starting to feel better but I figured she needed to be out in the fresh air (it was much cooler this morning). Ryan was in his glory in the shop.

myhappyplace · Nov 10, 2013

Aunt Sal, Mom, and Dad had gotten 2 tables at the Backlot Express. Mom was starting to get an appetite, and so wanted to wait until it opened. So we just hung out there, watching the Jedi Academy training. Ryan came out of the Star Wars shop with a few purchases

DH came back with this goodness for me:

I found this to be absolutely DELICIOUS!! The frosting was very good, and I was very happy with this cupcake, as I had heard so much about it.

This is what had caught DH's eye:

He used a counter service meal credit for it, so it came with a dessert, so he got a frozen lemonade, which he didn't really want, but figured one of our party would want it. Guess who?

As we were sitting there, waiting for the Backlot Express to open, Ryan suddenly said "I'll be right back" and zoomed off. We had no clue where to, until Bobbie said "I bet he's gone back into the Star Wars shop". And sure enough, a little later, he came back out with another bag...which contained:

Yes, he bought the robe. And got huffy when Bobbie modeled it, semi-teasing him about it. LOL.

Finally the Backlot Express opened, so DH, Zac and I saved the tables while the rest went to order their lunch. Zac wanted to walk over to where the back of the Indy show was, so I followed him...sure enough, he saw Indy waiting behind the scene for his cue.

When everyone came out with their food, DH and I took Zac to go do the Backlot Tour which he'd been asking to do. As we walked, I noticed this in the Muppet area for the first time ever. Huh.

Zac LOVES the water tank segment, and I think DH enjoyed it too-we had some very good actors

Yet again, during the ride-through portion, Zac asked to have control of the camera, so I said sure. He took pictures of EVERYTHING. I am talking random CMs, the back of LMA, everything. I'm just gonna post the ones of substance, but as for Zac, I would love it if he got into photography!

When we drove by LMA, the drivers were apparently practicing? Or maybe just putting on a show for the tour? Because the LMA show itself wasn't actually happening, so I'm not sure. Anyway, there were drivers peeling this way and that, then they'd stop and wave to us, which Zac thought was awesome.

Didn't know he did this till after

He always gets a bit scared during the Catastrophe Canyon part, but he took a couple pictures after

When we were nearing the end, Zac remembered that the shop we exit through has those little trophies, and said that we should get a picture with me holding "Best Sister" and he should hold "Best Brother" so that is what we did

He begged like CRAZY to get this for Dad, but I said no, we would just take a picture and show him. That seemed to appease him, and as soon as we caught back up with them, he had me show Dad.

myhappyplace · Nov 10, 2013

We found Mom and Dad...Bobbie, Ryan, Bennett and Aunt Sal had gone into the Muppet show. We visited the Christmas store while we waited...DH had his eye on some of the resin ear ornaments, and actually picked up 3 of them: Monsters Inc, Star Wars and I think Snow White. And he also got a Snow White figurine.

While we took these, we talked about the fact that that very day, I was seeing reports of snow falling in Pennsylvania on facebook, and here my family were in Florida, posing in fake snow.

We decided that after a great morning and early afternoon, we would head over to MK at this point. Ryan wanted to pass Star Tours again to do this:

Annnd we got some of these too:

As we walked out, Mom was feeling very cold. She had been cold at times, even on those very hot days earlier in the week too--effects of chemo. But it was chillier today (I mean, we're still in the 70s but yeah that's colder than 90). So she stopped in a shop and got herself a very nice fur-lined hoody. DH tried on hats-I think he looks very debonair.

We saw these guys on the way out-last trip, they were the highlight of DHS for my Mom. There was one guy who made her cry from laughing so hard. That same guy wasn't there, but they were worth a watch for a few minutes

[I forgot to mention that Mom and Dad did have a good experience with Streetmosphere/Citizens of Hollywood characters on the first DHS day. Officer Peabody tried to give my Dad a ticket because he saw Dad bump into Mom's scooter with his, when she stopped suddenly. A female character (I wasn't there so I don't know who) told Mom to show the Officer a little leg to get him out of the ticket, and she did, but he still got the ticket a souvenier.]

We got our pictures taken in front of the Monsters University area before leaving

We got a magic shot with Mike Wazowski, which is on the PP...I'll post it later.

myhappyplace · Nov 10, 2013

Over to Magic Kingdom we went, though DH decided to go back to the resort and rest...we would meet him at 7 for my birthday dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe.

As I was going through the bag check, the guy who was checking the bags was telling a girl that on the non-arrow end of the minute hand of the clock on the Main Street station is a Hidden Mickey...see it?

We were on a mission to a) go to Tom Sawyer's Island (Zac loves it and we knew Bennett would too), and b) find a place where Mom could plug in her ECV, it was definitely losing juice...Ryan had to push it some.

Pictures down Main Street:

We realized we were heading through Frontierland at the worst possible time, as people were lining up for the parade. We simultaneously maneuvered through the crowd, while looking for an outlet...no luck. So we headed toward the Tom Sawyer ferry, and I found a plug near the smoking area, but didn't really want Mom to sit there. Several CMs couldn't specifically point out where an outlet might be, until finally one told us to head back near Country Bear Jamboree, which we did. Mom and Dad waited there, while Bobbie, Ryan, Bennett, me, Zac and Aunt Sal made our way over to Tom Sawyer Island.

Pictures of the Liberty Belle as we loaded onto the ferry-these were taken by Ryan:

Onto the Island! Aunt Sal found her a nice shady spot, and the rest of us set off to explore, the ultimate goal being the Fort.

You can still see some of Bennett's make up around his eyes from his Pirate makeover the day before.

We could see the parade from the Island:

OK, I have to upload some new pictures, and I need to find a new site on which to do that, my photobucket's full. More in a bit!

Tigger19 · Nov 11, 2013

Really enjoying your trip report so far! You and your husband are such a cute couple and I love how the rest of your family were there with you both

myhappyplace · Nov 11, 2013

Tigger19 said:
Really enjoying your trip report so far! You and your husband are such a cute couple and I love how the rest of your family were there with you both

Yay, thank you!! Thanks, I like to think so-so sweet of you to say! It was a wonderful trip

myhappyplace · Nov 12, 2013

So, we were last seen on Tom Sawyer's Island, where we had a bit of a view of the parade going by in Frontierland

After much exploring, my memory came back to me, and I knew how to get to the Fort, much to the boys' happiness. I love the views of BTMRR from there, and the boys love the guns up in the lofts.

Nice little secluded spot

Ryan had fun exploring too

With that, we headed back across the Rivers of America, and reunited with the parents.

Our trip to TSI and finding Mom an outlet took longer than expected, but TSI was our main goal for the boys this afternoon, so it was time to head out of the park to go to my resort for dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe.

On the way out (they were playing "When You Wish Upon a Star")

myhappyplace · Nov 12, 2013

So, everybody (Sister 1's family, Sister 2's family, Mom's family, and DH-he met us in the lobby, and I) gathered in the lobby to wait for the restaurant to open and begin its seating. Many of my family were very tired, and already not looking forward to their early wake-up call in the morning...Mom's family and Sister 1's family had a flight to catch tomorrow

But tonight was for celebrating! It was not very long at all, and we were seated.

Some around the table shots:

My favorite brother and I

Yes, that's my mother in the back, fuzzy lined sweatshirt on, cupping a mug of hot tea-she was freezing.

Our waitress seemed somewhat frazzled, though I know it can be hard to keep track of a table of...9 adults and 4 children! Aunt Sal got the big jar when she asked for a refill of water. She got SUCH a kick out of this!!!

The food was so-so, but we enjoyed the environment. We got to see several calls for ketchup, and the pony race. I think 5 of us got the platter-ribs, chicken and beef.

What gave Aunt Sal even MORE enjoyment, was when Duane (sister 2's hubby) asked for a refill of soda and got this:

The waitress brought out my dessert with a candle in it, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me...I'm trying to see if anyone got a picture of it. Ya know cause I'm apparently the only one who can take pictures, even of my own birthday!

While we waited for the waitress to figure out all of the dining plans/how to divide the bills, Chrissy and Duane wanted to get their boys going back to the resort and to bed (they still had one more day, like us, but the boys were tired). Mom told them to go ahead, as she'd ended up with extra meals on her plan because of all of the times that Zac didn't join them for meals this past week. So off they went. It wasn't until our waitress pointed out that because Mom didn't have any childrens' meals on her plan, that she would now have to pay OOP for them. No big. But that still left her with some extra meals, so she covered mine and DH's, which left US with extras, but at least we had another day and morning to use them...would we? You'll have to see!

Our waitress got a little more frazzled because she couldn't figure out why I was crying, on my birthday, she thought something was wrong. We had to explain it was because it was time to say goodbye to my family.

With that, we sadly walked Mom, Dad, Aunt Sal, Zac, Bobbie, Ryan and Bennett to the bus stop. (they figured the boat ride would be too cold for Mom)...it was so hard to say goodbye

I think what made it worse is I got to see them 4 times this year, what with wedding planning, and the wedding, and now this trip, and I don't know when the next time I'll see them is. We had been anticipating this trip for so long, and now it was over for them, and it was just bittersweet. But we did all of the hugging and put them on the bus and walked back to our room. We still had a day and then some to look forward to, so that was something.

myhappyplace · Nov 12, 2013

Friday, October 25th
Up and at 'em early today! We had a 7:55am ADR at Kona Cafe-I was finally going to get to try Tonga Toast for the first time!!

We got down to the dock, and it was still dark. Sun just coming up, it was beautiful!

DH said he closed his eyes in this on purpose, because he was still asleep.

We got off at the Contemporary

DH was fascinated by topiaries this week

Monorail toes, @Disneyfalcon !!

Polynesian, we were here!

Disneyfalcon · Nov 12, 2013

Monorail Toeses!! I need to catch up!!!

myhappyplace · Nov 13, 2013

Wow, lots of trip reports going on, mine was on the second page!!

Continuing on with our Kona breakfast, on our last full day...

Annnnd DUN DUN DA DUUUUUUUN!!! There it is in all its glory, Tonga Toast!! Can I just say it was the best thing I think I've ever had. Or top 5 at least. The strawberry compote was divine!

DH had the Big Kahuna

Our server wasn't the greatest, but a great meal all around! I liked Tonga Toast so much so that I think I will be requiring a breakfast here each trip from now on!

Then it was off to Magic Kingdom-I had decided that I hadn't gotten enough character M&Gs. We had no particular plans, other than 1)meeting up with Sister 2s family at some point, and 2)meeting Gaston.

We wandered into the confectionary:

Yep, another one!

I was sad to discover that there were no more gossiping ladies on the phone in the Chapeau

We asked over near the Chapeau what time Mary Poppins would be arriving, and the CM told us soon, so we formed the line for her, since there was no one else in the area. I had DH take a picture of me so I could see what my hair looked like

Meeting Mary:

myhappyplace · Nov 13, 2013

So, as I always do on my trips to MK, we headed toward Adventureland:

DH seeing what was on the menu at Sunshine Terrace...it wasn't open yet though.

We looked around the cart near PoC that had the Arribas Brothers items, isn't this beautiful? Not $1400 beautiful, but still...

I was looking for a Mickey head key necklace, but didn't find what I was after. We made our way to NFL next, and into the line for Gaston!! It only took about 10 minutes, if that. Gaston saw our buttons, and sort of "huh'ed" very haughtily. He said "Congratulations, is this the guy?" sort of in an eye-rolly way. I said that it was, and DH put up his dukes in case he needed to fight...but Gaston then said "well, he isn't so bad". The pictures are on the Photopass, I will add them shortly!

Then we headed into Gaston's Tavern for a Lefou's Brew...we really enjoyed it! I know it gets mixed reviews, but it was very refreshing. Also loved the details in here!

myhappyplace · Nov 13, 2013

Yay, all of my Photopass pictures were finally found and added to my account, dvd is ordered!!

myhappyplace · Nov 14, 2013

Still chugging along...

So, after NFL, we walked over toward Circusland...on the way I texted Sister 2's family and told her where we were...turns out they were just getting off of the Tomorrowland Speedway, so walked over and met us near Dumbo.

Nephews Corbin and Devin (Devin hadn't put down the light saber for DAYS)

Love the touch of peanuts in the pavement

We chatted for a few, then we watched my younger nephew, Corbin, while Chrissy, Duane and 3 year old Devin rode Dumbo. We saw some clowns come out, so I let Corbin toddle over to them...they were so good with him. Corbin is into pointing and saying "ooo! Dat?" etc, so the clown played along.

So after they were done, we hung out a bit there, then said our goodbyes, as they would be leaving the following morning as well, and this would be the last I'd see them this trip.

At this point we were just wandering aimlessly, not in a bad way, just in a taking in the MK goodness way, and we found ourselves near a short line for Alice and the White Rabbit, so we hopped online.

The White Rabbit kissed my hand

We had an ADR at Teppan Edo at 3pm, so we decided to head back to the resort to rest up for a bit before heading to Epcot. Some pictures on the way out

myhappyplace · Nov 14, 2013

We saw a man, woman and child-the man was taking a picture of the woman and child, so we offered to take their picture together. So he offered to take ours in return. Why guys get down on one knee to take a picture is beyond me...they obviously do not know about good angles for a picture, and from below is very unflattering. Thankfully his wife told him to take a normal one too, and that one I like.

Back at the WL

myhappyplace · Nov 16, 2013

So after a rest at WL, and probably longer than we should have stayed...we headed back out via bus (we never did ride the Monorail to Epcot, now that I think of it

) to Epcot. We were late enough that we knew we'd have to just book it straight back to Japan. So we did, and made it. I had never eaten at Teppan Edo, nor any other place like it. So it was all new to me! Everyone was so kind and sweet, and DH being a former martial arts person, bowed correctly, which the girls were very impressed with.

We had a chef who was Earning Her Ears, so she wasn't quite as flashy as I understand chefs can be, but she was sweet and we really enjoyed it all. We were seated with a mom and her two small boys, and a family of a dad, mom and son who looked to be around 8 or so. The latter had just been there a few days earlier with the same chef-the son had requested it again because he couldn't get enough of the shrimp! They were very nice to talk to, and the woman would later help me figure out chopsticks (I've never been able to do them).

I got the steak and chicken, and DH got the swordfish. I took lots of pictures because I was so fascinated.

Hidden Mickey with the oil

I don't know if she was supposed to sort of get everything finished at around the same time or not, but that didn't really happen...some people got their food well before ours, and even my chicken was given to me well before my steak. Regardless, we really liked our food and the whole experience and would definitely eat here again!

For dessert, I ordered the cake and DH ordered the green tea cheesecake. When my cake came out, it looked like this:

so I assumed they knew about my birthday yesterday..so I said "how did you guys know?" and they said "congratulations on your marriage!". Oops...so then the server felt compelled to go get me a birthday hat, and have everyone sing to me (honestly she seemed super excited to do this!!), when all I really meant is that I couldn't figure out how they knew about my birthday the day before.

DH's dessert, which was yummy and I liked it better than the cake, but DH is such a good sharer

Heading outside, the drummers were playing across the way

myhappyplace · Nov 16, 2013

And Serveur Amusant (or however you spell it) was performing in France. They were mid-show, so had a HUGE crowd around them (this is now around 4 on a Friday at F&W so crowds were picking up), so we only stood to watch it for a bit. I've seen it before, and like it-think it's amazing! I kind of wanted DH to see the tricks, but it was very crowded so we moved on.

So as we passed Great Britain, this happened. I took a step, and my shoe broke-my favorite shoes!

I couldn't even keep it on my foot to walk somewhere to buy some shoes and I knew I'd never make it to Mouse Gears. So I walked with one barefoot back to Great Britain to see if they had flip flops. They didn't but suggested the International Gateway, and there we found these, which did just fine. Unexpected purchase for sure, but they did the trick:

Well then I HAD to see Off Kilter!! Love them!

So long, Epcot for this trip! I enjoyed you very much!

Where were we headed, you ask? Why, Animal Kingdom for evening hours!

myhappyplace · Nov 16, 2013

The photopass came today! This will be the last little segment of the trip report, and then I will just add the photopass photos at the end.

So, I had never been to AK this late, and even though we'd only have an hour or hour and a half, we decided to go. We were one of two parties heading to AK from Epcot. We also had decided on the way over that tonight would be the first night I'd ever try Kali River Rapids-had never done it before. So our first order was to head to Asia:

We enjoyed taking in the sights

We stored our stuff in the free lockers, so I don't have any pictures of our Kali ride. It was a walk-on. We were with a VERY enthusiastic family...a Dad and I think about 4 kids, who loved telling us what would happen next. They were REALLY REALLY excited and talked a LOT (did I mention the words 'really' and 'a lot'??) I kinda wished they would stop telling us what would happen, as I had never ridden it, but I guess you know you're going to get wet, and we did. But it felt good! So then, because there was so little wait, if you wanted to ride it again, you just had to exit your raft, walk up the path to a certain point, and go back around to the queue, so we did just that-rode again. Turns out the family was doing the same (and actually had been doing for 3 or 4 rides) so I sort of held DH back until we would be on a different raft. When the kids saw us in a different raft, they said "oh no! We wanted you in here!"...darn

They were really sweet, but one ride was plenty

So after 2 rides down on Kali, we stood on the bridge and squirted some rafts, then got our stuff from the locker. We were a bit hungry, but Yak and Yeti counter service was closed.

Dug and Russel were meeting, so we got in line.

DH had fun telling Dug that we saw a squirrel, so Dug started looking for it. He also "licked" us.

Next up, It's Tough to Be a Bug! Always enjoyable.

With that, the park was closing, so we meandered out, though we did stop to get a Mickey's Premium.

And, these are the last pictures I took with my camera

myhappyplace · Nov 16, 2013

We went to Roaring Fork at our resort for dinner-no food pics this time. DH got the pepperoni flatbread, and I cannot for the life of me remember what I got. But anyway, we took it back to our room, and packed up our stuff.

Saturday, October 26th-Departure Day

We decided to head over to MK to say goodbye, and take care of a few last things. So we stored our luggage with luggage services, and took one last boat ride over. One being getting our bride and groom mouse ears personalized. Which we did. We also needed to get in the (way long, way understaffed!) Photopass line, because some of our photos were missing from our Photopass. I should have just waited until I got home, because I needed to work with Photopass this week to add others anyway. I heard many people in line complain about all of the available counters, some CMs seemingly standing around who could have seemingly been helping people. Some people were just there to pick up their pre-ordered Photopass +, but ended up having to wait a good 30 minutes to do it! They probably should have a separate line for that, though.

Once the mouse ears were personalized (which was by the time we got out of the PP line), we sought out the PP photographer that is stationed near Casey's, on the path that goes past the Crystal Palace. We had some photos earlier in the week with that location, and liked it. I had some ideas for our Christmas card, us wearing our bride and groom ears looking at the castle, so we had those done.

After, that we headed out because we wanted to be on the road by noon. We stopped and got a popcorn as our last Snack Credit on the way out. *sniffle*

We still had 2 Table Service and 3 Counter Service Meals left, so I used on CS to get an omelet when we got back to WL (they were serving breakfast for about 10 more minutes). Right when it switched over to Lunch, we got two Black and Bleu sandwiches to go, for the ride back. Then, DH wanted to take a chance, and ask at WCC if we could order 2 meals to go, and have them use our TS credits. It worked!! We ordered a quesadilla (Ryan had raved about it) and the turkey sandwich (which Aunt Sal raved about). [Both ended up being delicious] We got chocolate cake and apple pie for desserts. We ended up having a little picnic right before the Fla/GA line at a rest stop

On the way home, we stopped at a gas station, and that's where DH announced the Magic was gone! That's right, the bathroom was filthy

We also felt wierd not using our Magic Bands for purchases. We picked up our kitties and headed sadly home.

So that's our Disneymoon!! A wonderful, dreamy, Magical time!!! Big thank you to @Disneyfalcon for all of your help! Coming up, some final PP pictures. I hope everyone enjoyed reading-I enjoyed having a written account of our trip.

Trip Report It's Not 'Whoop-de-do", it's "Whoop-de WHOOO"! October 2013 Disneymoon

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