Our Child-Free Migration Vacation...Plus the Princess Half Marathon! 2/20-2/27

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 3: EPCOT: "...and WELCOME to the 21st Century!!"

Also in Mexico, we grabbed a small plush Donald Duck all decked out in Mexican garb. This has a story behind it but I'll try to be brief with it. Our youngest son, Aaron, begged and begged for this plush on our last trip to WDW, back in October 2009. We were at EPCOT on our last day and we stayed all the way until closing and watched Illuminations, the whole nine yards. Needless to say we were all exhausted, but the kids moreso than Ben and I. Well as we were riding the monorail back to the TTC, somehow Aaron left his precious Donald on the monorail and then noticed when we were back in the car. What a devastating thing for this little boy! It's like when a little kid gets a balloon and looses their grip then watches it float up into the sky, heartbroken. This was the situation. Ben and I still remember vividly our little boy saying over and over(with an Alabama accent), "I am so, so sa-yad." I called all over Disney property as I had remembered the monorail color and everything. We've had two other instances where something was lost and they always magically have it at Lost and Found. No luck with this situation. He eventually forgot about it a year later, but Ben vowed to get a Donald Duck the next time we visited. So it was special to get the Duck back

I haven't witnessed the joyful reunion yet, because the Duck stayed with Ben while he is in Mobile for a short training session. He'll be home this weekend, and I can't wait to see Aaron's face! Apparently Ben briefed him on getting him back a special toy he'd left on the monorail and Aaron has been talking about it a lot.

On our way out, Ben was so sweet and ran over to get a spot in line for Mexican Donald Duck(it seems to be a tradition of sorts-we meet him every single visit to EPCOT!) Unfortunately, he was headed out for his break.

After this non-meeting, we made our way over to Maelstrom to use our FPs. Funny ride as always! Ben loves it.

We'd finished our margarita prior to our Gran Fiesta Ride, and Ben wanted to share another so we got the rainbow one this time. I wasn't sure...I didn't want to be hammered while at EPCOT and not remember the fun we had there!! But I have to admit, it was the ticket on that hot day!

Next we headed back to Future World to see if we could score FPs to either Mission:Space or Test Track

Test Track's FP machines were down, and it was a rediculous 70 minute wait, 20 for single riders. I mentioned the single rider line to Ben, but he didn't want to go that route and not be able to ride together. Also, he didn't think it was worth waiting 20 minutes for anyway...I wish they could fix the annoying quirks of this ride that make it such a headache for guests most days...

Instead we decided to go on a Mission to Mars!! Standby for Green team was only 20 minutes!

We opted for Green team. Ben started to explain G forces to me...I have to admit I was feeling the margaritas, but not too bad. Just enough to be a little silly.

Ben will become a Aircraft Commander once he finishes the requirements. Don't you just love the guy in the background of our picture? I didn't see this until way after we'd returned home from our trip. The whole rest of the trip I tried to grab opportunities to do the same. I think it's great!

Next we walked around Future World, trying to decide what we'd like to do next.

sweetpee_1993 · Mar 4, 2011

TakeMeThere81 said:
Hi Kelly! Ok, first I should have been more specific...we've lived both in Mobile and Milton(near Whiting Field). Mobile was a longer tour, like 4 full years, and we lived in Milton for a year for Ben's flight training. Mobile really holds a special place in our heart, Milton, not-so-much. :hurl: (although the kids had a really nice school)

Thanks for the sweet compliments. I work pretty hard, but also have to admit I have some good genes. My family are naturally pretty muscular, and I did not get stretch marks in obvious places (that the swimsuit does not cover). I agree though the right clothes make a difference! I have t-shirts, pants and the like that I buy thinking, "Hey I'm going to love these!" then I see pictures of myself in them and immediately throw them out! I am also my own worst critic, something I'm working on letting go of!! Your husband is so sweet that he tells you those things. Maybe you could go the in-between route and find a pretty tankini that you like and are comfortable in? But honestly, you are NOT too old to rock the bikini either!

Ah. Gotcha. Yeah, I have 3 or 4 cousins who live in Milton. When comparing it to Mobile there's not much to compare. Mobile has a richer historical feel to me. Milton does have good schools from what I hear. Those duty stations dictate a lot, I know. I'm almost envious of the opportunities to live in so many places and have those different experiences. We're not normal. I like to move around vs. staying in 1 place. To me, home is wherever we're together. I'm sure it's that way for y'all, too, to a degree. :animwink:

Yeah, I try to be sensible with dressing myself. Don't wanna look silly or end up in someones ' pics'. LOL! Bathing suits....same nightmare as every other woman in the world....just trying not to hold on to youth so long I end up in that totally re-donk-u-lus category. Sheesh. I favor skirted bottoms nowadays to help camoflauge as much as possible....and the installation of 'the girls' was a sure-fire way to draw the eye upward from the hips & thunder-thighs. Oh yes. There is a strategy to what I do.... :ROFLOL:

sweetpee_1993 · Mar 4, 2011

^^^^
:ROFLOL:

Killer hijack in the M:S pic of Ben! That frickin' rocks! Tracey and my brother are always on the lookout for potential hijacks. There's prob'ly hundreds of people out there with pics of those 2. Love it!!!!

:ROFLOL:

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 3: EPCOT: "...and WELCOME to the 21st Century!!"

Ben wanted to go to "that place where you can try all the Cokes" so we headed over to Club Cool!

But wait!! What?!? And my heart broke a little. :cry:

This was on every machine:

After this we just about went next door to get some ice cream which was sounding soooo good, but instead I remembered our ADR at Le Cellier and decided to wait on it. We headed toward the boats to ride across to World Showcase

Before we headed over to Canada, we had some time to kill, so we watched Impressions de France for the first time. It was a really cool movie! It made me want to travel to this beautiful country full of castles and gardens.

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 3: EPCOT: "...and WELCOME to the 21st Century!!"

Canada and Le Cellier

Yes, I can take a straight picture...

As we checked in for our reservation there was this woman there saying, "Well I made our reservation X weeks ago...I can't believe you can't find it..." then on cue her husband came over and she told him the same story, "They can't find our reservation even though I made it X weeks ago!" I try to see the best in people, but I also know that Disney are not idiots and they run their parks like the military. All I could think was, "Com'on lady...don't you think they know this trick?" You could see it all over her face that she was making it up to try to get a reservation, she was not that good of an actress. (Or maybe she was telling the truth, in which that would really stink! Either way, I am pretty sure they found her a table)

More pictures from around Canada:

HollyBelle · Mar 4, 2011

I'm loving your Epcot day. The two of you definitely did World Showcase right, with all the stops for adult beverages and strolling from country to country. Sooooo relaxing!

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 3: EPCOT: "...and WELCOME to the 21st Century!!"

Le Cellier...and food pictures-yay!

This was my first time dining at Le Cellier. In the past it is our whole family and it seems I can never get a reservation for the 5 of us! Plus I wasn't sure how fancy of a restaurant it was and sometimes it is easier to not chance it with the boys. Now that we've eaten there, I have confidence that they would do ok. I saw lots of kids, and the desserts alone would be worth taking my boys to experience!

I loved the breads! Yes, the most of all I LOVED the pretzel bread! I'm the type of person who always gets a soft pretzel at every football or baseball game we go to. This bread was over the top! (and obviously much better than stadium soft pretzels!)

I ordered off the chef's choices menu(I love the simplicity of this!), and for my appetizer got the mixed field greens with raspberry vinegarette. Ben ordered the cheddar cheese soup because he knew how much I wanted to try it. So we shared.

Ben had the Coffee-Rubbed Kansas City with cream cheese mashed potatoes in leu of the Filet Mignon(since he'd had that the night before at Jiko). He said it was excellent

I'm not a big red-meat girl, I usually choose chicken or fish. So I had the Maple-crusted Salmon with Sweet Creamed Corn, Pickled Mushrooms and Whisky Maple Glaze. It came with Candied Walnuts as a garnish. It was really good! And I loved the seared crust on the salmon. It was sweeter, anchored by the flavor of the candied walnuts.

Mmmm, it was so good! But I learned from the night before and I boxed up about half of it when I got super full. We both had guzzled down water with our meal and for dessert, I ordered a Chocolate Moose to go.

While we were in Le Cellier, we met a nice couple who were there. They wished us Happy Anniversary which sparked a little bit of conversation. We learned that their kids were at the Kids' Club at AKL (Simba club or something) for the second night in a row. I've heard of this before, and it gave me some ideas for the next trip when we bring our kids. Not that I want to get rid of them by any means, but it is nice to be reminded of options where you can take a break from each other (kids and parents) and yet, the kids have a blast! It was interesting to come out of Le Cellier and the sun had pretty much set. Ben was getting tired, but I really wanted to stay for Illuminations, our favorite fireworks show.

Once we'd walked away from Le Cellier, Ben surprised me. He'd asked the waitress to box up some extra pretzel bread for me! Is he awesome or what?!?

We walked back to Test Track for one more chance to ride. The wait was 60 minutes still!! We gave up. Instead we decided to do just one more thing which was to ride Nemo.

We probably should have just found a comfy, great viewing spot in World Showcase to sit and chill until the show started. Ben was getting pretty tired, and I surely have the ability to run a man dog tired! I don't blame him though, he has really flat feet and they start to ache pretty badly after a long day of walking. So after Nemo, we headed back to World Showcase to just chill. The only way Ben was going to last until Illuminations was to just hang out and sit. That was really fine by me, I love the atmosphere in WS

I snapped this on the way back to WS

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

HollyBelle said:
I'm loving your Epcot day. The two of you definitely did World Showcase right, with all the stops for adult beverages and strolling from country to country. Sooooo relaxing!

Thanks! It was really fun! We LOVE sampling all the food from the different countries. I only wish my stomach was bigger!

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 3: EPCOT: "...and WELCOME to the 21st Century!!"

We hung out at the outdoor seating area next to the Rose and Crown. We really need to sample this cute pub! And we decided this outdoor spot was prime for viewing Illuminations! Everything seemed much closer to us and it was nice to have an actual seat and table to hang out. We also met a really nice family from Georgia and chatted a bit.

None of my Illuminations pictures turned out because we weren't right in front, we were behind other people with nowhere to realistically put my little tripod. Oh well, I think it is best to just put the camera away and enjoy the show (which coincidentally always makes me cry as soon as the singing starts)

After Illuminations, we were beat. It was worth staying for though. So we headed back with the rest of the herd to the parking lot. I would really love to be able to hop on a monorail at the end of a day at EPCOT and have it take you right to your resort(after switching monorails of course). Either way I think when you're tired, you're just tired. So we drug ourselves out to the parking lot where we had a really tough time finding our car. Everyone was setting off their car alarms to try to find their car, us included. Once we found our rental car, we realized the battery was dead and we couldn't find the key inserts because VW has these covers over them. Ben spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the rental car company then finally someone came by to help us, another really nice family from Georgia. They saved our butts! And we decided that all families from Georgia must just be awesome :animwink: We didn't get back to our resort until probably 10:30 and hit the rack around 11pm. Thankfully the next day we were headed back to Typhoon Lagoon, which promised to be really relaxing and restful.

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon, Soaking Up the Sun and a Luau!!

This was one of my favorite days of the vacation.

This morning we woke up on our own, and we had 8:30 reservations at Kona Cafe. I love the Polynesian!

Oh my goodness this breakfast was awesome!! We ordered the Pressed Kona Coffee Pot. It was soooo good!! I love a good cup of coffee.

I ordered the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes with a Side of Ham. They were sooo good! I have decided that from now on all pancakes should have macadamia nut and pineapple. I swear these must be how pancakes taste in heaven.

Ben got the Big Kahuna

We had a really nice server. I can't remember his name, but we chatted it up about the Discovery Shuttle Launch happening later in the day. We'd contemplated driving over to Titusville for the launch, but we didn't want to leave WDW and get stuck in crowds. We were right on with this, we saw on TV the crowds were NUTS!!

Overall I loved Kona!! We will definitely go back. The food was so delicious, with unique choices. We didn't even order the POG juice which is surprising, but we were more in the mood for great coffee. The meal didn't cost too much in comparison either, but we would have gladly paid more(maybe I shouldn't say that or Disney will catch on and raise their prices). The only downfall which was really minor, is that because Kona is relatively open, you get the noise from the courtyard and surrounding shops. It wasn't too big of a deal, and I'm sure if you sit further into the restaurant you wouldn't notice as much either.

As we were eating breakfast, Ben had one of his awesome spontaneous moments and suggested we see the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show. So after breakfast we headed to Concierge to see what they could do for us. We purchased tickets for the 8pm luau that night.

Since I had already taken a lot of pictures of TL, I did not bring my camera...on purpose!

I just wanted to have a relaxing day. Here's a rundown on how our day went:

I had a minor wardrobe malfunction in which my bikini bottoms unraveled and so had no waistband elastic. Um...not gonna work. So we swung by Downtown Disney so I could try to find at least a new pair of bottoms. There wasn't swimwear anywhere! I did find a few at Team Mickey, but none in my size.

However, I did snag one of my favorite purchases of the week, this awesome Turkey Leg shirt for Ben! He loves it!

I had no luck with finding swimwear at DtD. Bummer. I knew there were tons at TL though.

~Arrived at TL just after 10am
~Browsed and grabbed a pair of black bottoms with a white Mickey on back. I'm so glad I was "forced" to buy these-they're so cute! I should have just bought the top too.
~Grabbed our same favorite spot near the wave pool
~Headed to the Wave Pool and did some swimming
~Hit up Humunga Cowabunga twice. So fun! But beats on different places of the body when you hit the water at the bottom.
~Next we hit up the Storm Slides
~The crowds were so low, we did Crush n Gusher twice, completing our quest to ride all three slides
~We did a relaxing loop on Castaway Creek
~After this we were ready to just chill, and we spent about an hour just sunbathing
~It was around 12:15 and past our no-alcohol-before-noon rule so I went over and got a yummy Piña Colada. The bartender was so nice, he gave me a drink and a half, so I could share with Ben. It was sooooo good!
~The weather was perfect...80s and light breeze.
~After we'd baked a bit, we headed back to Castaway Creek and did 2 loops
~We hopped off and hit up Gangplank Falls, Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls. These are all mellow but such great fun!
~Next we headed back to Castaway Creek to do a loop
~More sunbathing
~After this it is a bit of a blur of more of the same, sunbathing, then cooling off on Castaway Creek
~I took an hour or so and went up to hike along the mountain trails. I love them!
~We did a little more wave pool , and a little more castaway creek before drying off and heading back to our resort around 3:30

Man we were so shriveled and my eyes were downright bloodshot. It was the mixture of all the water park water and my body reacting to some southern seasonal allergies I typically get down there that time of year. So I took a shower, slathered on lotion and drowned my eyes with eye drops. We took a bit of a nap and I think Ben actually went and worked out-crazy boy.

The shuttle was set to launch at 4:30 so we got dressed and ready to go so we could at least sit outside and watch for it. Unfortunately the clouds had really moved low and we didn't see a thing except for a few airplanes( of which I read stories of the passengers' accounts later online)

~Our Luau wasn't until 8pm (arrival at 7:30 or earlier) so we headed over to Downtown Disney to do some browsing and looking around. Ben was really intrigued by Disney Quest.

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon, Soaking Up the Sun and a Luau!!

More Downtown Disney

I went to Basin, my favorite! I bought two full sized soaps and two sample bags. I love this place! The red soap with Mickey ears floating around is a signature smell that always takes me back to WDW.

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon, Soaking Up the Sun and a Luau!!

Around 7pm we headed towards the Polynesian Resort for the Luau

Right as we got in line to get our table(having received our leys), the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom started going off. I wish we could have seen them better.

This show is like the Hoop de Doo Revue in that it is a well-oiled machine! I enjoyed the food at this show much more, it's just more my taste. Our luau included:

Starters:
Pinapple Coconut Bread
Mixed Greens with Mango-Poppy Seed Dressing
Sweet Golden Pineapple

Main Course:

BBQ Pork Ribs
Roasted Chicken
Polynesian Rice
Seasonal Vegetables (Stir-fried sugar snap peas, carrots, onions and broccoli)

Close Up

Dessert:
Kilauea Volcano Delight(came out served on a tray along with a smokin' volcano effect)

That yellow around it was caramel sauce

I also ordered a specialty drink, the Fire Knife Quencher, in a souvenier glass

This was such an awesome dinner!! All of the food was soooo good!!

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon, Soaking Up the Sun and a Luau!!

More Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show

As you can tell we'd both gotten quite a bit of sun that day at Typhoon Lagoon, but it felt so good!

One of the best moments of this trip happened that night. The crew went through the whole thing with people celebrating birthdays and moved on to Anniversaries. They invited couples who were in love, celebrating together, etc to come up front and dance while they played a special song. I didn't think Ben would go for it because he's a pretty shy guy, but he stood up, asked me to dance and led me to the dance floor. We were the first ones out there. More couples joined us but it was so special to me that he'd do that in front of all those people.

I loved all the island dances and of course the fire dancer!

We didn't really have great seats having booked last minute. I would have liked to be on the floor level, we were toward the back and couldn't see very well let alone take great pictures. I stood against the far wall for some of the show, and it wasn't a big deal.

I fell in love with the Poly that night. I love the atmosphere there. As we were walking to our car, I just wanted it to last forever. I realized, I don't really go for walks at night for any particular reason at our OP resorts. But Disney does so much to enhance the atmosphere of their resorts at night that it makes you want to go for a lovely stroll. The tiki torches and low lighting and the way everything reflects off the water at the Polynesian is wonderful. Add into it the warm Florida air and lovely smells of flowers hiding everywhere, and quiet background music piped through the area and you are transported to a different place and time.

Something similar happened a few nights later at Wilderness Lodge as well. I love WDW at night, including the resorts!

oommggitskait · Mar 4, 2011

I am loving your TR! Your pictures are right up my alley, especially the ones in the parks. Don't get me wrong, I really love the pics that everyone takes of the arcitecture and other things, but I LOVE your pictures of the rides and cue lines. It REALLY makes me feel like I am there.
Can't wait to keep reading!

disneygirl1 · Mar 4, 2011

Awesome update Melanee! Can I just tell you I am sitting here waiting to go grab lunch and your pics from Kona totally having me starving right now!!! :ROFLOL: OMG that ham looks DELISH!

Love the Turkey leg shirt! And I think Tren-D's window displays are so cool!

And Awww!!! How cute is it that Ben asked to you dance at the Luau?? You got yourself a good man there!!!

DisneyFan1003 · Mar 4, 2011

Your Kona breakfast pictures looked too good - just jumped online and booked an ADR for Sunday....thanks!

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

oommggitskait said:
I am loving your TR! Your pictures are right up my alley, especially the ones in the parks. Don't get me wrong, I really love the pics that everyone takes of the arcitecture and other things, but I LOVE your pictures of the rides and cue lines. It REALLY makes me feel like I am there.
Can't wait to keep reading!

Thanks! I'm not a professional or anything like that, so I just see something and go with it! It is really fun to try to get different angles and perspectives of things. And I of course like taking pictures that later will take me back to the moment I took the photo.

disneygirl1 said:
Awesome update Melanee! Can I just tell you I am sitting here waiting to go grab lunch and your pics from Kona totally having me starving right now!!! :ROFLOL: OMG that ham looks DELISH!

Love the Turkey leg shirt! And I think Tren-D's window displays are so cool!

And Awww!!! How cute is it that Ben asked to you dance at the Luau?? You got yourself a good man there!!!

Oh gosh that dinner was one of the best!! It was sooooo good!! We really enjoyed ourselves! Ben is a sweet guy! He tries really hard (not naturally romantic-no offense to him) and he always surprises me!

DisneyFan1003 said:
Your Kona breakfast pictures looked too good - just jumped online and booked an ADR for Sunday....thanks!

I forgot to mention, it was not too bad on the pocketbook either! We came away knowing we'll definitely go back!

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 5: Hollywood Studios: Sunshine, Thrills and a Musical

Friday morning we woke up at a descent hour and had a relaxing breakfast at the resort. Ben went to work out as I prepared things.

I took a picture of where we parked to avoid losing the car

We arrived at DHS around 9:05

I intentionally cropped people's heads out of this photo. Perhaps I should have left them in the picture to be realistic.

We found that in the 15 minutes since the park had opened, the guests at DHS had gone clinically insane considering the shear amount of people around Toy Story Midway Mania. The line for the FP was clear back to One Man's Dream, and the Standby line was 15 minutes. It switched to that 45 minutes you see in the picture after we'd already been in line for 20 minutes and by then the FP return was all the way back to 2pm or something like that. We decided to go ahead and just wait.

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 5: Hollywood Studios: Sunshine, Thrills and a Musical

Waiting in the queue

They really should have opened up this part of the queue by now. The line was way out in the street and Pixar Place was terribly congested. I think eventually they did start to open it up more.

"Somebody's closer!!" Gee guess who doesn't like losing...

TakeMeThere81 · Mar 4, 2011

Day 5: Hollywood Studios: Sunshine, Thrills and a Musical

Next we headed over to Sunset Blvd hoping we weren't going to see the same chaos that was ensuing over at TSMM

ToT was getting some clean-up done

Tower of Terror was only a 20 minute stand-by so we grabbed FP then got in line

The queue was probably an accurate 20 minute wait but man, it felt longer! It was probably the fact that it was our 5th day. I leaned over and whispered to Ben, "I'm not waiting in anymore lines. I'd rather people watch or see shows." He agreed. It just gets annoying. I think part of it was that we were kicking ourselves for spending so much time waiting for TSMM at the very beginning of our day. Not a very fun way to start.

I LOVE ToT! And our CM was sooo awesome! I love it when they are in character!

I love this picture...there are quite a variety of expressions/reactions.

Our Child-Free Migration Vacation...Plus the Princess Half Marathon! 2/20-2/27

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