Trip Report The Better Late than Never Halloween (and boy can I be stupid) Report

docdebbi · Jan 22, 2014

really great seats, don't we all look happy just to be there?
it's the miracle meal

the actors do indeed get close to this table.

but this is a little TOOCLOSE !
we actually had to lean back as they went by to give them their "personal space"

food is good as always

kids certainly seemed to love it

Mom's strawberry shortcake

the musical talent in our family is just incredible

the show is very entertaining

still enthralled.....

docdebbi · Jan 22, 2014

OMG- you don't even want to know how the next morning went.
I love my brother and SIL
but may I repeat..........there is a SCHEDULE FOR A REASON!!!

so we are supposed to drop the 2 younger girls off for a pirate cruise on the way to downtown disney
purposely picked the one from caribbean beach so that we could all drop the kids off and go right to downtown, since caribbean beach is between the two. I plan so well.

of course it didn't work out that way.
of course, not ready to leave when we should, then there is shopping going on, then there are people getting lost on the way to the car..........and on and on

i repeat I do love them and had a wonderful trip, but schedule is not their strong suit

so Dottie and I take the girls to CB to drop them off, and arrive 15 minutes after scheduled departure time. fortunately, they are still there. last kids to get suited up as pirates

but they made it....once again, by the skin of their teeth

bye bye girls, have fun.

now we have to go back to Art of Animation and find the missing personnel. at least I got them to get me a soda and have one for me when we got back. some bonus......

now the adults got to do shopping. fortunately for us, our experience was nothing like fractals, that description of the sea of humanity he encountered still has me laughing. ("I'll stop the world and melt with you", in case you missed it- nearly wet my pants!)
fortunately, early in the morning, the place was pretty empty, although the crowds were starting to build by lunchtime.

our assigned project was to do all of our souvenir shopping while the girls were having fun. then my brother was to pick them up while we finish up shopping and all meet for lunch at T-Rex.

that part of the plan went almost according to schedule. well, almost meaning, yup, he didn't leave quite on time but still made it as they were arriving back. how do they keep pulling this stuff off? they amaze me.

the conquering pirates return

with the treasure, matey

the girls had a ball, and came home with treasures beyond compare. gold and jewels and toys, oh my!

i will say, we sent the bigger two out on the pirate cruise when they were little, but the one from the Grand Floridian, and was more impressed with that one.
we chose Carribean beach for the location and the boat is not done up at all like a pirate ship like the one at GF and they did not do nearly as much aaarrrggg-ing and ahoy-ing. girls still had fun and didn't know the difference, but given a choice, i would do GF one next time

this is the ship several years ago from GF

so, after he brings the girls back, it's off to T-Rex for lunch

FlaggNL · Jan 23, 2014

Still love your report!

docdebbi · Jan 23, 2014

FlaggNL said:
Still love your report!

thanks, glad you are following
we are a crazy lot, but it makes things more fun!

docdebbi · Jan 23, 2014

so we all meet up for an adventure at T-Rex.

Kieran decided she was really a dinosaur. ooohhh, terrifying.....I'm scared. but apparently her mother is not.

but let us not forget, she's also a pirate.
just look at this "loot". dinos playing with treasure.........not sure that works for me. but it does for her.

i do love the theme of this place, and the food is decent, but boy is it noisy. Worth it though.

we shared the appetizer plate, it was actually delicious. better even than their meals

not sure what dino did what to her, but apparently, it WAS NOT good

we were seated in the ice cave, but we spent a bunch of time in the undersea room as Kieran preferred fishes to dinos. i guess they are more her size, and a little less scary.

Maeve was her protector. what a good big sister

apparently being actually eaten by a dinosaur is less distressing than whatever bothered her in the earlier pic. that must have been one ugly dino!

I got into a roaring contest, that dino won't be bothering my little Kieran again

hey finally, Kieran sized dino that doesn't bother her. hooray

Minnie_girl · Jan 23, 2014

Great pics!

docdebbi · Jan 23, 2014

Minnie_girl said:
Great pics!

thanks Minnie_girl

FlaggNL · Jan 24, 2014

docdebbi said:
thanks, glad you are following
we are a crazy lot, but it makes things more fun!

Lol, join the club! I guess we are as crazy. Absolutely will show it here after our trip here with a TR, so far 'just' a PTR and some TR's of some of our trips to DLP!

docdebbi · Jan 25, 2014

now, we are supposed to make a quick stop at the Lego store and then go back to the hotel and actually take some time to look around at the amazing job Disney did theme-ing AoA.
Of course not, a quick stop turned into 2 hours.
go figure.................

have to take all the classic shots there though, so here they are

however, once again, lots of fun to be had while cheating on the schedule,;
but once again, rest time significantly cut down for the day............

everyone got into the act, even the grown ups

the cute little girls made Cinderella's castle and a house and garden.

Cindy's castle-

while the gross older kids had a contest to see who could make the most Zombie proof safe house.
What?
What is wrong with you guys, you are at Disney World, there ARE no zombies.

but after much craziness, finally I talked them into going back to the hotel..............

docdebbi · Jan 25, 2014

when we finally arrived home we all went on a hike to visit each different area in AoA.
although we had been here for a week by now, it was always quick in and out and no time to explore.
but I did have it on the SCHEDULE for today! ha ha

first up, Cars section

the Lion King section

docdebbi · Jan 25, 2014

then time for the little mermaid section

then the highlight of the tour, the "who does the best Ursula imitation" contest..........

docdebbi · Jan 25, 2014

so back to our section, Finding Nemo building, and some time at the pool
which we really no longer had time for, but we had promised the kids, and that's a hard promise to break.
but we'll just cut it short and still get out in time for dinner.......right?
ha ha ha ha ha
even you guys know better than that by now

ok, off to the pool, swim fast!

so, out of the pool, dress quick and off to try out Best Our Guest for dinner. I've been there for lunch, but not dinner, and the family have never been there. A big night coming up.........

docdebbi · Jan 27, 2014

We dress quickly, or as quickly as a group of seven that includes my brother can dress, and drive over to the TTC. As tonight was a MNSSHP night, the line to get on the monorail was LOOONNNGGG. so we opted for the ferry, good idea, as it's nice to use all the types of transportation while at WDW, just for the experience.

Here comes the Richard F. Irvine

Beautiful views from the ferry, much nicer than from the monorail IMHO

sun was setting, how wonderful

Pass the Joe Potter on the way, Hi all!

We seem to be running just a little late, which is good for us, so we stop for a pic with the Halloween decorations

then Dottie lets me know that she bought the wrong item when shopping at DTD this AM and intends to go into the Emporium and trade it. We are just going to make it to BoG on time if we rush, and we have one of the last reservations of the night as the party is going on, so we need to be there shortly after our reservation time.
Notice, how I've moved from "on time" for our reservation, to "shortly after" our reservation.........what a week.
So while Dottie is doing the exchange we enjoy some of the store windows

docdebbi · Jan 27, 2014

some done up very nicely for Halloween

Well, by now, I am very antsy to get to our reservation. but Dottie is having trouble deciding what to buy instead of what she originally purchased. so she is on the phone with folks back home trying to figure out people's birthdates so she can get the right birthstone.
ok, I'll distract myself a little more with some balloon photos.

alright, nothing is now distracting me......we gotta go
my brother and I and all but one kid run like the wind to go check in and save our reservation

now we know for a FACT, that they don't let you check in until everyone in your party is present, but we were hoping for the best as we are about to lose the reservation altogether

I resort to lying, since I see a long line of folks waiting after they have checked in
"Yup, we're all here, yup, every one of us"
figured God would forgive me this one small lie.........I REALLY want to eat here and nothing is moving Dottie.

finally Dottie and the missing one arrive, just plodding along, no rushing, no running. nothing bothers this group. I am sweating bullets, and we are all sweating real sweat from running, and they just wander along, clueless and happy.........but again, it worked out, they win! see, no reason to worry

while we wait, time for some pictures and posing.
i really am excited, only my second time here and I think the place is great!

taken from the bridge

everyone loves a good gargoyle

docdebbi · Jan 27, 2014

i certainly do

but i think Dottie may like him a little more

a shot of Maurice's cottage from behind

a kind soul volunteered to take a shot of all of us

i love the detail of Beast's castle, incredible it's only about 5 foot tall, forced perspective is great

little mermaid from our vantage point, shame the construction walls are there, but they'll be gone soon

can you tell we were really enjoying ourselves at this point, and we hadn't even had a wine yet

docdebbi · Jan 27, 2014

and then, it happened, as I was taking shots of the construction of Seven Dwarves Mine Train................

and thinking this is pretty cool as a keepsake.............

they test the cars for I believe the first time- at least according the a report on WDWMAGIC the next day- and I was just shooting along. how cool is that?

they call us in, I had requested the ballroom and we were lucky enough (jeez, these guys ARE lucky) to get it

beautiful presentation

we were seated right on the aisle where the beast makes his frequent appearances, how lucky can these guys get?

up next, the great food and a SPECIAL family tradition rears its ugly head...........oh no, not in public!

docdebbi · Jan 30, 2014

absolutely beautiful setting, we did like this place (once we finally got there!)

I had the braised beef, absolutely wonderful

my brother had the shrimp and scallops

i admit, i took a few moments to eat my meal, between taking pictures, but before I could get any more pics,
THIS HAPPENED

not even a crumb left, first time this happened all week

guess they liked their food

docdebbi · Jan 30, 2014

beast kept coming by, even waved to the girls

whoopeee dessert time

kieran had no trouble picking hers

they had the classics, like strawberry cupcake, absolutely delicious

and some seasonal halloween treats

looks interesting, but purple icing doesn't do it for me

danny enjoyed his halloween chocolate cream puff

but i HAD to try the gray stuff

it had a hard shell crust and soft chocolate cake filling- it was excellent

now thus far, i have not shown you what happened during the meal

we have a very interesting family and sometimes our joint genetic makeup just takes over......

one person starts
then another joins in
then another

not every family has the distinct talents that ours does...................
very few people can pull this off, let alone an entire family...............

docdebbi · Jan 30, 2014

ok, here it is...........

we can hang spoons from our noses........often while continuing to eat and drink- and maybe even laugh a little

this is bad enough, but it seems to always come out in public places
in particular, upscale restaurants

or weddings

i'm never sure exactly who starts it, but once it's started, there's no drawing back, it's an out and out contest to see who can hang it longest while doing the most outrageous things

alright, SOME of us apparently can't do it,
i believe this is called cheating

he must have been adopted, he certainly isn't my brother

docdebbi · Jan 30, 2014

after displaying to everyone in the restaurant our absolute and total lack of class, we went into the West Wing to sort of hide in the dark

then we checked out and went to meet the beast.

you walk out through the armory
and for some reason, no one pretended violence with this armor
maybe after the prior display, they were afraid we would ACTUALLY be tossed out on our noses!

stopped for some girlie pics

and some not so girlie pics

now is where it got even weirder--- is that humanly possible?

i had heard that this would happen, and wasn't too happy about it, and it was just as bad as i had heard

since MNSSHP was going on at the time we finished our meal, at the exit of the restaurant you are met by a CM who checks you for tickets. if you aren't staying for the party, they radio for your "escort".
a CM with a big sign with a light on top, comes and gets you and leads you all the way out of the park. people know you have been caught trying to sneak into the party and are being led out. not the case with us, we weren't cheating, but get the same escort as they.

not only was it embarrassing, but absolutely ridiculous. there were about 12 of us being escorted out, the guy gets in the front of the line, and expects everyone to follow him.
now picture the crowds at this party and we are weaving in and out of them in the pitch black.

see the white ghost in this shot, there's our escort.

if we had really wanted to stay it would have been ridiculously easy to zig when he zagged, he never even looked back to check on us, and he set quite a rapid pace. we actually had trouble keeping up with him. but since we had no intention of staying, we ran as fast as we could to get thrown unceremoniously out of the park.

then, on our last night at WDW, we couldn't bring ourselves to just go home and pack as the schedule called for.
OUR LAST NIGHT? SAY IT AIN'T SO
THERE MUST BE A WAY TO EXTEND THIS THING
WE'RE HAVING TOO MUCH FUN

i know, let's take the monorail over to the poly and get the dole whip that we missed when in the parks because we didn't follow the schedule and didn't have time

i have a great idea, let's not follow the schedule to make up for not following the schedule

Trip Report The Better Late than Never Halloween (and boy can I be stupid) Report

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