Trip Report

[sigsegv]

This is the continuation of my "in-progress trip report" but, since it's no longer in-progress , I figure I should start a new thread...

Monday, 1/13

We headed off to MGM/DS today, but got a late start as my in-laws watched DD for a few hours and let DW and me sleep in. :snore: Sooo nice... We got off around 11am and took the boat over. There was a little time before our lunch ressies at 50's Prime Time Cafe, so we went to ToT. DW wasn't feeling up for riding it this time, so it was just my MIL and me. DW, DD, and FIL all waited by the exit for us. MIL had never been on ToT before and I have not been on it since the new profile was implemented, so we were both pretty excited. The queue time was listed as 13 minutes. Overall, it was quite fun. MIL liked it a lot too. The only thing I have to remember next time is to try to pin down my camera bag a little better; it floated out in front of me, almost hitting me in the face during a couple of those drops.

Lunch at 50s Prime Time was excellent. This was our first time eating there. MIL, FIL, and I had nice think strawberry shakes with lunch (DW shared some of mine). DW and MIL had the pot roast and FIL and I had the fried chicken. The chicken was quite excellent, but I was disappointed with the smashed potatoes and veggies. DW and MIL both loved the pot roast. DD was so nice and slept through most of the meal.

After lunch, we wandered around the park some more and shopped. On the way out, we stopped by the Rock and Roller Coaster and DW and MIL rode it while FIL, DD, and I waited outside. (RnR makes me green.). I couldn't believe how fast the lines where here; they were back out within about five minutes. Finally, we headed back to BW for naps before dinner.

Dinner was at Olivia's. I had been there last April, but nobody else in our party had been. I like OKW. It's very nice and quiet, quaint even. Olivia's is nice too, but surprisingly loud. DW had the snapper, FIL had a burger, MIL had a club sandwich, and I had the fried chicken . (Kind of a chicken day for me.) DW really liked the snapper. The rest of us thought the food was good, but not outstanding. After dinner, we tried the apple pie. This was pretty good stuff. I think I should have had this for dinner instead. :slurp:

After dinner, we hunted and gathered in the OKW gift shop, then we were going to take the water taxi from OKW to Downtown Disney, but it was closed. Taking their hint, we headed back to BW and closed down for the evening ourselves.

-sig

 

[sigsegv]

Tuesday, 1/14

We got out around noon today and took the boat over to Epcot. (MIL's and FIL's legs were hurting them a bit.) We didn't have any lunch ressies, but were thinking about heading over to San Angel and hoping for the best.

After we got off the boat and headed up the hill towards England, we saw the Rose and Crown wasn't very busy, so we decided to drop anchor there. DW had the mushroom medley and FIL had the lamb barley soup for starters. I, of course, helped DW with the muchroom medley. For the main dishes, MIL had the citrus curry chicken salad, FIL had the fish and chips, and DW and I had the beefeater. We were all pretty pleased with our food, but MIL was kind of disappointed by the wimpy curry flavor in her salad.

When lunch was finished, we headed toward Future World. This part of Epcot never really interested me. It's always seemed to me to be like "Future from Five Years Ago World" and not very futuristic, but, DW let it be known this year that she does like it, so we went to investigate some of the places we had normally skipped. The first stop was riding Journey into Imagination, but not before stopping to feed DD. She ate only a little, but then seemed ready to go. We took her car seat of our her stroller and headed in. We all fit nicely in one of the cars. DD seemed to really like this ride. It was the first one on which she didn't sleep. I was watching her eyes as much as the ride itself and they were going all over the place. The adults, OTOH, were pretty disappointed. With all the talent available to them, the presentation really seemed to lack. Anyway....

After the ride, we looked around the interactive section briefly, then headed out to Living Seas. This is also a "carry the car seat on" attraction, so we ditched the stroller outside and I carried her in. After waiting in the 360 auditorium for a while, I got tired of waiting and DD started to get fussy, so she and I headed out while DD and her parents continuted to wait. DD and I went around to the exit and I fed her while we waited. A while (and one very poopy diaper ) later, they came out.

DW's dad had been feeling kind of bad since we got down there, but by now, it had reached the point where he needed to go back to the room to sleep and take some cold medicine, so we split up. DW's parents went off back to BW and the rest of us checked out some more of FW. DW had wanted to re-taste the international Coke products in Ice-Station Cool, so we went in around back. We revisited the various flavors, but skipped the Beverly ("The Taste of All Evil").

After nosing around Mouse Gear for a bit, we headed to Spaceship Earth and then the monotrail to the TTC. We had PS ressies for the Liberty Tree character dinner and we didn't want to be late.

We got there a little early, but they took us in with minimal wait. Dinner was nice (especially the mashed pototoes) and the characters really took a shine to DD. (And why wouldn't they? ) The waiters were also really nice. One of them even had a little one of his own about the same age as our DD, so we talked shop for a bit.

When we were done with dinner, the parade was starting. We're not much for parades, so we liberated our stroller (much more of a chore than it should have been) and ducked through the breezeway between Liberty Square and Adventureland and then crossed the bridge between AL and MS. I had hoped to grab some dessert from the MS Bake Shop after dinner, but this exit route kept us from doing that. The final stretch down MS was completed by cutting through all the attached stores. I love Disney.

When we got out, the MS side of the parade was over, so a fair amount of people were also leaving MK. The monorail was swamped, so we decided to take the bus back to BW. The ride seemed longer than usual, but that might have been the fact that we were the fifth and final stop on that line. (MK->Swan->Dolfish->YC->BC->BW) This was fine though since the movement put DD right to sleep.

We headed to our room for a quick break to see how DW's parents were doing and to see if they wanted us to pick up anything for them to eat. We were going to try to catch Illuminations and were willing to pick something up on the way back. FIL was feeling good enough to head out, so we all walked over to Epcot for the fireworks.

DW and I are usually not fireworks people, but so many people had talked about Illuminations (and Fantasmic), that we thought it'd be good to at least catch it once. We were a little unsure about bringing DD with us (and 1/2 hoping that DW's parents would watch her when we went over -- worried about the noise scaring her), but since we were all headed over, we gave it a try.

We got to Epcot about five minutes before the show, but got a really good spot. It was just to the France side of the bridge over the International Gateway entrance to the lake. DD was sleeping and we closed up the stroller to block out some light. The show went off right on time. Happily, DD only stirred slightly and was back asleep before we got out of the park after the show. We thought the show began and ended well, but the globe part in the middle was slow and boring, ruining the pacing.

Instead of trying to vie for a spot on the boats, we walked back. DW's parents stopped at Spoodles to buy a pizza to bring back to the room and DW, DD, and I stopped by Seaside Sweets for an ice cream float and a hot fudge sundae. DW liked the float a lot, but I was kind of disappointed with the sundae. I think it had to do with their not having chocolate chip ice cream (which, IMHO, is what really makes a good hot fudge sundae).

Got back to the room and crashed for the night.

-sig

 

[Becky]

Sig, The 50's PTC Pot Roast What can I say? Did you save me some?::lol:

Does "Mom" still make the kids clear the tables off etc?

My glasses came out of my pocket at ToT and ended up in the back row. First time that ever happened and they were really in the pocket tightly. We rode ToT five times. On one the took you to the top opened the door and shook you for a few seconds. That was the best ride.:sohappy:

We were there 12/29-1/5. To cold for the water pre-show at the BLT then too. Been there , done that so no biggie.

The Osborne Lights were great this (oops last) year with the special grasses they gave you.:sohappy:

Keep the trip report comming.:wave:

 

[sigsegv]

I put the pictures from this trip online at http://www.pbase.com/sigsegv/january_2003 . I'm not done commenting them all yet, but they're mostly self-explanitory. Most are of my 3 month old daughter (from the "What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into?" thread a few weeks back), who seemed to really enjoy the trip. There are some cool pics though. I'll post them later in the Digital Media forum.

-sig

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Nice report, thanks

 

[Grumpy56]

Enjoyed your report, thanks for posting it

I laughed when I read about your camear bag on TOT. When My DS was 3 and we took him on TOT for the first time, he loved it and laughed the whole time. On his second ride he burst into tears because Dad's hat flew up off his head when the ride dropped. Luckliy it flew under his seat and was fine. My DS reminds his Dad every time we've ridden it since, "Don't forget to sit on your hat!"


Your pictures are fun....what a cute baby, glad it all worked out so well.

 

[Katherine]

Great trip report!! And your daughter is adorable!!

 

[CREEKWAYNE]

Great report! Great pics! Great family! Kudos all the way around!
:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

5,526 minutes and counting...:wave:

 

[KathyG/poohbear]

That was a great trip report. I loved the pictures. I think DD had a great time you could tell by looking at her face. The pictures will mean so much to her someday. She is so precious.

 

[sigsegv]

Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments. We think DD enjoyed herself too, but just not the same way we did. She also slept all through the night for the first time while we were there. Of course, we couldn't enjoy it as we were always waking at every sould she made, wondering what's wrong with her and why she hadn't woken up yet...

Also, she does make quite a lot of little noises in the night and we tend to jump at every one of them, so we wanted some buffer between the pack-n-play she was sleeping in and our bed. We were in the master bedroom of the 2br villa. This room has an attached wash room and connected to that is a walk-in closet. This closet is just big enough for us to put the pack-n-play in and still have some room to walk along the side, so we put her in there. We felt a little bad putting her in a closet, but it worked and kept _some_ of the noises from reaching us. (Unfortunately, the closet door was not solid and the bathroom was tile, so not a lot of noises were blocked, but some light from us was.) No "coming out of the closet" jokes. :hammer:

...and as for cuteness, well, you'll get no argument from us.

-sig

 

[sigsegv]

Wednesday, 1/15

Wednesday was to be a pretty mellow day. DW and her mom had scheduled some horse riding at Fort Wilderness in for 11:30, but had to check-in at 11. We lounged around until they took off in the minivan, then FIL, DD, and I headed over to AK for a couple hours.

We took a bus over and headed in. It was a pretty sunny, but kind of chilly. The whole time we were there, we were trying to keep the sun out of DD's face. It had been a few trips since I had last been to AK and it was FIL's second time. We didn't really have any plans for the park beyond finding some lunch and killing a couple hours.

We took care of the lunch part at the Flame Tree BBQ. We each had a BBQ chicken salad. It worked. Nothing spectacular, but was decent. The real fun, though, was feeding the birds. I know you probably shouldn't, but couldn't resist... :zipit: DD woke up around this time and started to get a bit fussy.

After her lunch, we headed towards Asia, then cut over toward Africa. We got to Rafiki's (which was our nominal destination), but decided that we should leave instead since our wives would be returning around the same time we would be if we left then. So, back to the busses we trekked. This whole time, DD was awake and her eyes were everywhere. I almost ran into a few people watching her and where she was looking instead of where I was pushing her stroller.

We timed things pretty well as our wives showed up soon after we did. The rest of the afternoon was about resting up for the evening's activities... Cali Grill and the Adventurer's Club.

Around 4pm, Vivian from Fairy Godmothers babysitting service came by. We had arranged for her to start around 4:30, but she wanted to get to know us and our daughter. (And this was on her time, not on our charge clock!) After going over such things as what, when, and how much DD eats and sleeps, what toys she likes, and what we felt comfortable with Vivian doing with DD, we finished getting dressed up, gave Vivian DW's cell phone number, grabbed our coats (it was supposed to be pretty chilly that night), and headed out.

Now, this was the first time DW and I have left DD with anyone but family. We were hesitant, but after seeing the good reviews for FGs on WDWIG and after being encouraged by DW's parents, we went for it.

Since we plannng on drinking later in the night, we didn't want to take the minivan. Instead, we took the boat to MGM, then caught a bus from there to the Contemporary. We had ressies for the first seating of the evening at 5:30, but fate conspired against us making us 5 - 10 minutes late (and DW kind of frustrated). Luckily, this wasn't a problem and we were still able to get a good window seat overlooking the MK.

DW and I had been to the CG before and loved it. We each had the exact same thing was had last time. She started with the "Peeky Toe" (love that name ) california rolls (the best she's ever had) and I had the "triple cheese, triple garlic" flat bread. FIL had the pork egg rolls with the voodoo sauce. Everyone was very happy and the voodoo sauce helped open FIL's congested nose. For the entree, we all had the grilled pork tenderloin. Mmmmm, so good. Right before the entrees came out (they were running kind of slow that night), the MK fireworks started and we enjoyed the show. Finally, for dessert, DW and her mom had the crepes with pear butter, FIL had the apple tart, and I had the banana-chocolate bread pudding. DW and MIL were indifferent to their crepes, but FIL and I really liked our desserts. My only gripe about mine was why do fancy resturants feel they need to put some alcohol in their desserts to make them better? I liked the banana ice cream, but the rum edge to it was a bit off-putting.

BTW, I should say that by this time, DW and I were both in some fairly strong baby-withdrawl. We kept checking her cell phone to make sure Vivian wasn't trying to call and I was getting kind of antsy to see "stinker bell" again.

After dinner, we headed back out to catch a bus to Pleasure Island. After stopping at the Poly and Grand Flo, packing the bus, the driver decided to take the scenic route to DD and PI. When we got to PI, DW and I bought our admission tickets (her parents had PH+ park passes where you could get PI admission as one of your "plusses") and headed in. Normally (I thought), the Adventurers Club opened at 7pm. It was now about 8:30, but when we got there, it was closed with a sign outside saying that it'd open at 9. No problem, we wrapped our coats around ourselves a little tighter and headed to some of the shops that were still open. Around 9, we headed back up to the AC, but the sign had been changed to 9:30. We waited outside with a group of other people and around 9:15 someone came up and they opened early. (I guess it was there version of a "soft opening" :hammer: )

When we got in, we were told there was no coat check and no place to hang our coats, so were were stuck carrying around these heavy coats for the evening.

It turns out that the reason the Club took so long to open was that there was some IBM salesperson meeting happening inside. Because of this, the place was fairly full with a bunch of people all milling about with their IBM nametags on. They were all talking and ignoring (and frustrating) the actors.

Now, I should tell you, I have this thing about crowds. I hate 'em. I know, I know, a heck of a thing to have when you love WDW, but we only go during the slow season and I can deal with them better if I'm prepared for it. This night, I was not. This, combined with my anxiety about leaving DD with Vivian (who seems perfectly nice -- this is not a reflection on her), my annoyance with the Club opening so late and having to carry around my heavy-ish leather coat all night, and the fact that my in-laws were starting to get on my nerves a bit (which is amazing -- if they were my parents, they'd have been on my nerves on Sunday ) all combined to put me in one royal snit. :fork:

After just one drink, I was set to head back, but I couldn't since I had opened a tab at the bar in the library. Normally, this is not a problem, but I was asked to leave the library due to the fact that they didn't have enough seating for everyone. When I tried to go back in to close the tab, I was told they weren't allowing anyone in until after the awards show in there was done. So I sat there, nursing my drink and some bad thoughts until it was over. I just wanted to head back on my own -- have a little time to myself to wind back down. It turns out, though, that my FIL was feeling really sleepy from his cold meds and couldn't drink because of them. He wanted to head back to and neither of our wives wanted to stay by themselves, so we all piled out and caught a bus back (which, surprisingly, went right to BW).

When we got back, Vivian was sitting there watching the baby sleep. She had been a perfect little angel according to Vivian. They went for a little walk earlier and played some, but mostly, "G Rex" ("G Wrecks" when she becomes self-mobile) just wanted to sleep. We thanked Vivian, paid her nicely, then took this evening around the back and went "Old Yeller" on it.

-sig

 

[sigsegv]

Thursday, 1/16

After the previous night, I was glad to get some sleep and hit my reset button. Thursday was a nice sunny day and the weather was fairly warm.

After sleeping in a bit, I got up and took DD out for a stroll around Cresent Lake. She was in a pretty good mood, smiling and sticking her tongue out (she does this when she's happy -- http://www.pbase.com/image/11225242). I got a bunch of good pictures of her and snapped a few of the Albatross rehab for those on WDWMAGIC who might be interested. As we crossed the bridge between YC and BW, I noticed a lot of people lined up alond the left (Epcot) side of the bridge. Just about when we got to the top, I saw a slow-moving "firework" in the sky above Epcot. I asked the people around what we were looking at and they said it was a shuttle launch. So, I got some pics of that too.

Once we got back, we all headed out for lunch at Wolfgang Puck Cafe and shopping at Downtown Disney. Lunch was pretty good, but FIL's noodles were almost too hot (and they were made "mild" for him) and my BBQ chicken quesadilla wasn't as good as I remembered.

After lunch, we headed down toward Marketpalce, shopping all the way. Well, DW and her mom shopped, I just watched DD. We reached the end of Marketplace, then turned back around and returned to Westside. DW's parents had tix to see La Nuba (we've seen it twice already), so we parted ways with them at the "tent" and returned to BW.

We rested for a little while in the room, then tried to find a place to eat. We had ressies for Mama Melrose's, but didn't feel like going. Eventually, we decided to return to Prime Time Cafe. Luckily, I tried to make some ressies and found out that a) they had no more openings for the night and b) MGM was closing at 7, not 9 as I was thinking. :hammer: Instead, we wandered around the Lake again and decided to try Cape May Cafe.

Neither of us had been there before and we liked it. The atmosphere was nice and kind of loud (which is fine when you think your DD might decide to "speak up."). The food was pretty good and the apple cobbler was excellent. After dinner, we checked out the Stormalong Bay pool and the YC a little bit.

As we were finishing our lap of Cresent Lake, we discovered that Madam Morganna's cart was open. (It had been closed the rest of the week because it was too cold.) During two previous trips, we had had our palms read and tarot readings. We were hoping to have DD's palm read this time, but we had given up on it because of the weather. (I'm pretty skeptical about this stuff, but it's entertaining and Morganna and her husband, HP, are quite nice to chat with.) We hurried back to the room, fed DD (she was starting to get fussy), round up DD's grandparents (who were back by then) and went back down to see Morganna. We waited a little while for two groups in front of us to finish, then got DD's reading. It was great fun and they're pretty nice people. If you're in the area and have the time, I highly suggest stopping by.

It was pretty cold by the time we were done, so was just ski-daddled back up to the room and to our warm beds.

-sig

 

[bears163]

how old is your child that you had for fairy godmothers babysitting? we are going down with our two kids and i have read somewhere that disney has a babysitting service but that they only watch kids 4 and up.

steve

 

[sigsegv]

Originally posted by bears163
how old is your child that you had for fairy godmothers babysitting? we are going down with our two kids and i have read somewhere that disney has a babysitting service but that they only watch kids 4 and up.

steve

She was/is 3 months (13 weeks) old. I don't know much about the Disney stuff, just what DW has told me. She says that Disney has their own "kids clubs", but the kids have to be at least 4. They offer babysitting services, but through an outside company.

I can't stress how nice Fairy Godmothers is. If you're going with an outside comany anyway, you should check them out (and request Vivian -- she was very nice).

Here, I just found this at WDWIG:

http://wdwig.com/childfaq.htm

Good luck and hope to see your trip report too...

-sig

 

[sigsegv]

Friday, 1/17

This was our last full day at WDW. We planned on spending it in Epcot's World Showcase. I was chi-chi-chilly out and the wind was blowing. We were wearing jean and sweatshirt or jackets.

We walked over to Epcot and entered through the International Gateway. We headed clock-wise around the lagoon.

When we got the Mexico, we hopped into the Aztec temple and had lunch at the San Angel Inn. DW had the nachos and the rest of us had the tacos al carbon. It was all pretty yummy, but kinda pricey. The atmosphere in there is so nice, though.

After lunch, we continued around the lagoon. DW and I grabbed some sweets at the bakery in Norway. There was shopping in Germany. We watched the living statue show in Italy for a few. Went up and around, finally ending up in France, where DW's parents picked up some sweets of their own at the patisserie.

By this time, we were all pretty cold, so we headed back to the room for a break.

Later in the evening, we had PS ressies for Le Cellier, so we walked over a bit early. We arrived 10 - 15 minutes before our ressie time and checked in. They were packed we weren't able to be seated until 8:10, 40 minutes after our ressies. In the meantime, we wandered around Canada some. DW and her mom shopped some while I played around with taking night shots on my camera.

By the time we sat down, we were pretty cold, but ready for some good Le Cellier eats. This is DW's favorite resturant, so we saved it for our last night at WDW. They all shared the bbq duck confit and I had the cheddar cheese soup. Mmmmm, cheese soup with the preztel bread.... Mmmmm. :slurp: For the entree, the ladies had the surf 'n' turf special (which has been a "special of the evening" since at least November of '99 ) and FIL and I had the mushroom filet. MIL's steak was over cooked and mine was quite under cooked. The server apologized and gave us our desserts for free. (Too bad I usually don't like their dessert selection.) Beyond the incorrectly prepared steaks, the food we really good. I loved the mushroom risotto. For dessert, DW and her dad had the apple tart and her mom had the creme brulee.

Once dinner was over, the place was starting to really empty out. Our walk back was nice with the lights and not very many people being about. Too bad it was so cold; we could have enjoyed our walk back so much better.

-sig

 

[wannabeBelle]

Sig your daughter is absolutely gorgeous!!! Thanks so much for sharing your own little bit of "Magic" Belle

 

[bears163]

where did you find the fairy godmother babysitting service? how much were they? if you have any info please let me know

steve

 

[sigsegv]

Originally posted by wannabeBelle
Sig your daughter is absolutely gorgeous!!! Thanks so much for sharing your own little bit of "Magic" Belle

Thank you. We think "stinker bell" is indeed gorgeous, but we also know we might be biased....

...so we asked our parents and they argreed, so she must be. :hammer:

-sig

 

[sigsegv]

Originally posted by bears163
where did you find the fairy godmother babysitting service? how much were they? if you have any info please let me know

steve

Just used the phone number listed on that link above. As for the rates, it was $12/hr, 4 hr min, with a $12 travel fee.

-sig

 

[KathyG/poohbear]

I have so enjoyed your trip report. It has been ALMOST like being there....is there anymore?